House and Crate Training!

[Otis'Mommy]

Hello everyone!

I'm new to the forum. I've read some other posts and am now posting my own issues.

We recently bought a new Bug puppy (Hybrid - mix of a Boston Terrier and Pug). He will be 15wks tomorrow. We got him at about 12-13wks from PetLand.

We read all of the house training and crate training information we could get our hands on. We take him out every 2 hrs at minimum. After eating, after sleeping/napping, and after playing. We also wake up in the middle of the night to take him out right now since he's not always doing that great.

The first night he was perfect in his crate, slept no problems, quiet, didn't go in his crate. After that, he cried all night the second night. We found in the morning that he had soiled his cage and figured he must have been crying because he soiled it. After that, if he cried in his cage we were almost certain he had to go to the bathroom, or more likely, had already went and wanted it cleaned up.

We put him in bed every night and he cries for at least 10-15 minutes before he will go to sleep. He does get to nap with us a bit if we're sleeping in, in the morning after he goes out at 5:30 (my husband gets up for work at that time during the week, so on weekends we keep with that schedule and he doesn't have to go back in the crate right away at 5:30am).

HOUSE TRAINING:
We're trying to keep him on an eating schedule. Half in the morning, half at night of his daily feeding requirements. We're thinking 6pm is too late for his feeding and we're going to try feeding him dinner at 5. He gets to go out throughout the evening and then again at 10:00-11:00.
We had set our alarm to 3:30 am last night, but that wasn't soon enough apparently. He pooped and peed both before we got him out. He also peed outside at 3:30 so we know he got up awhile before that, but this time he didn't cry and want his cage cleaned.... I'm hoping that he isn't getting used to going in his crate.

Last week he did really good house training-wise and as long as we got up at 2:30 to let him pee, he was good all night and didn't go in his cage. My husband wanted to try to make it later, which I feel now was a mistake going to 3:30. I just don't think his bladder is big enough yet.

During the day when we let him walk around the house, if he sniffs we ask him if he wants to go outside to potty. Then take him out and tell him to potty outside and praise him. But there are times when he's really exercising and excited when he won't sniff and he'll just stop in his walking and take a quick pee. We are always watching him and when we catch him we tell him NO potty. Then take him outside and tell him potty outside and praise him if he finishes outside.

My question is, are we going about things the right way, and we just have to keep at it. The tapes and such we've watched on housetraining keep saying if you do things right they should be trained in a couple weeks, and we keep trying to stick to schedules etc (we have ALWAYS let him out at 5:30, the middle of the night thing we started doing because he kept having problems with peeing). It's been about 3-4 weeks since we got him and some days he seems to do very well and others he seems to have backtracked.

We pick up his water by 8pm every night. Should we pick it up sooner? I've heard 6 pm and I've heard a couple hours before bed, which would be 8 for us. And does anyone think eating sooner (5 instead of 6) will help with the pooping over night? Pooping over night was not really an issue for him at least from the start. He's only done it once or twice since we got him, but he did it last night and we're not wanting it to continue.

CRATE TRAINING:
The other issue is the crate training. We're going to try telling him to "get in your house" because that's what my grandparents say to their dog and my puppy luckily gets to go to their house during the day while my husband and I are at work. We read somewhere that if you say that, throw a treat in and praise him when he goes in and keep doing that and letting him out and throwing a treat in and saying the command, that after about 15-20 times he'll get used to the idea and just make sure you always treat him for going in there on command. As for the crying at night. We don't let him out when he cries at night. If we start thinking it's because he needs to potty, we follow the advice of making a noise to distract him from his crying so when we let him out he's not associating crying with us letting him out.

Our issue is, we put him in bed at the same time every night, but he still cries for 10-15 minutes until he falls asleep. And then again when we let him out in the middle of the night and put him back, he cries for another 10-15 mins. Are we not exercising him enough right before bed? He sleeps a lot in the evening, especially when he has played all day with my grandparents' dog. Should we be trying to keep him awake until bed time? We're torn because we would like to let him sleep with us. (My aunt always let their dog sleep with them), but at the same time we don't want him to hate his crate because there are times my grandparents can't watch him when we are gone, or when we are busy and need him to be good since we can't watch him.
Should we focus on the command/treat thing to see if we can get him to stop crying when he goes in there, and then after a couple weeks of that, allow him to start sleeping with us at night and yet still encourage him to go in his crate at times such as during our meal times, while we're cleaning, etc..so he doesn't ever think it's a punishment, but knows that his crate is his home and his time that he can nap.? We do keep toys in with him.
** Or will letting him sleep with us at night and then be crated during the day confuse him?
- As I mentioned earlier, when he naps with us during the weekend mornings he is good and doesn't potty. But if we leave him on the bed and don't get him out after the nap right away, or when he sniffs, then he sometimes pees and we have bedding to wash. He has never gone on the bed while we were napping though.

Thoughts??
Thanks!
Erin
Otis'Mommy

[FFstpay02]

Hi Erin, and welcome to PetLovers! Congrats on your new addition, and we'd love to see pics of Otis when you get a chance :D

It sounds like you're on the right track with him. Remember that he is only 15 weeks old, and that is very young. If there is one thing I have learned from this website, its that ALL DOGS ARE DIFFERENT! No two dogs train exactly alike. Aside from length of training time, also different training methods also don't work on all animals. How long have you had him? Is he making any progress at all?

Here is a helpful thread from this site on training puppies. It is very informative from a very educated member here - http://forums.petlovers.com/vb/showthread.php?t=9801

[Otis'Mommy]

Thanks for responding.

We've had him for 3-4wks. Since about the first week of November.

At times it seems like he's making progress, and then at times it seems he's backtracking. Last week from about Mon-Thursday, we got him out at 2:30am and he didn't have a cage accident all night.
Yet...
He has always cried for 10-15mins when going into the crate either way though.
And..
He still has periodic pee accidents in the house when we're watching him and we try to correct it quickly with a 'No potty! or No potty in house!' and tell him 'Potty outside' as we get him ready and take him out and then again when we put him in his potty place we say 'Potty outside' and then praise him with "good potty, good outside!" when he finishes out there.

But last week all he was having was the periodic day time pees, then he started in the last few nights with peeing overnight and then pooping last night. Our response to that is going back to 2:30 am to let him out at night, trying to move his dinner up from 6 to 5pm, and try walking him up and down his 'potty lane' (he likes to potty in the leaves along side the house and/or fence) more.

I've heard switching him to an all natural food until he's potty trained can help, since natural foods go through the digestive system a lot faster than regular dry dog foods and can help with scheduling and knowing about when he'll have to go...

Thoughts?
And I will post pics as soon as we either get some developed and put on disc and/or get our digital camera batteries changed and use that to get one of him. :) (We were hoping my motherinlaw will get us a new digital camera for christmas. The one we have is one from when they first came out and has taken a lot of abuse ;)

Thanks for your comments so far!
Boy are we learning that not all dogs are alike in training and what will work for them... I'm starting to lean towards letting him sleep with us at night so we know when he gets restless that he needs taken out since he usually won't whine in his crate until after he goes, but at the same time I want him to like his crate and feel it's his private place when we do need him to be in there. Would letting him sleep with us at night, but nap and rest in the crate during the day confuse him?

Erin

[FFstpay02]

Well, it sounds like its some progress, which is better than no progress. Like I said, it sounds like you're on the right track. How big is his crate? Some say that it shouldn't be any larger than to let the dog get up, turn around, and lay down. This way there is no extra room for any accidents.

I want to say he's crying because he misses you - Probably not because he messed in the crate, he's a baby and misses you. This is something he'll grow out of, but for the time being, just let him be. He'll learn that you always come back :)

[jones]

Erin, it sounds to me like you're doing a pretty darn good job!

I'm sorry you saw a video that said it "should" only take a few weeks to housetrain a puppy. I think that is the most ridiculous thing to tell people and leads to so many problems... it can take months. It took my puppy a good four months of diligent housetraining, so hang in there! It gets easier as you go.

The only thing I would say to change if you can is the soiling in the crate. The most common reason for that happening is that the crate is too big. It should be just big enough for the pup to stand up, turn around, and lay down in. Any bigger and they tend to mess in there. If you think the crate might be too big, try putting in a heavy cardboard divider. You can also remove the bedding and see if that helps. The other possible reason is he's held it for too long. Sorry if I missed it, but when the pup soils the crate, hold long do you think he's had to hold it? A 15 wk old puppy should be able to hold it almost 5 hrs MAX while crated (less while free).

Also, is the crate in your bedroom? He's probably whining because he wants to be near you when he goes to bed. I think you should still keep him crated at night at his age, but see if you can place his crate up on a chair next to the bed so that he can see you and be close to you at night. I would discourage you from letting him sleep with you on the bed right now because he's still having so many accidents... wait until he can hold it all night, every night, before you do that. It would be better, too, if you could wait until he liked the crate before letting him sleep on the bed.

Once you do let him sleep on the bed, still try to use the crate even just briefly every day so that he will stay "used to it." My puppy sleeps on the bed at night, but I crate him when I run errands, sometimes when we're eating dinner, occasionally when he's trying to nap but keeps getting awakened by noises in the house. Actually I don't think he's in there every day, but fairly often, just so he stays crate trained.

You can also ramp up the appeal of the crate by giving him REALLY special treats ONLY in the crate. I reserve Kongs filled with kibble & peanut butter for crated times. I'm not sure but I think that's what really did the trick in making my puppy like the crate! :)

Hope that helps! And keep up the good work!

[Otis'Mommy]

Ok, the crate he is in is a small crate. It's suggested for dogs the size of Pugs and since he's a pug mix it's about the right size for him. Granted he's a puppy, but I really don't think it's too much bigger than him. I suppose we could put something in it to lessen the space until he fully grows.

Last night we let him sleep with us and he did excellent. About 3:20 or so, he got really wiggly and couldn't get comfortable which I figured was a sign he needed to go out, so I took him out and he went both outside for me. And I've been home with him lately because I'm in between jobs (going to school full time and working for a temp) and I've taken him out every time he starts sniffing around (unless it's in the kitchen where he finds food or something I know isn't a potty type sniff).

He hasn't had an accident in the house since yesterday at my grandparents' house I believe.

Now that we're letting him sleep with us, I still want him to think of his crate as a happy place so he can stay there when we need to go somewhere, or when we need to eat supper, or whatever, so I think I'm going to try getting a special treat thing that he only gets when he goes in his crate for him like you suggested.

I've heard of the kongs, but he's so small I didn't really think he'd want one. I might find him a small one, however, and put some peanut butter and pieces of a biscuit in there for him and see if that helps him realize it's not so bad to go in if he gets a good treat.

I think I just tought him to bark on command today. He needs a lot of practice to do it more often, but he was barking at himself in a mirror and I kept telling him Bark, when he'd quit and then Good Bark when he did it. Then I used his toy and told him to bark, he looked at me funny and I repeated it a couple times and he finally got the association and barked and I praised him. Once he gets the hang of that, I'm going to try having him bark each time we take him to the door to go outside and hopefully that will make him bark at the door to go out and potty in the future. :) *wishful thinking*

I'm glad to know that it can take some dogs a lot longer than a couple weeks to be potty trained. We got a video that said if you did a consistent schedule, you could get them potty trained in about 2 weeks. And after 12 days you could take them to the door and wait for them to make a distress sign that they have to go and then you'll know what to look for when they have to go potty.

I'd rather keep taking him out as often as possible, especially when he's really sniffing around, and then keep working with him at barking on command and then move that to barking each time we go out and *hopefully* that will help him to let us know he has to go out. Right now the sniffing is about the symbol we use. We see him really sniffing and ask if he wants to go outside to potty and take him out. So we're trying to get him to sniff and tell too.

I want to start using treats at the door after he has sniffed to go out and maybe that will reinforce the sniffing, and then a small treat for each potty outside like maybe a piece of dog food or something. Does that sound like a good idea? I read the link that was posted about potty training and other training and the person suggested that they used clickers and treats when house training, so I'm guessing treats might help?

As for the crate.. again I'll try to get him a special treat that he only gets when he's in there so he knows it's a special treat place. I've started putting the food in the crate, but if you shut the door and walk away he just cries and won't eat.

Thanks for all of your advice!
Erin

[FFstpay02]

I'm so glad he's doing so well! You're doing a wonderful job! Keep us updated on his progress...

[sdchampion]

When we got our Bergie she cried and cried in the crate too. We tried putting it in places where she could see us and that helped a lot. She finally learned it was her sleeping place at night and stopped crying. As she got older we moved her crate into our oldest sons room (he went off to college) and she again started the crying. However, this time I firmly told her "NO! It is nite nite time" and she laid down and has never cried since. Of course we have our nightly routine...she goes potty around 10:15pm, comes in, gets a treat, gives daddy nite nite kisses and off we go to the crate. This is done every single night and I think Bergie would freak out if it didn't happen! LOL

As far as potty training...every dog is different. It is great that you can be home more to train her. She'll come around and be potty trained before you know it! She is learning everyday what makes mommy and daddy happy and will respond as time goes on.

Feeding: Bergie has never ate on a schedule. She is a nibbler and then all of a sudden the food is gone. I can never figure out when exactly she ate! I think she doesn't like to be watched...I demanded she eat once and she went over, grabbed a nibble and looked at me like she was done. We never feed her after 6pm but we keep her water out at all times.

You sound like you have definately done your research and I commend you for that. I hate to see new pet owners get an animal and then a couple of months later they want it gone because they never prepared themselves on what to expect. Congrats to you and your hubby. You baby is in good hands...I can tell...:-)

[Otis'Mommy]

Thanks for all of the encouragement and advice.

He hasn't been doing too badly these last few days. Yesterday he was accident free. The day before he peed in his crate when we took him to town and then on the bed when his dad was playing with him that night. The crate one, I think was more because he was upset we ran into the store. (15-20 mins tops) It was very little.
The bed wetting one I think was our fault in that he hadn't been out since we got home and had been exercising heavily with his dad. But what is frustrating is his exercising stop and pees. He doesn't sniff or give any indication he has to go when he does that and it gets a little frustrating.

We tell him no potty or no potty house (trying to get it to him that potty in the house is not good, but potty outside is great)

We're still working with him and of course it's only the beginning of month 2 that he has been with us. And yes thankfully I'm home with him right now.
I can usually get him out every so often (less than 2 hrs if I see him getting too sniffy)..

The problem is he likes to sniff whether he has to go or not, so I'd almost be taking him out every 5 minutes and that can get demanding since I have to coat and boot up every time.

He's getting better at barking on command, so I'm thinking he's almost ready to try barking at the door before each time we go outside.
I'm thinking of trying... "Wanna go outside and go potty?" or "Wanna go potty outside?" Along those lines, and then "Bark" by the door when we get his leash on. Then a treat.. then outside and a treat for each deed.

I'm hoping doing that a good 15-20 times will get him to bark at the door when he has to go out. I don't know, but I'm hoping. Right now he doesn't really give a definite clue since like I said, he sniffs whether or not he needs to go out. So you really just have to watch his intensity and realize when the last time he went was. Which isn't much of a sign sadly..

He does scratch at the door when he's ready to come in.. too bad he wouldn't go scratch to go out!

My aunt gave us a car seat for dogs yesterday. He did quite well in that in our quick trip to town. It's like a big plastic bird cage. That's what it looks like anyway. It's brown/clear so he can see all the way around and out of it. He seems to like that better than a crate in the car.

As I said earlier.. he was accident free yesterday, but he pooped this morning after we went out. He ran downstairs before I could follow and pooped before I got to him so I couldn't scold him.. I think he didn't like the thick snow outside. He had peed for me and then wanted to go in right away. So I shoveled his little "potty lane" out so he would go there for the rest of the day without problems. So far he's been better. I'm just hoping for the day he is accident free every day. Little by little he's learning not to go inside, but it sure is frustrating that he doesn't give us a clear sign :(

I will keep everyone posted on his progress. I attached a pic.. I hope it attached right. Isn't he cute? :)

Erin

[mom2bichons]

He is very cute. Max was not good at giving signs either. So I put a bell on the door and rang it every time we would go out the door. Within a week he would ring the bell by himself. I would open the door and we would go outside. He did this for awhile not needing to do anything but I wanted to reinforce the ring the bell go outside thing. Now he rings the bell when he needs to potty. Sometimes he waits to long and I do not get to the door in time but we are progressing.

[Otis'Mommy]

Well my husband and I had our 1 yr anniversary this weekend and stayed saturday at a hotel room. Otis stayed with my grandparents and their fox terrier. They said he didn't have any in house accidents that they were aware of. So I'm hoping that's a good sign since he usually stays right with their dog out in the living room with my grandparents.

My grandpa has always gotten up around 4 am, so I know Otis got to go out early.

He didn't have any accidents last night and hasn't had any this morning. He actually made it through the night from 9pm to 4:30pm before he got wiggly in bed and had to go. He didn't even want to get up to go outside and potty, but I could tell he was uncomfortable and needed to empty himself.

He'll be 16wks this Tuesday. He still hasn't started giving us true potty signs yet. I am going to try the bell idea, but I have to go get a bell first. We have some christmas bells on the door right now, but they're not where he can reach them and I don't want my cats tearing that decoration up. I'm going to get a plain bell that I don't care about and hang it there with cord. That way if the cats are messing with it too it won't bug us.

That's the frustrating thing. I hope the cats don't play with it a lot and make Otis not want to use it. We'll try and see how it goes. If not, I'll have to try something else. Or at least hope he learns to hold it and we just let him out every so often. My grandparents' dog is like that. He just holds it until he gets to go out and they let him out periodically during the day. When Otis is over there, they go together.

We shall see... :)
Thanks for the advice.
Erin :)

[Otis'Mommy]

Ok, well yesterday wasn't a great day potty wise.

Otis pooped and peed in our spare room while I was in the bathroom. I know it'd been about 3hrs since he'd been out so it was my fault. I planned on taking him out as soon as I finished pulling my hair back, but he couldn't wait.

Also, I think I've reprimanded him too loudly for pottying in the house, because now if he goes in the house, and I say No potty in house, he will run from me. I don't chase him, but since he runs I incite that he's in a rush and switch to a nicer tone and urge him to go outside and lead him out to go potty and get my happy voice and a treat for him if he finishes outside.

But I don't want him hiding and pottying in the house. We've never hit him for pottying in the house, only yelled No in a firm voice or No potty in house. Once my husband tossed a magazine beside him to shock him a little to make him stop, and once he might have gotten a tap on the butt, but nothing to the point of hurting him.. just mostly a tap/swoop to budge him so he'd quit peeing; neither of us are ok with hurting an animal.

But I would rather him not associate such negative with us. I've heard to clap or whatever, but I've tried and he knows it's us, he still knows he's upset us.

He has no problem pottying for us outside. He gets a treat and he's excited to do it for us since he knows we approve. The inside accidents I think are more either he's been playing and goes for a quick pee without thinking, or he has had to hold it for more than a few hours and sneaks off to relieve himself.

The few hours thing is definitely our fault, but the playing/exercising pees that he doesn't give an indication for are frustrating. I've heard that for this reason you're not supposed to play with your pup in the house, you should make them stay in the crate for most of the day etc. But I want him to be part of our family, not feel he has to be in confinement all day long and that he isn't part of the family.
Besides, if you play with him only outside, that would make him think outside is for play time and most likely cause him to want to be outside for a long time playing rather than pottying which it's for.

When he's playing hard, should we try taking him out every 30 minutes or so, especially if he hasn't been out in awhile? Would that help with him having to go after he's played for awhile?
And as for the running from me when he gets scolded for pottying in the house. Did we screw him up, or is there anyway we can teach him that we just don't want it in the house, we want him to go outside instead and he doesn't have to run from us, he should want to go outside?
I still haven't gotten a bell to hang on the door, I really need to try that. I'm just worried about my cats messing with it and making him not want to use it. :( He won't go near my male cat because he always hisses at him if Otis approaches the cat. Otis will try to play with him, but if the cat is in a doorway, Otis will just bark and cry because he can't get past him.

He's 16wks today and he went pee earlier after playing for awhile, it was about an hour and a half after I'd taken him to pee before. I'm guessing he just couldn't wait the hour since he'd been active..

We're recording all of his accidents so we can see when/if he's improving and know what things we need to work on.
I'm feeling bad that he runs from us when we scold him for going in the house. I didn't think we were being that mean since we've never hurt him, or screamed at him. Just usually.. No potty in the house in a firm tone!
Is he just scared because he's upset us in general? We've never chased and hit him, so I don't know why he's running like we're going to... but I feel bad when he runs and also frustrated because I want to be able to take him out.

Any thoughts?..
Erin

[Otis'Mommy]

Well this morning, I took Otis outside and he peed, but didn't want to stay out and poop. I know now that I should have kept walking him and suggesting he go until he went. I need to learn that.

Anyway, I went to brush my hair and he came and pooped in the hall beside me, so I'm feeling less worried that he's scared to go in front of us, or is scared of being reprimanded for going and wants to hide while he goes in the house.

I clapped and told him No potty in the house in a firm tone and he tucked tail and ran into the living room. I walked after him and turned to a nicer tone and encouraged him to go outside and finish. He didn't have to finish while outside, but I encouraged him that potty outside is a good thing by being nice and cheery about being out there and saying potty outside.

I'm frustrated to say the least. I really really wish he'd learn to tell us he has to go out. Some dogs never learn to tell you and they will learn to hold it because they know they get to go out often. But he's not got either down yet. I'm going to attach one of our christmas decorations (bells) to the door today and start tapping it whenever we go out to potty. We have him sitting by the door before going out which helps with getting his leash on, and he'll scratch at the door when we're getting ready to come in, to show he wants to go in. If he'd just scratch when he needs to go out, that would be great.

It's only month 2, but I can't help wishing he would catch on faster that he should at the very least hold it and wait til we go out since he gets a chance to go out often. Since I'm home, he gets to go out at most every 2 hours, but usually less than that if I know he's been playing hard and might need to pee sooner, or he has just ate etc.

We just got a new crate, one of the big metal ones. He likes the one at my grandparents' house, and my aunt had one they aren't using, and we set that up and put his blanket and food and water in there. He doesn't mind going in it and I think we're going to try to get him used to staying in there sometimes. I know it's not a good thing for pottying since it's quite big and will leave him to think he can go in one end, but if we only use it for short times such as during meals etc for awhile, we're hoping he will be able to hold it while in there.

I know it's suggested to put something in to make the area small, but my grandparents had the same size crate for their terrier and they have always been able to potty train their dogs pretty quickly. Plus their dog goes in his crate a lot on his own and will stay in there if needed without much crying.

I'm just frustrated still, I suppose. Some things work for my grandparents that are different than what everyone suggests, and I'm torn because Otis does spend a lot of time over there, so I'm inclined to use the same techniques as I know they're using when he's there. Such as "Get in your house" to encourage him to get in the crate. I'm just waiting for the day Otis learns that, he gets to go out often enough that he needs to hold it during the day until he goes out and can't just squat and go in the house whenever he feels like it. I know he knows we don't like potty in the house, but he still hasn't made the connection that he should wait because he will get a chance to go out soon enough.

Long post.. needed to vent a little.
Erin

[jones]

You definitely shouldn't reprimand the pup in any way for going inside, because it teaches them not to potty around you and they WILL often sneak off to potty, as you've already seen. Just clean up without a word, without him seeing you if possible. I know that can seem counter-intuitive because you're wondering how will he know NOT to go inside? But dogs learn better to do things the right way, than not to do them the wrong way. To put it another way, they make associations. If he's rewarded when he potties outside, but nothing happens when he goes inside, he will form a positive association with pottying outside... and then in time he'll understand, when we go outside that's the right time to potty.

Don't think that you've ruined him or made him afraid of you. Yes, he knows you're upset, even if you don't yell or hit him. But dogs are very forgiving... it can be undone by just NOT reacting to accidents at all, ever again. Don't even try to startle or interrupt him next time. Just tell yourself, "oops, better be on the ball next time."

You're at the stage where YOU are housetrained but your puppy isn't quite yet. That's good, it means you're making progress. This is the stage where you will still have accidents because you waited too long to take him out, or forgot, etc. Slowly but surely the accidents will taper off. This can be the MOST frustrating stage, but you're so close, and yet (it seems) so far away. Hang in there!

There is nothing at all wrong with playing with your puppy indoors! But vigorous play is a common potty trigger for puppies, so do take a potty break. If you think every half hour is what's called for, try that.

Also... all dogs are different. What has worked for your grandparents' dogs might not work for yours. You have to be tuned in to your own animal. Otis sounds "soft" and sensitive - this is the kind of dog for whom harsh techniques just won't work. And I don't mean to be critical, but I think your expectations might be just a little too high. His progress for his age is TOTALLY normal, if not on the better side of normal!

Good luck.

[Otis'Mommy]

Thanks for the advice Jones. I really appreciate your post.

I truly am frustrated still. I'm trying the best I can. I stopped reprimanding him for going in the house other than "No potty house" and then taking him outside to finish.

I've heard that if you clean up the accident and take it out and put the soiled paper towel on the ground and let them sniff it then that can help to reinforce for them that that is supposed to be where they the "potty" goes.
I've done that the last few times that he has pooped inside.

Yesterday he pooped outside, and then pooped in the house about 2-3 hrs later. He normally never poops in that short of time frame unless it's early in the morning and then later in the morning. In the evening this was the first time I had seem him go twice in a row so late in the evening. So it was a shock to me to say the least. He pooped in the spare room I was cleaning. Right next to me, mind you, so I know he's not afraid to go in front of me. As for cleaning the mess up without him seeing me. I do the best I can with that. I try to get him to stay with someone else if I'm not alone. When I'm alone with him, I can't always assure that, but then when I'm alone with him in the house, it seems like he doesn't have as many accidents. I'm thinking that's my doing, since I'm more distracted when there are other people around because I assume in the back of my mind that they will take care of him too. Which backfires like tonight..

He hadn't pooped during the day today, and I fed him supper and planned to take him out after he finished. Well in the midst of that, my husband needed supper before he went to work and my mother was asking me to help her with present wrapping. I rushed to get supper started and Otis pooped on the floor behind me. Frustrated as I was, I didn't reprimand him, other than saying No potty house (not even very firm of a voice, just more disappointed voice) , then I took it outside and him and showed him and said potty outside as I pointed to it. He sniffed it and I kept reinforcing that was good outside.

Later this evening he got up from a nap and hadn't been up more than 30 seconds and he walked up beside me onto some dirty laundry and started to stretch and then I kind of glanced down thinking he'd been stretching a bit too long and noticed he'd sleepily stretched and then started to pee. Oi.. I grabbed him and took him to my husband to go out and I cleaned up the mess.

So the last two days haven't been the greatest, but he had 4 good days in a row before Sunday, so I guess he's not doing terrible. I know this is the hardest stage, I'm just frustrated to say the least.

I'm going to have to start carrying around a stop watch or something, I'm starting to think. That way I remind myself to make sure he goes out every 1-2 hours at least and more so if he's been drinking a lot of water and/or playing heavily. I'd like to just make sure he gets to go out often enough he doesn't have to go inside.

He always gets a treat and/or lots of praise when he goes potty outside. Sometimes in the early morning he's not interested in a treat, so we just praise him and tell him good potty outside in a happy voice several times and pet him.

He is 18 weeks now. And we have had him for about 6 weeks.
All in all he doesn't seem to be doing too bad since he does go in spurts where he has 3-4 days of no accidents. I'm just longing for the day he only has maybe 1 or 2 accidents a week and less until he learns it's better to hold it while inside....

Trying to stay focused and not frustrated is the key. I'm holding to the advice that he will learn the going outside is positive and going inside doesn't get any reaction. I don't want to yell at him and have him afraid of going in front of us, so I'm hoping he soon gets the whole potty outside very positive idea soon.. ;) I know some people have said it's taken them almost 4 months to house train their dogs. I'm hoping it doesn't take that long on him, but I know there's a possibility.

He has gained at least 3lbs since we got him. He's growing nicely. :)
I will keep trying to stay focused, take him out more, and keep positive rewarding.
My next project is teaching him to come on command *every* time.
Right now, he thinks it's a game to come sit close to me or anyone for the most part. He will bark at me and act like he wants to play rather than coming and sitting by me.
Other times he'll come right up. I want him to come every time I ask him to. (It would really help with getting a leash on him...)
I have started praising him with "good collar" for letting me touch his collar while he is sitting in front of me. I'm hoping that will kick in soon, but I really feel I'm going to have to leash him and work on "Come" quite a bit each day. He has sit, shake, bark, lay down, and jump up down alright. But come is very important and I want him to learn it well...

That's the update and frustration vent from Otis' Mommy...
Erin