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House Training frustrations
CaptainPeacock
Board Game HoarderTop o' the LakeRegistered User regular
Board Game HoarderTop o' the LakeRegistered User regular
So, we adopted a 3 y.o. dog from the Humane Society. Yay!
Turns out she is not house trained. Boo!
I don't know thing one about the proper methods to train a dog. Everything I know, I'm learning on the fly through online guides and websites.
However, the housetraining is becoming very frustrating. I take her for walks almost every hour, trying to have her in the right place when she needs to go so that I can praise and give treats. Problem is, she keeps having accidents in the house, so when we go out she doesn't need to go any longer. It's infuriating!
From what I've read, the solution is confinement/crating. When we are home and not actively engaged with the dog, she needs to be confined so that she learns to "hold it" long enough until we go for a walk.
Anyone know how long housetraining usually takes, or have relatable experience that they can share?
Turns out she is not house trained. Boo!
I don't know thing one about the proper methods to train a dog. Everything I know, I'm learning on the fly through online guides and websites.
However, the housetraining is becoming very frustrating. I take her for walks almost every hour, trying to have her in the right place when she needs to go so that I can praise and give treats. Problem is, she keeps having accidents in the house, so when we go out she doesn't need to go any longer. It's infuriating!
From what I've read, the solution is confinement/crating. When we are home and not actively engaged with the dog, she needs to be confined so that she learns to "hold it" long enough until we go for a walk.
Anyone know how long housetraining usually takes, or have relatable experience that they can share?
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I 100% agree with crate training a dog. Most of my dogs overnight in their crates, and every day around 1pm to 3pm they have daytime naptime.
I've also seen dogs pick up really quick on hanging a bell from your door, and you ring that when you take her for a walk. Some dogs will eventually ring the bell themselves when they want to go outside.
Things to avoid are really any kind of negative reinforcement. Most dogs don't really get that. When she goes outside, i.e. "appropriately," give her a treat. When she goes inside, tell her no, then clean it up and go on about your day.
As far as getting her a crate goes, you want one big enough so she can turn around and settle herself into a different position, but not so big that she has room to pee or poop and then stay away from it. If she's an odd size, they sell crate dividers you can use to customize the size a bit.
How long have you had her? Many dogs will pee inside of a new place consistently, housebroken or not, just because it's a new place and they're dogs. Or out of nervousness.
Is her urine an appropriate color?
And, there's a rule on these forums, that if you want to make this kind of post, you have to put some pictures of your pet up.
just keep taking her out regularly (most pee breaks are after nap or eating).
crate training can work, but some dogs hate it: ours was one of those.
just keep at it and try to be understanding., seems like you are doing the right things.
I've been watching her for signs, but I'm not getting them. She just slips out to another room and goes. Starting this morning, I didn't let her out of my sight until I left the house. Took her out twice for a walk but she only laid a deuce.
When we're at work, she's in a fairly large family room downstairs. Only two accident spots down there, which is great considering she spends most of each weekday down there.
I have a picture that u can post, but no idea where a good place to host it would be. If you want to see her, recommend to me a place to put it
Anywho, with regards to crating/confining, I'm thinking of getting one of those circular wire pens that we can sort of corral her in when she's not actively engaged by one of us, until training is finished. Is it not a good idea to leave her in one of those while we are at work?
Another thing I didn't mention earlier, when you go out for a walk, as she starts to pee or poop, say a command. I use 'go potty.' It doesn't matter what you say, as long as it's consistent. You'll eventually end up with a dog that's not only housebroken, but will also know a command for bathroom time. Which is super handy when the weather isn't great.
As far as crates go, I would head to a local pet store with her. As long as she's leashed, they usually have no problem with dogs in the store. Find a crate that fits her.
The reason I asked about urine color is if her urine isn't concentrating (if her urine is basically water, and not yellow) then it *could* point to a UTI or mild bladder infection. It could also just be a nervous dog peeing because she's nervous, which given the breeds you have there is completely possible.
Good advice on the crate though. Would crating while at work be a bad idea? If so, then I might go for the pen while at work and crate for training when I'm at home.
At night she does really well. Sleeps in our bed all night and so far hasn't gotten up to go create a mess. Think a crate at night is necessary if she's not having a problem then?
Praising when they go in the right area is going to help a lot. You can choose audio or food depending on the dog. We also have a windchime/bell hung near the door so that we could hear him go to the door. He'd often sneak up, go to the door, bump it and almost immediately pee. When we got the bell hung and taught him it helped him to realize the bell meant we were coming to take him outside.
A circular pen/corral is most likely not going to help with the potty training. It will most likely leave her bored and gives her too much room to roam and still use the restroom. It may even hurt the training process. If you get a proper crate that fits her she is less likely to use the restroom in the crate since she would then have to sit/lay in it until you got home and most animals are completely adverse to that and will avoid if possible. Accidents will happen but they always do.
I also shy away from punishing a dog for using the restroom in the house UNLESS you catch them in the act. I'll reprimand them if I catch them in the act and then quickly get them outside and treat them when they finish outside.
It's basically all about enforcing the behavior you want and preventing the one you don't want as much as possible.
http://imgur.com/RoOrABB
http://imgur.com/XLlcfrS
Crating while at work is perfectly fine. That's the idea, keep them in a confined place where they know they can't go while you are away and can't take them out. If she does fine at night, then there's no need to crate her. That's what me and my girlfriend do with ours that's still house training, we crate him when we go to work to avoid him having accidents or tearing stuff up, then leave him out when we are at home and can keep a better eye on him (including at night). If you see her start to go in the house, yell for her to stop (you can only scold a dog for going in the house if you actually catch them doing it or they won't understand why you are yelling at them), then immediately take her outside until she goes, afterwards reward her for going outside.
One important note about crating is that you can't use the crate as a punishment. The dog has to feel comfortable and at home in it. You are leaving her in there for large amounts of time while at work after all and don't want her to see it as a punishment when you put her in there to leave for work everyday.
But the Yorkie was really obvious about when she was planning on going. She started sniffing around and running in circles. And we already had a yard-trained dog. Having him as an example of proper doggy behavior sped things up quite a bit, I think. Maybe if your dog is okay with it, you could try having playdates with a trained dog?
Good news from today: no accidents during the day and the walk when I got home was productive on both counts :biggrin:
I think your issue is likely do to nervousness. But you're doing all the right things so far.
On a good note: potty before bed was productive. So I've got it down to about 4 walks a day. Does that sound about right?
My sister's Yorkie, though, need more frequent, but shorter, times outdoors. (I say times instead of walks because Wrigley hates walks to the point where she will flee and hide the minute she sees her leash, and she won't poop anywhere but our back yard. But she spends most of her time outside running around. So it is exercise.)
So, she last went pee last night around 9, and it's now around 10 next morning. Hasnt gone since, but I think that's because she hasn't drunk much in the meantime. So far just one accident, but it was while someone was watching her overnight at home when I was gone.
Also, your dogs name is Geth? We named one of my dogs Tali! We sometimes call her "potato" because when she is sleepy she is *sleepy* and basically doesn't move for anything.
And this is Bean (Ender's Game reference).
Yeah, she sleeps through the night with no accidents. A bit worried now, because she last went around 2:30 yesterday and only pooped on her walk this morning. She doesn't drink much And only usually eats at one of her meal times. Taking her to vet tomorrow.
A couple little tricks:
Pinch some skin up from your dog's back. You're looking for tenting, which is to say the skin not settling back down like skin does. This indicates dehydration.
If your dog lets you touch her mouth areas, gently pull her cheek away from her teeth, and check out her gums. How do they look? Pink and healthy? Great! Gray? Not so great. Now, gently push on a gum with your finger or thumb tip, and watch how long it takes for blood to flow back in. Dog's gums are like signs. I have no idea what they say, because I'm not a vet, but slow capillary refill or gums that are gray are an indicator that your dog doesn't feel well. It could be for a whole lot of reasons.
and my dog will skip meals all the time
My little Westie (Yoshi) is going on 5 months now and he seems to be getting the hang of going to the bathroom outdoors. Strangely enough, now that it's Spring he seems to be regressing a bit because he's used to doing his business on the snow. He's getting better every day though.
The key for us is to make sure we give him the chance to go every 30 minutes or so. If he doesn't go within the time frame of an hour I make sure to get him out for a walk and that usually does the trick. Another thing I've found is that you have to praise them like crazy. If he looks like he's gonna go then I praise him, hell if he even looks like he's considering it then I praise him too. Then when he actually goes I go crazy with the praise and even give him a treat.
Obligatory pics: