Toilet training issues

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Abz	Toilet training issues		Lead	[-]
Posts: 5 01/09/2009 1:07 AM	Tags : None Hi all, I've attempted to be brief - hope it still makes sense.. So little Ben came home last saturday and will be 8 weeks old tomorrow. Beautiful pup who is very much loved but he does have a We've run into a bit of trouble in that he now thinks the whole house is fine to use as a bathroom. I understand his logic. When we got him he'd only ever been outside so he identified outside as the place to toilet (only on concrete though, hates the garden except to play in). However, he's home alone between 8.15 and 12.15 and then again between 12.45 and 5.15 (someone comes home from work to make lunch) and we're not able to allow him outside at this time as he cries (well shrieks really) and our backyard is adjacent to the neighbours baby's room so they've complained. He's only a baby so of course he needs a toileting inside option - so I guess i'm just looking for suggestions on how to minimise the confusion to him and also minimise the toileting inside issue too. Would it be possible to newspaper train him for inside yet still somehow encourage him to want to pee and poop outside when we're home and during the night? Or is that too complicated for a pup to pick up? Also, in the long term - i'd really like to be able to allow him outside when we're not home sometimes. Is the shrieking when left alone behaviour an age thing - or do we somehow need to teach him that its ok to be alone for a couple of hours sometimes? Any suggestions/insights most appreciated Many thanks Abbi
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2GR8DANES		#1	[url]	[-]
Posts: 311 01/09/2009 10:35 AM	Abbi - You will be glad to know that your challenges are not new and we've all experienced them and posted our experiences here. A couple of things. 1. I did not see the word crate or kennel in your post. Crate training is the easiest way to teach your pup to respect the whole house as his den. I personally would not recommend giving an 8 week old pup the run of the house. He needs to be constantly supervised at this point and his world needs to be confined and expanded slowly. The most you can expect from him right now is poop, pee, play, and sleep. Since dogs do not like to sleep where they potty, the crate helps this along...the whole house only reinforces that he can go anywhere. If you search potty training on this site, you will find tons of posts addressing your challenge with all kinds of suggestions. Folks that do not use crates can chime in as to the best way to potty train using the free reign method. 2. Danes are people dogs. They want to be with their people, therefore, your idea of leaving him outside may not work. Also, when my two are outside, I check on them frequently as I do not trust that someone might drive up and offer them a treat to get into a van. Danes are so trusting that they are easily stolen. Again, a crate helps to teach your pup that you will be back. Right now, he does not understand that when you leave him outside, you will be back. Do another search on this site related to "separation anxiety"...you will find a bunch more useful posts on how to teach your pup that you are coming back.
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Jamie		#2	[url]	[-]
Posts: 2 01/09/2009 2:36 PM	Abbi, The shrieking that goes on when he is alone is very normal. He just doesnt want to be alone, but after a while he will get used to it. Crate training is a good thing to get into when having a puppy. They refuse to go to the bathroom where they sleep so this will force him to hold it until he is let outside.While you are home with him, keep an eye on him, and if you notice him sniffing around, take him outside. Its always good to use the same door so he starts to know where to go when he nees to be let ouside. If by chance he does go in the house, pick it up and take it outside and put it in the grass. Same thing when he pee's. Dab a paper towel over the spot he peed on, then dab the wet paper towel on the grass. This way when you take him outside to go to the bathroom he will smell what you put in the grass and realize thats his scent, so he will soon become comfortable with going outside. But you really have to keep an eye on him the first few days when you are around him cause if you notice him sniffing he most likely has to go out. If you dont let him out he wont know any better than to go in your house. The crate training has gone really well for me and my 3 month old dane. I too work so he is left in his crate most of the day. But he is now on a schedule that he goes out in the morning around 7:30, at lunch around 1:00 and then when i come home around 5:00. I cant stress crate training enough! its a big help. Sorry so long, I hope this helps you. -Jamie
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diehardmason		#3	[url]	[-]
Posts: 18 01/09/2009 5:04 PM	This is the thing I like most about this site. You normally don'thave to post anything, b/c, someone normally will ask the question. I am having the same trouble with my 8 week old and was wondering if I was alone. I know they normally aren't fully trained until 4 to 6 months according to other posts, but, at times it is frustrating because they are so big and then you remember they are only 8 weeks old. I live about :30 minutes away from work so we don't have the opportunity to get home from lunch, but, I don't keep him in the crate all day. We will keep him in the laundry room instead of the small crate, but, we do put the crate in there and he is confined. I need to work on confining and letting his roaming area expand. Did you keep them confined to an area and let the area expand?
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Abz		#4	[url]	[-]
Posts: 6 01/11/2009 11:12 PM	Diehardmason - i agree - this site is brilliant and it's always both comforting and informative to know one is not alone with puppy challenges. 2greatdanes & jamie many thanks for the advice - i've now read a heap on crate training and separation anxiety. So - an update - we bit the bullet and bought a crate on the weekend, it's in Ben's room where his bed used to be so luckily he tends to head there for naps and to play occasionally. It feels a bit weird, Crates aren't commonly used in Australia (i'm yet to come across anyone who uses them) but i've looked into the theory of crate training and hopefully all goes well? We may have created a monster with the roaming the house issue. He's only ever been allowed in the (open plan) familly/kitchen/dining area as the rest of the house is carpeted. The family room is baby-gated and originally we tried to restrict him to this area however he'd scream and throw himself at the baby gate if anyone so much as put a foot on the other side of the gate to get a coffee/get his food etc, despite their remining in full view. I felt all that slamming into things couldn't be good for him so we now leave the gate open when we're not in the living room with him - this seems to work fine, he's still constantly supervised and he's at his happiest underfoot so normally just sits and watches whatever activity necessitated someone leaving the babygated section (hence the occasional accident i guess - even when he's sitting next to your feet its sometimes necessary to watch ones fingers when veggie chopping) He has no problems being gated into his section for the night though - so upon reflection - i guess this is a case where the puppy has quickly and effectively trained his owners?
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2GR8DANES		#5	[url]	[-]
Posts: 313 01/12/2009 12:45 AM	BINGO! My suggestion is if you are not going to go back to square one and you are going to continue to allow him run of the house, then get proactive about his potty breaks. Every 30min take him outside. Get him to potty. Give him lots of praise and a high value treat. Gradually extend the time between potty breaks...1 hr, 90 min, 2hrs is probably max right now for a young pup. If you think proactively, you will be less in a reactive mode trying to scoop him up as he starts going right in front of you. Take him out after a drink of water, take him out after he plays...anything you can think of to create the association with outside, potty, praise....and to make sure there is nothing in the tank for him to leave in the house. You might start a trend down-under with the crating, but you will be so thankful you did it to preserve your sanity...
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BlueBerry Fin		#6	[url]	[-]
Posts: 587 01/17/2009 1:15 PM	Hi Abbi - We do not crate train our dogs (we have 5 and tomorrow will make 6) and they do have full run of the house. I do agree with 2GR8DANES about the potty breaks. We also have a bell on our door that our girls and boy ring when they have to pee or poo. We lucked out in the fact that our girls trained Fin for us to do this. Ben is still so very young... accidents are bound to happen.... unfortunatley he will most likely have many more in the next few weeks....THE JOYS OF PUPPYHOOD! But enjoy him as a puppy while you can because he will grow SO FAST! You'll forget the little piddles and poo soon enough and wonder where your little puppy went to! Best of luck to you and Ben.
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Abz	the joys of puppyhood, giant feet, and noticeably less accidents...	#7	[url]	[-]
Posts: 7 01/19/2009 1:37 AM	Thanks blueberry Fin - congrats on ur impending 6th dog - you're very brave - there are definitely times i find our single baby boy quite overwhelming! I must admit, the crate training has kind of been put on the back burner. I can see it has its uses, and we're following the gradual method i saw on a number of websites, i can see it being a good idea for when we visit ppl, he goes to the vet etc. But day to day, Ben now sleeps with us. Actually he prefers to hang out in the shower of the bathroom adjoining our bedroom (the tiles make it a great place to escape the heat i think). It's working very well though. Everyone has stressed being proactive about his potty breaks which has helped immensely and as he now sleeps so close to us, i take him out whenever he gets restless in the night. So while accidents occasionally occur - they're much rarer now - which is wonderful I read about bell training long before we even settled on a breeder, it sounds like a great tool in the puppy training journey and will be next on our "to be accomplished during our joys of puppyhood journey" list. O wow and the growth rate, i've never seen anything like it! it's rather difficult to get the squirming little guy to stand still so the height measurement is a bit suspect - however i think he's grown 4 inches in 2 weeks, he's definitley put on 4.3 kilos though (suspect that's just under 10 lb?) to put him at 10.4kg (22ish lb) and 40cm (16ish inches) - complete with feet at least the size of his head
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