Potty training

[mdenglund]

Hi all!

Ruby is our first Frenchie baby (3 1/2mos). She is often alone during the day for up to 4 hours. Since we did not want her to have any accidents in her crate, we have an excercise pen set up in our kitchen furnished with a bed, pee pad, toys, and water dish. She does not all mind being in there, but she often pees on the floor, not the pad. Is this confusing her, making her think it is ok to go in the house? She is very small for her age (I think) - only ~5lbs, so she might not have as large of a bladder as most. Does anyone have any suggestions? She does not care for her crate all that much as it is... we keep her in there at night, and she does alright, but during the day when we're home, she cries and barks. So, as an alternative, we often place her in her excersize pen, and she even pees in there when were in the other room...

We would love suggestions!

Thanks!
Marty and Stacey

[sakirby]

marty and stacey....hmmmmm???:)

i have to say, i had the exact same experience with oscar. we didn't put him in his crate when we left him. we only put him in their at night. and we put him in a gated area when we left him (with his crate in it so he could go in there when he wanted). he too would sometimes pee in his gated off area when we were gone.

i would suggest a few things. how long are you leaving her? up to four hours i think you said. that should be OK if she is 3 1/2 months old. how is the potty training going otherwise? while you are home? i would just suggest consistency. really taking her out a lot when you are home and praising her to bits when she goes outside. and try to catch her peeing while you are home (in the house). and say NO really firmly. that will get the point across. take her outside and again, praise praise praise when she goes. my only other suggestion is to crate her when you are gone. does she ever go to the bathroom in her crate? if she hasn't you may want to try to give her a nice kong with peanut butter or apples or something inside, in her crate, shut the door, and then leave. my guess is she will be facinated with the kong, and then just go to sleep when she realized you guys aren't there to get her out. she may bark a bit at first but, you just have to ignore them. she should be able to hold it for four hours in her crate if she is used to not going to the bathroom in it. she won't want to go in there so, she should hold it. that would be my best suggestion. otherwise, i think consistency in training should do the trick over time. she will learn that going inside is never ok. even in her area. plus, 3 1/2 months is still pretty young. oscar was still having occasional accidents til he was 5 months old, in the exact same way that your pup is. so, i think you will find that it will get better soon as long as you stay on top of it!

GOOD LUCK! appicon

[sakirby]

oh, one more thing. ditch the pee pad. in my opinion. i wish i would have NEVER used one with oscar. in my opinion, it just encourages to go inside at certain times, and then they don't understand when it is ok, and when it isn't. so, i would get rid of the pee pad, expect some accidents in the next month or two, and invest in some "anti-icky-poo" (the best brand of pee/poop/odor remover in my opinion). the pee pad just says "you can pee inside, sometimes, but not other times." no pee pad just means a dirty floor for less time i think. i think she will "get it" so much faster if she is NEVER encouraged to go inside. i wish i had done that with oscar from the get-go. he learned super quickly once i ditched the pee pad. :D hope this helps! good luck on your first frenchie baby. ahh, the memories :)

[franp]

Your dog has no idea what a pee pad is for..And IMO , the only way she will be housebroken is if you crate train her..

The crate should be big enough for her to stand and turn around..Put her in the crate with NO towel or pad..She will learn to control herself (muscle control) because she will not want to lay in her mess..If you give her a place to get away from her pee, that is exactly what she will do..Pee and move away from it..

The theory is that she can be in her crate an hour longer than she is old.Three and a half months=four hours in her crate..Walk her and PRAISE her when she does her business outside.Put her in the crate..NO food or water..

Pick up the pee pads.And keep her confined..otherwise all you are teaching her is to pee in the area you are leaving her in..

[mdenglund]

Thanks for the suggestions! We will give it a shot - only keeping her in her crate. I am concerned about not having any blankets in her crate since we live in the frozen tuntra, aka Minnesota, and it seems to be very cold for her. Until we got a heat pad in her crate, she would sleep terribly at night.

What if she does go in her crate while we are gone since she is used to being able to go when she needs to?

Potty training thus far is going well. At night, she will wake up after 4 hrs, cry and we will take her out to go to the bathroom - then every two hrs, and we will take her out to go to the bathroom. During the day when we are home, we take her out often (every hour). She has an accident about every week or so - when we take our eyes off of her. She has started to go to the door after she eats to go out - which is a step in the right direction.

Sorry for all the questions - want to be sure we are doing it right!

Thanks again
_____________

Marty and Stacey

[FrankEinstein]

Sounds like you're on the right track, Marty. Your puppy is still very young and won't fully get it right away. Sugar peed in her carrying crate only. We kept the space in her crate by the bed very tight, just enough for her to lay in, and that seemed to work. Also, we stopped putting water in her food and let her drink from her bowl when she wanted to. The cut back the accidents almost entirely. Your puppy is still growing and so her bladder isn't fully developed. It will get easier. Just ignore the accidents (but clean them up!) and reward the good behavior. She'll get it when she's able to. We went through this same process, and now Sugar is unbelieveably good.

[EllieMae]

We found crate training is the best form of potty training EVER, thanks Franp! Ellie just ripped up all the pee pads and dispursed them throughout the house in a frenchie mocking manner:lol:

[wendykei]

Before Sidney was vaccinated, I briefly tried to get him to pee on pee pads. But whenever I'd leave him in the bathroom with a pee pad, I'd come back to find a puddle on the tile and Sidney sleeping on the pee pad. It only lasted for a day before I went back to crate training. The crate training is working out well. He's 6 months, still not completely housetrained, but we're getting there.