7.5 month old makes mistakes

[JoyMac]

So we adopted our french bull dog puppy last Sunday and he was great the first few days in terms of house training. Toby is 7.5 months old. His owners told us that he was housetrained and if he makes a mistake we should "press his nose in it and say NO!"....this should have been my first indication that a. he makes mistakes b. he was raised in fear.

So Saturday night I met my friend out for dinner and Toby was left home with his "grandparents" (my parents) who I currently live with. At around 8 pm he pooped all over our dining room. When my mom came in and said "Toby! oh no!" he got scared and peed all over himself. He was feeling very badly and whimpered by the upstairs door (which is my bedroom).

I take him out every 3-4 hours. At night if he has to go he scratches next to me and it either means that he wants to come up (into my bed) or that he has to go. Also, I wake up frequently so everytime I wake up I take him (which is every 3-4 hours). I was so proud because today he scratched my bed and I took him out and he pooped. Obviously, he was praised.

Today, he went out and pooped again and then came back in and after about 30 minutes he peed on a little hallway carpet. My father said "no Toby! and showed him the little carpet where he peed and pointed to it." Toby then hid under the bed and then under a chair in the living room.



What do you think?

[franp]

I think you need to start from the beginning; as though Toby is a pup..Use a crate and start from the very beginning.. with LOTS of praise...to reverse the fear that your dog has experienced...

Toby needs to learn what acceptable behavior is.. saying no and not telling him what the right way is just confusing.. While he was with your parents..he should have either been in a crate or in a restricted area.. Toby had no idea what was expected of him..and has not yet earned the right to be free in the house...

there are a number of threads on here , as well as members who have successfully crate trained pups in the recent past.. they can really help you..One point..consistency;schedule and PRAISE.. will teach Toby to be the dog you want..

NEVER EVER use fear tactics ... please...you see the results.. a dog who does not understand what you want.. or follow your commands..

[French Queen]

Hi JoyMac - Thank god you have this little boy now. It's unbelievable that some people still use this barbaric method. You wouldn't rub a baby's nose in it so why do they do it with a puppy! Toby doesn't know he has done something wrong so by rubbing his nose in the poo he is going to fear the owners & be frightened to go to the toilet as you are finding out now. Because of the way he was brutalized into toilet training start as if he is a ten week old pup but expect progress to take longer as you have to undo all the damage that has been done & at the same time learn him the correct way. Take Toby out too often rather than too little so there is less chance you will have to correct him if you catch him weeing in the house. You will have to be consistent & have a lot of patience & give lots of love (so easy with a frenchie) & in time he will come right. There are some really good threads on here about housebreaking & crate training I recommend you read them.

I wish you & Toby all the best

French Queen & the little clowns :)

[imogene]

I think you have gotten some very good advice - start from scratch with his house training. If he has an accident take put him somewhere safe (a crate if you are crate training) and clean it up. Don't make a big deal, and don't discipline him after the fact. Don't trust him at all right now - if you cant keep an eye on him he should be crated or tethered too you. Freedom and more space has to be earned.

Oh and neither of my frenchies were even close to being 100% house trained at 7.5 months. Frenchies can be very hard to house train, and many do not develop signals to let you know when they have to go. But they do get it eventually, so just have patience and faith. And praise him like crazy when he does the right thing.