no bathroom signal

[sakirby]

i am starting to get really frustrated with oscar's housebreaking. i feel like, he goes outside 95% of the time but, only because i take him out alot. if i break the routine a bit, he goes on the floor. with no barking or anything to tell me he has to go. he just goes. even if i am standing right there. he hasn't developed a signal (that i can see) to tell me he has to go. he has made it through the night for about a month and a half. i take him out between 8 and 9 each morning. i decided to push it until 9:30 this morning because he went out late at night last night (1am). but, when i woke up, he had peed, and pooped in the kitchen. he hasn't pooped in the house in at least a month. :( any suggestions on how to get him to tell me he has to go? i leave the crate door open at night, maybe i should close it so he has to bark for me to let him out if he has to go? frustrated.

[Borgan]

Yes, I would definitely close the crate door at night - there's no reason why it should be open, and it will probably prevent him from going.

Secondly, have you tried installing the little Christmas bells on your front door? It honestly works! And I think they like it, because it makes them feel like they have a butler (Frenchies fancy themselves royalty). Let me know if you want the step-by-step of bell training your dog.

Tootles!
Brooke.

[franp]

Oscar is 4 months old? right? He is a baby and as such I think you are expecting way too much from him.

Keep the crate door closed at night.If you let him out, he will go.

Consistency and a schedule is how dogs learn (besides crating ) to go outside.Take him the same time everyday.And expect accidents for the next few months. It is about his muscles getting stronger as well as Oscar learning what is expected of him.

Dari was not trustworthy until she was 7 months.What is her signal to me?She sits in front of me and STARES..At night if she REALLY has to go out (I am talking about 2AM) she will bother me. I tell her to go back to sleep and she does not let me..When she does this; invariably she does not feel good.

The key to housebreaking is routine and keeping to it.You might want to tether him to you during the day.Then you can observe him and see what he does right before he goes to pee or poop.Do not let him wander out of your sight either.He must be supervised.

This is the MOST frustrating part of having a pup.But you will do it. He needs you to tell him what he needs to do.And when he does the right thing; appicon appicon appicon PRAISE HIM!!!!

[sakirby]

thanks fran and borgan. i think that things were just going so well, that i did come to expect too much of oscar. yes, he is 4 1/2 months old now. and he has been making it through the night since he was 3 months old. so, he is doing well. i just tend to think that these things are a setback and i get afraid he is going to backstep in our progress :) but, that is just part of it. all things considered, he is doing well. i was just frustrated this morning. i said to my boyfriend..."why didn't he bark before he did that?! i would have taken him out!" my boyfriend was like, "sharon, he doesn't understand that!" :lol: anyway, thanks for the help. borgan, you did give me a step by step on the bell method before. thanks so much! i may start using it. i haven't yet because oscar doesn't have access to the door at all times because he is gated in the kitchen. maybe i could just put the bell in the kitchen :)

[adora's mom]

Sharon,

Don't despair! Adora is 6 months and is not fully potty trained by any stretch of the imagination. I have not been able to get a good "read" on her potty signal other than her circling my rug :eek: , when I see that I immediate run over to the door and say, "Let's go potty!" and she'll happily go outside. My other dog knocks on the door to go out - I'm trying to train Adora to do that too, but she's a stubborn little bugger.

She's baby-gated in the master bathroom during the night and has a potty pad to use. I stop giving her water at about 8pm which has helped tremendously.

[GigiMcKeehan]

I just want to add that my Gigi has access to a doggie door right off the main room of our home, this area goes out to a wooden deck and a totally fenced back yard. I was so excited when at 8 weeks she followed my Skye Terrier out that door, I was sure my house breaking was done since she now understood the free access to outside. Boy was I wrong. It took many more months before she was reliable. I still had to walk with her outside often and "explain" what she was to do. She stopped having accidents at around 7 months, then Terrier started peeing in the house. He was 2yrs. old and had been totally reliable for ages so I guess he found the smell where Gigi had accidents and thought it was OK to go there. One reprimand to him (caught in the act) did the trick. My experience is don't get too confident in them until 7 or 8 months of age. Like small children, their memory is short.
Good Luck, soon it will all be behind you.
Deb

[Linnysmommy]

Lenny is really good about not going potty in the house. I watch him like a hawk though! :lol: I also take him out a lot. He does really well at night. A couple of weeks ago, we had to go out of town for several hours. I worried the whole time I was gone. He was ready to go out when we got home but had not had a problem!! Sweetie did really well that day also. She, on the other hand, is a different story!! She is one difficult puppy to potty train. I blame so much of that on the breeder. They must not of worked with her at all. She was used to pottying in her kennel! :eek: This has been a major thing. I also watch her like a hawk, but when she is in her kennel it's harder. Sometimes, she will cry and I know she has to go out, but othertimes not. I have to put her in her kennel if I'm not in the same part of the house as her, but laundry must be done!! :lol:
I do take them both out right before I leave to go somewhere. They both do very well with this.
I would really like to try the bell method at the dog. Could someone tell me how to do this? My big dogs come and get us and run to the door and my peke just stares me down and then I know! :lol:

[LinoD]

i get me little pup in about eight weeks... i've been reading crate training books like crazy....i think i know what i should do...man, i cant wait to get little Franky Meatball (Fran, i know you love his name :lol: )

it seems like frenchies are a pretty difficult breed to potty train, i guess it's not going to be as easy as my Chinese shar-pei, she was house broken in 4 days...no joke.

Chuba was 15 weeks old...she was unbeleivable, i caught her in the act a couple of times and took her out in the back yard, then from that point foward she would go to the door and bark. i really miss her...she died of cancer at the age of 7 ....three years ago...she was an awesome dog. :)

[Deanna67]

I would love to hear about the bell training because my Abby gives no signs of needing to go out either.


Yes, I would definitely close the crate door at night - there's no reason why it should be open, and it will probably prevent him from going.

Secondly, have you tried installing the little Christmas bells on your front door? It honestly works! And I think they like it, because it makes them feel like they have a butler (Frenchies fancy themselves royalty). Let me know if you want the step-by-step of bell training your dog.

Tootles!
Brooke.

[Borgan]

Bell training:

1. Install Christmas Bells on front door with shoelace.

2. Ding bell with dog's paw, take outside

3. Wait for dog to do business, then come in

4. Repeat steps 1-3 everytime you take dog out (but not for walks)

If the dog rings the bell on it's own, take it outside to the pee spot and wait for no longer than 3 minutes before returning inside. Take them out EVERY time they ring it - they are testing the system, and will get it within a week (usually).

[Murphy]

im so glad to read this! we got murphy at 5 months (he's almost 7 months) and his breeder did NOTING in regards to housebreaking even after 5 months.

needless to say my husband and i are having a really hard time getting murphy to give us something to know he has to go out.

i take him out every few hours and he will go but if he needs to go he will just look at me and pee. i understand that this is all new to him since he was allowed to go in the house for 5 months but its very diffucult.

our chow mix tucker was housebroken and out of his crate at 6 months so we were spoiled :lol:

[franp]

Frenchies are NOTORIOUSLY hard to housebreak.And, I think that most breeders really don't do allot in terms of training.

Are you crating Murphy?Tethering him to you?In my experience , Frenchies really don't give a signal.Dari will LOOK at me.Stare at me.It took me quite a while to figure out that she wanted to go outside.

Dari was 7 months old when she got the idea. And she was on the young side .Be patient; Set a schedule.Do not go by what your other dog did. These dogs are not like any other dog.

Remember too , that wherever he came from; the type of area was probably very different.So if you live in a suburban area and the breeder lived in a more rural area; he is starting all over again.Dogs need to get used to things.

I have seen totally housebroken adult dogs come to NYC for the first time from a rural setting and have NO idea how to potty on the street..