Your very best puppy potty training tips desperately needed!

[DesertBlossom]

DS13 got a puppy about a week ago. We've never had a puppy before and have never had to potty train a dog. She's about 5 months, 8 lbs and some sort of chihuahua mix. The previous owner said she used potty pads or they left the back door open, but it sounds like she was also never fully potty trained because she still had accidents inside.

Our routine right now-- she's been sleeping in a crate all night and we take her out first thing in the morning. She has to stay out for at least an hour or she pees outside and then comes back in and poops in the house. We have been trying to keep her on a leash if she's inside so we can keep her off of carpeted areas. She spends a lot of time outside because we have a big backyard and my kids play outside a lot every day so if the kids are outside, she is she. We have a doggy door (and another dog) and she can go in and out. (Unless we lock her out.) The problem with being outside a lot is that when she comes back in we don't know if she peed 2 hours ago or 2 minutes ago... so it's hard to know when she needs to go back out again. I'm so worried about accidents (which we've had plenty of already) that I'm inclined to just keep her outside as much as I can, but that's probably not reinforcing the potty training because she's just pottying outside by default. 

We left today for about 2 hours and I put her in her crate. Since she has gotten out of the yard before, I was worried she'd get out so I left her in her crate. (Which we do sometimes) She managed to push the tray halfway out of the crate and then she pooped all over the carpet and stepped in it lots. GAH!  So gross. I'm a little perplexed by this. 

I'm just not really sure what to do. I told DS13 he's in charge of her training, but he's also at school at day. So then it gets left to me... 

[ktgrok]

You really can’t leave her outside by herself while your potty training. You have to go with her and reward her with a treat and prayers when she goes to. Then you bring her inside and let her play and then you take her back out again. Rinse and repeat. If you’re not directly watching her to catcher in the act then she is in her crate.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Take her outside and stay with her.  Use a "go potty phrase"  (some say "go potty", we say "hurry up").  Treat after she pee's or poops.  Bring her in.  If you can't watch her while she's in, crate her.  But in our house with our puppy, I would watch her in the same room for about 20 minutes.  If the dog starts to sniff around or show any signs of needing to go, I rush them outside.  Use the "go potty" phrase again.  Treat again.  Repeat throughout the day.  (Gradually over time the length of time between having to go out will get longer.)  You might try putting a gate up and keeping her in a room with vinyl like a bathroom or kitchen for easy clean up of accidents.  We also have a doggie doorbell up at the door that we used to train the dog to let us know when to go out.  You can buy https://www.amazon.com/Doorbells-Premium-Quality-Training-Adjustable/dp/B01KG9WMWI/ref=zg_bs_2975348011_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=C6TKS7Z3MG9G2KA63BRM

or our favorite  https://www.amazon.com/Pebble-Smart-Doggie-Doorbell-Accent/dp/B00BBMEFCK

[DesertBlossom]

19 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

You really can’t leave her outside by herself while your potty training. You have to go with her and reward her with a treat and prayers when she goes to. Then you bring her inside and let her play and then you take her back out again. Rinse and repeat. If you’re not directly watching her to catcher in the act then she is in her crate.

Okay, see this is why I've never wanted a puppy. That sounds like so much work. I'm still chasing my newly potty trained 3 year old around trying to prevent accidents. 

We can do the rewarding consistently first thing in the morning because she's guaranteed to potty almost immediately and the day hasn't really gotten started yet. But most of the time she's outside during the day, she's not alone. She playing with kids or our other dog. She'll wear herself out, come inside and lay down on her doggy bed. (I'll put a leash on her so she can't get up and run off without me knowing)  But she and the kids will play outside, literally, for a couple hours at a time and a good chunk of the day overall. And I know they aren't watching to see when she pees. 

Thankfully we have Christmas break coming up and DS13 can start doing some more intense training every day. Because THIS MAMA ain't got time for this. *sigh*

 

Edited December 18, 2018 by DesertBlossom

[gardenmom5]

Take them outside,  on leash, every hour.  Give command for pottying.  Just stand there.  Sometimes you might get nothing,  so go out again in 30 mins.

Puppies have small bladders, they need to go frequently.  Keep him in a pen, with pad, if no one is available for close supervision. 

Give both grass, and dirt.

He'll get the message pottying is for outside,  but still small bladder and need to go frequently. 

 

For training,  zac George has a good YouTube channel.

[DesertBlossom]

23 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

Take her outside and stay with her.  Use a "go potty phrase"  (some say "go potty", we say "hurry up").  Treat after she pee's or poops.  Bring her in.  If you can't watch her while she's in, crate her.  But in our house with our puppy, I would watch her in the same room for about 20 minutes.  If the dog starts to sniff around or show any signs of needing to go, I rush them outside.  Use the "go potty" phrase again.  Treat again.  Repeat throughout the day.  (Gradually over time the length of time between having to go out will get longer.)  You might try putting a gate up and keeping her in a room with vinyl like a bathroom or kitchen for easy clean up of accidents.  We also have a doggie doorbell up at the door that we used to train the dog to let us know when to go out.  You can buy https://www.amazon.com/Doorbells-Premium-Quality-Training-Adjustable/dp/B01KG9WMWI/ref=zg_bs_2975348011_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=C6TKS7Z3MG9G2KA63BRM

or our favorite  https://www.amazon.com/Pebble-Smart-Doggie-Doorbell-Accent/dp/B00BBMEFCK

1

She and the kids play outside so much of the day, it just seems weird to me to crate her if I can't be watching her. It seems like a good thing that she's running and playing so much during the day. It totally wears her out. 

She can go in and out the doggy door by herself.

[gardenmom5]

Potty pads are not 'trained'

Even when trained,  you need to pay attention because they will then have to learn how to 'tell' you they need to go out.

[sassenach]

I feel much sympathy as we are currently training our puppy. It’s a ton of work. 

Along with the above, you should know that chihuahuas as a breed are just hard to train. Our will still (at 13) go in the house if he doesn’t feel like going outside. They’re stinkers. 

[sassenach]

7 minutes ago, DesertBlossom said:

She and the kids play outside so much of the day, it just seems weird to me to crate her if I can't be watching her. It seems like a good thing that she's running and playing so much during the day. It totally wears her out. 

She can go in and out the doggy door by herself.

I would still let her play outside but I would use this method the rest of the time. No more freely going in and out. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

The point is that you have to know when the puppy eliminates so that you can praise the behavior (and the fact that it occurred outside).  And that when the puppy is indoors you need to control the environment so that you can get the puppy outside at the first sign so that it can actually pee/poop outside. 

[ktgrok]

49 minutes ago, sassenach said:

I would still let her play outside but I would use this method the rest of the time. No more freely going in and out. 

This. Send the kids outside with her, but with treats in their pocket and tell them they can only give her one if they SEE her go potty. And when she's inside you have to be watching her or have her in her crate. Doggy doors are for dogs that are already housebroken, not for during the learning phase. No free roaming indoors until fully housebroken. 

And the accidentally going outside is actually a good thing, it helps her develop a preference for going on grass if that is where she most often goes. You just have to physically prevent her from going inside, on the floor, or she'l have a preference for there too!

[Pawz4me]

OP, I'm going to make your life even worse here by saying that once an hour isn't anywhere near frequent enough to take such a small dog outside. Waiting an hour between potty trips is going to be a recipe for disaster and make it difficult to impossible to ever get her fully trained.

Take her out a minimum of every 30 minutes. Every 20 would be even better.

I kid you not.

As she gets the hang of it and gets older you can very gradually stretch it out to every hour and then even more. But that's weeks if not months away. And with such a small dog it's probably going to be months before she's house trained in the best case scenario. As in I wouldn't count on her getting close to 100 percent reliable until she's a year old. Sure it might happen sooner, but in general getting a small breed dog fully house trained by a year is considered good.

So outside very, very frequently with supervision to make sure she potties. After you (or DS13) have seen her potty then sure let her play with the kids. But when she comes inside she needs to be supervised or crated.

When you say she has to stay outside at least an hour in the morning before she'll poop--Be aware that some dogs need some physical activity to make poop happen. Others can step outside and go right away. You'll figure out what's normal for her.

[PeterPan]

The other thing is to get the enzyme spray from the pet section of Walmart and treat anywhere she has wee'ed in your house. If you don't, then it's like a marking and she thinks it's ok to go back there. My dog, when he was a puppy, tried to define spaces, so I had to get ornery and put his TOYS on that spot, hehe. Boy that irked him, lol.

I agree with the others on leashing directly to you in the house. What I read was to have them earn each room.

[gardenmom5]

2 hours ago, DesertBlossom said:

She and the kids play outside so much of the day, it just seems weird to me to crate her if I can't be watching her. It seems like a good thing that she's running and playing so much during the day. It totally wears her out. 

She can go in and out the doggy door by herself.

if she's peeing in the house, she's not reliably trained and that means she has to be crated/penned when no one is watching her.

running and playing will also make her want to go potty.   during puppy class - we'd always have a break to take them outside to do their business.

at five months - bladder should be fairly reliable, but she's not - so that means potty training.  

[gardenmom5]

32 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

The other thing is to get the enzyme spray from the pet section of Walmart and treat anywhere she has wee'ed in your house. If you don't, then it's like a marking and she thinks it's ok to go back there. My dog, when he was a puppy, tried to define spaces, so I had to get ornery and put his TOYS on that spot, hehe. Boy that irked him, lol.

I agree with the others on leashing directly to you in the house. What I read was to have them earn each room.

breeder and trainer both recommend nature's miracle.  put her somewhere else so she doesn't see you cleaning up, then spray it.