House Training!

[nanci27]

Lola is now 13 weeks and still has not got the hang of weeing on the newspaper, I dont have any grass just a patio and when i take her on walks she does not go to the toliet but she still wees on the floor, she does half on the paper and half on the floor, I praise her when she does it right and say no when i catch her then put her on the mat sometimes i ut her on the mat and she walks onto the floor then pees, is this normal?

[nanci27]

i just feel like she does it on purpose, I put hr on the paper and say the command and she walks on to the carpet or tiles and wees in front of me looking at me i am having to vent cause i know its somthing i am doing wrong i need help please, i have spent everyday on my hands and knees Cleaning!

[nanci27]

ok i have read some other threads and know thats its too early, needed to vent some anger, but no need to answer sorry for wasting a thread thank you

[boxer]

13 week old puppies don't pee "on purpose" to make you clean it up. They simply have absolutely no concept that peeing should be done outdoors. Pottying outdoors is absolutely not a natural behaviour for a dog (complete opposite of a cat) is it something that has to be taught. Same for peeing on newspaper - there's no inbuilt instinct for a dog that it should pee on newspaper, it's an entirely taught behaviour - taught by you.

Moreover, even with effective teaching, your puppy is going to be six months or more before she is capable of understanding that she must potty outdoors only. Prior to that, she simply isn't capable of fully understanding. So you need to give up on the concept that she's somehow doing it to make your life harder. It just doesn't work that way with babies. LOL - I can understand the frustration though. But you just have to try to be patient and work on getting her to understand that pottying outside is a Good Thing.

Personally, I would give up on the newspaper training thing. That just teaches the puppy that peeing indoors is OK, and (as you're discovering) getting a baby pup to make a distinction between newspaper and carpet really isn't that easy. It is better to simply take her outdoors every single time. Start as you mean her to go on, in other words. That is how she will learn the quickest.

What's your long term plan? That the dog will use the patio to toilet on? If so, then you need to take her out there for every single potty stop. And praise her madly when she potties there. If you don't want her using the patio, then you should be taking her out to wherever she is to be allowed to go instead. It really is the fastest way. Babies aren't that clever - and human desires for pottying to take place in particular places isn't an easy concept to grasp at the best of times. Best that you make it as straightforward with as few opportunities for confusion as you possibly can.

[Brindle]

Great Post! I was actually looking for the same information on house training my new 13 week old puppy. This is our third boxer and admittedly, our first two were 6 months and 9 months old when we brought them home so needless to say I've never had to potty train a puppy. Baxter is the sweetest little thing but he does not know the difference between outside potty good, inside potty bad. We're fortunate because we have terrazzo floors through out the house so clean up easy. My question is if I catch him pottying inside do I interrupt him and put him outside or let him finish and after he finishes tell him No (but logically to me that doesn't make sense.) I guess my main concern is that I don't want to confuse him during the potty training process with my "novice" mistakes. I'd appreciate any help!

Thanks, Brindle