getting desperate need housetraining tips!

[staceyg]

Hi there I am mom to a 10 week old boxer pup named Lilly. I am getting desperate trying to housebreak this dog and need some tips.

I know she is very young but I have never had a dog that goes in the house like she does. In the past I have had an akita then an australian shepherd and I never had any trouble out of either. I could take them out and then count on them to not go in the house until I took them out again --- like every couple of hours when they were small. I don't expect Lilly to be able to hold it for long at this age but there seems to be no rhyme or reason to when she goes. I can take her out and sometimes she just pees in the floor again in like 30 minutes. I have her by my side constantly on a leash and if I am going to do something that will require my attention I will put her in her crate. And sometimes she will show signs of wanting to go and I will know it is about time and I will take her out. But other times she will be just playing and will suddenly squat before I can even stand up to get her she will pee (even if she has just gone out).

I want desperately for her to be a part of my family but I am getting turned off by the fact that she is totally unpredictable. There are times that she is off the leash that she will actually go to the door and I know she needs to go out, but she doesn't do that often and I cannot have her off her leash often because she will go off into another room or whatnot.

Something I have wondered... how often should I be giving a dog at this age food and water. Currently I have hers sitting out and she eats and drinks when she wants to. She drinks a ton of water in the day. Should I limit access so that her needing to go is more predictable? I wasn't sure if that was appropriate or how much she should have right now.

Does anyone know when I might see the light at the end of the tunnel so to speak? Because I had it so easy with my other dogs I am beginning to worry.

Thanks a lot

[johann]

She's still really young to be able to recognize when she needs to go out and to figure out to go to the door. Housebreaking Johann was a somewhat lengthy process, but part of that was him being the first puppy I've had.

Our routine was: to bring him out before eating, after eating, after he'd run around (even for just a minute), after playing. We also had a "schedule" for him....he went out every hour to 2 hours regardless of if we thought he needed to. Once he was 6-7 months old, he would whine/bark to let us know he needed to go out. Even then, we still made sure he went out every 4 hrs regardless.

He got tons of praise and love for going to the bathroom outside. Our neighbors still think we're a little nuts.

Johann has always had water available to him, even at night and when he's in his crate. I don't agree with limiting water and think it can lead to more issues (and health concerns) down the road. But, we only feed him "meals." His dish goes on the floor, and he gets 20 minutes to eat.....if he doesn't eat it, then he waits till his next meal. We did 3 feedings a day until 6 months, now he only gets 2. I think free-feeding as a puppy would make it really hard to housetrain, it was easy to know that Johann pooped right after he ate, and not very often otherwise.

Its hard to not get frustrated. I know my hubby was very frustrated with Johann and felt like he'd never be housebroken. But, around 6 months he was pretty solidly housebroken. He's only had a few accidents that were not his fault at all (i.e. DH hears him whine in the morning, ignores it and take a shower/gets dressed. By then, Johann has peed on the floor). So there is hope and light at the end of the tunnel.

Has she ever been checked for a UTI?

[Kilby'sMum]

Sounds exactly like Kona... you think she knows what it's all about because every now and then she'll go to the door to be let out but the reality is she's a baby (I think I read somewhere here that boxers take to around 4-6mths to be fully housetrained and certainly Kona took about to about 5mths).

Playtime is often a time for accidents because they are so focused on the fun they forget about anything else. After 20mins playtime we took Kona out, after every meal and roughly every 2 hours. Sometimes we had to stay outside with her for 40-60mins which was infuriating to say the least but as soon as she went we'd have a treat ready for her and just like Johann we'd praise her until the neighbours were ready to send us to the loony bin.

I would say that from 10-13 wks was our toughest time with Kona, after that she seemed to improve a lot. The best advice I can give is to try not to let your negative energy get to Lily as it will make your job twice as tough (I learned this the hard way!).

Good luck, in a few months you won't even remember how tough it was.

[staceyg]

Thanks so much for the replies I know she is just a baby and I am trying to have patience. It is reassuring to hear that it takes some boxers longer to train because in comparing her to my other dogs I was like uhhh maybe this dog just isn't going to get it. Which isn't fair to her!

And I wasn't sure about limiting water. I am a nurse so it didn't sound too good to me but I am no dog expert by any means so thought I'd ask

So I guess I will just take her out more often. I have been taking her out every 2 hours or more often if she had that *look* and after meals and naps but when she is out of her crate she has no thoughts of holding it when she has to go. So I guess going out more often for now is the answer. 6 months is at least something to look forward to for possible housebroken lol

[Skywalker]

Hi,

Another thing you could try if it is possible is to get her to associate something with going out to the toilet. For example we used a bell and I think some others have used this method too. We have it on a piece of string on the back door and taught our pup to ring it when he wants to go out. Our boy was a bit older than your girl when we got him though he was 15 weeks so maybe easier to learn, but he got it within a day. So now anytime he needs to go out he goes and knocks the bell with either his nose or paw. This has worked well for us if we are in a different house as well as I know that can be confusing for them when visiting people - we take it with us and show him where it is and away he goes!

Also the alot of praise thing is a must we really praised him everytime he went - still do actually!!!

I'm sure she will start to get the outside thing soon. Hope you have lots of fun with her :0)

[gmacleod]

I think it's worth bearing in mind that there are very few dogs in this world that understand housetraining until about 6-7 months of age... and 99.9% (or thereabouts) of 10 week old puppies need to empty their bladders every 30 minutes. Your puppy is behaving very normally.

Since it is completely unreasonable to expect a puppy of this age to understand housetraining, and therefore to hold on for even a minute beyond the point at which they need to pee - you've got to be the adult and the teacher in this relationship You know already that she has to pee every 30 minutes, so the sensible thing is to take her out every 29 minutes.

If you can do that, and praise her delightedly when the inevitable happens and she pees outside (since that's where you are), then she'll start to get the idea that peeing outside is good/correct. It will take quite a few months before she understands fully of course - but you'll be heading in the right direction this way. I think you'd find it all a bit less frustrating if you lowered your expectations to a bit below normal, than so far above normal as it seems currently.

[MikaMay]

I would like to add to gmacloed's post another important point-- generally speaking, it's not even a matter of a puppy *understanding* at such a tender age because puppies that young do not even have the *physical capability* to hold it very long because their bodies / bladder muscles are still undeveloped. So to expect a puppy to hold it is unrealistic.

The housetraining process is a combination of getting the idea in their little heads PLUS allowing their bodies to mature enough to be *able* to hold it. Puppies' bodies can't do this until or about 5 to 6 mos. of age (definitely over 4 mos). That is why so many people will tell you it takes until the pup is about that age before you'll see progress in their housetraining...

[Cami]

You have been given GREAT advice.
How old are your other dogs? I only ask because "puppy-dom" comes with short term memory loss!!
To clarify what I am saying.....
If your other dogs are older than lets say 2 years of age they are housebroken and into some sort of routine by now. We humans tend to forget the bad things once the good starts to settle in.
I'm not trying to imply that your other dogs were not trained sooner but it's highly common for us to forget just how bad things might have been once we have some time between NOW and what happened then.

If you monitor what goes IN you will have a better handle on WHEN it needs to come out.
The best advice I had when we brought our girl home 6 years ago as a 9 week old was to:
Take her outside after meals (she was eating three times a day then), after drinking (Boxers tend to drink ALL THE TIME), after she napped (multiple times a day), after waking up in the AM, right before bedtime, after playing (all the time) and to throw in 2-3 MORE times PER HOUR just to be on the safe side. This routine helped to not only AVOID accidents and clean-up but when she didn't have a chance to make a mistake by going in the house she learned quicker that it was only to be done outside.
I swear I wore the carpet out heading to the back door 20-30 times a day. This schedule was a pain in the rear but I hated the thought of cleaning up even worse. It was short lived and so worth it.
Once she knew that outside = potty we taught her to ring the bell to alert us that she needed to go. She picked up bell training in an afternoon (about 3 hours). Your baby will get there. Just be patient.