Potty training

[Charlotte12]

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Hey everyone

I have just got a new puppy had her a couple of weeks and at first she did amazing going outside for the toilet copying my older dog and using puppy pads at night. Great!
This week she has been weeing in the house even when she’s just been outside for some time, sometimes it’s like she’s also weeing when we tell her no for chewing the sofa as if to just be naughty (do dogs do that?!)
Just looking for advice if this is normal they regress and any tips?

 

[JoanneF]

Dogs don't do ”naughty” at all, the part of our brain that understands ”right” and ”wrong” doesn't develop in a dog, they only do what makes them feel safe or comfortable or happy (but not happy at your expense).

The reason she is toileting in the house is very simply that that is where she happens to be when she needs to toilet. And the reason she is chewing is because puppies explore everything with their mouths.

Telling her ”no” isn't really helpful, it is only a noise. And it is always far easier to teach what you do want her to do than what you don't. So for chewing, have alternative things around that she is allowed to chew and redirect her on to one of those.

Toilet training happens when two things come together - the ABILITY to hold the toilet, along with the DESIRE to hold it in order to earn the reward for doing so.

Ideally you want her to not be in a position where she needs to toilet before you have her outdoors, so that every toilet is outside - as far as possible, there will be accidents! So set her up to succeed by taking her out even more than she needs; for example every 45 minutes to an hour and always after sleeping, eating, playing. The time between a puppy realising they need to toilet, and being unable to hold that toilet, is zero. So your aim is to have her outside before she can't help herself. When she toilets outdoors make a huge fuss (never mind the neighbours, act like outdoor toileting is the best thing you have ever seen) and reward her with a high value treat. Do that immediately, don't make her come to you for the treat so she is clear that it's for toileting and not for coming to you. The idea is that she wants to earn the treat enough to hold the toilet until she is outside - once she is physically able to control her toileting obviously. As she is actually performing the toilet you can introduce words she can associate with it (like 'do weewee' and 'busy busy') that later when she is reliably trained you can use these to tell her when you want her to toilet.

If you take her out and she doesn't toilet after five minutes, bring her in but don't take your eyes off her. Any hint of a toilet inside, scoop her up and get her out fast. If she doesn't try to toilet indoors (great!) take her out a second time and repeat until you do get outside toilets. You need the outside toilet to happen SO that you can reward SO that she learns.


If she has an accident inside don't react at all. If you get annoyed she may learn to fear your reaction and avoid you if she needs to toilet (by going off and toileting out of sight) - the opposite of what you want. Dogs cant make the distinction between you being annoyed at them TOILETING, as opposed to toileting INDOORS. Take a rolled up newspaper and hit yourself over the head for not having taken her outside in time. Not when she is there though in case you scare her. Then clean the area with an enzymatic cleaner to remove any trace of smell that might attract her back to the spot.

Indoors if you see her circling or scratching the floor, that can sometimes precede toileting so get her out fast.

Overnight she is unlikely to be able to control her toilet as her little bladder and bowel are underdeveloped and not strong enough to hold all night so set your alarm to take her out at least once if not twice during the night.

I don't know if you planned on using them but I don't like puppy pads - they give mixed messages about whether it's ok to toilet indoors and confuse the puppy.

 

[Charlotte12]

Dogs don't do ”naughty” at all, the part of our brain that understands ”right” and ”wrong” doesn't develop in a dog, they only do what makes them feel safe or comfortable or happy (but not happy at your expense).

The reason she is toileting in the house is very simply that that is where she happens to be when she needs to toilet. And the reason she is chewing is because puppies explore everything with their mouths.

Telling her ”no” isn't really helpful, it is only a noise. And it is always far easier to teach what you do want her to do than what you don't. So for chewing, have alternative things around that she is allowed to chew and redirect her on to one of those.

Toilet training happens when two things come together - the ABILITY to hold the toilet, along with the DESIRE to hold it in order to earn the reward for doing so.

Ideally you want her to not be in a position where she needs to toilet before you have her outdoors, so that every toilet is outside - as far as possible, there will be accidents! So set her up to succeed by taking her out even more than she needs; for example every 45 minutes to an hour and always after sleeping, eating, playing. The time between a puppy realising they need to toilet, and being unable to hold that toilet, is zero. So your aim is to have her outside before she can't help herself. When she toilets outdoors make a huge fuss (never mind the neighbours, act like outdoor toileting is the best thing you have ever seen) and reward her with a high value treat. Do that immediately, don't make her come to you for the treat so she is clear that it's for toileting and not for coming to you. The idea is that she wants to earn the treat enough to hold the toilet until she is outside - once she is physically able to control her toileting obviously. As she is actually performing the toilet you can introduce words she can associate with it (like 'do weewee' and 'busy busy') that later when she is reliably trained you can use these to tell her when you want her to toilet.

If you take her out and she doesn't toilet after five minutes, bring her in but don't take your eyes off her. Any hint of a toilet inside, scoop her up and get her out fast. If she doesn't try to toilet indoors (great!) take her out a second time and repeat until you do get outside toilets. You need the outside toilet to happen SO that you can reward SO that she learns.


If she has an accident inside don't react at all. If you get annoyed she may learn to fear your reaction and avoid you if she needs to toilet (by going off and toileting out of sight) - the opposite of what you want. Dogs cant make the distinction between you being annoyed at them TOILETING, as opposed to toileting INDOORS. Take a rolled up newspaper and hit yourself over the head for not having taken her outside in time. Not when she is there though in case you scare her. Then clean the area with an enzymatic cleaner to remove any trace of smell that might attract her back to the spot.

Indoors if you see her circling or scratching the floor, that can sometimes precede toileting so get her out fast.

Overnight she is unlikely to be able to control her toilet as her little bladder and bowel are underdeveloped and not strong enough to hold all night so set your alarm to take her out at least once if not twice during the night.

I don't know if you planned on using them but I don't like puppy pads - they give mixed messages about whether it's ok to toilet indoors and confuse the puppy.

Thank you so much for your reply and your advice. Definitely some tips that we are not doing already