Potty training help!!!! (shih tzu, clean, poop, toy)
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I have a 5 1/2 month old puppy. She is half Shih Tzu and half lhasa apso. I got her around thanksgiving. Her previous owners said that she was potty trained but she was not. She was doing good with using the bathroom outside with little accidents inside the house until winter got too cold. We live in MN and during winter, it gets freezing cold. It got to the point where she refuses to go outside and within a few minutes of outside, she is already shaking like crazy from the cold. I decided to train her on the potting training pads but she was really stubborn too so I just placed the pads on the spots that she likes to do her business. Now that it's getting slightly warmer and not as cold, I tried potty training her outside again but she refuses to use it outside. She will hold on to her pee/poop until I bring her back inside and she would run off and quickly hide and do her business. I decided to try a method that I saw online about crating a dog and take them out to use the bathroom and repeat until they use it outside, once they use it outside then let them run around a little bit. When I tried it, she still refuses to use the bathroom. She held it in the whole time so I decided to just let her do her business on the pads. I NEED help! I don't know what to do! Any advice is appreciated!
You don't need to keep her in a crate, but you might want to confine her to a single room, where you are, so she cannot run and hide. Do you have a baby/pet gate that you can use to keep her in a room with you? Watch her carefully so you can learn what she does right before she goes potty - does she sniff the ground in a particular way? When you learn to recognize this, take her outside as soon as you see this behavior.
Her smell is now embedded in the places where she has peed. If you have carpet, get it professionally cleaned. There are special enzyme products to help get the odor out. Even though you can't smell it, she can.
Bring her outside after every meal. Keep her outside until she goes. Even if it takes an hour. Take her for a walk. Walking will make her go or she might mark a spot where another dog has peed. Give her a treat and praise her very enthusiastically when she goes outside.
You might want to attach her to you via a long leash for a couple of days. There is an old book about dog training by the Monks of New Skete. You can probably find it in a public library. Much of it is lousy advice (using a choke collar), but they recommended tethering yourself to a puppy so it gets used to not leaving your side. If she cannot slink away to pee, when you finally take her out she will be close to bursting so she will go.
Move the puppy pads outside the door if she is using them.
Good luck. You must keep at it. Every time she has the opportunity to go inside the house, it is reinforcement to her that it is the right thing to do.
One thing to know is that many dog behaviors are not automatically transferred from place to place. While she might have been potty trained at the previous owner's house, that doesn't mean she has the ability to equate your house with that other house. A dog might not have the understanding to equate all "houses" as someplace she shouldn't pee. So the previous owners might not have lied to you.
You don't need to keep her in a crate, but you might want to confine her to a single room, where you are, so she cannot run and hide. Do you have a baby/pet gate that you can use to keep her in a room with you? Watch her carefully so you can learn what she does right before she goes potty - does she sniff the ground in a particular way? When you learn to recognize this, take her outside as soon as you see this behavior.
Her smell is now embedded in the places where she has peed. If you have carpet, get it professionally cleaned. There are special enzyme products to help get the odor out. Even though you can't smell it, she can.
Bring her outside after every meal. Keep her outside until she goes. Even if it takes an hour. Take her for a walk. Walking will make her go or she might mark a spot where another dog has peed. Give her a treat and praise her very enthusiastically when she goes outside.
You might want to attach her to you via a long leash for a couple of days. There is an old book about dog training by the Monks of New Skete. You can probably find it in a public library. Much of it is lousy advice (using a choke collar), but they recommended tethering yourself to a puppy so it gets used to not leaving your side. If she cannot slink away to pee, when you finally take her out she will be close to bursting so she will go.
Move the puppy pads outside the door if she is using them.
Good luck. You must keep at it. Every time she has the opportunity to go inside the house, it is reinforcement to her that it is the right thing to do.
One thing to know is that many dog behaviors are not automatically transferred from place to place. While she might have been potty trained at the previous owner's house, that doesn't mean she has the ability to equate your house with that other house. A dog might not have the understanding to equate all "houses" as someplace she shouldn't pee. So the previous owners might not have lied to you.
Yes, get her a coat.
Thanks, Katie. You are probably right about the house behavior. It's my first puppy. I am kind of struggling. Thanks!
Agreed, start at the beginning. A tether helps a lot.
If she is hiding her potty she has too much free rein/space, and she knows if you see her do it you will be upset. She doesn't really know you are mad because she is going inside (in a broad sense).
How long do you have her outside that she is "holding it"? Are you with her?
You might take her out of the crate in the morning, and carry her directly outside and go for a walk. Change it up, make a different pattern happen. After 8 hours sleep she is going to have to go. Make sure to have treats on hand for the big Event!
Start with that, and the rest of the day I would walk her out on a leash to potty somewhere different.
Agreed, start at the beginning. A tether helps a lot.
If she is hiding her potty she has too much free rein/space, and she knows if you see her do it you will be upset. She doesn't really know you are mad because she is going inside (in a broad sense).
How long do you have her outside that she is "holding it"? Are you with her?
You might take her out of the crate in the morning, and carry her directly outside and go for a walk. Change it up, make a different pattern happen. After 8 hours sleep she is going to have to go. Make sure to have treats on hand for the big Event!
Start with that, and the rest of the day I would walk her out on a leash to potty somewhere different.
We are usually outside for about 30 mins to 1 hour, depending on the weather. When I see her sniffing around, I take her outside immediately but she refuses to use it. I tried taking her out on walks but I think she needs a lot more training than just potty. When I take her for walks, she is all over the place and she is afraid of everything and everyone.
We are usually outside for about 30 mins to 1 hour, depending on the weather. When I see her sniffing around, I take her outside immediately but she refuses to use it. I tried taking her out on walks but I think she needs a lot more training than just potty. When I take her for walks, she is all over the place and she is afraid of everything and everyone.
Ok, so even more reason to walk her. She doesn't need training for that, just wander around your neighborhood, for practice - NOT training. Just getting used to it being interesting, not scary. Don't drag her, but just stand still and let her figure it out.
She is not "refusing" to do something. She just doesn't know what you want her to do in a time frame. Stop looking at it as if she is being defiant, you speak different languages is all. Try to learn her sign language, she is learning yours.
One more thing, take her out BEFORE she starts sniffing! Once she starts sniffing if you run her out the. You have side tracked her.
Take her out every half an hour or so to start, and stay out half an hour, then put her in the crate for an hour, or half an hour, and back out, repeat until it happens.
I am in a vey cold area, and my toy breed pup just turned 6 months. He is now starting to only use the pee pad if the urge comes on too fast, or I am on a work call. I thought it might never happen after the long cold winter (with a sweater and coat 24/7). But there is hope!
Oh, and buy an exercise pen (x pen) for your kitchen, or anyplace not carpeted.
Put the pee pad in one corner, and water and her crate in the other corner for a safe spot.
I now have mine folded open, blocking off the other part of the house, and have left the pee pad in the same spot.
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