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My boyfriend and I have a new boxer puppy. His name is Kratos We got him when he was only 8 weeks old...and is now 12 weeks going on 13 this Saturday.
We are working REALLY hard on this potty training with him. But don't seem to be getting the point across. Kratos knows not to poop in the house, but when it comes to urinating in the house...it's a different story. We do have it blocked off so he's only allowed in the kitchen, because we don't want him on the carpet until he is fully trained.
Kratos goes out on a normal basis, seems to hold himself though most of the night. (the boyfriend gets up and takes him out half way though the night) but when we are home, and letting him out quite often he STILL goes inside the house. I just don't know what to do. It's to the point to even when we are home, if in the house Kratos has to be in his crate because he's just peeing anywhere his heart desires.
The thing is Kratos does NOT sniff around looking for a place to pee at in the house. He only does this when he has to poop. Even outside he just goes randomly no sniffing or anything, just stop, pee and on with the show.
So ANY and ALL advise here would be GREATLY appreciated. I really really HATE having to have him in a crate.
Another question.
Kratos won't listen to me lol. He will listen with the boyfriend says no, or down.
But when I say no, and down he thinks I am just playing and just continues on with what he's doing. I have a problem with this because I am home more often in the evenings, and will be taking Kratos out and about MORE than my boyfriend will. (to the beach and river and so on) I'm firm when I say them, just apparently not firm enough. My voice isn't very scary or intimidating by all means. So any advice?
He's 12 weeks old! A mere baby! He no more can control his self than a 2 month old baby can. ViralMD has posted the perfect housebreaking technique:
Here's her post to another puppy owner:
Here's my housetraining post: follow it TO THE LETTER and you'll have a trained dog. NOT immediately, but eventually. Your pup is WAY too young to have much control over his bladder. And the treats HAVE to be very special.
And NO SCOLDING. When he makes a mistake it's YOUR fault - NOT HIS!
Here's the post:
Housetraining your dog (puppy or adult!)
The first thing you need to do is to remember that you’re trying to reinforce a new behavior. That means that the rewards for this behavior must be WONDERFUL. NOT crap from the store. Wonderful treats are poached chicken breast/turkey breast, cheese and steak. And you don’t have to use big pieces. Tiny pieces (about 3mm cubes) are just fine! I poach a whole turkey breast every few weeks, cut it into hunks when it’s cool enough to handle, wrap them well and store them in the freezer. When I need some, I’ll thaw a hunk overnight and cut off pieces and dice finely, storing them in a plastic bag in the fridge. One hunk will last about five days. Cheese is also popular, so variety is fine.
I carry these plastic bags in my jacket pockets in the winter and in a fanny pack in warmer weather. You HAVE to have these with you, or this method won’t work, because you need to reward as soon as the dog finishes pooping or peeing. It’s not going to work if the rewards are in the house.
Remember that you’re trying to change a very ingrained behavior. Some dogs like to feel certain things under their feet when they eliminate, like fabric, or newspaper. This is called a ‘substrate preference.’ What you’re trying to do is change this substrate preference, and to do that you have to make the treats SO wonderful that the dog will change this very well-entrenched behavior. Thus the chicken, cheese, steak.
I love clicker training, but this can be done without clickers. You just need a way to ‘mark’ the behavior you want to reinforce. Use the word ‘YESSSSS!!!!’ very enthusiastically – that works for some.
You’re going to need to GO OUTSIDE WITH your dog and the dog needs to be on a leash. Yes, even in winter. If you don’t reward IMMEDIATELY after the event (when dog immediately finishes pooping or peeing) and wait inside, the dog is going to be reinforced for coming inside, not for doing its business. So, leash up your dog. STAND IN ONE PLACE. Be boring. Bring a book or magazine for yourself.
Eventually, the dog will do what you’re waiting for. The NANOSECOND that the dog is finished, HAVE A PARTY – lots of loud, high-pitched praise, treats and running around. You want to make this memorable for your dog! You’ll find that once the first event is achieved, the others will come more quickly. Keep on treating (you don’t have to throw a party except for milestones – a milestone = if he only pooped outside but now peed, too, or something equivalent to that) until he’s good and used to peeing/pooping outside. Before you know it, you have a trained dog.
To quote Patricia McConnell, author of “The Other End of the Leash” (a MUST read) and co-author of “Way to Go” (a FABULOUS booklet on housetraining), “Once you face the fact that you just have take your dog out every time you turn around, give them the treat immediately after they potty, and prevent accidents in the house… well, it usually goes so smoothly.”
Regarding accidents in the house: NO SCOLDING. Just clean them up. If you scold you’ll get the dog to think it’s bad to pee or poop and he’ll do it in places you won’t see. Until you step in it. Invest in a big bottle of Nature’s Miracle or Simple Solution and use it liberally on accidents.
With young puppies, remember they have little control of the muscle that holds the bladder closed. This is something they grow into. Just as it’s not expected that a human baby is toilet trained at six months, don’t expect much from a puppy. Patience, patience, patience!!!! The nervous system in a puppy has to mature, and it won’t have much control over the sphincter (closing muscle) at the neck of the bladder until six or seven months. The same goes for the anal sphincter. Until control is achieved, both of these muscles operate on reflex: there are stretch receptors in the bladder wall. When the bladder is full, it sends impulses to the spinal cord and these, in turn, send signals to the sphincter to open and the dog pees.
In the stomach wall, there are also stretch receptors. So when the dog eats and the stomach is stretched, the impulses again go to the spinal cord, but this time the reflex, outgoing, nerve signals are sent to the anal sphincter, so the dog defecates. This operates in people, too – which is why some people rush to the ‘reading room’ after a meal – especially breakfast.
Make sure that you're not only saying "ah-ah" or "no" in a I-mean-business voice, but your body language is telling him the same thing. Stand up strait, put your hand on your hip, try to appear larger than you are. Everyone has a firm voice; how do you talk to kids (like a neice/nephew) when they're misbehaving? It's the same tone. You have to have complete confidence in what you're saying. Something about the way you say no or the way you're standing is making him think he doesn't have to take you seriously. I've delt with this before too, and it's really frustrating. But it's a lot easier to train him now than when he's 90 lbs and still doesn't listen!
Also I agree that you should go to the vet and rule out that it's not a health issue.
Keep an eye on him in the house and take him outside as soon as he's finished every time he drinks water. At that age, it shouldn't be long before he pees. Encourage him to, telling him to "go potty" or whatever you'd prefer to say, in a happy, upbeat voice, then praise him while he's doing it, maybe giving a treat or reward right after he finishes.
Also, take a training class. They will teach you how to talk/act so he will listen to you, and can help with any other training problems you may have. This is so important while the dog is still young and learning, to keep both of you from settling into habits that will make it harder later on. You may be able to find lessons through a local shelter or humane society, and if not PetSmart also offers classes. They tend to be around $100-120 for 6-8 weeks of instruction.
Yeah, 12 weeks is a little young to be perfect with the house training. Definitely see above for Viral's post. Standard crate training worked for our first puppy 8 years ago - she had the potty training down perfect before she was 4 months old. We still did the crate thing because of the chewing. Our newest puppy got the whole crate training thing but is still somewhat unreliable with random peeing, but we're still working on it.
Make sure that you're not only saying "ah-ah" or "no" in a I-mean-business voice, but your body language is telling him the same thing. Stand up strait, put your hand on your hip, try to appear larger than you are. Everyone has a firm voice; how do you talk to kids (like a neice/nephew) when they're misbehaving? It's the same tone. You have to have complete confidence in what you're saying. Something about the way you say no or the way you're standing is making him think he doesn't have to take you seriously. I've delt with this before too, and it's really frustrating. But it's a lot easier to train him now than when he's 90 lbs and still doesn't listen!
this is good advice. i'd also try to get your wording, tone of voice, inflection, etc, as consistent as possible with what your boyfriend is doing. the dog may not recognize the command if you say it in a different way.
you don't need to sound scary or intimidating, the most important thing is really being consistent and showing him that doing what you want makes good things happen. there are different philosophies in training, but the one i follow doesn't even call for any kind of verbal punishment, let alone physical punishment - the most you do is make a noise that means "you messed up and now you don't get a reward".
i highly recommend joining the peaceablepaws yahoo group if you're interested in that kind of training and have questions. it's run by a well known author of positive dog training books and there are a ton of professional trainers on the list. i've found it extremely helpful when i got stuck with my own dog.
Also if you find that he's sneaking away to pee, keep him on a leash when he's in the house. That way you're always monitoring him. Charlie was famous for sneaking away and leaving me presents, but it was my fault; I was giving him too much freedom. Don't give him a chance to have an accident. The minute he starts sniffing or picking his leg up, take him outside.
I guess I lucked out with my current boxer puppy. He's not quite 12 weeks and has had very few accidents (mostly our fault) and hasn't had any in weeks. We take him out a lot, first thing after a nap, after eating, after play and even after a walk since he rarely goes when he's on a leash. Some dogs are just easier than others. You do have to keep them under constant surveilance until trained, give them lots of praise when they do it outside and (I think) it helps to get them familiar with certain words that they will associate with doing their business outside. I'm fairly certain that my puppy knows exactly what the words "out" and "go tee-tee" mean. He heads for the door when we say them and sometimes will go sit by the door on his own when he needs to go.
Hang in there. Boxers are pretty smart and once trained will not have accidents unless they're ill or have no other choice. Now if I could just get our puppy to stop biting!
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