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We have a 10 week old toy poodle . She weighs 1 pound 5 oz and it teeny. She is very energetic and loving but seems to have ADD! We have Petsmart's "potty training is possible" book. It states to feed the puppy and give water leaving the dishes there for 20 min. She is all over the place and yesterday she would not drink water but did pee twice (once outside & once on the floor (oops)). Granted they are tiny pee puddles but I want her house trained. The issue I have with taking her outside is it is freezing weather & wet on top of it and this little thing has no body fat and is shivering like crazy. She needs to poop I am sure but have seen nothing yet and we take her out every 3-4 hrs and she is playful pees yet she won't poop. She slept well in the crate from midnight til 6AM this morning and started whining to get out(no accidents) so took her outside..nothing. It literally took her the whole 20 minutes to focus enough to eat and finallly drink some water then 10 minutes later outside but no poop. HERE is my question...Will it hurt to expand her living area(taking the divider out and putting pee pads in her crate away from the bedding?) It is only going to get colder and I worry she might get sick and it will get wet and possibly snow. IF I do this can I retrain when the weather warms? She would then be 10 weeks older so 5 mos old. Our other poodle we bought when she was 4 mos old and she was never in a crate but potty trained easily and would go to the door when needing to go out. Took about 10 days with her. By the way she has no love for the puppy. She is almost 11 yrs old and finds the puppy annoying and growls but does not bite. Any advice??
We have a 10 week old toy poodle . She weighs 1 pound 5 oz and it teeny. She is very energetic and loving but seems to have ADD! We have Petsmart's "potty training is possible" book. It states to feed the puppy and give water leaving the dishes there for 20 min. She is all over the place and yesterday she would not drink water but did pee twice (once outside & once on the floor (oops)). Granted they are tiny pee puddles but I want her house trained. The issue I have with taking her outside is it is freezing weather & wet on top of it and this little thing has no body fat and is shivering like crazy. She needs to poop I am sure but have seen nothing yet and we take her out every 3-4 hrs and she is playful pees yet she won't poop. She slept well in the crate from midnight til 6AM this morning and started whining to get out(no accidents) so took her outside..nothing. It literally took her the whole 20 minutes to focus enough to eat and finallly drink some water then 10 minutes later outside but no poop. HERE is my question...Will it hurt to expand her living area(taking the divider out and putting pee pads in her crate away from the bedding?) It is only going to get colder and I worry she might get sick and it will get wet and possibly snow. IF I do this can I retrain when the weather warms? She would then be 10 weeks older so 5 mos old. Our other poodle we bought when she was 4 mos old and she was never in a crate but potty trained easily and would go to the door when needing to go out. Took about 10 days with her. By the way she has no love for the puppy. She is almost 11 yrs old and finds the puppy annoying and growls but does not bite. Any advice??
Most older dogs do NOT like being around puppies. That's why, when I got another dog, I got an older dog from the shelter.
First, GET THAT PUP a COAT!!!!
And I completely disagree with the nonsense from Petsmart. Your puppy, like ANY dog, needs to have water available at ALL TIMES. Your puppy should be thirsty because it's incovenient for you to clean up? HUH?
When you picked your dog up did you ask what she was eating so you could continue to give that food to her? It's likely she wasn't getting a high-quality food (one without corn or sorghum (a corn product) and without 'by-products), so do some research and transition her gradually to a decent food. There are tons of threads here about good foods.
How long have you had your pup? It's likely she's completely confused by changes in her life. Give her some time to adapt.
You're also expecting a LOT if you think that housetraining her will have any effect at this young age. Like a human infant, she has no control over her bladder or bowel at this age. She needs to neurologically mature into that.
Here's my housetraining post. Follow it TO THE LETTER, including the bit about the kinds of treats and NO scolding. You'll have a trained dog - not right away, but evetually.
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.
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.
To quote Patricia McConnell, author of “The Other End of the Leash” and co-author of “Way to Go” (a 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 immeditely after they potty, and prevent accidents in the house… well, it usually goes so smoothly.”
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.
The only thing I can suggest is she's not going to pee/poop where she sleeps so your thoughts on moving them away from her crate might be a good idea. Her crate is her house or safe place and she's not going to want to sleep where she goes potty.
We have just had her 48 hrs. She is on Eukanuba puppy food which is what she was on from the breeder. The breeder allowed the puppy to poop on newspaper at the end of the crate (actually cage) This lady is a poodle breeder, groomer and also runs a top notch boarding facility. I am also reading to keep the crate door open but she would never stay in. The breeder told me not to give her anything but Eukanuba so I don't know about rewarding with chicken. My oldest dog being she was 4-5 mos old when we began training responded well to receiving a dog biscuit once she did her business. In fact the biscuits are kept in a "barking dog" biscuit holder. She really wants to hear that dog bark when she is done. We are holding the puppy alot but allowing her to sleep alot too since she is all over the place and we do not want accidents inside. I just checked on her..no accidents in the crate even though we expanded her area with a pad for her to use. One day at a time..........
In response to the breeder telling you not to give her anything but the dog food, this is your dog now, and it's your decision on what you want to feed her as well as if you want to give her treats or not. Usually giving a treat after doing something good along with good praise helps the puppy learn, at least that has been my experience.
We have a new puppy also- and it seemed like the 2nd day he wasn't eating much. i think he was just getting adjusted to his new house and family- he is now eating and pooping after he eats every time. give him a couple more days of adjustment- I am not sure what to do about the cold weather and potty training- we live in the south
First, look at the ingredients in Eukanuba: it's GARBAGE!!!! For the small breed puppy food the third ingredient is corn meal. The fourth ingredient is sorghum (a corn product). The second in the list is chicken by-product meal. Chicken by-products include feathers, beaks, etc. YUM! The ingredients are listed, by the way, in the order of decreasing proportion of the product, so the first products make up the majority of the food.
There are SO MANY excellent foods out there with NO corn and NO by-products! But Eukanuba isn't one of them. Do a search on this board about the outstanding foods: Wellness, Canidae, Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul - there are SO MANY of them. And they don't have the junk (the corn or by-products) that Eukanuba has. Just transition slowly - over the course of a week, increasing the amount of the new food. But Eukanuba is JUNK.
How about getting an exercise pen for your puppy and putting the crate in it?
That way she'd be contained, but not confined to her crate. If it's a wire crate you can get some clips from the hardware store and clip the ends of the crate to each side of her crate to make it a one-bedroom apartment. And you've only had her 48h!!! That's not very long! And she should ALWAYS have access to clean water.
If you live in a climate that's cold for 6 months out of the year, cold weather is something the puppy will have to get used to. Even though it's unpleasant to house train in bad weather, it's necessary. And the more you show (through body language, sighing etc) that you find the situation unpleasant, you are teaching the puppy to feel that way too. Get the dog (and yourself) a coat and/or raincoat and suck it up. (Sorry if this sounds harsh.) But do you really want your puppy to learn that cold weather is a bad thing when he will have to deal with it for half his life!
Also your other dog's bladder when you got him at 5 months was more than twice the size of your puppy's bladder. This is going to be a completely different house training experience for you. It's going to require you to be 100 times more patient. It's not fair to compare the two until your puppy is 5 months old.
And I agree with ViralMD that using treats to reward when the puppy does "business" outside is the way to go. Maybe the breeder was worried about upsetting the puppy's stomach with too many treats?... treats like chicken, turkey, ground beef (non-store bought) are natural. When you buy store bought treats, it's the fillers, the corn and soy etc, that will potentially upset the dog's stomach. Boiled and otherwise bland meat will not! It's totally safe to give the puppy. But if you're using the chicken or whatever for training, cut it into tiny pieces, especially since your puppy is so tiny! He only needs a taste.
Our breeder told us to feed our dog Eukanuba til he's 2. The day he came home, he was promptly switched to Orijen and we haven't looked back. Your breeder clearly is not well versed in dog nutrition. Eukanuba is one of the worst foods on the market and if I were you, I'd switch her today. Try brands like Wellness puppy, Orijen, Acana, Evo, etc.
Giving the puppy a special treat when training (e.g., chicken) is really important. It rewards the behavior. There is nothing wrong with it. It's a basic training technique that will serve you well, especially if your dog is food motivated. I agree with viralmd, and would start training now. Undoing the behavior later is not necessary and will be more difficult and confusing for the dog. Feed the dog in an enclosed place (babygate the kitchen and let the dog focus on eating). If she doesn't eat within 15 minutes take the food up. About 10 - 15 minutes after eating, immediately after a nap or sleeping, and after excited play, say "outside" and take it on a leash to the door. Then take it outside to the potty place. Wait for it to sniff and squat or whatever, hopefully it will do it within 10 minutes, but don't play or distract the dog while it sniffs around. It's boring, but important. When done, "GOOD GIRRLLLL!!!!!" (in a happy excited tone of voice) and immediately give a treat just like viralmd said. Also, don't interrupt or start to say good girl while she's doing it because it could distract her and she might stop before she's finished. If she doesn't go, no treat or reward (or play) - bring her in and wait another 20 minutes or so and do it again. She will figure it out.
And agree, get that puppy a coat. Just remember, they have to pee after every nap, shortly after eating and drinking, and after excited play, along with a bunch of other times, so prepare to spend some time outside for a few months. And if your dog enjoys being outside, don't bring her in immediately after she does her business, let her stay out and play a little while for a reward. Otherwise, she will refrain from going b/c that means she will have to go back inside as soon as she's done.
Some people train their dogs to go inside on puppy pads. I have never done that, nor would I want to, but maybe that's an option for you as well.
And I also agree, puppies need access to water all the time.
It's a lot of work for the first few months until they can hold it longer, but it's worth doing it at the beginning, IMO.
Good luck.
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We are holding the puppy alot but allowing her to sleep alot too since she is all over the place and we do not want accidents inside. I just checked on her..no accidents in the crate even though we expanded her area with a pad for her to use. One day at a time..........
