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This post is actually to help my mom with her puppy a shih tzu that she has had for 3 months. She is having some issues house breaking the puppy. Now she was taking him outside every 1 hour and if she was not watching him he is in his cage. My mom also sectioned off only part of the home. She has been gradually increasing the time of waiting to take the dog out and was up to 3 hours. He was doing good where days will pass and will not go inside. The last week though he is back to having an accident 1 time a day and usually it is after 2 hours of just going outside. My mom right when she see's him go she scoops him up and yell and takes him outside to finish and then praises him outside if he finishes.
My mom does not work so she is home with the dog a lot and someone mentioned that maybe the dog needs to be in the crate more. My mom feels bad though and loves playing with him.
Can anyone share anything that may help?
Thank you
I had a friend with that breed and it did not go well. The dog actually went in their bed. Yeah, potty! An error I see though is the yelling, I would not do that. I would scoop the dog up and take it outside without a word and then praise it and have a joyful playtime with it and put it back in the cage. I am wondering how much she is playing with it and if that excitement could be contributing to the accidents. If this 2 hour thing is going on, what proceeds it? Meal? Drink? Play time? Possibly some activity that your mother does that the dog needs attention and knows how to get it? Very important also is that accidents are cleaned with a special cleaner - I always used white vinegar but they claim it doesn't work but did for me. The schedule should be consistent. Going out every hour seems a little over the top and I would definitely talk to the vet about it when taking her for a check-up/shots since you want to eliminate the possibility of a physical problem plus they usually have a few hints after visiting with you.
Reposted from an old thread. Someday we'll get a sticky for it.
Here's is the "bible" from an old-time poster here, ViralMD.
Below is my housetraining post. IT WORKS. But you must follow it TO THE LETTER, as must EVERYONE in the house. It's good for puppies AND grown dogs. And realize that some dogs NEVER learn to signal. Neither of my dogs does.
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.
my method with house breaking is pretty simple...increase slowly and if there accidents go back to when it did work...
since he seems to go about 2 hours after comming in...time to go back to every 2 hours again.
with puppies, expecially toy/small breeds housebreaking tends to be a process of 1 step forward 2 steps back but hell get there, your mums doing everyhting righ, shes probable just gone a little to fast for him.
go back to 2 hours for a couple weeks, then increase to 2 1/2 hours, then 3, ive found increasing in 1/2 hour incriments to be easier than jumping hole hour increments with thouse breaking
Thank you so much for your help. See my mom read an article that a puppy should be able to go 1 hour for each month they are born plus an hour. So if that was true she thought he should be able to go 5 hours so felt bad even about the 3. I will tell her though about going back to less time between trips.
The time the dog usually goes inside the house is at night when he has an energy burst my mom says and acts so wild. Maybe he is too excited.
Anywhere there was conflicting about the yelling she read. There was a place that said you should not yell because the dog will associate peeing and yelling even outside. Then other sites that say to yell or shake a can
Foxy your approach sounds good and I am going to tell her
Dogmama thank you for that information and ideas
Katie thanks
This is such a helpful forum thank you again
ive found many "fun" little "rules out there...
and the 1 per month plus an hour is one of those that im not quite sure how it got started.
each dog (like people) is an indivudual and dogs must learn how to hold it...it takes some dogs a little longer sometimes is all...
my female chinese crested was housebroken within an hour...(im not kidding)
my male chinese crested took forever and even now if i dont wait him out for morning potty break he will come right back in a poop on the floor.
patients and lots of praise and youll eb fine
toy breeds also have tiny tiny bladders so i never expect a small breed to housebreak in the same amoutn of time a lab would for example!
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