AT WIT'S END

[Kit'sOwner]

I have tried EVERYTHING. My dog is still using my house as a toilet. She is 14 weeks. Will someone PLEASE tell me when to expect the light bulb to turn on? Of all the dogs I've had over the years, none of them have taken THIS LONG to get it. I'm FRUSTRATED and UPSET.

[BetsyNoodle]

Fourteen weeks is still very young. How old was she when you got her? What training methods are you using? We adopted Murphy as a two year old rescue and he was not housetrained. I went to the Humane Society of the United States' website and typed the word housetraining into the search bar. I follow their directions to a TEE and he was housebroken within a couple of months. I used the crate when I was not in the house and he never peed in his crate. You must be very consistent and persistent, and establish a routine for your pup. I also used a belly band (since he was male) on him indoors while he was learning, so he would not "leak" a bit and mark my carpet. He wet it only once and hated the feeling.

There are many good posts here on this subject. Type the word housebreak into the search bar and they should come up. I am sure others on this site will weigh in on this, as well.

Good luck!! It CAN be done.

[Kit'sOwner]

Trust me, I've been through it all, read it all, searched it all, have crate trained her since we got her at 7 weeks, confine her when she's not in the crate, treat her when she goes outside, ignore it when she doesn't, use all the top line cleaners to clean up afterward, etc. etc. etc. It's still hit and miss and I'm wondering if something is wrong with her.

[kittdog]

some cairns are late maturing and it may take her longer to get the hang of it. 14 weeks is still very young. My boy who is 1 still has the occassional accident if he gets too excited about something. I would giver her more time and be patient.

[pkcrossley]

are you saying kit doesn't know the difference between inside and outside? does she do her business outside at all? how many times a day does she mess the inside? urinating or defecating? can you tell us a little more about the situation?

[Shazza]

Wow, 14 weeks is still very young to expect a fully potty trained pup.

I think ours were about 8-9 months old before we could trust them to roam free in the house.

Cairns will be Cairns, they definitely aren't like "all other dogs"

[DKC]

I know how you feel - I was there not too many days ago. I got my Molly when she was about 15 weeks old and had much of the same problem with her. First, check her poop for worms. Molly had them and I think that had a lot to do with some of her housebreaking issues. I don't know that for sure, but I do know that after I got meds in her and she got the worms out, she's had FEW accidents inside and I really feel like maybe she has more control over it now.

Secondly, do you feed her in her crate? That's working great with Molly - and helps me know when she's eaten and when she should need to go potty.

Molly is going on 19 weeks now and the lightbulb is not quite fully on yet, but we're making visible progress.

[TazTalk]

I agree, 14 weeks is still very young.

Taz was about 7 months before he was fully trained. And yes, one day, I saw that light bulb go off over his head -- it was extremely liberating for both of us. My other Cairns were trained by 5 and 6 months, so they all differ. Hang in there.

[Kramersmom]

A 14 week old puppy you want potty trained? Keep in mind, each dog/breed is different. Being you had other dogs that potty trained faster, is by no means to be compared to a 14 week old Cairn. It takes time and at 14 weeks I would not be frustrated. At 14 weeks I would be in the training process still and giving lots and lots of loving and cuddling. Just like kids, some potty train and learn at 3 years old and some at 5 years old. Try to be less frustrated as your puppy might be sensing that. I wouldn't dwell so much on the accidents and go as far as thinking something is wrong with her. Time and patience..

[gusthecairn]

I have a 10 week old and this is my first time housebreaking a puppy. From everything I've read, they won't really be able to understand the whole concept of potty training until they are 16 weeks or older.

That being said, I can understand your frustration and wanting some sort of results now. I'm going through the same thing. Here is the schedule I've been using with him and it seems to work pretty well:

6:30am go out

6:35-7:30 eat; play (go out if needed)

7:30-8 crate

8 go out

8:10-11 crate

11-12pm eat; play (go out if needed)

12-2 crate

2-3 eat; play (go out if needed)

3-5 crate

5-10 eat; play (go out if needed)

10-3(am) crate

3 go out

3:10am-6:30 crate

When I say go out if needed, that actually means going out every 20 mins...or when he looks like he is going to squat. It's overwhelming. I watch him like a hawk. BUT everyday seems to be getting better. Just hang in there and get your little one on a routine. Good luck!

[dinib]

I am feeling your pain. I am going through the same thing with Gracie. The light bulb is not going on. She will go outside. She will go inside. She's not to particular. Aargh! The only place she will not go is in her crate. It took 2 weeks for Buckly to give a reliable indication that he needed out by scratching on the door. I got him at 16 weeks and he was making the connection to go outside at 18 weeks. I got Gracie at 12 weeks. She is now 20 weeks. And I am frustrated but still working very hard with her to try to make it all outside. Hang in there.

[Kit'sOwner]

Kit does go outside as well as inside. She has certain spots outside that she goes to (and inside - despite the "Get Serious" and "Nature's Remedy" cleaners that I use. It just seems like she is not making the connection between feeling the need to go and indicating that she needs to go. However, I am totally contradicting myself because last night, she DID! Last night, we saw her standing at the back door. We rushed to let her out, and SHE POOPED. We treated her and let her back in. Five minutes later, she was at the back door again. We let her out and SHE PEED. We treated her again!

My frustration stems from reading on this forum that some people seem to have their puppies trained in a matter of weeks. We thought that by now she would have recognized the feeling of having to go and then let us know some how but I guess that my expectations are too high.

Kit is in the crate from 8 pm to midnight. I let her out to pee at midnight. She's then in the crate from midnight until 4 am when my husband gets up for work. She eats breakfast then. She then goes back in at 5 am. I take her out at 5:30 am when I get up. She is then out from then until 7:30. While she's out, she is confined in the kitchen with me and my Bichon. I watch her for signs of sniffing and let her out if I see her doing that. I come home at 1 pm and she's out for an hour. I take the two dogs for a walk. She's back in the crate from 2 pm to 4:45 pm. We let her out for a pee then she comes in and has dinner. We confine her in the kitchen and take her out for a walk or to the dog park after that. She's confined in the kitchen from then until 8 pm bed time.

I guess I just have to relax and accept that there will be good days and not so successful days. I never punish her for going in the house. I ignore and clean. I do praise when she goes in the right spot (outside). We treat.

[hallswel]

I think some Cairns are just more willing to please than others. I have a two year old, Dirty Harry who was house trained quickly but he loves, just loves being outside....so getting him to come inside can really be difficult. He knows, he smiles, wags the tail and goes the other way. You can trick him once but the next time no way. In the morning, I let him out in a small fenced area so that I can catch him and get to work on time. It really gets to me some days that he is so smart, I believe most Cairns are, but I relax and just love the little devil...he shows his teeth when he smiles and he is so happy and I would not trade that for the world.

Once you get over this hurdle you have many more to come....it is wonderful about the door and asking to go out. Good Luck and love that baby!

[pkcrossley]

i think you've got the right idea. things are actually going alright with kit, you're just stressing yourself with unrealistic expectations. i think some people do have their dogs trained in a matter of weeks, but you'd have to go back and check the age of each dog at the beginning of the training to make a comparison. a 14 week old cairn is really, really young to expect complete understanding of house training. she'll get there, it just takes cairns a little longer with this and a few other things. actually, it seems to negatively co-relate to intelligence. my theory is that cairns are so determined to consider all possible meanings and all possible alternatives to everything that it takes them a little longer to pick up things that some other dogs will pick up as a simple matter of conditioning.

[DKC]

It sounds like you're on the right track, it's just going to take a little more time to kick in for your pup. Hang in there!

[BetsyNoodle]

It sounds like you are making progress with Kit!! Congratulations! When I was housetraining Murph, I had several tricks. Everytime he ate or drank any water, I immediately took him out. After he napped, the same. After playing hard in the house, OUT. After he came out of his crate...out again. Always, I would put a leash on him and walk him to the same place in the yard. We would walk back and forth and I would give the command "Good Boy!" If he didn't pee, I would keep the leash on and go back into the house. About ten minutes later, I would take him out again, say "Good Boy", and when he finally went I would verbally praise him again and immediately go back in the house and give him a treat. Now, all I have to do is ask, "Murphy want to go outside?" and he runs to the door. Or, he runs and croons for me to let him out. As she matures, she will get the hang of it, no doubt!

[BetsyNoodle]

Oops, two posts came through. Sorry!

[tk223]

My Golden was potty trained by 10 weeks...with that being said she is a Golden-Kooper is a Cairn ( my first)-he's about 14 months now and I didn't trust him until a few weeks ago, two totally different dog breeds and two totally different approaches. I think your routine now is working...give her time.

[tdavie]

Pebbles is 14 months old. The 'light' did not come on until she was about, oh.....13 months or so. She would go a week without a problem, pee 4 days in a row. Then go a month without a problem, pee twice. 2 weeks with not a drip/drop, and then poop. It got worse when they were concrete jacking next door and she just did not want to go out. And then, as of about June 20th or so,,,,nothing.

Hard to say

Tom

As an aside, I found that anything which caused the Cairn 'laser lock' of 'I want it now, I really really want it' would cause her to have accidents. At one point, no accidents for 10 days, and then when I introduced a laser pointer pen, she peed until she saw me smash the laser pointer with a hammer (and then it was no fun any more because it stopped making the bright light she loved to chase).

[DKC]

tdavie - I know what you mean about a few good days, then a few bad ones. Molly has been doing so well, then yesterday she was just a terror!! I feed her at specific times and give her water almost all the time. I thought we had her potty times all figured out and yesterday she decided that suddenly she didn't need to pee or poop at all between about noon and 10pm. Then at 11pm she wanted to pee so I had to get up and take her out. And at 3am she wanted to poop - so we go out in the dark again. GRR. Same thing today - she had food and water at 5pm, but it's now almost 10 and she's not pottied AT ALL. I've shut her in her bed for a while, hoping her barking and complaining at me will get things flowing. I have a huge day tomorrow and I just cannot spend all night hopping up and down with her!!!

[dinib]

For the owners who have had both genders, do you find one harder to house train than the other? For the past 15 years, I've had boys and house training went smoothly. Now Gracie on the other hand....

[dianer]

We have trouble with boys here. Too eager to scent mark I think. Leo wears a belly band indoors and he is 4 years old. Got to say though, I

find the diaper dry more often than not so maybe he is getting it. Past cairns the main offenders were also males. Well trained, poorly trained,

smart and silly, they all just wanted to leave their mark.

[jetersmom]

[

I guess I just have to relax and accept that there will be good days and not so successful days. I never punish her for going in the house. I ignore and clean. I do praise when she goes in the right spot (outside). We treat.

[cocosmom]

thats VERY young..but are you crateing? taking out after any stimulating activity? eating? playing? chewing? those all can cause a puppy that young to pee/poop

and cleaning up after the accidents extremely well removing the smell is KEY!!!!

Patience!!!!

[Kit'sOwner]

Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes to all of those things.