OOOOHH NO....Housebreaking time ...and tired parents....

[anniegirl]

Hi Everyone the GOOD NEWS IS...Ella our 2 year old lovely little darling... now has a baby brother YAY!!!!  ALFIE is 3 months and so adorable and sweet.

The breeder used puppy pads and its been cold here...so now the fun begins. Alfie had a the run of the place but since we don't have eyes in the backs of our heads..ha ha....he is now in his little area beside us in the living room. And in his sleeping quarters. And on the Silly chair when he acts up. Worked for Ella.

He will do potty outside, we have the alarm set for every hour ...and we also watch him..cause he still has accidents......he gets praise, a cookie, all the fanfare when he does his business outside. Its only been a week so far. What I cannot figure out is why he sometimes holds it,  but then when we come back in the house he pees on the floor. 

Last night Alfie made quite a fuss when we put him to bed! Clattering on his cage door. Went on for a bit  then off and on in the night. Its hard to know what is attention seeking or yes I do have to go again. I take him out in the middle of the night and again at 500 am when we get up. Any comments are much appreciated.

Just sign me...very tired mommy

[Dogcoat lady]

I don’t understand how you get anything done.  How do you stop looking at him!  He’s wicked cute. Congratulations, enjoy every nano second, Alfie will grow so fast.

[bradl]

At 12 weeks he probably barely knows himself and the 'event horizon' is likely very short: play, play, sniff, play ... oh hey, I just realized I NEED TO PEE (goes immediately). 

In the early daze I try to set a realistic goal of being successful (outside) more than not (inside), with a long-term trend (weeks, months) of tapering down to always successful. Just a way of not sweating a few inevitable misses in the early days without losing sight of the goal, which is consistency. Gradually you will figure out his personal routine and be able to make informed guesses as to when he *really* needs to go and when he's just making noise. 

Hang in there, enjoy the little rascal. That face, oh my. 

 

[anniegirl]

oh thank you for the words of encouragement.... it means so much

so today starting out better

I take Alfie out...I say the words...he pees...he looks up at me and I say good boy and he gets a treat. Then he does number 2 and looks up at me again...and I say good boy and he gets another treat.  I think thats good, right????? He is now anticipating that he will get a reward for his hard work.  I think that is progress. Luckily this morning he is sleeping more,  after his half hour play time. Perhaps every day is baby steps leading to the ultimate goal. And a warm spring, play time outside more and more and less inside time with a bucket, mop and cleaner. HMMMM what a lovely vision.

Have a great day!!!

[anniegirl]

oh dear

Bad Moon rising!

It was a full moon last night! Maybe that is why...

Did not too bad yesterday...but then at 2:30 am it was pee and poo time after a 4.5 hour sleep...that parts ok...

When I put Alfie back in this crat after he did all his business outside....he became like the demon dog. Crying , jumping, yelling..for an hour. We had moved his crate to the living room off the bedroom for that reason.  I thought..ok...leave him.... but after so long..I felt bad. How long can a dog go on like that. I took him out for a word of kindness and he fell into my arms and said oh I'm so sad. So after 15 seconds he fell right asleep on me. So we both fell asleep on the couch for another 2 hours. Do I really have to do that? Any ideas? Yikes! I'm getting a bit old for lack of sleep...Help!

[Toto-lee Cairn]

FIVE years -- count 'em! all however-many-days, five years is -- since I last did this.

Brad, your suggestion is spot-on.  Focus on the success outdoors, try to minimize the failures indoors.  My husband, meaning well, scolded our 16-week-old puppy, Ebenezer -- you know, the 'old school' approach of "NO! NO! NO!" with a pop on the behind.  What it achieved is Ebby now hiding to poop if he can't hold it.

I really think he is making the connection -- going outside is good.  Makes Mommy extremely happy.  I feel like a fool if a neighbor walks by, and there I am, "GOOD Boy, Ebenezer!"  *clap clap clap* In sing-song voice, and very animated.  "Good Boy, go potty!"  I feel like a bigger fool, however, for finding he has somehow managed to go in the house.

Terriers, most all terriers, are a challenge to housebreak.  Chin up.  Easier said, than done, but eventually it happens.

[Dogcoat lady]

Terriers are harder to house break.  But then, all of the sudden, they “get it”.

From my experience, there will again be pratfalls…. Keep the faith, and remember, they’re wicked smart, and accepting of the mistakes we uprights make.

Enjoy it all.

[Toto-lee Cairn]

On 3/9/2023 at 6:47 PM, anniegirl said:

oh dear

Bad Moon rising!

It was a full moon last night! Maybe that is why...

Did not too bad yesterday...but then at 2:30 am it was pee and poo time after a 4.5 hour sleep...that parts ok...

When I put Alfie back in this crat after he did all his business outside....he became like the demon dog. Crying , jumping, yelling..for an hour. We had moved his crate to the living room off the bedroom for that reason.  I thought..ok...leave him.... but after so long..I felt bad. How long can a dog go on like that. I took him out for a word of kindness and he fell into my arms and said oh I'm so sad. So after 15 seconds he fell right asleep on me. So we both fell asleep on the couch for another 2 hours. Do I really have to do that? Any ideas? Yikes! I'm getting a bit old for lack of sleep...Help!

 

A puppy is akin to a baby, and that bone-weary exhaustion.  It is significantly harder now that I am somewhat significantly old-er.  My Father used to say it was why young people had babies.  You'd think we would consider that with a puppy.

What you are experiencing with Alfie is to be expected.  Crate-training is sort of separate-and-apart from house-breaking.  If Alfie is going 4.5 hours, that's pretty good.  I think the rule of thumb is one hour for every month of age?  I always err on the side of *whatever.*

I introduce my puppy to a crate as a place to get something very special -- you just have to figure out what-the-devil that is for your puppy.  Mine likes a Kong, filled with some of his puppy food, and a small reward-treat or two or three.  He has a small blanket, or one of my Tshirts for that 'good smell,' as I call it.  He also has a small, tough chew-toy that I can trust his not destroying completely in 5 minutes (NylaBones work well for Ebenezer).  I leave the door open, and encourage him to check-it-out.

The crate is in my Laundry Room, where, short of dismantling the washer and dryer, I can close a gate to the rest of the house, but he can go in and out of the crate.  This is only after I have spent time in the Laundry Room, with him, the gate to the hallway closed, the door to his crate open, and I stand there folding clothes or starting the washer.  I throw a ball for him, or toss a toy in the crate to keep him occupied.

The first time I close the crate door, I let him cry and whine a bit, but tell him it's OK.  I then increase the time in increments of *however long I can stand.*  It took a week or more to get him to be happy for a few hours.  Before bedtime at night, I would wear his little self out, throwing a ball, playing with him with a toy, anything I had the energy to do.  LOL, but I recall lying on the floor of a carpeted hallway, throwing a ball to the other end, while I helped my daughter with her homework.  As the dog got a bit older, I could bounce the ball down the stairs.  A JRT, that fool would chase a ball until he literally dropped.

Just remember, there will come a day when you will miss that little puppy.  Get back to me when that happens.

 

[Toto-lee Cairn]

On 3/9/2023 at 6:47 PM, anniegirl said:

...he became like the demon dog. Crying , jumping, yelling..for an hour. We had moved his crate to the living room off the bedroom for that reason.  I thought..ok...leave him.... but after so long..I felt bad. How long can a dog go on like that. I took him out for a word of kindness and he fell into my arms and said oh I'm so sad. So after 15 seconds he fell right asleep on me. So we both fell asleep on the couch for another 2 hours. Do I really have to do that? Any ideas? Yikes! I'm getting a bit old for lack of sleep...Help!

I have seen that DEMON DOG, myself.  Not with my little Cairn, but my husband's Weimaraner carried-on for about two hours.  We thought we'd lose our minds.

Deciding NONE of us would be sleeping -- we brought him back into the bedroom with us, directed him onto his 'daybed' and like your experience, he was o-u-t in like no time.  We put a gate across the bedroom door to confine him to the room with us.  This is pre-Ebenezer, but our Cairn at the time -- Toto -- was doing fine, and had been for years, sleeping in a crate, door closed.

Eventually, and I just tried to not have grand expectations for Axel (Weemies are notoriously cling-y), he would explore his crate in the Laundry Room.  I used the same approach as I followed with Ebenezer months later.  He continued to sleep on his bed in the room with us.  One of us would take him outside somewhere around 2-3 a.m., and we'd sleep until 6-7.  Eventually, Axel accepted sleeping in his crate, door closed.  But, he had Toto, at the time in a crate next to his.

It all went to hell, excuse me, when we lost Toto in December.  Santa brought me Ebenezer, and we started all over again.

But . . . that's another epistle.

[anniegirl]

ok...so here we are... Alfie has been with us 11 months. 

It took 4 months to potty train. Almost no accidents now..rarely ..if we are out longer than 3 hours or so. It just took patience and yes it was hard.

Routine..repetition...use same door to outside each time..Try a bell. Keep an eagle eye out for the signs.

I thought I wouldnt make it. But he is such a character

Good Luck all! 

 

[Eliz222]

I think God made it so when we are potty training our pups, and feel like they are JUST NOT GETTING IT (and we are ready to give up), they finally DOs get it!!