[NewMom328]

I am very frustrated right now and I'm not sure if I am overreacting or really doing something wrong. We got the puppy one week ago yesterday (friday) and potty training was going really really well. She seemed like she had the peeing thing down pat with the pee pad and the pooping thing almost down with a couple of accidents. Now I know its too good to be true that she would be potty trained in a week but I definetly thought we were on the right path...until yesterday and now today. Yesterday was a horrible horrible potty training day. Out of the maybe 20 times she peed she peed on the pad maybe only 3. It was terrible. She was peeing all over the place. It was like she didnt even have a pad to pee on. It was very frustrating and now the same thing happened today. Already this mornign she has been up for noto even an hour and she peed and pooped on the floor way far away from the pad. I dont know if this is to be expected or if maybe she has an infection or something but I'm going crazy. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks, Lori

 

[littlepeanut]

Lori, maybe your baby has too much freedom? It was the hardest thing to do, but in the beginning I had to have the boys confined to a small area when I couldn't pay 100% attention to them. I used an exercise pen and set out a pee pad on one end and a bowl of water and a bed on the other end. Crate training works really well for some people too. With TicTac (training took a little longer with him) I leashed him and tied the leash to my belt loop so where ever he went I was there too. It helped cut down the accidents. Now that the boys are both trained they have free run of the house. Tic took forever to be paper trained, even the breeder had no luck paper training him (but all the other pups learned

) I would say it took a month, plus the time that the breeder was putting in to paper train him. Don't worry, it'll happen one day.

 

[jmm]

Ditto on the freedom. If she is peeing more than usual and this is abnormal behavior, having a urine sample checked for infection would be a great idea. Otherwise go back to the basics. Confine her. Take her to the pad and stand there with her, treat after she goes. Don't give her the opportunity to make a mistake.

 

[NewMom328]

Thanks for the advice. Now that you guys mentioned it, I think was giving her way to much freedom. Thanks for the advice. ~Lori

 

[RexsMom]

A couple weeks ago I was in the same boat and I thank everyone that helped me through it on this board! Rex was almost 9 months when we got him so he was only peeing 4-6 times a day, he was potty trained and we changed the rules on him to him going out a doggy door into the screened in patio to potty in a box, he had a hard time with the transition and I was at my wits end like you probably are, feeling like a new mom with no clue. Luckilly you and I have this sm board to turn to! What do people do without computers?
I dont mind putting him in a crate at night, but I dont like keeping him confined all day to a crate. We now have him on a schedule and he goes out to pee every 4 hours like clock work. Besides dogs dont understand why it is okay to go on the pad and not the carpet, they dont understand why we covet this carpet stuff on the floor! I was steam cleaning the carpet 2-3 times a day for a couple weeks. After me taking him to potty on a schedule, I think his body clock finally has it and he goes on his own now. When we are gone for a long time during the day he is now holding it until we get home. Just hang in there! It is just like potty training a toddler, once you are through the hard parts it seems like it never happened!
Good luck!

 

[Sylphide and Shrek's Mom]

Try the potty training aid spray. It works wonders. You spray the pad and it lets the pup know that the pad is the right place to go. Our puppies have always had free run of the house without any crate training, and that's how we did.

 

[AJ]

Now

 

[Bijousmom]

I will be getting my puppy in July also. Where do you buy the potty training aid spray? I am getting ready to buy the shelving to make the puppy play pen that I thought about buying just as a pen, but after the puppy stage is over I can take it apart and have shelving.

 

[Scoobydoo]

Restricting their freedom is the only way to go. We kept Scooby in his puppy play pen till he was fully potty trained, except of course at night. The first two weeks he slept in his crate during the night, but then he began to cry a lot so I decided to spoil him and let him sleep with us, and he has never once messed in our bed and he has since slept the entire night without a sound. I think he just wanted to be near us, as he settled much quicker that way.
We gradually began to allow him to come out of his play pen to have a little play time, but watched him the whole time. He was so easy to teach and he rarely messed in the house. He prefers to go outside to go potty and I think that was the easiest way because he prefers his potty time to be outside the house.

 

[RexsMom]

We tried the spray and it didnt phase Rex a bit? I dont think it works for all.

 

[puppylucy]

my house training drops were so gross. i got them at petco and they SMELLED so bad

 

[NewMom328]

Yes restricting the freedom is wonderful. I noticed a difference just from having her in the playpen all day today. She used the pee pads with only one accident. I also put her crate inside of the playpen too so she could sleep in there and she loves it! She was sleeping in it a little bit before but now its like her own little place that she knows she can always go in. I also think that the playpen is good because it makes it a little easier for me to leave the room and her not go crazy. Wow, I learned a lot in one day. Thank goodness for SM!!

oh p.s. how many pees do you guys let on your pee pads before you change them. I was letting about 3 but I would really like to let 1, but I am going through pee pads like crazy now and couldnt imagine if I only let 1 pee. thanks again! ~Lori & Kylee (oh yeah I changed her name from Mea...Mea just didnt fit

)

 

[jmm]

I usually let 3-4/pad if the dog isn't super fastidious and will go on a used pad. For Mikey, that's 1/2 a day LOL We usually go outside 2-3 times as well and the dogs go there.

What I like to do to sit on the floor and play with them is to open the pen and sit right by it in the gated kitchen. We'd play for 10 minutes, I'd put the pup in the pen to go potty, then back out to play for 10-15 minutes. We sit right there by the pen. Once they start going in on their own to potty, we might play a few feet away. This is a way of slowly expanding the freedom while helping them associate going back to that spot to potty.

I'm glad things are going better.

 

[Sylphide and Shrek's Mom]

Originally posted by puppylucy@Jun 25 2005, 10:47 PM
my house training drops were so gross. i got them at petco and they SMELLED so bad
<div align="right">index.php?act=findpost&pid=75237

[/QUOTE]

The one we bought is from Simple Solution and is called Potty Traning Aid. It is completely odorless to the human nose - but certainly draws puppy to the pad.

 

[NewMom328]

Could it be the pads? I noticed that when I am downstairs with the puppy she has different pee pads then when she is upstairs and, I dont know if I am crazy or not, I feel like she prefers the downstairs pads to the upstairs pads. She literally runs all the way across the room to potty on the downstairs ones and is still not going on the upstairs ones like that. ...Just a thought. Thanks, Lori & Kylee

 

[Ladysmom]

Originally posted by Bijousmom@Jun 25 2005, 07:28 PM
I will be getting my puppy in July also.  Where do you buy the potty training aid spray?  I am getting ready to buy the shelving to make the puppy play pen that I thought about buying just as a pen, but after the puppy stage is over I can take it apart and have shelving.
<div align="right">index.php?act=findpost&pid=75154

[/QUOTE]

I found the spray to have a very offensive smell. What I did when I trained Lady to a pad as an adult is scent regular human pads by dabbing up a small bit of urine from the used pad onto the fresh pad when I changed it. Lady was never attracted to the stinky "fake" stuff, but the smell of her own urine did the trick.