[Dailydrool] potty training

[Beverly Szaton]

I have some questions about this puppy and his previous life before you
acquired him, but one thing I am convinced of is that he has spent a  lot of
time in a crate probably before you even acquired him, and  too little time
interacting with your family and learning what the boundaries are. He is not
housebroken. He has never been housebroken. He is CRATE trained only. He
knows the crate is someplace to keep clean, but this does not generalize to
the rest of the house, and you are expecting him to be able to understand
that the whole house is his "crate".  And while I am very possibly incorrect
in this, as I read your post it sounds as if when he does go in the house he
is put back in the crate. He has learned nothing.
The other reason I think he is having problems is that, having perhaps been
in a kennel most of his life, he is unfamiliar with grass, and when you put
him in the grass to urinate and defecate, it is terrifying. It is very
stressful. Try taking him out onto the driveway. Let him learn about grass
some other time. Right now you want him to learn to go outside, not inside
and if it's the driveway so what? It washes.
And he should NOT be in the crate if you are home.He should be with one of
you every second. Being older does not translate to being wiser. Because he
is a bigger puppy doesn't mean he knows anything at all.
He needs active play. Balls, stuffed toys, kongs stuffed with food, anything
you can interact with him is what you need. Inside, outside-- but OUT OF THE
CRATE. Lay on the floor with him. Play with him.

When you come home and he pees outside and then pees when you bring him in,
it is because he is still so excited to see you. This is a puppy thing. It
has little, in my opinion, to do with housebreaking and should never be
considered part of it. I have a 3 yr old who will still piddle when he is
overcome with emotion. It's not anything to do with housebreaking it has to
do with temperament.

Your puppy sounds woefully inexperienced in all things social. He is
unfamiliar with the outdoors, he does not know the house is part of the the
"kennel" and he has no clue how to act. Do not punish this dog for peeing
and pooping in the house by crating him. Tell him NO (ONLY IF YOU CATCH HIM)
and rush him out to the driveway. When he goes outside, praise praise praise
and treat treat treat. When he is inside one of you must be right on top of
him. Preferably playing with him, holding him, watching tv with him, but not
looking at him as he sits crying in his crate. He is never going to be
housebroken sitting in the crate. Trust me. Dogs do not generalize well.
Just because he is housebroken in the crate doesn't mean he can apply the
concept to the house.

You can do this, and end up with a perfectly wonderful puppy. Be very
patient, very consistent and remember that reward works better than
punishment.
I hope this is some help. It is certainly not meant critically. I think the
problems you are having predate your ownership.Go back to square one with
the housebreaking and assume he is  a 12 week old puppy. And be patient.

MomPerson to Nigel, Llewis, Mitchell and Cooper

MomPerson to Llewis, Nigel (the piddler) Mitchell and Cooper
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.dailydrool.org/pipermail/dailydrool-dailydrool.org/attachments/20081113/94224386/attachment-0002.htm>