Toilet Training...

[BeeB]

My puppy has just urinated on my bed. She went once during normal play, I removed her from the bed. I know I shouldve taken her straight outside but to save my mattress I didnt, I took the sheets off before the wee would soak through and put them in the wash. I returned to take her outside, I let her out of her pen, she jumped straight on the bed and wee'd again. I then took her outside but by now she had no interest in wee'ing. I didnt scold her at all as I was told this would cause her to wee when I wasnt watching which would make training more difficult.

Then this morning I woke up, and I needed to go to the bathroom. I let her out of her pen, she followed me as she usually does then just as I was walking back into the room to go outside she jumped up on the bed and wee'd again. I took her outside and she did nothing again.

When outside she thinks its playtime, despite me never encouraging her to think so, I just stand there and watch until she has wee'd/pooed. I bought her back inside and put her in her crate. She was ok for a few minutes then barked non-stop for 15 minutes. I never acknowledged her or rewarded her behaviour by giving her attention. When she stopped barking I took her out of the crate and back outside. Again no wee or poo.

Im unsure where to go from here, unfortunately the set up in my granny flat is extremely tight for space, and the bed in a central part of the room and where I spend most of my time when in here. It is also very very low to the ground and despite her small size she can pretty much just step up onto it, so short of putting a fence around my bed I cant keep her exclusively off it. I do have a play pen and a crate which she is fine in when noone is home, but when Im home she howls the whole time shes in there. Im slowly training her to not but she howls for so long I have to extend the session beyond what I initially intended as I have to wait for her to stop before releasing her.

So I do actually have a direct question now, I have read not to scold the puppy for wee'ing in the wrong place, but now I have been advised to growl and say no. The reasoning I was told behind not telling her off was that she would make efforts not to urinate in front of me for fear of being scolded. What is the best thing to do? Tell her off then move her to the correct place and praise her?

ETA: Thank you to those who have replied, I have edited to clarified a few things which have been misconstrued. I am trying a new approach now which will hopefully produce better results.

Edited February 8, 2007 by BrissyGal

[OMD²]

Oscar used to bark when we first put him in the crate..

Can she see you?

I read that to make Oscar feel apart of the family.. When we were introducing him to the crate we had to have the crate in the same room as us..

Now we can put him in the crate in the laundry by himself...

[Nekhbet]

how small is the pup? If its the Cav in the signiture its too young and small to be up on the bed. She either cant get down to piddle or she's just being disrespectful. If you catch her in the act clap your hands loudly and growl. That is still wrong behaviour and then take her to the piddle spot.

Leave her in the crate during the night. Dont give the pup too much water up until she goes to bed (unless its a very hot day) and she goes for a toilet break before official sleeping time.

[cavNrott]

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Edited June 7, 2009 by cavNrott

[haven]

In the past 12 hours my puppy has urinated on MY bed 3 times! Im so frustrated, shes on the bed alot and has easy access to safe area for going if she needs to and until today has done so every time. She is never scolded and gets so much praise when she does the right thing, Im just so frustrated. She did one small wee, I removed her from the bed, didnt say anything, took the sheets/mattress protector off and put a new sheet on. 5 MINUTES LATER she wee'd again! Again I said nothing, and put on another sheet. All was good and I went to sleep. Woke up this morning and she was playing, then suddenly again MASSIVE wee. It wasnt the same spot either so its not the scent attracting her. So now she has been started on an extremely strict regiment of crate training, I cant change my sheets everytime she wee's, its overcast here today, I wont have anything left to sleep on. Now comes another hassle. Shes in her crate now, and is barking her head off, has been for about 20 minutes. Im ignoring her completely and hope that she quiets down soon so I can let her out for being good and take her outside for a poo break. Im doing everything they say to in the books, I just hope it works, its very frustrated to be doing loads of washing at 11pm when you just want to go to sleep!

Any secrets that anyone knows of that I may have missed? I think Im going to get a noise complaint if she doesnt stop barking soon

If I'm reading what you've posted correctly, your puppy had just woken up, you proceeded to play with her and you're supprised that she went to the toilet on your bed? It sounds like you're not taking her to the toilet at the appropriate times, it could also be excitement or submissive urination.

Whatever it is, don't have her on the bed and she won't be able to wee on it.

EFG

Edited February 8, 2007 by haven

[BeeB]

The bed is only about 15cm from the ground and she has a small box she uses to get up and down. The bed being so low so basically she can get up here very easily and as Im usually on here too (I have a very small place and there isnt really anywhere else to sit) she follows me up. Shes been on here constantly since I bought her home a week ago and she always climbs down and wee's on her newspapered area, even first thing in the morning. I have decided now that unless she is playing or has just wee'd she wont be on here anymore. Shes in her pen now and isnt barking or crying, she is just sitting looking at me with a sad face...

I wasnt playing with her this morning, she was just doing her usual crazy morning puppy thing and I was about to take her out when she did it, unfortunately I had to go to the toilet too and I couldnt wait for her as she usually takes her time to go when we are outside, she gets excited outside and wants to play, even if I ignore her and just tell her to wee.

I think the 2 wee's were because I caught her midway through the first one and she hadnt finished yet, but I had to get the sheets off ASAP so it wouldnt soak through so I couldnt take her straight outside. I think she just had an accident and I got upset as all off my sheets are now on the washing line. She has been good today so hopefully not something that will happen again.

[sas]

I couldnt wait for her as she usually takes her time to go when we are outside, she gets excited outside and wants to play, even if I ignore her and just tell her to wee.

So when exactly are you praising her for her good efforts outside if you aren't around when she does them?

I think the 2 wee's were because I caught her midway through the first one and she hadnt finished yet

She should have been taken straight outside after the first instance.

It wasnt the same spot either so its not the scent attracting her

The scent may very well be around if you didn't use a special 'accident' spray.

She is never scolded

So how does she know when she's done the wrong thing?

If you don't want to risk urine soaking through your bed do not allow your puppy on your bed until she is reliably toilet trained.

To me this appears to a 100% owner/handler problem.

Edited February 8, 2007 by sas

[BeeB]

I couldnt wait for her as she usually takes her time to go when we are outside, she gets excited outside and wants to play, even if I ignore her and just tell her to wee.

So when exactly are you praising her for her good efforts outside if you aren't around when she does them?

I think the 2 wee's were because I caught her midway through the first one and she hadnt finished yet

She should have been taken straight outside after the first instance.

It wasnt the same spot either so its not the scent attracting her

The scent may very well be around if you didn't use a special 'accident' spray.

She is never scolded

So how does she know when she's done the wrong thing?

If you don't want to risk urine soaking through your bed do not allow your puppy on your bed until she is reliably toilet trained.

To me this appears to a 100% owner/handler problem.

I AM there when she goes, when I say ignore I mean I dont play with her, I watch her the entire time we are outside.

I have used a special accident spray also.

I have previous said that I wouldve taken her outside had she wee'd anywhere else but I had to act quickly to stop the wee from soaking through my mattress protector and causing further damage. All other times shes had accidents on the tiles I have taken her straight outside.

Also the scolding thing, I was told that this would make her wee and poo when she thinks Im not watching in fear of being scolded. How do I scold her without making her afraid to do it front of me? I did move her straight to the newspaper but she stopped.

I never said it wasnt something that I was doing wrong and I asked for advice, this is the first puppy Ive been responsible for and Im not having the easiest time, I dont need to be told off, Im WELL aware that Im making mistakes and Im sorry that Im not perfect, Im trying to do the right things and be a responsible owner.

[sas]

You definately wouldn't yell or hit, a firm NO is enough, she needs to know what she is doing is wrong. When a person yells/hits/rubs a dogs nose in its' accident this is when fear is created and the dog will usually start having accidents out of your sight as they start to associate toileting with something you are not very happy about.

In all cases of our foster dogs, we simply don't let them out of our sight so if an 'accident' does start we can give a firm "No" and then take them outside where they finish and then we priase them like crazy.....we don't go back inside until they have finished their business otherwise they are likely to go back inside and toilet.....it's all about not setting the dog up for failure.

Puppies have very short attention spans so your communication with her needs to be clear and straight forward in a manner she can understand.

Everytime your dog has an accident that you don't see it and therefore don't get the opportunity to give the repremand is another time she thinks what she is doing is ok.

I'm not telling you off, I think you're being a bit sensitive, I'm simply pointing out to you errors I picked up from your post, perhaps what you typed gave the wrong impression?

Edited February 8, 2007 by sas

[BeeB]

You definately wouldn't yell or hit, a firm NO is enough, she needs to know what she is doing is wrong.

I'm not telling you off, I think you're being a bit sensitive, I'm simply pointing out to you errors I picked up from your post.

No worries sas, I can be abit sensitive, I just feel bad that Im not getting it right when I thought I went in well prepared. I will start with the NO straight away. I have edited my original post to make it a little more clear.

Thanks.

[sas]

Puppies aren't straight forward, they all learn at different rates and all present 'issues' that you probably haven't delt with before.

I'm bringing home a new puppy in 3 months, I'm sure that puppy will present me with situations I don't understand and I'll make mistakes too. I think I have been fortunate though in regards to having foster dogs and learning something from every one of them and ofcourse this forum which can help shine a different light on a situation that is confusing us.

Edited February 8, 2007 by sas

[BeeB]

Thanks for the advice, tomorrow we will start again with a new attitude :D

[OMD²]

Thanks for the advice, tomorrow we will start again with a new attitude

:D Don't get disheartened.. I know with Oscar one week he was great.. the next he was a little turd lol.. The crate was great he was tolilet trained within a week and a half by using the crate

Good luck and remember she will get it

[joho]

Believe you me I know what you are going through (although mine hasnt peed on the bed). We have a 9 week old pup who has been pretty good so far. He seems to store his poop until night time and leaves us plenty of presents. Unfortunatly we dont have the benefit of saying NO loudly as he is totally deaf and that makes things so hard. I take him out regularly armed with sausage tit bits and when he does a pee or poop which I see because I dont see them all, he gets a tit bit and a pat and a clap of the hands. It really is hard work. He has learnt to sit by hand signals and is very good at this most of the time. But he also screams very loudly cause he cant hear himself when left alone. Yesterday we had to go out and I ummed and ahhed about getting a relly to dog sit but decided not to and left him and our other dog in the yard. When we came back 4 hours later I walked round the back and no puppy, I though oh my god the dog has eaten him or he's got out and do you know where we found him.........in the bloody house. We still dont know how he got in.

Meant to say that he had the whole house to destroy and all he got to was our bin in the en suite and my ladies bits, most embarassing when the kids found a chewed thing with a string attached and asked what is that.

Stick with it, it will come.

Jo

Edited February 9, 2007 by joho

[BeeB]

It was a much better day today, so hopefully on the track to success now. Our 2 year old boy Rocky was notorious for finding things he shouldnt have, I had him eat 1/2 a pair of knickers that he dragged out of the clothes basket. I learned quickly not to leave ANYTHING within reach. Maggie is fine with poo'ing, she goes to the side of her pen nearest the door and jumps around in circles when she wants to poo, its just the wee's that she hasnt quite gotten yet. Hopefully it will be sorted in the next couple of weeks as she gets older and has better control.

[BeeB]

Just a little update, little Maggie wee'd on command today. I had her outside for a toilet break, said 'wee wee, good girls do wee wee's' and she did! I was so proud, we had been outside for about 5 minutes already and she had shown no signs of doing anything, and then within seconds of me saying that she did it! Hopefully we will be able to continue down this path, shes proving to be a smart little girl

[Dogsfevr]

Does she spend anytime outside unsupervised?/How much time is she outside during the day??

When you get up in the morning its either you toilet first then pup or place pup straight outside & then you go loo whilst shes out there.

I would also place puppy on lead & tell her Toilet whilst on the lead,wehn she goes Praise do this ofetn so she gets it but it does sound more a case of pup not getting out in time or being allowed detours on the ground before shes allowed out.If she cant go straight out dont let her roam.

The problem with telling her off is she has no alternatives,no doggy door,pee area so she is reliant on you .

[BeeB]

She isnt outside unsupervised at this stage, I take her outside every couple of hours as Im on holidays from uni/work at the moment this isnt a problem at all. Im going to get a doggy door installed soon, but I would most likely follow her outside anyhow as we live on quite a busy road and I would be scared of someone seeing her in the yard and taking her. She is getting much better over the past couple of days, hopefully things will only go up from here!

[Dogsfevr]

If your backyard is secure then let her outside on her own.

What have to realize is when you go back to uni/work she will not have you there all the time.

It is crucial at this age to encourage independance & time away.She needs to be able to cope on her own without you being her shadow.When you do go back where will she be??

If you dont start allowing her to do this when it does come time it will be traumatic on the d

Our pups at 6 weeks run an acre ,we glance out the window but they run & your pup would have done the same with its breeder.

[BeeB]

I have been going out for several hours at a time and she is ok. I have started letting her outside and walking away to do things like hang out the washing and I dont see her the whole time, she explores other parts of the yard. She doesnt have a problem being left alone, I just dont like just leaving her out there, especially when Im toilet training as I want to catch everytime she goes outside so I can reward her. I guess I could wait for her to wee or poo, play for abit, then leave her out there alone to play with the other dog.