housetraining...peeing everywhere...ack

So Callie does well pottying outside. Goes out, pees, poops when appropriate, comes over and wiggles happily because she knows she's going to get her treat...I thought she was getting the hang of this. When she had an accident inside she even went to the corner of her puppy pen where we used to put newspaper...she really did know what to do and what to look for.

The bad news is that she just started peeing tiny amounts on various rugs (always finds the center of a rug, not the hardwood!) I am always with her, or right behind her, I was just letting her explore the house a bit, or go up and say good morning to the kids, etc only after she came inside from a potty run and I felt certain that she was done. (Which is starting to sound like a bad idea, huh?) She then gets up and starts to run around happily, on to the next activity, that is until I catch her and scoop her up and crate her for a bit. It's not that frequent, so I don't think it's a bladder problem. What is this about?

I guess I am giving her too much freedom. I can't gate off the kitchen because it's an open floor plan, so I guess I need to crate her more. She is FAST!

any advice would be appreciated

Please don't crate her more. That would be using the crate almost as a prison, and I'm sure you wouldn't want that!

She still hasn't quite got the hang of the house training thing! She's still very young and it may take another couple of weeks for her to realise that inside is a no-no & outside is good!

I know, I wish I could gate my kitchen
What is the best way to negatively reinforce her when I catch her "in the act?" (Which is almost every time...) She does very well with yelp-and-turn-cold-shoulder for biting, hates being ignored. Something similar?

The best thing is to stay calm & not to tell her off! If she pees/poops indoors just calmly put her outside. If she goes again outside give her loads of praise. Then go back in & clean up the accident (because that's all it is, an accident). Take her into the garden every hour or so & use a trigger word such as "wee wee" or something similar & really praise her when she gets it right - make no fuss when she gets it wrong.

Use a non-amonia cleaner (diluted biological washing liquid is good) to get rid of all traces of urine/faeces so that she isn't led to do it again in the same spot.

As long as you ignore the accidents & praise the outside toilets she will get there in the end.

Totally agree with Caryll. If you have a spot she is allowed to go inside you can do that as well. We use a wee pad for the times we are going to be gone for awhile

someone (dog walker) said that having the inside spot slows down the outside training...? do you think so? I actually did put back the newspaper today thinking that she just wasn't quite ready to do without it.

She really does a good job outside and is so excited when we praise and treat her...I guess at least she picked that up pretty fast.

I am learning to keep paper towel rolls in different rooms for now

I've always trained mine to go inside and outside at the same time. I know most people are opposed to it but it's worked for me. I have also always had the luxury of having someone around to watch them all the time to.

I totally agree with Caryll, we cleaned up with biological washing powder and we kept a puppy pad by the back door.. he used to run so fast to it that he nudged the back door, so we'd quickly open the door .. he now uses that nudge on the door as his signal he needs to go out... Takes time and consistency, they get there

We have had Winston 2 weeks this fri and he will be 9 weeks on saturday but we introduced the garden a few days ago and he does all his poos outside but has the odd wee accident inside and its the same spot each time, im not concerned because i just show him it and pop him outside and follow him and once he has done what hes meant o i give him so much priase and it seems to be working, honestly stick to what you are doing. Some will take longer then others and he is only still a baby. Winston even has a little whine and scratched at the back door which i am shocked at as its only day 3 on going outside but hes very clever

I think what a lot of people forget (or just don't realise) is that puppies don't have full physical control of their bladder/bowels until they are at least 13 or 14 weeks old, so there are bound to be accidents.

If you try to punish (or negatively reinforce) the accidents you are actually punishing them for doing something which is often out of their control & they could become anxious.

It's much better to ignore the accident & praise the good behaviour.

Well, the update is that at 12 weeks now she's much better Actually went to back door and whined to go out last night (and evidently really had to go) So I guess just some patience did the trick!

Maybe as things move along I'll get rid of the paper...she still uses it a bit though...but we are making progress. Thanks everyone for your advice.

Glad things are looking up. Some just take a little longer than others!

She looks so cute in your avatar!