house training please help!!!

Hi all..so Gwen is now 14 weeks old. I am starting to become concerned because she does not seem to be catching onto the house training at all!!!!! I take her out every 3 hours as well as right after she wakes up, comes out of her crate, eats..she still continues to go to the bathroom inside on our carpets! The other day i took her out she peed and i stayed out with her for another 10 minutes and then brought her in..literally 5 minutes later she pooped on the carpet inside..i need help! at 14 weeks should she already be potty trained outside? am i expecting too much and she is too young still..i dont expect zero accidents but she has like 10 accidents per day!!! please give any advice on methods that work..also she for the most part does not eliminate in her crate..we have had her sleep in bed with us since we got her at 8 weeks old but i am thinking about having her sleep in the crate bc in the middle of the night she will jump off the bed and go to the bathroom..i really want her to be house trained..maybe i am not doing things right..any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

Here's a link that should help

http://staffy-bull-terrier.com/toilet_training_your_staffie

Three hours is too infrequently at her age, it should be every 30 or so minutes that way you catch them almost all the time they need to go to the toilet, then they'll do it outside and you can give them lots of praise. Also, look out for the signs that she's about to do something (sniffing intently, circling, etc.) and pick her up and put her outside and stay out there with her until she does something. She'll learn eventually just that some take longer than others. For example, Loki caught on to house-training from day one (in theory, anyway). Most of his accidents were because we weren't quick enough to open the door for him. But...he took FOREVER to learn that biting is bad. So they all have their learning speeds.

Thanks! I need to take her out more then. I just figured since she can hold it for three hours in the crate she can hold it that long while out..but i guess she isnt really worried about holding it at this point she just goes whenever she has to. So it isnt unusual for her to not be house trained at 14 weeks then? We will keep trying..it is a ridiculous process/amount of work! But i love her so much she is totally worth it!

She can hold it for that long, but don't forget she doesn't know where and where not to go, so if she wants to go to the toilet, why would she hold it? She only holds it in the crate because they don't like to do anything where they sleep, but outside the crate she has no reason to hold it . It isn't unusual at all, some pick up things quicker than others, but once it finally 'clicks' in her head, you'll see loads of progress very quickly, because they are very clever

Three hours is too infrequent and she's only 14 weeks! Elmo was pretty quick to catch on but then I was either with him constantly when he was free to roam or he was in his crate or pen and he wast still having the odd accident at 5 months when I made a mistake.

Have a read of this - http://info.drsophiayin.com/Portals/13722/docs/PottyTrainingfromPerfectPup.pdf

Lol the joys of pups.bruce caught on really quick.Now we are having to train Ozzy.it is time consuming but so worth it in the end.

Just like the others have said it will click into place and she will gradually start to let you know when she needs to go.
Getting up the middle of the night to stand in a cold sloppy poo is part and parcel of puppyhood im afraid, its also one part that I wont miss lol.

It took Otis until he was 6 months to finally click with toilet training he used to pee and poo in the house constantly despite us taking him out often but he is now 8 months and no accidents at all in over a month. Sometimes it just takes them that wee bit longer to understand what's expected of them. Patience and perseverance is key but she will get it eventually.

One thing that did help was we bought some urine off detergent from pets at home and cleaned every floor in our house with it several times to make sure there was no traces of previous accidents whatsoever and this really seemed to help...may have been a coiincidence but since we did that the accidents were less frequent and then not at all.

What we did with our pup was to take her out whenever she wakes up and after eating and drinking . It works out at least once every hour. We wait till she has done something and praise her and give her a tiny bit of a treat.
We ignore any indoor accidents unless we catch them in the act , then we wizz her out.
She is 11 wks now and will wait at the door and cry. I no longer have to stand outside with her.
It is quite time consuming and you have to watch them lots . I would go back to the beginning and take her out hourly even if she doesn't look like she needs anything.
Good luck

You will still have accidents at this age and it takes some pups longer than others. What I do is, regularly make a point of bringing her outside for a wee. Because she is so young you won't be waiting too long, but wait until she goes then really praise and reward her. Praise works wonders for this, but it has to be repeated loads.

Also, it's really important not to tell her off for going inside. The only thing you can do is take her straight out and wait until she goes again then praise her. If she is told off for going inside it will confuse her.

I know how you feel. Alfie is now 12 months and only just grasping that he doesnt go inside. Ive had him a couple of months now and its definitely been hard work but just stick at it. I also did what Sarah did, started giving treats when he went outside, he picked up on this very quickly! So that may be worth a try

CaraJeff11 wrote: at 14 weeks should she already be potty trained outside? am i expecting too much and she is too young still..

14 weeks is still very much a baby & they all mature at different rates.

A pup doesn't have full control over its bladder/bowels until it's about 5 or 6 months old (on average). Obviously some are sooner and some are later, but as you can see, 14 weeks isn't at all unusual.

Just take her outside at least once an hour, preferably more, and if she pees or poops give her praise. If she does anything indoors just ignore it (clean it up, obviously, but don't tell her off!). She'll soon learn that outside means praise & inside means no praise.

Agree with all the above advice. Remember that just because she goes inside it doesn't mean she hasn't " caught on ". Could be she just can't hold it. You need to watch constantly for signs like sniffing, circling etc. and take her out straight away and lots of praise when she performs. The more times the two of you get it right the quicker she'll be housetrained but initially don't expect to see a t.v. programme all the way through LOL.

your dogs still very young, she wont pick it up overnight, and you cant be there every half hour to let her out. keep looking out for her she will do cetrain things when she is ready to go outside, just be patient and try to get her outside when she looks like she needs to go. my gary is 7 months old now, he still has his accidents in the house but 90% of the time he goes outside for his mess.

the key is patience, when she does go outside to releive her self make a massive over the top fuss of her.

Agree with eveything above ^^

I found treats worked miracles in this situation. Everytime a mess was done outside i was prepared with treat and gave him lots of praise. Even when your out walking him, stop and give him your time to say "well done".

Using chemicals to get rid of previous messes in the house is a must. They will only continue to pee in the same place as before if the scent is still there. Over time you will notice the signals to tell you she needs the toilet, the key is patience. Youve got loads of great advice on the forum, good luck

Thanks for all the great advice! Gwen is doing much better with her house training now! I think we were giving her too much time in the house out of her crate. We have her in the crate then take her outside and if she goes to the bathroom she has 45 min play time outside the crate then back outside for bathroom and back into the crate. This works much better..yesterday was our first day ever with ZERO accidents!!! I am so proud of her! We will keep doing this method until she starts to get it and increase the play time out of crate as she gets older and has more control!

Great news well done

How much time does she actually spend in her crate?

Glad to hear she is doing better with housetraining

She spends a decent amount in her crate now..however she doesnt sleep in her crate..sleeps in bed with us and has since the first day we got her! She's in her crate during the day for like 6 hours..but not all at once..in 1-2 hour increments. So shes in for 1-2 hours then out for 45 min- 1.5 hrs then back in and so on rotating in and out of the crate.

That sounds fine as long as she gets regular breaks Glad it is working out for you

Tara wrote:Three hours is too infrequently at her age, it should be every 30 or so minutes that way you catch them almost all the time they need to go to the toilet, then they'll do it outside and you can give them lots of praise. Also, look out for the signs that she's about to do something (sniffing intently, circling, etc.) and pick her up and put her outside and stay out there with her until she does something. She'll learn eventually just that some take longer than others. For example, Loki caught on to house-training from day one (in theory, anyway). Most of his accidents were because we weren't quick enough to open the door for him. But...he took FOREVER to learn that biting is bad. So they all have their learning speeds.

Marley was good when we got her too so I can't help with any advice but I'm sure she'll catch on eventually...good luck

CaraJeff11 wrote:She spends a decent amount in her crate now..however she doesnt sleep in her crate..sleeps in bed with us and has since the first day we got her! She's in her crate during the day for like 6 hours..but not all at once..in 1-2 hour increments. So shes in for 1-2 hours then out for 45 min- 1.5 hrs then back in and so on rotating in and out of the crate.

Can I ask why she has this regime? Please don't think I'm criticizing, I just don't understand why.

Its crate training...she cant be alone in our house if we cant watch her..im at work all day and my boyfriend works from home but he cant watch her 24/7 because he has to work..so if we cant watch her closely then she is in the crate..plus if she was out of the crate all day she would go to the bathroom everywhere! Its not good to have a puppy in the crate for many hours thats why she is only in for 2 hours max and then we take her out to go to the bathroom/ playtime..dogs naturally will try as hard as possible to not go to the bathroom in their crate..so when shes in there she will hold it for 2 hrs but if shes just in the house she will go every 20 mins..this way there is a very low chance she will have an accident in the house!!!! So the answer is A- this is the way to crate train which is enormously helping with housebreaking training..and B- we cant possibly watch her 24 hours a day 7 days a week so it is necessary to be able to put her in the crate when we are busy or out of the house. Hope that answered your question!

How's the house-training going, any progress?

Hey Tara! Thats funny i just posted an update as you posted asking how she was doing with the house training! But it is going okay..def making progress!!! She was having like 10 accidents a day and now we are down to 1 or 2 accidents a day, even 1 day with ZERO accidents :O!! She even whined at the door one day which was great! Still if given the chance she would go to the bathroom inside everywhere but i think she is learning that outside is the spot she is supposed to go which is all i could ask of her since she is still a baby! I think it will just take another few months of constantly taking her outside and praising her when she goes in the right spot for her to really be 100% house trained! We are sooo proud of her!

Nah, I read your reply and then replied Well yeah, they'd all go inside if they were allowed, it's a lot less fuss for them than going outside especially when it's cold. Even after Loki was toilet-trained he'd pee inside or on the step or stand inside and aim outside just because it was raining . Glad to hear you're making progress with it though, definitely get there in the end and it'll pay off

Tara wrote:aim outside just because it was raining .

I can just picture this , brilliant

Don't know if it'll be any help but with tia I let her out every 20minutes. Seems a lot but r worked, obviously praised her like anything gave her a treat and told her good girl, if she did an accident indoors i never told her off or stuck her nose in like some people do, I ignored it took her straight outside and told her 'wee wee's' I never used paper or puppy pads I just did the whole every 20 minutes outside. I stay up late anyway so she always had a last wee or poo around 1-2am then she was in a cage. She came house trained quick! Then she came out her cage and slept in my room with no accidents. Has one in a blue moon but that's my fault if I've left it to late. Apart from that that is how I trained her. And she is my first dog my son now opens the door and tells her wee wee's which is handy hope its some help.