Housebreaking Help Needed

[Jodi]

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I'm completly doubting myself now. I have read through all of the archives on housetraining and I'm not sure I can do this.

I started out using the puppy pads. I'm new to owning a dog and I saw this in the store and thought it was a good idea. Maggie seems to do pretty well with this when she sees it and when we put her on it. She's only six weeks old, so I don't expect miracles. I'm ok with the accidents she's having, because I expected that before we got her, I'm just not sure on what to do now as far as going out to do business. Should I quit using the puppy pads and start training her to go outside? Is she too young to go outside? I feel like if I keep using these pads, she won't know what going out is.

I'm so confused now. I don't know where to begin. I thought what I was doing was good, but I think I've made a mistake. I'm crate training her too, so first thing when I take her out of the crate, is put her on the pad and she's getting the idea, but she does her business in there at night. Which I thought was ok since she was so young.

Please shed some light on this for us.

Thanks,
Jodi and Maggie<IMG SRC="http://dachsie.org/ubb/cwmsmilies/cwm6.gif" border=0>

[Snorodent]

Hi,

You really shouldnt worry too much about house breaking if your puppy is 6 weeks old. That isnt even old enough to go away from its mother, let alone even think about house breaking. Im curious who sold you a 6 week old puppy. You puppy is lucky if it can hold its pee pee for 2 to 3 hours tops at this age. I got my pup at 12 weeks old and she went all over my kitchen floor for weeks and I thought house breaking was hopeless. Eventually, you can convince them its just more fun to pee on the grass. Just take her out all the time and if she does pee outside, make a big deal out of it and give a treat. When she goes inside, no treat. Dogs are smart and by 5 months she will figure it out and stop having accidents but you are a long way off. just try to control the house accidents onto a cleanable surface and enjoy the puppy while you can, because soon it will be an adult dog and you will miss your puppy.

Stacy

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[Cathy]

Jodi....I first trained Maximus on the potty pads when he was 6 weeks old too. I loved it! He was 6 weeks old in the middle of winter, and I didn't want him out in the cold and snow. He learned to go potty on the pads only. We praised him and gave him treats, and he quickly learned. Even when he was in the middle of vigorous play and wrestling, he would stop and go do his business on the pad. Then back to playing. It was great. As the weather go warmer, and he got older, we gradually moved the pad closer to the door. Now he goes to the door and stares at us to be let out to play and/or go potty.http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/cool.gif He is so smart!

Maximus is now 9 months old and always goes outside to do his stuff. However, we are at work all day, and he is on his own approx. 9 hrs a day. I still keep the pads in the house, just in case he needs them, but he usually doesn't at this point. But sometimes he does. I would rather he use the pads for an emergency than my carpet.

Also, when we are out of town and family or friends baby tend Max, I send them with him. That way if they don't keep him on his regular schedule and he needs to go, he just knows to use his pad. It's great I think.

BTW, I use the CVS brand of human pads. They are much cheaper than the doggie pads, and they fit the dog potty box perfect.

Keep up the good work!http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/facelick.gif



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Cathy and Maximus

[LisaH]

Jodi:

It can be confusing, especially with dogs as small as dachshunds. When we got Annie at 8 weeks old, she slept in a crate, but she couldn't make it through the night without peeing and I did NOT want to get up in the middle of the night. Our compromise was to "gate" her into the pantry at night, with the crate door open and a wee-wee pad for her to go on. When we were home, we were vigilant about taking her outside and rewarding her when she peed there. (We neither rewarded her nor discouraged her from peeing on the pad.)

Admittedly it is more difficult to train a dog that she can *sometimes* go inside, but mostly should go outside. We still leave the pads down for Annie when we're both at work, since I don't see any reason to demand that she hold it for 10 hours at a stretch! Occasionally Annie does get mixed up and pee or poop in the place where the pad would be, if I'd put it down. This seldom happens, though.

And as others have mentioned, at 6 weeks your little Maggie can no more hold it than a human infant! The best you can do is make sure she's outside as much as possible when she needs to pee, and then give her a great treat and praise her when she does the right thing. The more you can get her to pee outside, the more you're going to reinforce this good habit.

One of my favorite dog-training books says that, if you find a puddle in the house, you should get a rolled-up newspaper and smack yourself in the head with it, saying "I forgot to watch my dog! I forgot to watch my dog!" I think this is the right attitude!

Lisa and Annie

[Rusty's mom]

I think at 6 wks she's just too young to be trying to housebreak outside - and even inside. We were told that our first was 8 wks old and the vet said maybe 6 wks but more like 5 wks. They are just too young and shouldn't even be away from their mother yet. We got up at night to put our little guys out until they were almost 6 mo. old. It's just too much to expect them to hold it all night. We did the peepee pads thing as well and now that it's summer we're making the transition to the great outdoors. Dashies are harder to housebreak than most dogs and yours is just too young yet - but that's only my opinion.

Kathy

[Krista]

I agree with the others. Six weeks old is too young to be removed from its mother and littermates. In many states the Law stipulates that pups be at least 8 weeks old before being transferred. (Of course seedy breeders and millers don't obey the law.)

You should start training by whichever method you have chosen -crate, paper, or short leash - but realize you are not going to see the fruits of your labor at this age. Pups cannot hold it very long. At the least, you should be taking the pup to their potty spot at least every 2 hours. If you work outside the home, you or someone else should be doing this during the day, or paper training for now.

It is going to take a few months of being patient and CONSISTENT! Set a schedule of feeding and taking out and adhere to it. No matter which method of training you choose, this is important. 6 weeks old should be eating 4 times a day.

[Jodi]

Thanks for all of your wonderful advice. I had no idea that six weeks was too young to take pups from their mother. I'm new to owning a dog, so I trust a breeder when they say the pups are ready. It was not a pupppy mill that we got her from or a weirdo breeder. In fact, here, most ppl do sell or give their puppies when they are 6 weeks.

I was owned by two cats for a loooooong time, which is a very different story. I'm finding the personalities to be on totally different levels.

I am not pushing Maggie to be trained any which way. She goes on the paper when she wants and if she's outside, she goes there. We do have accidents, but like I said in my first post, I expected that when I took on the responsiblity of a pup. I just needed help in deciding which way to go. I didn't want to train her on the pads if she would become dependent upon them and then refuse to go outside like many members have posted about. Now I know of some success stories and now I know it's ok to use the pads.

Thanks for all the great advice and we'll keep you posted.

Jodi and Maggie

[Shay]

yes, six weeks is too early, and yes people give dogs away at six weeks a lot. if you bought the pup, they should not have let it go at six weeks. i got my Ginger at 5 weeks from a byb, she's close to five months now, and those first few weeks were hard. luckily she never cried at nite, as we had a kitten her age, so she just hung out with the mom and the kitten at nite in a large cardboard box for the first few weeks, then began to interact more with Jasmine, my 3 yr doxie girl. now they all play together, and it's great. we never used paper, although some people have had luck with that. we use crates and have used the leash to you method, and mostly they go outside, but they still have accidents sometimes. it takes a lot of patience and commitment to be owned by doxies, but the reward of their unconditional love offsets any of the bad stuff. good luck with your new pup, look forward to hearing how things go. and if you click on show all topics in housebreaking, you can read quite a bit about all aspects and what has and hasn't worked with doxies. oh yeah, one more thing, treats for going outside is a real motivator for my girls. just watch out for fake peeing for the treat!!!! Best wishes, Shay

[Shay]

http://www.12many.com/duchwood/cratetraining.html
this site has an excellent explantion of crate training