regressing....

[becca]

My 8 month old Buddy has been doing very well with his potty training, until recently. About a week ago I started noticing spots on the carpet again, but he had not warned us with the pee-pee dance. Yesterday, he messed twice in the bedroom and had I not gotten a nice wiff, i would have never known he had gone, as he crawled under the bed to do his duties. We are quite perplexed as to why he has started these habits again. Will he perhaps change his ways back after his "surgery"? We are planning on getting that done within the month...hoping it will calm him down a lot as he is quite hyper-active. Not having owned a puppy before, we are quite clueless and appriceate any advice offered!!
thanks!


becca =)

[dutchman]

While it's far easier to say than do than (I have too many acidnets in this house with my three boys) but consider leash training. At any point you can't keep your eye on Buddy put him on a leash attached to you or in his kennel (des he have one?. Make his hear his freedom. He is unlikely to chage this habit without your asistance.

Tom and the boys (Frank, Tanner and Dexter)

[Patt]

Becca

This is very challenging to say the least. Tom has great suggestions, tethering to you would be a good idea. As for crating, I understand lots have had great results with this one. I have not done this myself but here are a few links for you to check out, its worth a try.

http://www.k9web.com/dog-faqs/crating.html
http://www.perfectpaws.com/crt.html
http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/cratetraining.htm

I'm sure you will get more info in later posts. Good Luck!!

Patt

[lotsadox]

I used the tethering with my foster girl for several reasons, one of which was potty training and it worked really well. Try it.

[Heide]

Tom.. Dont let him out of your sight.
If not at home confine his freedom.
I know housetraining is a very complexing experience but once completed its wonderful.

[lotsadox]

Housebreaking is like exercising. It's painful while you're doing it, but feels so good when it's done.

[doxiemommaof2]

I think keeping the praise up really helps. ( Sometimes we forget that they are still puppies and just expect them to know the rules) My 12 week old pup hasn't had an accident in the house for well over 2 weeks...but my oldest Minnie took forever to house train. She was over a year old before she finally "got it". We would praise her like crazy when she did the right thing, and curse at the mess, (not her) when we had to clean up a mess. She is going to be 3 years next month, and we still praise her when she goes outside...Sounds crazy I know...but it has worked...I think it also helped with training the puppy too. He would see her getting praised for going, and he got praised for going. So he caught on real quick.

[lotsadox]

There are several good points here. One is the praise. It's very important to let them know when they are good. This goes a long ways. The other point to remember is that they're not all the same and learn at different rates. I didn't think I'd ever get Bogart housetrained. I got him at 12 weeks and it seemed to take forever. I got Miller at 18 months and he trained immediately. It only took about 2 weeks for him to get it. The foster I had was about a year and it took the entire 6-7 weeks that I had her for her to start to get it. When she went to her forever home, she was just getting it. Be patient and consistent. He'll get it eventually.

[becca]

thanks a bunch for all the advice/info!! i'm hoping he gets it soon. he has this new thing now that he will only pee on trees when i take him out...he does the rest for andrew but he will not do it for me...i can have him out there for a half hour and he still won't go. tonight is a prime example. i took him out 4 times at 15-20 min each time...andrew had him out there for like 10 min, if that and he went no problem. guess he's just trying to be a polite boy in front of mommy...:confused:

thanks again!
becca =)