LC is 75% there

[Steven]

Hey Everyone:

In the past week or so LC hasn't had many accidents. Perhaps once every other day. Sometimes he'll go to the door, sometimes not. He's basically watched most of the time. It took 2 months and loads of frustration, but he's almost got it. I wouldn't leave him without supervision for long, but a few minutes has worked.

What I found works -- for him anyhow -- was showing him the accident, saying at the same time. Then I put him in "time-out" in his crate. I've read this is okay, only if it's short period of time. I basically did isolation. I figured this worked to break him of play nipping, why not try it out on house training. Granted I may have left him in his crate longer then he should've, but heck I needed to get stuff done anyhow.

Also, keeping his leash on him helped. It helped him from going and finding a spot in a hidden spot. Also, it's helped to keep him out of stuff.

Ok, well, I'll probably regret saying anything, but oh well I just wanted to brag. :D

[Patt]

Congrats to you & Cooper. Thats pretty good for a 4 month old. Housetraining is a long process but with patience, being consistent and lots of love the job will eventually be accomplished. ;)

[Heide]

It can be a long process for some and not so long for others.
I am glad he is getting there.
I will be going through housetraining soon also, as soon as Benjamin gets home.
So I will be sharing our experiences also.

[TessieMom]

Congratulations. I am glad you found something that worked for you. Every dog is difference, but there are few dachshunds who are house trained by 4 months!

Rena and the Waco crew

[Me&DappledDuo]

Heehee- I bet that you're just starting to develop our dachshund loving idea of what housetrained really means! My boys are usually very good- at 9 and 6 months. I call them trained! They go outside and on the pad pretty reliably. But 100%? Ha! I will NEVER be far from my bottle of Nature's Miracle! :D You have a long way to go still- and don't expect perfection, well, ever! But it sounds like he's dong pretty well for his age.

I don't really crate mine, so I don't have first hand knowledge of this stuff- but I would be very cautious about using crating as punishment. You want LC to LOVE his crate- to feel comfortable in it and approach it on his own.

Housetraining accidents shouldn't be punished, in any case- unless you want to paddle yourself! :D It's not like he meant to go on the floor- you just didn't catch his signs, plan properly for when he'd need to "go", or weren't around to let him out. And hey- that's okay! Who has eyes in the back of their head? You'll both get better as time goes on.

And yeah- watch the bragging! From personal experience, it almost always guarantees a yellow puddle in the middle of the room! LOL!

[Kim H.]

It has got to be HARD to teach them to go outside reliably!

C & A do not have the excuse that I "didn't catch their signals or plan for them to go out." :D Actually, they have done VERY well with their paper training lately too.

Way to go LC! Keep up the good work!!

[Steven]

LC doesn't have the excuse either. He used to not show signals, now he'll sniff around a little or go somewhere he can't be seen. That's one reason I started leashing him to me.

[FOREVER A DAXIE]

Charlie is still working on it. I know that the light bulb moment will come one day. He doesn't have very many accidents but it's because we're taking him out. I'm waiting for him to give us a sign.

:flush: :flush: :flush: :flush: :flush: :flush: :flush:

Keep up the good work LC!

[Jennie]

Don't brag too loudly, or I think they'll have to go inside just to show who's still boss! On Sunday, I was about to post that it had been 5 days since an accident, and wouldn't you know it, just that morning Baxter went in the house. And he'd been my star! So, didn't get to brag that morning. But, it has now been 8 days with just that one accident. And I think that one was my fault (didn't follow the routine, and we were far from the outside door). So, I will very quietly, very discreetly brag about my puppers! I won't yet say that the lightbulb has gone off, as I'm still doing much of the planning of their outdoor excursions, but we are definitely getting there! My mother is visiting from Indiana at Thanksgiving, and I am actually hopeful that we'll be 95% there by then. So, here's to my boys continuing to get it..........:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: Oops, not so quiet. Oh well, they deserve it.

[LisaH]

Remember that giving a treat when they potty outdoors can go a long way toward lighting up that light bulb...Molly had very sloppy habits when she came to us 9 months ago, but once we started giving her a treat for pottying outside, well...the sky lit up!

LisaH, Annie, and Molly

[Jennie]

I do the treat thing every time. Baxter will often try to trick me, running up like he's gone, when I know full well he hasn't! He sure has that gig figured out.

[Jennie]

I give up! Here I am bragging about them (quietly, of course), and what happens as I turn around? Bailey pees on the carpet! I had just taken them out a few minutes ago and Baxter went outside. Bailey didn't, and acted like he didn't need to. Less than 10 minutes later, right on the carpet. So, guess I won't be bragging about them again anytime soon.............

[Lauri Gengor]

I was saying very proudly Mirri "got it" and no accidents in a while. Well, she just peed on my rug:angry: I will take back the 95% and go back a few points. She is still getting it and we got some more work to do. I think she honestly sometimes forgets, but she also got spaded Monday so I have to take that in account even though she is acting like "no big deal." She is also a dachi with that stubborn attitude. LOL...Don't we love it!:D

[Steven]

The interesting thing is that LC doesn't care if he gets a treat for going outside. For a month I offered a treat and he would take it whenever he wanted to, sometimes he didn't want it, sometimes he did. So I bascially gave up on offering it. I think he likes the praise more, but he doesn't seem to react to that either.

He's getting to the habit of basically saying, "No, I don't have to go outside!!!" I mean, I say, "Lets go outside" after a nap and he'll go off and play. He wont come to the door to go out when I call him there, so I either scoop him up or just let him be. It depends on the time of day, like when was his last #2.

He's also gotten in to the habit of a belly rub before leash, which is funny, but frustrating when I'm in a hurry or not in the mood for that.

[FOREVER A DAXIE]

I give Charlie treats too. However, he doesn't get one first thing in the morning (I know he really has to go) or last thing at night ~ because we absolutely expect him to then.