Housebreaking Question

[Skyla'sMom]

LOL Ok, I think some people misunderstood. I AM crate training her, the crate/kennel will be in the back room with us (where I am most of the day - I do not work outside the home) as well as I will move it to my bedroom at night when I sleep. I will be on a potty break schedule with her during the day as well as at night. I know about little puppy bladders and I will be getting up throughout the night to take her outside as well. My question pretty much was is it ok for the first few/couple of weeks to carry her through the house to take her out instead of letting her walk. It sounds from the responses that carrying her out to begin with will be fine, and then as her bladder gets stronger she can walk to the door without being carried

I agree with crate training. I noticed you mentioned you wanted to gate her in a room but if you are not in the room with her, I highly recommend you put her in her crate. When they are that young, a whole room is too big for them to associate not peeing in it but since the crate is small and they sleep there, they will build their ''bladder holding'' reflexes in order to not soil it. (See this thread where I replied with more details about the crating schedule we had with our pup http://sheltieforums.com/showthread.php?t=13936&referrerid=2552)

As for your question about carrying her or leashing her up, well the first couple of weeks with Kyara, I would carry her out most of the times because she peed so often and so quickly that she would not have made it to the door 10 feet away lol. As soon as I was opening up her crate, I would pick her up and bring her outside. Same thing when she was done eating. After 2 weeks I would leash her up to show her the way and prevent accidents. I don't think I did this long and in no time she was going to the door by herself.

Finally, she rings a bell to go out the kind you see on a reception desk or at restaurants. What you are describing is a good way to teach it. We put the bell close to the door, and every time I brought her outside, I put her paw on the bell. When she was holding it better, I sat her in front of the bell before going out and would say ''ring the bell'' and wait for her to ring it before praising and treating and then bringing her outside. Now she will ring it to go outside no matter where we are so we bring it with us when we go visit family or friends. Very useful!

 

[take4roll10]

LOL Ok, I think some people misunderstood. I AM crate training her, the crate/kennel will be in the back room with us (where I am most of the day - I do not work outside the home) as well as I will move it to my bedroom at night when I sleep. I will be on a potty break schedule with her during the day as well as at night. I know about little puppy bladders and I will be getting up throughout the night to take her outside as well. My question pretty much was is it ok for the first few/couple of weeks to carry her through the house to take her out instead of letting her walk. It sounds from the responses that carrying her out to begin with will be fine, and then as her bladder gets stronger she can walk to the door without being carried

I don't why you can't carry her out while she is young and learning. I would clip her leash on before you pick her up, so maybe she will start associating the leash with going outside.

Good luck!

 

[BarbV]

A couple of additional comments:

- Carrying her to the door, particularly if you have stairs that your are negotiating, but I deposit her in front of the door, open it and beckon her out. The only reason to carry her all the way out is if you caught her in the act and need to get her outside quick to finish her business (and of course, if she finishes outside then loud applause and treats!)

- I would also say that to get into the habit of getting up in the middle of the night to let her out is very onerous for you and might actually prolong your puppy training. I think for a very young pup, in a properly sized crate, a bed time pee at about 11 p.m. and and an early morning pee at about 5 a.m. is to be expected. If pup whines in the meantime, of course, let her out. But I would not be waking her at 2 or 3 a.m. to go pee. The idea is that you want them to learn to extend their bladder on their own.

 

[DPSheltie]

When Riley was a pup I would carry him to the door when he was really young and when we're going from the bedroom to the door. If we were near the door I would have him walk, but if we were any distance away I would carry him to prevent accidents!

 

[Meldor]

LOL Ok, I think some people misunderstood. I AM crate training her, the crate/kennel will be in the back room with us (where I am most of the day - I do not work outside the home) as well as I will move it to my bedroom at night when I sleep. I will be on a potty break schedule with her during the day as well as at night. I know about little puppy bladders

Sorry about that! The beginning of your first post confused me on that part and I simply wanted to offer as much useful info as I could in one reply lol hopefully the rest of my post was helpful on the carrying part and bell part. Thanks for clarifying. Anyhow, I am sure you'll find a good balance when to carry or not depending on the urgency of the need to pee. Looking forward to reading about your first weeks with your new pup.

 

[Justicemom]

Your making it much harder than it needs to be carry her or don't carry her whatever way will get you to the yard without an accident.

Teach her to ring a bell if you like but not needed. Take her out every couple hours,after playing, after sleeping, after chewing, after eating. say do you need to go out or something similar. Watch her like a hawk inbetween.

At night, take her out right before you go to bed, make sure she does both jobs. Put her in the crate and go to sleep. If she whines, take her out , no playing or no fun, good girl back in the crate. If she sleeps though the night, thank the puppy gods! Birch, Ember and Diva could hold it through the night by 9 weeks. I got Justice at 11 weeks and he was holding in from day 1.

If she has an accident, roll up a newspapper and hit yourself on the head, clean up and start again.

Other than that there is no right or wrong way. Just be constistant and your puppy will be trained in no time.

 

[Skyla'sMom]

I just wanted to be sure that if I was to carry her to the front door at the beginning that I wouldnt be instilling that behavior in her where she would think that it would always be that way

Your making it much harder than it needs to be carry her or don't carry her whatever way will get you to the yard without an accident.

Teach her to ring a bell if you like but not needed. Take her out every couple hours,after playing, after sleeping, after chewing, after eating. say do you need to go out or something similar. Watch her like a hawk inbetween.

At night, take her out right before you go to bed, make sure she does both jobs. Put her in the crate and go to sleep. If she whines, take her out , no playing or no fun, good girl back in the crate. If she sleeps though the night, thank the puppy gods! Birch, Ember and Diva could hold it through the night by 9 weeks. I got Justice at 11 weeks and he was holding in from day 1.

If she has an accident, roll up a newspapper and hit yourself on the head, clean up and start again.

Other than that there is no right or wrong way. Just be constistant and your puppy will be trained in no time.