Housebreaking tips?

Adding on to Barbs reminder to never let the dog out of your site. Once Honey understood that she wasn't supposed to go to the bathroom in the house and could hold it reliably for an hour or so, I found it useful to keep her on a leash so she had to stay in my vicinity, but still had a bit more room to play.

In fact when we moved several times in a month and her training regressed, instead of doing the full crate training I went back to keeping her on the leash for a week and the behavior corrected itself.
 
BarbV said:
Someone posted a picture of a Sheltie sitting in the bathtub with toys (maybe this was a different website) That's where she placed her pup while she was getting ready for work.
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That's a good idea! I might stick that in my back pocket and keep it for later :biggrin2:
 
mcemily said:
I agree, you are doing the right things, it will just take awhile.

I had my puppy from the time he was 8 weeks old, and it took until he was 7-8 months before he was really, solidly reliable on the housebreaking. 6 months was definitely the point at which he had his "ah-ha!" moment regarding the housebreaking. From then on it was just reinforcing that, and making sure we understood the pattern HE liked best (turns out he wants to eat breakfast before he goes outside in the morning, and we'd been trying to take him outside first).

At first, he'd always poop outside, but sometimes pee inside. Then, he switched, and he'd always pee outside, but sometimes poop on the landing by the front door.

Eventually, we got him to stop that by feeding him there, and having him sleep there at night, or barricading him there when we left, instead of putting him in his crate. That lasted for about a week, and he never did it again. I guess that part of the house just hadn't "counted" as part of his den until he had to spend some quality time there!

If your little lady does tend to have accidents in the same spot or spots, you could try feeding her there, or putting her crate there, etc. so that she learns that those spots are not throwaway areas suitable for toileting.

Good luck, and I hope she gets it soon!
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Wow- I guess I got lucky. My little man was housebroken by 12 weeks. Granted he had to be on a schedule, but I let him follow me around the house and he goes to the door when he needs to go out.
 
I wanted to thank everyone for their advice and suggestions. Lady is now 4 1/2 months, is in puppy kindergarten, and her accidents in the house are getting to be less. I still have to take her out every half hour to an hour when home and watch her all the time, but she is slowly getting better. Her access is limited in the house, no laundry room (she barks too much at the washer and dryer), no family room unless someone is with her, no bedrooms except at night when she's in the crate (I move it into the bedroom at night, so I can hear her better, during the day it's in the living room) and the bathroom door is always shut also. So, hopefully she will continue to get better. I know because of her age she still has a ways to go. I know my last Sheltie wasn't trained until he was around 6 months.
 
Ok, my new reality.....I now have a 9 week old puppy..

By breeder had done nothing to crate train or potty train him. But by some miracle Iv e only had two accidents since Tuesday since I brought him home.

The only danger I have it my green area rug that looks like grass, but so far so good.

So.....what do I do......I have built a den for the dog. A Crate within an xpen. I think he has figured out that this is HIS space and not to pee and poo there. I have less guilt putting him in the xpen when I'm home and can't watch him because he has access to his toys and water.

He already understands that crate is for sleeping. It only took a couple of treats to get him there. He knows the xpen is for playing and eating.

As to schedule.

When he wakes, outside first. He normally pees. Then feed, and about 10 minutes later, outside again. Then poo. He will often poo again about 1/2 later. So I watch for circling, restlessness. As soon as I see that then he is outside again.

Once he's done about all the business he can do, I let him play around the house a little, but put him down for a nap after about an hour. At 12 p.m. he gets lunch and its pretty much the same routine.

It seems like you are doing all the same things, so I don't know why you are having difficulty. All I can say is chill and stay calm. They do sense if you are feeling nervous
 
I did the crate inside the xpen thing too, for a while. Fed in crate, put in crate at night. But if I wasn't home, she had both the xpen and the crate. I put a potty pad in the xpen, but honestly she only really needed that the first month until she got older. Now she can go 6 hours during the day in the crate without an accident. I schedule things so I'm not away any longer than that. Otherwise, I have a dog walker stop by.

Now at 5 1/2 months she has the bigger crate and no xpen. She has never had an accident in the crate. As long as I keep my kitchen timer set and take her for a pee every 1 1/2 hours when she is awake, playing, and out of the pen, she's fine. Most of the time she plays really hard with my older sheltie, so more activity means more drinking and more peeing. But is she's sleeping or quietly chewing a bone, she can go longer than the 1 1/2 hours.
 
Just an update on Cal.....still no accidents....11 weeks old.

He is in his crate night time and when I'm not at home. During the day, he is either in his combined crate/xpen if I'm home. And of course, we go out every couple of hours. If I'm not home, he is just in his crate.

I'm starting to figure out his eating and elimination schedules...and starting to learn when he is just messing with me. He is also starting to give verbal cues. I don't react to the first whimper

I think its important to stretch the potty breaks as long as you can. Otherwise, you will be continuously bringing pup out to do a little dribble. It's really a question of learning your pups cues....how much if this is I just want to play vs. how much is I have to pee now!

I think my set up is the best ever for house training a dog;

http://www.sheltieforums.com/album.php?albumid=559&pictureid=6387
 
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