New perfect puppy.....?

B

Bukovac

Forums Novice
Hi All! New to this forum! Just got a 10.5 week old bi blue sheltie last saturday... Have a crate in the kitchen. Have shut the kitchen off (thats where I am most of the time) She is in her crate and out with me in the kitchen or out for a potty break..I have taken her out on regular intervals, and the last two nights woken her up at 3 a.m. (and had to drag her out of her crate, to go potty and put her back in)..We are up again around 7-8 a.m. She's been perfect...

Question. Am I not giving her a chance to "make a mistake" to learn potty training? Or should I just say I have the perfect puppy? I was told I should allow her to go longer at night to see if she can do it or cries, or longer during day to see what signs she may give.


Any advice would be appreciated!


Jan and EA Poe!
 
Congratulations on your new addition!

At her age, she should be fine to "hold it" through the night. Just make sure you give her a good chance to relieve herself right before going to bed, and that you let her out first thing when she comes out of her crate in the morning. Both of you could use the sleep.

As a rule, you want to set your puppy up for success, not failure, with housebreaking (well, that goes for any training!). There is nothing to be gained by trying to "test" her bladder or bowel continence and punishing her... if she never has an accident (in part) because she never gets the opportunity to do so, that's perfectly fine.

Of course, this doesn't mean you need to be letting her out every fifteen minutes for the rest of her life! I think a huge part of housebreaking is making a habit of going outside, never inside - such that it "feels wrong" to the dog to make a mess indoors. She will become more and more trustworthy as she gets older. For now, your crate-and-kitchen setup sounds perfect.
 
whatever works

Kaleigh was my clockwork dog...pretty much every four hrs. She would whine to be let out at night...she couldn't hold potty until older. She was fairly easy to housebreak...and then I got Savannah, who was a camel at night, but during the day, well, not the success or ease I had with previous girls. I attribute it mostly due to the COLD we had, she hated being out in frigid temps, she hated cold paws, and I will never get another winter puppy. it was just NOT easy to housebreak her, and I seriously thought it would NEVER happen.

They are different...Savannah isn't like any of my previous shelties...nothing that worked for my others works for her, ha. She needs a different playbook entirely. I don't yet speak Savannah....there are still days we have issues, but we co-exist way better now. We are a work in progress, and the lessons are mainly for me:yes:

So my best advice is build on the successes, try your best not to focus on the mishaps and when you have those days, vent on the forum, we do understand. And I hope you have the perfect puppy, because really shelties are just so amazing. :winkgrin:
 
Just be happy with it. Cooper doesn't have a single "I gotta go" tell, like all of my previous puppies have had. He's playing, then he's peeing. Sometimes he's even peeing while he moves. I'm still trying to get it. And it isn't at regular intervals. Sometimes it's every half hour, sometimes he holds it for an hour, just no way to tell.
 
All my Shelties were quick studies with house training. :smile2: But, at that age, they still don't have complete control so accidents may happen. If your little girl seems to get "go outside to potty", then don't play up accidents ... i wouldn't even acknowledge them with her, just clean them up quickly.

BTW, all puppies are perfect. :biggrin2:
 
I think they're all different. When I brought Spirit home at 10 weeks of age, she was sleeping through the night with no accidents. But during the day, I took her out every 3-4 hours. The general rule of thumb is that a dog can hold it for the number of months old they are plus 1. So a 3 month old puppy can hold it for 4 hours. Maybe you could try stretching out the interval at night by 30 minutes at a time and see how she does.
 
When I got Piper at 10 weeks he amazed me by sleeping through the night, I was fully prepared to be woken up at 3 am lol but it never happened. He also had no 'tells' on when he'd go during the day so I was constantly watching him and taking him outside. Initially it was play play play outside and maybe pee after 30 minutes now though at 5 months he doesn't even sleep in his crate (on the bed) and I trust him that he won't wet on it. I did train him to ring a bell when he had to go outside and I think this was the turning point at him understanding going pee outside.
 
Bell

How did you train your puppy to ring a bell?! Poe is gated in our kitchen area but the way out is behind through the dining room and sunroom....
 
I picked up a sheep's bell at the hardware store and attached a piece of string to it. Then I used used a 3M hook and hung it at a height my puppy could reach. Then every time I took him outside I rang the bell and said 'outside', but you could say pee or business etc. I only had to do this a few times until he started to catch on. Now he rings it every time he needs to go out and if we go anywhere I can bring the bell with us (can be placed on a doorknob or something). I didn't attach it to the door but just beside the door. Good luck
 
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