potty training question

J

jerros

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Well i've had my pup for 4 weeks now, he's 3.5 months old now and has been doing great in terms of potty training. I leave him at home in the kitchen in a playpen during the day and was even bragging to one of my co workers that he had never had an accident in his pen.

Because he was doing so well, I was planning to expand his playpen area to the whole kitchen area this weekend after doing some puppy proofing the kitchen so that I could leave him there confidently unsupervised.

Well...I think vash must have heard me because after I taking him out to potty at lunch, I came home from work 4 hrs later and was a pee puddle in his pen.

Now I realize that there are going to be accidents, but most of the literature I have read on potty training says to start the area small and slowly increase it as you become more confident in them. And some suggest that if they have an accident you reduce the area one step back. So, I'm a little torn on what to do.
 
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jerros said:
Well i'v had my pup for 4 weeks now, he's 3.5 months old now and has been doing great in terms of potty training. I leave him at home in the kitchen in a playpen during the day and was even bragging to one of my co workers that he had never had an accident in his pen.

Because he was doing so well, I was planning to expand his playpen area to the whole kitchen area this weekend after doing some puppy proofing the kitchen so I could leave him there confidently unsupervised.

Well...I think vash must have heard me because after I taking him out to potty at lunch when I got home from work 4 hrs later there was a pee puddle in his pen.

Now I realize that there are going to be accidents, but most of the literature I have read on potty training says to start the area small and slowly increase it as you become more confident in them. And some suggest that if they have an accident you reduce the area one step back. So, I'm a little torn on what to do.
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It sounds very much the norm to me. I think I'd take the step back as you wrote...but maybe in-between the size you were successful with and the size you just switched to. He's still a very young little pupper. My experience is that Shelties are the absolute easiest to potty train. Before you know it, you'll be 100% there ;-).. In the beginning, it really is US that is trained, and then they pick it up super quickly. Good luck! You won't need it though ;-)..
 
You're right -- there will be accidents. Use a good enzyme spray so no odor remains, and all will be fine.
 
Yes I would also take a step back and reduce the area - did you add too much space too fast? Go back to what the pup was good with for a few more days then give maybe another few inches of space, then more the next day if the pup is still good. If you went from playpen to the whole huge kitchen, that might have been too fast.

Wait, I just reread your post - you take the pup out to potty regularly? Maybe he just had to much to drink or maybe you should fit in another potty break after your lunch and before coming home. Does the pup have a place to pee IN the playpen (like a pee tray with a pee pad)? They can't hold their bladder for too long and if he'd been running around the kitchen and getting all excited, he might have worked himself up into wanting to pee again before you came home!
 
Hrmm, sorry guys. I guess I wasn't very good at expressing the situation.

Vash has been in a playpen during the day since I picked him up at 12 weeks. He's never pottied in the playpen (which happens to be on the kitchen floor) until yesterday.

Because he never went potty in the pen, I was going to spend this coming weekend setting up the kitchen so that I would feel safe leaving him in it (baby gates, locks on the cabinents, and protection of some of the appliances) but I haven't done it yet.

So I was wondering if I should still transition him out of the pen even though he's had his first accident, or if i should keep him in it for a while more (though I hesitate to do this mainly because he's grown so fast the pens not that much of a play area for him any more, it's his bed, a bowl and an small area to fool around in.)
 
JessicaR said:
puppy law # 2 when owners brags on potty training I must prove them wrong and pee! :lol:
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No kidding!

Phebe had a few good weeks when she was 6 months old, but she wasn't fully trained until 9 months, and I wasn't certain of that until just recently. She's just a week past her 14 month birthday. I've heard people say that they don't consider a dog fully trained until it's six months past their last 'incident'. :wink2:
 
Jerros, your playpen is probably larger than a crate and alot of dogs are crated while their folks are away! It's not a bad thing to do, at least until they get their potty training down! When he's more reliable and can hold it in for longer, you can try to increase the space slowly then. Too many changes now may confuse him and may slow down the potty training. For pups to learn, you've got to keep it as consistent as possible making changes very slowly!
 
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