Rewarding & housebreaking

[corbinam]

For those of you with multiple dogs...how did you manage to reward the new puppy when it potties outside? I'm imagining this in multiple scenarios:

1. Puppy starts to potty inside. You grab him and whisk him outside. No time to grab treats, but yet you should reward for the puppy finishing his business outside. How do you do it?

Also, I don't know about you guys but my dogs get excited when we run in the house. I'm afraid this will cause the older dogs to want to correct the puppy (now when we yell at the cat the dogs go nuts).

2. It is time to take puppy out. Do you grab treats while heading out the door? If so, won't the older dogs want to go too and be jealous that the puppy and treats went out without them?

3. All dogs are outside. Puppy eliminates outside. Is he the only one who gets a reward? My dogs would be crawling all over me at the injustice!

 

[Tagg]

I don't use food rewards outside, just my voice in a soft but pleased tone. Once they are done, we come back in and I give them a treat - all of them. I don't use toilet time as play time. I separate that so that I don't get a dog that won't toilet because they are too interested in playing. I use two cues to toilet. Find a spot - go poop and go pee. Phoebe is very cute since she will force a drop out when she really didn't need to go. BTW, when I was teaching Tinsel I tried to leave the other dogs in the house so that there was no distractions.

 

[romeosangiovese]

1. Puppy starts to potty inside. You grab him and whisk him outside. No time to grab treats, but yet you should reward for the puppy finishing his business outside. How do you do it?

I'd try to manage the pup as much as possible so there won't be instances where he might potty inside. Take him out regularly (with treats in your pocket) if possible. If he does start to potty indoors and you take him out sans treats, happy high pitched praise, yay-ing, clapping and all that works too!

Also, I don't know about you guys but my dogs get excited when we run in the house. I'm afraid this will cause the older dogs to want to correct the puppy (now when we yell at the cat the dogs go nuts).

Yes my dogs get excited when I run indoors too. Which is why I would try to manage puppy as much as possible (crated/in playpen if I can't supervise or tethered to me if I can have him tag along).

2. It is time to take puppy out. Do you grab treats while heading out the door? If so, won't the older dogs want to go too and be jealous that the puppy and treats went out without them?

Yup I'd grab treats as I head out. Each dog gets rewarded individually for their good behaviour. I wouldn't worry about jealousy! I think we feel bad more than they feel jealous!

3. All dogs are outside. Puppy eliminates outside. Is he the only one who gets a reward? My dogs would be crawling all over me at the injustice!

Yes I would only reward the puppy. Unless the other dogs eliminate outside too, then I might take the opportunity to reward that. I used to and still kind of struggle when I give one dog treats and I don't the other, but it gets easier. And I find it can make them a little more competitive and attentive to mommy. HAHA!

Didn't you have these problems before? When Juliet came along, I was all "omg, should Romeo get a treat too? I think he should right? Or he'd be all WTF! But he didn't do anything!" LOL!

 

[Mom2Melli]

When I had the puppy puppy (Shay) -- me, Shay, and our old boy Mayson would run for the door joyously hurrying up and having lots of YAY's for pottying. We went out A LOT. I got an opportunistic peer. EVERY time, he pees for me, on command. There were only 2 mistakes right by the back door during dinner. A lamented Nooooooo made him feel so bad that was not done but twice. It wasn't made, it was more a sad Noooooo, except the second time when my husband added "what's wrong with you you know better!". Very sensitive dog. I kind of think you DO need to have a miss so you can correct a couple times. No treating.

No Melli came along with her own agenda -- she peed on some schedule that was out of sync with me. She was clearly pottied trained well, just not on our schedule. I used "Go potty so we could get a cookie" and then we would YES and run in and get a cookie. Still, pee is "pee-cookie" though we don't get cookies anymore, just praise. I didn't treat outside but we celebrated from out to in to treating with constant happy praise. Now she goes on my schedule. And yes, both dogs got treated because of course he "pee-cookied" too.

 

[Ann]

I keep a small container of kibble by the door and some in my coat pocket when it's coat season. The puppy got lots of praise and a kibble. They're so small the all the big dogs could have one too and everyone was happy. You can reduce their regular feeding a bit if the puppy is going out 20 times a day.

This also works well for teaching recall. Handing out one piece of kibble when they come running back to you quickly teaches them that it's a good thing.

 

[corbinam]

Thanks, everyone! I just my two are such food hounds (and I like that, for the most part!) that I don't want to cause any strife. Or at least any more than bringing home a puppy will already cause

Yes my dogs get excited when I run indoors too. Which is why I would try to manage puppy as much as possible (crated/in playpen if I can't supervise or tethered to me if I can have him tag along).

Yes, that's definitely the plan. I just don't know what to expect. Lexi was such a soft dog that she had maybe one pee accident (other than her UTI) and then she realized it was wrong and that was it. I don't expect all puppies to pick it up quite that quickly.

Didn't you have these problems before? When Juliet came along, I was all "omg, should Romeo get a treat too? I think he should right? Or he'd be all WTF! But he didn't do anything!" LOL!

Funny thing is, not really! Bentley is such a bum (and he was even more so when we first got Lexi) that he was okay with just hanging out when Lexi went outside. He also didn't get too riled up if we had to run her outside.

When I had the puppy puppy (Shay) -- me, Shay, and our old boy Mayson would run for the door joyously hurrying up and having lots of YAY's for pottying. We went out A LOT. I got an opportunistic peer. EVERY time, he pees for me, on command. There were only 2 mistakes right by the back door during dinner. A lamented Nooooooo made him feel so bad that was not done but twice. It wasn't made, it was more a sad Noooooo, except the second time when my husband added "what's wrong with you you know better!". Very sensitive dog. I kind of think you DO need to have a miss so you can correct a couple times. No treating.

This sounds a lot like how it went with Lexi. We created a little bit of a monster. We took her out ALL the time. Probably every 30 minutes when we were home. Now she pees every single time she goes outside. Sure, it might be more often than most dogs, but it's SO convenient when we are traveling or at an agility trial that I'd rather have that than one who is reluctant to go.

I don't use food rewards outside, just my voice in a soft but pleased tone. Once they are done, we come back in and I give them a treat - all of them. I don't use toilet time as play time. I separate that so that I don't get a dog that won't toilet because they are too interested in playing. I use two cues to toilet. Find a spot - go poop and go pee. Phoebe is very cute since she will force a drop out when she really didn't need to go. BTW, when I was teaching Tinsel I tried to leave the other dogs in the house so that there was no distractions.

I was wondering if puppies would associate "I peed 30-60 seconds ago" with the cookie once we get back inside. I also don't plan on taking them all out together, but I figure if we're ever all outside playing and puppy goes that I would want to reward that.

I keep a small container of kibble by the door and some in my coat pocket when it's coat season. The puppy got lots of praise and a kibble. They're so small the all the big dogs could have one too and everyone was happy. You can reduce their regular feeding a bit if the puppy is going out 20 times a day.

This also works well for teaching recall. Handing out one piece of kibble when they come running back to you quickly teaches them that it's a good thing.

Great idea--I think maybe I'll put a couple tupperware containers near the front and back doors. That way it's always handy. I just know my older dogs will be staring at me the whole time if they know I have treats on me when we are outside

 

[take4roll10]

I always kept treats and a leash by the door, so I could grab them in the moment. I leashed my puppy when outside, so she couldn't run off and go play or anything. She had to do her business first. If she made outside, then she got a treat and some off leash playtime.

 

[Calliesmom]

never used cookies for potty training- for coming to me- yes, lots of cookies.
I'd take the puppy out multiple times by himself- go potty or go hurry- then gooood boy. then go in and play....

 

[BarbV]

Going through this now with 11 week old Callan

First of all, I've not had to resort to treats for potty training. He got the drill pretty fast. I've only had two accidents since I brought him home, but I'm super diligent. I have a pretty good handle on his schedule now. He has a crate within an xpen, so even if I can't watch him, he can still play.

Where I have the challenge is starting to teach him to come. Of course, I use treats, which just brings Indy running. Training over!

So, yes....I've started to separate them when I work with Callan.

 

[Chris]

1. Puppy starts to potty inside. You grab him and whisk him outside. No time to grab treats, but yet you should reward for the puppy finishing his business outside. How do you do it? Make a huge happy fuss!!!

Also, I don't know about you guys but my dogs get excited when we run in the house. I'm afraid this will cause the older dogs to want to correct the puppy (now when we yell at the cat the dogs go nuts). I'm too old to run.

2. It is time to take puppy out. Do you grab treats while heading out the door? If so, won't the older dogs want to go too and be jealous that the puppy and treats went out without them? We never treat for pooping. Only praise. I will happily celebrate anyone's poop, any time. God knows, I'm getting to the age where I'm so happy when I poop.

3. All dogs are outside. Puppy eliminates outside. Is he the only one who gets a reward? My dogs would be crawling all over me at the injustice! See above. Everybody poops, everybody gets a fuss.