Looking for some help with toilet training...

[skinnydipper]

I too would be saying NO! and shoving her outside. How is she supposed to twig this isn’t a wee place ?

You teach a dog where you would like them to toilet and praise and reward when they get it right. Gently guide them when they get it wrong. No shoving.

 

[CanteringCarrot]

I feel like it just takes consistency and somewhat extreme vigilance.

Everytime she goes in the house, put her outside. Everytime she goes outside, associate a command with what she's doing, and praise. Wash, rinse, and repeat.

Also make sure you're taking her out frequently to try to better your odds and give more opportunities for command and praise.

 

[AmyMay]

I too would be saying NO! and shoving her outside. How is she supposed to twig this isn’t a wee place ? No, I’m not advocating rubbing nose in it or similar nonsense but she is old enough to be discouraged now. You can do it after she’s squatted but it’s likely to be more effective as it happens. At four months she probably should be virtually clean when she’s with someone in the house….not necessarily overnight but certainly daytime….

Christ, I hope a young pup never has the misfortune of ever having to live with you.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

I would maybe consider allowing her to see you clean it up. I had two female dogs who I struggled to get house trained (one pee, the other poo), I followed the don't-let-them-see-you-clean-it-up school of thought religiously with both of them but when they eventually saw me clean up after them is when they finally stopped going in the house, some people would probably accuse me of anthropomorphizing but I swear they felt bad when they realized it didn't just magically disappear.

Your girl is incredibly beautiful, I hope you continue to post photos of her. I love all the setter breeds but sadly don't have the lifestyle they would need.

I've never heard of 'don't let them see you clean it up"!

 

[splashgirl45]

I had a lot of trouble with my little terrier , he used to come in and wee in his bed which I was very surprised about. I think he was a bit scared of going in the garden and felt safe indoors. It took a long time, I didn’t tell him off if he squatted indoors but as he was little I scooped him up and rushed outside so he finished in the garden and I praised and gave him a treat. I’m not suggesting you can scoop up a larger pup but maybe she has got worried about being in the garden, all you can do is make the garden the best place and maybe use treats every time she does the right thing

 

[Books'n'dogs]

I've never heard of 'don't let them see you clean it up"!

It's the prevailing school of thought in the USA, I've seen it in every puppy training book I've ever read and they have covered a wide range of training techniques, I assumed it was a global philosophy.

 

[suebou]

Christ, I hope a young pup never has the misfortune of ever having to live with you.

I’m not talking about a young pup! At 18 weeks, a pup should ( medical issues aside) be able to indicate to an observant person that they need to go out!
Luckily, over the years when I’ve had numerous puppies (I’m very old) I or someone I trust, have done the initial stages of house training, using all the good practices mentioned in this thread. At 18 weeks, daytime accidents would be rare, and proper overnight management reduces accidents to a minimum.
I hope this reassures you that I am not a dog beater/abuser but if you are unable to objectively view a sensible contribution to a genuine concern, I cannot help that.

 

[CanteringCarrot]

It's the prevailing school of thought in the USA, I've seen it in every puppy training book I've ever read and they have covered a wide range of training techniques, I assumed it was a global philosophy.

I've never heard this in all my years in the USA, nor have I read it. I guess I live under a rock! Or maybe it went into one ear and out the other

 

[CorvusCorax]

For the love of God, would people read the entire thread. We've managed to establish that said dog has spent a lot of the early imprinting phase toileting on wood. The OP has wooden floors. The dog does not KNOW it's wrong because it's all it's ever known. It's a baby and roaring a word it probably doesn't fully understand the meaning of yet, is just futile.

If you're buying a puppy, check out/pay attention to their toileting sitch with the breeder. Forewarned is forearmed.

 

[scats]

We had this issue with Lily-Rose. She took ages to get the hang of toileting (probably about 1 once she got it totally sorted) We didn’t make a fuss about it, just tried to get her out as often as possible into the garden, thoroughly cleaned where she went (so no lingering smell to encourage repeat performances!) and she got there in the end.

Some are just slower, like children I guess.

 

[bonny]

We had this issue with Lily-Rose. She took ages to get the hang of toileting (probably about 1 once she got it totally sorted) We didn’t make a fuss about it, just tried to get her out as often as possible into the garden, thoroughly cleaned where she went (so no lingering smell to encourage repeat performances!) and she got there in the end.

Some are just slower, like children I guess.

They all get there in the end!

 

[Clodagh]

If I saw S heading for a bed I could make a distract noise, maybe a squee noise and belt to the door and he’d follow me. If he was already going and I say a firm no I’m saying no for actually having a wee. He didn’t know it was wrong when I got him.
If he went to cock his leg now he’d certainly get a bellow.

 

[Chippers1]

Thank you everyone as an aside - she does see me clean it up, I didn't know that was a thing either! She's not worried about being in the garden either as she loves to go out there and will sit by the door if she wants to, I just want her to do that when she needs a wee
I definitely think it is a floorboard thing and I am pleased to report we've had a full 24 hours without any accidents, just being really vigilant in taking her out. For example, I said in my first post that the night before she had her treat then got out of bed and weed on the floor on the way to the kitchen, well last night I took her straight outside after her treat and she did go out there so it's just a case of me needing to be better!

If anyone also has some fun things I can teach her (as well as working on the basics that we do everyday) let me know! She recently learned spin and kiss, and she loves to learn so I'd like to add some more

 

[Chippers1]

Oh forgot to add a photo...waiting for some treats last night (excuse the half painted cupboards!)

 

[Chiffy]

Lovely photo of your beautiful pup Chippers. I have just read the whole thread, lots of helpful advice and some very unhelpful!
It is so easy to be judgemental but it makes a huge difference how life was like at the breeders. Our youngest is a whippet who arrived at 9 weeks and absolutely knew to go outside to wee. As long as you took her out regularly or saw her go to the door, it was a doddle . She never made a mistake in the house. Most of my flatcoats got the idea very quickly just by being taken out every half hour. Someone posted on here some time ago Puppy awake, puppy out. Puppy fed, puppy out. Puppy play , puppy out. With a young dog, you do spend a lot of time in the garden!
As for the shouting No, poor dog will think it isn’t allowed to wee!
You obviously have the problem of your wood floors, pointed out by CC , but you will get there if you can get a regular routine going and make a great fuss, excitement and encouragement when the wee is in the right place.

 

[poiuytrewq]

It will happen, I really thought I’d never get there with mine!
It seemed impossible, I mostly work from home and seemed to spend every waking moment taking him outside, only for us to come in and him wee!
Some days the house was a sea of dog wee.
He didn’t sniff or circle so as much as I watched he’d just very suddenly squat.
I’d just jump up and say “outside Bert” and off we’d go (often still pee’ing along the way!)
Loads of fuss when he finished off outside. (We had the peepee in the garden song )

Anyhow, one day I realised I hadn’t cleaned up any wee, and I haven’t done since!

Don’t despair just keep going!

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

For the love of God, would people read the entire thread. We've managed to established that said dog has spent a lot of the early imprinting phase toileting on wood. The OP has wooden floors. The dog does not KNOW it's wrong because it's all it's ever known. It's a baby and roaring a word it probably doesn't fully understand the meaning of yet, is just futile.

If you're buying a puppy, check out/pay attention to their toileting sitch with the breeder. Forewarned is forearmed.

The easiest pups we've ever had, ex ept those we bred ourselves, are the 2 Labs we have now whose breeder allowed them free access to the garden along with their dam and 2 other adult dogs who modelled doing the right thing as a matter of course. It did help that they were summer pups.
The dog I mentioned above who took a while to be house-trained had never been outside the house until she arrived at my friend's garden. Her reaction to grass tickling her paws was very funny.

 

[Chippers1]

Hello everyone, just resurrecting this thread as I wanted to say that A. she's pretty much fully toilet trained now but during the day she will now ask to go out by standing by the back door and will also wait to be let out before going which is excellent. However, we now have a new problem and I was hoping to get some wisdom from you all.
She has started to get into the habit of waking up at around 5am, going to the toilet (wee and poo) and then barking to let us know! Once was an accident but now it seems to happen more often. I wouldn't mind if she barked first and then i'd get up and let her out!
I take her out around 9pm for a wee and OH takes her out around 11pm - very reluctantly, she's normally fast asleep - then she'll wake up again at 5. She absolutely can hold it overnight if she needs to, and can hold it during the day if she needs to so I have no idea where to start with this one.
Do we start anticipating her waking and go down first? We have been trying to get her to sleep a little longer but we can try this if needed. She will generally wake up at 5 and bark so one of us normally goes down and sits with her and she goes back to sleep so she does need the sleep, we'd just like it to be a bit longer without us (this is improving, we're working on it)
She's 6.5 months old now.
Any help is much appreciated!

 

[misst]

Firstly I'm glad you've cracked it . Ruby was our 4th puppy and it took until she was 9 months to get her house trained. She wasn't being naughty but she was an inattentive busy full on pup and just seemed to be as surprised as me when she suddenly needed a wee.

She's 4 now and in summer wakes at 5 if our neighbour opens their electric garage door. It creaks and although we don't hear it she does in summer as the window is open. Because it is then light she wants a wee.
She is let into the garden and wees and poos and then would run around barking. A sharp No! Bedtime! Now means if she starts she will then run back in and go back to sleep. We ignore her totally in the house and she resettled for a couple of hours or until we get up. It doesn't happen in winter as it's dark.

 

[splashgirl45]

Sounds like it’s because it’s getting light and she wakes up and needs to go. Can you blackout the room she is in so it stays dark just in case it is the light. It may be that she hears wildlife stirring so maybe leave a radio on low all night if the blackout doesn’t work. When OH takes her out perhaps she isn’t doing what she is out there for, I go out into the garden with a torch with all of mine and they have to stay out until they have had a wee and a poo, it can take a while but I’ve learnt that if they don’t poo I have to get up in the middle of the night to let them out. Hope this helps to give you some ideas

 

[Chippers1]

Yes we black out the room as it does get quite light in there. It could be the wildlife as we have a lot of wood pigeons around us so a radio is a good shout! I'll tell OH to make sure she does both as well.

 

[CorvusCorax]

Dark/quiet room, confined space like a crate or cordoned off area and actually walk the dog last thing rather than a bimble round the garden. My last walk is between 10.30-11.30pm at a brisk pace for 20-30 minutes and the young dog sometimes doesn't go until 15 minutes in.
If I let mine out in the garden they might wee but they would not poo unless desperate/ill.

I would not be going and sitting with her when she barks, I'd be telling her to knock it off and go back to sleep. But you need to crack the toileting first.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

If ours (now all adults) need to go out during the night, I get up, let them out, check that the one who asked to go has done what needs to be done and say 'back to bed'. They get a treat for going into their own crate at any other time but during the night there is no treat, no playtime. I don't want anybody deciding getting up early is a good idea.
We did have a problem with the black one waking early when she was younger, blackout curtains didn't help but eventually we realised that she feels the cold easily, so made sure that she is kept warm enough over night.

 

[Chippers1]

Ok thank you, good ideas. I'll start walking her later, although she doesn't poo on walks but it will at least help get things moving. Definitely need to stop the getting up with her, OH is a lot softer than me! We live in a terrace so I really try to keep the early morning barking down.
Oh yes keeping warm may be an issue too, we can sort that though.

 

[Chippers1]

So despite our efforts, she still got up for a poo at 4am this morning however, although she then spent a whole hour whining and barking she did eventually go back to sleep on her own downstairs so i'm taking that as a win at least. Then I had to get up for work and she was fine.
Today I am going to try feeding her later to see if that helps

 

[splashgirl45]

I feed mine about 4 pm and that seems to work for me, I used to feed about 6 and found I had to get up in the night so they could poo

 

[Chippers1]

ah ok, she gets fed at around 5:30 but OH just told me she ate some dry food at around 11pm so that probably didn't help either. I can try earlier as my cat is fed earlier!

 

[honetpot]

We feed at 4pm, in summer they get a walk after tea, in winter they get to potter around the yard and sheds. The dog we didn't get as a puppy is now nearly two, had been in kennels and pooped and weed everywhere, he now only does the odd poo in the house.
If they need extra food they get in the morning and then go out for a short walk.

 

[Clodagh]

Tbh @Chippers1 if your OH is feeding the dog at 11pm have you tried rubbing his nose in the mess and whacking him with a rolled up newspaper?
I’d explain to the neighbours what the problem is and beg that they give you a week and then ignore her. Also don’t give extra meals and a walk before bed.

 

[Chippers1]

Tbh @Chippers1 if your OH is feeding the dog at 11pm have you tried rubbing his nose in the mess and whacking him with a rolled up newspaper?
I’d explain to the neighbours what the problem is and beg that they give you a week and then ignore her. Also don’t give extra meals and a walk before bed.

I'm definitely tempted to

I think we will have to do this, I've been hoping that they would have a weekend away or something but they never seem to go anywhere!! So I'll wait until the weekend and we will try leaving her.
Definitely no much late night snacks either!