Terrier house training

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Moobli

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I recently looked after my sister’s border terrier pup for three weeks while she was in France. Lovely wee thing but I knew sis had been struggling with housetraining before she brought her to me (at 11 weeks). I didn’t think I’d have any issues as all my pups (GSDs and border collies) have been extremely quick on the housetraining front. I had to admit defeat with Maggie though as despite my best efforts she just didn’t seem to grasp it! I was quite happy to hand her back when the three weeks was up! ;)

Is it usual for small dogs, and terriers in particular, to take a while to become clean in the house. From some comments I had it would seem it’s not uncommon?

Photo of the little ratbag :D

30bjzia.jpg
 
Small dogs yes, terriers specifically I couldn't say!

I think the problem with small dogs can be that owners, even inadvertently, treat them differently to how they would a big dog.

So if its raining/cold etc they feel sorry for the shivering pup and take it back inside before its done it's business. They also lapse on helpful things like crate training because it seems 'mean'.

My mum is exactly like this with her pug, I gave her a very comprehensive list of what to do and what not to do with regard to housetraining. First night she had broken pretty much every "rule" I'd set for her. Pup is now approaching 6months old and isnt anywhere near housetrained 😏 she had a pug before and they ended up rehoming him because she couldn't get him clean indoors...I told her she better not make the same mistakes this time and yet she is doing just that
 
I think little dogs can be harder to house train, shepherds are particularly quick to learn as a breed so we tend to be spoilt. In fairness to the pup, if she came to stay with you at 11 weeks she was probably still becoming accustomed to your sister and her house so it would all be quite a change, hopefully once she is settled into a routine back with your sister she will get the idea.
 
Border terriers, in my experience, have always beena nightmare to housetrain, and ours worked so were not treated any differently to a big dog. They don't have a conscience! We mainly had rehomed but even the ones from pups were not reliable for months. Other terriers seem easier.
 
i have had lurchers and collies and found them very easy to housetrain so was very confident i would have no problem with my terrier pup. how wrong was i!!!!!! he was a nightmare, i had crate trained him and watched for the signs he was ready to go and got him outside immediately , if i didnt shut the back door he whizzed in and went in his crate. i wonder if little dogs feel a bvit insecure out in the open so go indoors where they feel comfortable, which in my boys case was his crate!!!!! i then resorted to shutting the crate and the back door and stayed out with him until he performed and then gave him a treat and a big fuss. this did work and as i have only had bitches before i wondered if it was a male thing but friends with male dogs said they were easier than bitches...anyway i did succeed quite quickly after the initial failures....and yes he is an absolute baby when it comes to rain so i fixed up a large umbrella so he could go in the dry.
 
We had 2 JRT bitches and said 'Never again!'. They had lovely personalities but they were such hard work! They were a nightmare to housetrain, they just didn't see the need to be clean and were never reliable. I did speak to someone else, who had a related pup (not from the same litter), who said that their male dog was just as bad. Apart from that they escaped whenever possible and were just generally a pain - we called them The Gits, we had Labs and BCs as well as rescue Rottie who were all far easier than they were.
 
IME terriers are just different with everything. Our Westie, 12yo, perfectly toilet trained, still wee's in the house when she wants to, mainly at night. It's often a protest wee.
 
my friends jack Russel would chose to wee on their living room rug (they decided to remove all rugs after a while!) even if she had just gone out and well beyond early puppy age! my friends border terrier was similar for years.

I got a GSD rescue as a 2 yo who had lived in a barn for his first 2 years, never had an accident from day one of being in a house. in fact he also at first decided that our garden was also part of the house and he would not go in it, only on walks. I had to train it that it was ok to go in the garden!

collie rescue apparently was still 'not housetrained' aged 2, but this was actually linked to separation anxiety (she was left for very long hours with no exercise or routine): we had one accident from stress on the first night, been over a year now, with no accidents at all

its strange how breeds vary! I guess some want to behave and please you more, but also surely they want to be clean, terriers are pains! almost remind me of my cat- do as they wish and opinionated
 
Absolutely agree, having 20 years + of spaniels and labradors we added a border terrier to our pack and he was a nightmare to housetrain. I seemed to spend hours that winter standing/walking in the garden with him to no avail. The labradors were so easy in comparison. I also have a small corgi x, he was equally difficult.
 
Terriers can be a bit tricky in general. They are like that child that responds to every request with the question 'why?' Rather than basically going along with stuff unless there is a good reason not to like other types (a good reason to them anyway)

The only effective house training method I've found is repeatedly posting them out of the dog flap when they start to do their business. Eventually they just give in and go through the flap before they start peeing.

My westie has genuinely been caught short when she couldn't get out a couple of times and both times did her business right next to the human toilet. Which I think is pretty ingenious of her.
 
I wonder if their small bladders (in comparison to the Labs/GSDs etc mentioned on here) are part of the problem. As young pups they do need to be taken out very frequently. Ours were winter pups who had lived in the farm kitchen for the first weeks of their life, as opposed to litters born in better weather who were brought up in a stable, perhaps they were accustomed to using the kitchen floor? Or there again perhaps they were just pains!
 
I house trained two JRT bitches within a month, and the Lakeland bitch only took a couple of weeks longer.....

We were absolutely dedicated to the cause though, taking them out every 1/2 hr at first. Used Ian Dunbar method.

The second JRT even came to us in Dec 2010, so trained daily in minus 10-15 temperatures and up to 8"of snow 😲😲

Fiona
 
Always had Jack Russell's and currently have JRT x Border terrier and all house trained very quickly with very little effort. However current dog is now 15 years old and has regressed and though he will still ask to go out, he will go wherever he is if he's a mind too. Think he may have a touch of dementia :(
 
Fiona said:
I house trained two JRT bitches within a month, and the Lakeland bitch only took a couple of weeks longer.....

We were absolutely dedicated to the cause though, taking them out every 1/2 hr at first. Used Ian Dunbar method.

The second JRT even came to us in Dec 2010, so trained daily in minus 10-15 temperatures and up to 8"of snow 😲😲

Fiona
Click to expand...

They only take 2-3 weeks with a flap too. Which I used to think was pretty good, then I got a Kelpie.....same technique, 2 days.
 
The only way I could get my mature rescue JRT clean at night after many years of trying was to crate train her and have her sleep in her closed crate at night. Very few dogs will soil their own bed. If you can't crate train, a puppy play pen with the floor covered with bedding would do
 
Our Cairn terrier took a while to catch on despite doing everything right! Once he got it that was it, but it did take a while - up to about 16 weeks until he really got the hang of it. There were several weeks of despair and feeling like we were banging our heads on a wall, then something just clicked. Pooing outside was never a problem - no accidents at all there from day one - but weeing outside was obviously more difficult.

Just keep going and I'm sure one day he will have a lightbulb moment!
 
Well we have 4 Parsons terrier ranging from 11 - 4,
boys I think have been okay!, our bitch , now 11 we got at a year old and had lived in a barn, so not house trained and even now can still make a mess, usually wee.

With the puppies we've bred I tried very hard to get them all going outside as soon as I could, literally the minute they woke up, straight out, feed, straight out,
Nap, straight out, late as possible out.

Edited to add, I might be daft but I always go out with them! Can't be sure they've been otherwise 😁
 
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Stanley is our third BT and they have all been so easy to house train and totally reliable once trained. Stan came home at 8 weeks, he had a crate at night which was open on to a small run (all indoors). we had a wee and a poo the first night and nothing since. I did get up very early in the first few weeks to take him out and he got the idea very quickly, so rarely had to stay out for long. Despite being a small dog he has great bladder control, usually goes from 21.30 until 09.00 ( we are up but he doesn't ask to go out). He is a very smart, trainable dog with great recall, he does have a bit of a stubborn streak, I think it's a BT thing, but he is generally just so easy. Have we just been lucky??
 
my terrier went all night with no problem so i knew he had good bladder control, my problem was during the day. on thinking back he was bought up in a large utility room and they were in about a 6ft square pen and mum could get in and out easily but the pups couldnt. they had newspaper in the pen and went on that so maybe he had never been outside and found it a bit overwhelming when i expected him to go out in the cold to wee....once i started giving him a treat each time he had a pee or poo in the garden it took a few days to sort it and he has never had an accident since....
 
WorkingGSD said:
I recently looked after my sister’s border terrier pup for three weeks while she was in France. Lovely wee thing but I knew sis had been struggling with housetraining before she brought her to me (at 11 weeks). I didn’t think I’d have any issues as all my pups (GSDs and border collies) have been extremely quick on the housetraining front. I had to admit defeat with Maggie though as despite my best efforts she just didn’t seem to grasp it! I was quite happy to hand her back when the three weeks was up! ;)

Is it usual for small dogs, and terriers in particular, to take a while to become clean in the house. From some comments I had it would seem it’s not uncommon?

Photo of the little ratbag :D

30bjzia.jpg
Click to expand...

Both my BTs were easy to housetrain, although the castrated male does have a tendency to piddle up new ‘things’ in the house. Now, the lurchers are a different story.....:)
 
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