Potty Training

Hi Everyone,

I really need some advice on potty training. Penny's 4 months old and I don't think she's grasping the idea of doing her busineess outside yet.

I've been crate training her...keeping her confined, taking her to the same spot, saying "go potty", and rewarding her with a treat when she potties outside. However, I still catch her pottying inside the house. Sometimes, it's one minute after coming in from the yard.

I'm pretty sure I'm following the right steps, I suppose it takes more time?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Linda

Hi Linda,

4 mos. old is old enough to learn. I do have a question for you, do you have Penny go on wee-wee pads also? I was given a ton of advice and I can share one on wee-wee pads... the vet that lived next door said, don't use them at all. It's too confusing.

If you do need to use them, if you are like me and don't have a doggie door, I would start by moving them closer and closer to the door until you can finally eliminate them all together. If Penny goes on the wee-wee pads at least she may get the picture eventually. Just be patient, she may just be confused.

Also, how often do you take her out? Everytime we get a new dog, whether a pup or grown dog, I try to learn their schedule by going out and keeping to a puppy potty schedule, when they wake up, after they eat, after they play, before they go to bed, etc. Once you learn their schedule you can make "modifications" so they adapt to yours.

Good luck Linda, these little guys are pretty smart and a bit stubborn ;-)

-Teresa

Teresa is very right about a schedule. You need to keep to a schedule that they can get used to at first. Don't give them water before bed time since their bladders are not that big, they'd need to pee before too long. One article I had read a long time ago mentioned about taking away food and water after a certain time at night.

Here's a good article about puppy potty training:
http://dogpottytraini...

When the Girls were puppies, I knew someone who was a dog trainer. One tip she gave was that it's not good to give your puppy such a huge space, i.e. complete run of the house on their own. That is when mistakes are bound to happen. You need to confine the space that they do have and slowly introduce them to everything. That means blocking off other parts of your house and only let them be in one place.

We also found that texture and smell is very important. For us when the Girls were little, we wanted them to use the backyard, i.e. grass. We introduced them to the concept of grass as the place to potty by taking them out to the grass whenever they needed to potty. Soon they associated grass as the place to go potty. They're still grass trained. Whenever we take them traveling and need to stop for them to go potty, we would try to find a place that has grass.

We also taught the Girls to use a doggy door. The first house that the Girls lived in had a regular doggy door and they both learned how to use it very quickly. They soon learned how to go out through the doggy door to the yard to potty. There were lots of treats and positive reinforcement when they did the right things. We've since moved a few times from that first house and we've always tried to put in a doggy door for them. The doggy door is a huge life-saver, particularly if you have a busy work schedule for it makes it where the furry is independent. A lot of people don't know that there are doggy doors for patio doors (for apartments). Here's a site that shows you how a patio doggy door looks like:

http://www.petdoors.c...

http://www.petdoors.c...

The apartment patio doggy doors are not cheap but VERY worth it. Depending on the brand you get, they are portable too, so when you move to another apartment or house, you can slide it off and bring it with you. Other than going to potty, the Girls also go out to the patio to enjoy the sun, play a bit and then come back in whenever they want to. The doggy door seems to do wonders for their "pride." They love that independence. Even now that they've grown up, whenever they go out through the doggy door and do the right thing, we still give them a treat and tell them how good they are.













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Thanks for the advice everyone. To answer a few questions...I don't use peepads and I do take her first thing in the morning, before bed, after play time, after taking her out of the crate, after meals etc. I also withhold food and water a few hours before bed time. She's actually pretty good and hasn't gone potty in her crate since the first week I got her.

Right now, I've got her pottying on cement and not grass. I initially didn't want her going on grass since she always found rocks, tan bark, and leaves to eat. She's a fast little bugger. Not to mention that it got her dirtier and smelly. :) Perhaps I should switch her to grass since it seems that's their preferred surface?

I think I'll give the doggy doors a shot later down the road when I can trust her in the yard alone.

Again, thank you ladies!

Linda:
It all depends on the Shih Tzu's personality as to how much or how soon you can trust them to do the right thing on their own. Mei-ling was always extremely eager to please and very good about potty training. She learned things very fast and knew by 5 months how to use the doggy door to go out to the grass to do her business. Wa-mei was always (and still is) very stubborn. She would want to do it her way instead of your way. It was a lot of hit and miss with her when she was little. We were very firm with her on what she needed to do. In other words, if you have a Shih Tzu with her type of personality (alpha), you have to show her that you're the parent and you're firm. You must maintain your leadership position.

If you want Penny to be on grass but don't want her on "real" grass because of rocks, bark, leaves; you can buy "training grass." Here are sites that sell "potty grass":

http://www.petapotty....

http://www.poochpotty...






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