Housebreaking help!!

[keliza]

I just got a black lab/aussie shepherd puppy a month ago who is having problems understanding that outside is where she should pee. She is 4 months old and has been to the vet who, as a precaution, put her on a broad spectrum antibiotic in case of a urinary tract infection. She is absolutely brilliant at every thing else like commands or tricks but when it comes to peeing outside.. not so much. She can hold her bladder in her cage at night for 7-8 hours no problem but during the day when she's out of her cage she has several accidents. Today, for instance, we're at 5 accidents in 15 mins. Yesterday was much better, 3 accidents total over a few hours. This is normal for her but very frustrating for us. She whines atleast every 20 mins to go out and will pee when she's out but usually only a piddle. I half think its because she knows if she whines, we let her out and when she comes in she gets a treat so she holds it in order to be let out. Just as I am typing this, she peed on the floor not even a foot away from me, no warning, and although its probably not important, the other pees she's had in the house today have all been within a 5 foot radius of us and the couch.

I need help. In my belief, at 4 months, she should be a lot farther along than this. I would expect this of a 6-8 week old puppy but not at 4 months. She is in puppy kindergarten and is older and farther along in her training than the rest of the dogs except when it comes to peeing in the house, they all whine to be let out and have maybe one or two accidents daily. One even knows to ring a bell if he wants to be let out!

At what age were you confident in your dog letting you know he/she needed to be let out? Am I wrong in thinking she should be able to differentiate between house and outside? I realize she's still a puppy but come on! This is too much.

Any thoughts, advice, questions, comments, etc are greatly appreciated!

[luckypenny]

It might help if you think of your pup as a 1 month old in terms of house training seeing as you've only had her for so long. Do you know if her previous home began to teach her at a much younger stage?

Here's an article and a video that will guide you well in learning to house train your pup effectively. Let us know how you're coming along and please post a pic or ten of the little bugger .

http://www.dogmantics.com/Dogmantics...eTraining.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvPiFcG7ROI

[lilwhitefurball]

Originally Posted by luckypenny

It might help if you think of your pup as a 1 month old in terms of house training seeing as you've only had her for so long. Do you know if her previous home began to teach her at a much younger stage

i would love to agree with luckypenny on this. So, don't get all frustrated if another kindergarten dog rings the bell to go out for a pee, surely that can be regarded as exceptional. However, you would need to consider that pups should be trained to do so in order for them to know what they ought to do in such cases.

consideration, patience and love will pull you through and also, in teaching her all this you would need to come up with consistence in the method so as not to confuse her. after all, she had just began learning all these.

Goodluck.

[Marty11]

I have never expected much before 6 months of age. That's just my opinion.