Puppy hard to potty outside, just plays with my legs!

[Karsalis]

I have a little 8 week old puppy ive been paper training, but want to transition him to going outside. the Vet recommended i take him outside in the morning and evening after his meals, but allow him to do his business on paper pads inside when we are at work, or at night.

Last night half an hour after I fed my little pup I took him out to poo and pee. It took him awhile to actually potty cause I don’t think he realized he was supposed to potty outside. He spent quite a bit of time playing and thinking my feet and legs were toys and kept chasing after them and nipping them, even though i was always directing his attention to his little soccor ball. after 10 seconds of playing with the ball, he would remember my feet again and still would try and play with them. i stood still and he played with my pants. After about 20 minutes or so he eventually calmed down, sniffed, and pooed outside, which is what we want. He didn’t poo again last night when we went to bed.

So far, he has been alright peeing inside on his pads. I noticed though lately he tends to have accidents when we are not around, either at night or when we are at work. His accidents tend to be around his crate, about a foot away from his pads. He had been so good a couple of days ago though, only going on the pads.

When we are around, he potties on his pad or close enough anyways. He would sniff the side of the pad but potty just outside the area. I guess he doesn’t know where the paper pad ends?

A friend of mine has volunteered to come by at lunch during the week to feed him and take him outside.

This being the case, should we leave him out of his crate? Or try to re-inforce pottying outside by putting him in the crate in the morning at 9, have her feed him at lunch and take him out (hoping he will quickly go), and putting him back in the crate until I get home at 4pm?

He is persistent at playing and nipping with my legs and feet. what is the best way to teach him not to do that? i tried redirecting to toys, tried standing still, but it doesnt really work. This morning i just stood still for a long time and didntn move and he eventually got a bit fed up and wanted to climb up my legs to get me to play with him. he peed but didnt poo.

[heeler's rock!]

My puppy did the same thing. What I did was crate her while I was gone, and take her out as soon as I got back and when she peed or pooped, I would praise her to the point where people thought I must be crazy! The dog has to know that if it potties outside, mom and dad are gonna be happier than ever! Make it a party when your dog potties outside. Get excited and rub their chest and keep saying "Nice poo!" or "Nice pee!" I know it sounds lame, but it works.

Make sure when your friend comes over at lunch time that they stay outside with puppy until they go, no matter how long it takes. Puppies can't hold it that long so it shouldn't take that long. Have your friend take the puppy out right away, and feed after they come in, to avoid an accident.

Make sure your crate has just enough room so the puppy can stand up and turn around, and lay down. If the crate is too big, the puppy will sleep on one side, and poop and pee on the other. If your crate is too large, divide it with a piece of cardboard that the puppy can't push over.

At night time, maybe put the crate in your room so you can hear the puppy. My girl would whimper, and I would be up like lightning and take her outside immediately. She would always pee or poo. Sure it was like 5:00 in the morning, but at least she learned quicker!!!

I hope that helps, and don't worry, it'll come with time!

[Beautygirl]

Praise is always good, a dog thrives on it. One thing you can do is take the pad or newspaper (whatever you are using) out to where you would like your dog to "go". Put it down and when the dog smells the scent of his urine, chances are he'll take care of business there.

[Karsalis]

if we keep her in her crate at night, would she wimper all night? or just when they want to go? how would we know when they want to potty, vs. when they just want to come out?

i dont think ill keep her in my room, maybe just outside my bedroom door. also, if she does have to go, would she have an accident in my arms on the way to the back door?

[Mysts38]

Hi

I would do as you suggested,have your friend take pup out at lunch,feed him,make him do potty and put him back in crate.Make sure tho that the crate isnt too big so that she can do him duties inside of it.If whining starts,place a large sheet over the crate to calm him down..I suggest using a sheet at night so that he learns the diff between awake play time,.and night sleep time.

No playing with pup until he has done duties outside..as soon as he is done,bring him in..if he doesnt go..wait five mins and take him outside again,,repeat until he goes then praise him like crazy.

I dislike paper training,while I realize it takes alot of time and effort to train pup outside right from the start..in the end I feel its much more worth it.


If he thinks that outside potty time is playtime..if he tries to play with you during this time.ignore him...stand like a tree and do not acknowledge hm whatsoever..dont even make eye contact..as I said,if he wont go...take him back inside..and again outside 5 mins later

I would suggest that when you are home,take him outside 5-10 mins after he eats and after each nap...

As for the leg nipping,even tho he is 8 weeks,he still trying to establish dominance over you...you are essentially his litter mate now and so have to teach him the proper behaviour..if he were with his mates and he nipped one of them..they were give a high pitched YIP and stop playing..You can do the same thing when he goes after any part of your body...YIP loud and high pitched and stop all playing..wait till he calms down and starts to play again,and repeat as many times as it takes for him to get the message


Good luck!

[lilith_rizel]

House breaking a pup can be hard work. It will take some time. It took me about 2 months to fully house break my 8 month lab, Cano. However, he was already partially house broken when we got him at 4 months of age. How long it takes really depends on how well the pup learns and how well they can focus on learning. Cano is easily distracted, so it takes him a bit longer to learn new things, but he is really smart. He has actually been able to open his crate on his own a few times. I don't know how he does it, he only sneaks out if we are out of the living room.
We kept Cano in his crate 24/7 except to eat, go potty, and at play time. Not only did he learn faster, he also learned to love his crate. We still pen him up for a bit during the day, and he sleeps in his crate at night. He also knows that he only gets treats if his is in his crate and behaving. We no longer have to point and tell him cage and bed time. He automatically goes in.
He has no problem being in his crate anymore. And it has been alot easier to train him since he knows that he isn't the one that runs the house. I also recommend using crate training for training him and showing that you are boss and not him. I also agree with everyone else on here. Try them all ans see what your pup learns best by. Every pup learns in a different way!

[Writing4Fun]

I agree with the other replies. Paper training only makes it harder for the pup to figure out that it isn't supposed to pee or poo in the house. I'm home all day with my pup, so I was able to train her to go outside right away. We did crate her at night, though. The key is to praise heartily when they do anything outside, and ignore it completely when they do it inside. Picking up the "accident" and putting it outside where you want them to go also helps. But your pup is only 8 weeks old, so don't expect too much from him! Good luck!

[Karsalis]

These are great suggestions! i still wonder AT NIGHT how i can distinguish his whining for attention, or hating being locked up, vs whining to pee.

My friend will be coming over at lunch to feed him and let him out. he peed outside, but even after half an hour, he didnt poop outside. i get home at 4pm.

with lunch at 12, would he be able to hold his poo until 4?

Also, it seems he listens to my friend more than me! he gave up nipping and paid attention to her yelps. he never really paid attention to my yelps. he also is persistent at nipping at my legs when i stand like a tree.

i think i need to spend less time on the floor with him. im thinking he considers me as his littermate and possibly playing with him on the floor doesnt help in me trying to assert my alpha role.

when he was with his litter, he was soo submissive! who knew !

[Mysts38]

Funny cause iam pup sitting and it seems as if my friends pup listens to me more than her but only when I have her..but to your pup,you are his littermate,and you need to teach him that you are the leader of the pack..Playing on the floor with him isnt going to hurt,as long as you establish the ground rules...

If he nips while playing say OUCH loudly,stop all play and walk away from him...wait a few mins then try again..keep repeating this over and over..thats how dogs learn,by repetition.

Your pup is just baby and still learning,but its never to early to start good behaviour habits in a dog.My friends dog,who I pupsit is 12 weeks and can sit and down on command,and now we are working on wait(stay) in a sit position,and shes fully house trained.

But she has a nipping problem that we are working on as well..

Be consistant,be patient..and most of all dont back down

Lots of luck!

[heeler's rock!]

It is hard to tell the difference, but what I did was when she'd whine, I'd take her straight outside. sometimes she just wanted to play so I ignored her and brought her straight back to her crate. If she whined again, I would say, "Kia, NO NOISE!" in a firm voice, but not yelling. She'd settle down after about 10mins and realize that she wasn't coming out of her crate. If she continued whining for like 15-20min without calming down, I'd take her back out and she'd pee right away. Then she went back in her crate.

[Karsalis]

So last night I crate trained my pup for the first time (he is used to his crate but with the door open). He didnt resist at all when I prompted him to crawl into his crate for bedtime. This was at 10:30 and of course he was soo dog tired after playing and bath since about 4:30pm.

He was generally good for the night and I didnt even hear him cry. I woke up at 2:30 am and he still didnt cry. I went downstairs to check up on him anyways in case he wanted to pee. he was awake when i found him and only started to whine when he saw me in the kitchen. i waited for him to stop whining and let him outside and he peed right away. However, after, he was energized and wanted to play. I didnt want to make a habit of playing after potty in the middle of the night and put him back in the crate. he resisted cause he wanted to play and cried for about 5 minutes before he settled down.

He cried again at 5am so we decided to take him out. He didnt potty and we put him back in. again he cried cause he wanted to play. I woke up at 6am to go to work and i took him out at 6am to potty and he did so right away, and then gave him breakfast. I played with him for a bit and he whined I left work and hopefully my husband was able to get him to poop after I left.

Overall the first night was alright. He will go potty outside right away if he really has to. So far he hasnt let us know when he goes potty, and it seems he is able to hold it for 4 hours.

He still keeps nipping at my feet and pants. the Yelping thing doesnt work anymore and I now just leave the room. he whines for a bit and when he realizes nobody plays with him he would go to his crate and sit there. When I come back though, he continues again to play with my feet and pants. He is soo persistent!

[moontamara]

Pretty much everything you're talking about is sooooo familiar to me! Our puppy is about 6 months now, and man have things gotten better!!! Although he slept through the night for the first week and a half, he ended up being a major crier at night -- made worse by the fact that we live in an apartment. We tried ignoring him for a few nights, but his crying simply DID NOT STOP. We're lucky no one bombed our place as I'm sure he was keeping the whole neighbourhood up! If you end up having the same issue, you could try what we did. I put Casey in his small crate (his kennel cab) and locked him up and put him right next to the bed. If he cried I thumped his kennel cab. Eventually he got used to this and slept through the night there. But my husband and I didn't really like having him in our bedroom so we (literally) half foot by half foot moved him out of the room, every night a little bit farther. He now sleeps in his house with the door opened, contained in a big wire crate with his water. Strangely he didn't like the door being left open for the first couple of weeks and he'd cry until we closed it -- but he's adjusted now!

I guess the real point of my story is that while there are some things that work for most people, some of the basic guidelines don't work in every particular case. Most puppies probably do give up their crying after and hour or so, but not all! Casey actually responds better to me telling him firmly that he's okay but be quiet. This goes against what should work for most dogs... Just like people, they're all a little different!

Anyway, don't know if that's useful for you as your puppy's crying is still in the normal range right now -- but Casey's was once like that too -- and then he entered into the major crying stage!!! Hopefully you'll be spared that! Whew, I sure was tired for a couple weeks there! But he's quiet all night long now, wakes me up around 6:30 but if I don't want to get up then I just take him out for a quick pee and put him back in his crate... ah how times have changed!

[Karsalis]

Im a little confused though about putting water in his crate. some say you are supposed to, others say no cause you dont want him to keep drinking, then will keep wanting to pee.

So far, I didn’t put water in his crate with him, I don’t know if you are supposed to. Doesn’t make sense to me to put water in his crate cause how would the water bowl fit if the crate should only be big enough to accommodate him to stand and turnaround. The water might spill everywhere too if he moves around. So far I just try to get him to drink whenever he is out.

[moontamara]

yeah, not when he was really little. Casey's got two crates -- the little one that really confines him (was necessary for training him to go potty outside and is good for making him feel secure) and a bigger metal crate that serves the purpose of keeping our home safe from him! He's in his small crate with the door open, with access only to the area enclosed by his big crate (I need to draw a diagram...) Anyway, now that he's fully house trained, I keep the water there for him because he had a tendency to wake me up because of thirst more than because of a full bladder... But actually, that goes back to my point -- do all the right things and follow all the training hints, but realize that your puppy is unique and not all things will work exactly as expected!