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3K views 27 replies 11 participants last post by  EvaE1izabeth 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi, I just brought home a new 3 mo old puppy. I have started to do indoor potty training.

I have a few questions:

1. My puppy does go on paper, but I am finding that I must have paper available in several places depending on where in the house she is confined. Is this typical? For example, I have papers in each part of the house or playpen that I confine her. Right now she does not have the run of the entire house. I have several areas sectioned off. Is this a good strategy?

2. Once she is reliable to use paper all the time, how do I train her to go outside too? By this I mean, how do I train her to let me know that she has to go potty outside? Can this even be done?

3. Since I do confine her sometimes to smaller areas because I cannot keep an eye on her while I am getting ready to go out, etc, I have noticed that she does not like to be in a small area like a playpen, and one that is not near me. She will cry and carry on the entire time I am not within her sight. She even has managed to escape some gated areas by pushing the gate aside. Is this typical? I find that if I am not in the room with her, she is not happy. How do I stop this behavior since I cannot always be near her?

Thanks.
 
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#2 ·
I have never trained a dog to tell me they have to go potty outside but they all eventually did on their own. My last dog used to sit by the door. My Havanese will get in my face and paw at me or stand up on my legs when she needs to go out. For indoor potty training you will need to have the potty area in a small confined space at first. As they reliably go to the potty spot you can slowly expand the area as long as they continue to go to the spot. If you have multiple areas of the home your puppy is in I would have a potty area in those as well.
 
#3 ·
thanks - so to be clear, you are saying that you trained your puppy to use an indoor potty, but eventually, they told you when they wanted to go outside? So they were not trained to go outside? They just eventually preferred outside without your encouragement? Is that right?
 
#4 ·
No, I think you misunderstood me. They are not going to tell you they want to potty outside unless you have been taking them outside to potty. Dogs will prefer outside to inside and you will have to keep up with some indoor potty time too if you want to have both options. I hope someone else will chime in and maybe explain this better.
 
#6 ·
All my dogs eventually learned to signal us that they wanted to go out, and we never actively worked on "outdoor potty training" with any of them. We let that part of potty training happen very organically. We concentrated on as close to possible errorless potty training indoors, which means as few potty accidents as absolutely possible in the house, and regular use of the indoor potty box.

When they were outdoors (and they regularly followed the older dogs in and out) we consistently watched them, and told them they were good when they pottied outdoors, but we didn't make any big deal about it.

As adults they AL prefer to potty outdoors, they ALL can let us know when they need to go out, and they ALL will use the indoor potty if they can't get out for some reason.
 
#7 ·
I am in the process of potty training our second Havi. I had no experience before getting Loki. I read how everyone else did it and then did what worked for us. I am doing the same with Zorro now. I have several pee pads in holders so they can't be torn up - UGoDog and Richell. I have one by the back door, one in the expen and one upstairs. Loki uses the one by the back door if we aren't home and he really needs to go which is very seldom.

With Zorro - he is consistent about using the pee pad in the ex pen. When he is out I watch him like a hawk for signs he has to go. I sometimes plop him on the pee pad or have him ring the bell with his paw and take him outside. He has been home 3 weeks and we didn't have any accidents this weekend - in fact, the only ones we have at all recently have been when he playing with Loki and just hasn't stopped to even signal that he had to go. I was watching and they would move away and there would be a puddle. I think he will outgrow that. He is now either running to the pee pad or will ring the bell. He gets a treat and party for either. I am doing exactly like I did for Loki. He was completely trained by 4 1/2 months. Zorro seems to be well on his way to being there too. (I forgot the pee pad upstairs is for the middle of the night. I have only had to put Zorro on it 2 or 3 times during the night since he otherwise has slept through the night since the 2nd night home.)

BTW, both will ring the bell just to go outside because it is fun. For now, if he rings he gets to go out. If it is clear that he just wants to shred leaves I take him back in. Eventually, I will take down the bell when I am sure he is housebroken and I can tell when he really needs to go out. With Loki, I took the bell down at about 18 months when he would just sit by the door and patiently wait if he really had to go and didn't just want to play.

Loki would scream too when left without me in the room. Not with real separation anxiety - he didn't pace, chew on the crate, etc. He just would stand there are scream. Eventually, after doing lots of treats when I would come back and he was quiet and not letting him out until he was quiet, he figured out I was coming back. Zorro will scream a bit but quiets a lot quicker - I think because Loki is in the room with him even though not in the expen.
 
#8 ·
At 3 mos, I was only taking my pup out the same door to the same location every 20-30 min always with praise and sometimes treats to potty outside. I did clicker training with my current and prior Hav with one activity to ring a little standing Liberty Bell (old childhood souvenir) near the door which leads to the potty area. After a few months, I had him ring the bell for a treat each time before going out to potty. He is now getting to the point at 9 months where he will ring the bell when he wants to potty. The bell was very helpful with my last Hav especially when he was older and occasionally had to go at night. He would go and ring the bell. The bell was loud enough for my "mommy senses" to hear but quiet enough not to wake everyone else. But all of this takes a lot of time and consistent training. If I were you, I would solely concentrate on outside potty training first.
 
#9 ·
yes, a couple of places for the wee wee pad is ok I did that with my little Henry.
the smaller dogs take longer for the training, in my experience, sometimes just over a year.

Congrats on your new addition, new pup will be learning so much so make sure baby gets naps.
 
#10 ·
I agree, you need to be patient. They seem to take longer! We did not use an ex pen but had pads all around the house; he always went to a pad, although when he was young,there were pads every 6 feet. We slowly diminished the number of pads until we had one left in the house at around 9 months. That one seemed to linger forever! But he does signal, although it is SUPER subtle. We joke that he thinks I can read his mind, so he sits and stares at me, likely thinking "I need to go out, I need to go out". At 13 months, I finally got it... He now does not ever use pads, and is very consistent. It just takes time. Lots of praise for outdoor pottying, no comment to indoor, although fresh pads as needed.
 
#11 ·
My havanese is nearly 13 years old. I got him as a puppy and trained home to pee inside on pee pads. It is my biggest regret. I wish I had trained him to always potty outside.
 
#18 ·
The puppy I have now is only my second Havanese My first Havanese was trained to pee outside only. Yet, he peed all over my house - on rugs, furniture, etc. He would refuse to use a pee pad. I really do not want to experience that again.[/QUOTE]

If you want to do "indoor potty training" you need to make the commitment and not worry about outdoor potty training. Your first Havanese was NOT housebroken, otherwise he would not have used the house as a bathroom.

First ... you must keep your puppy confined in an ex-pen where he has a potty tray, food, toys and a bed. He will automatically use the potty tray, provided your ex-pen isn't too large. As they get older you can expand the area. Dogs don't like to pee and poop where they sleep and play.

Ideally, you should have the ex-pen in a small room that is gated off, so when you open the door and let the puppy out to socialize and play he as limited space. And, it should be in a room where you frequent like a family-kitchen area. You should have "eyes on him" at all times when he's out of the ex-pen and if you see him squat, clap your hands, pick him up, put him on the potty tray and give lots of praise and a treat. Don't shame and get after him. Use Positive Training.

Every time you see him potty on the potty tray, give him a small treat .. with lots of praise.

When you open the door to the ex-pen the puppy will wander in and out playing, eating and sleeping in the ex-pen and he will soon wander back into the ex-pen to do his job on the potty tray.

Train your dog to one room at a time. After your dog has shown he is reliable in that room, which maybe several months, train him to another room.

My second room area was a TV room. I put Patti on a leash, let her play on leash while I watched TV, showed her where the potty tray was located in that room by walking her to it. When she peed or pooped I gave her a treat with lots of praise. After a couple of weeks I gated off that room, took off the leash and watched her carefully to make sure she was going to the potty tray on her own.

I repeated this in my bedroom.

Eventually, I eliminated all but two potty trays in our home. One is in an office and another in my bathroom. Patti was 10 months old when I took down all the gates and she had the run of 3/4ths of the house. I had maybe 10 accidents in the house during this period because she was either confined, on a leash or I had "eyes on her." I don't have soiled rugs or damaged furniture.

Patti is now 19 months old. She uses potty trays in a second home in Colorado and in our primary home. All I have to do is show her where the potty tray is.

I have a fenced yard in our primary home with a doggie door. Patti often goes out the doggie door to do her job, but if the weathers bad or we have her confined to the home she uses the potty tray. In our home in Colorado we don't have yard and having her indoor housebroken to a potty tray is very convenient there. Patti sometimes barks or paws at the door to go outside. It's something she did on her own.

Indoor potty training works but you have to stick with it, confine the dog and be patient. That's true of outdoor housebreaking a dog, as well. It takes time.

Dogs will potty tray-train themselves very quickly but you need to confine them and give them a couple of months to prove they're reliable before moving to other rooms. Don't be in a hurry. :tea:
 
#13 ·
I think by training him to potty inside on pee pads I trained him that it is ok to potty inside the house. When I eventually took the pee pads away, he would potty on small throw rugs that were the same shape as the pee pads. Even now, when he needs to go potty, he will go sit by the back door and wait. If I don't notice, he will potty inside the house. He is the only dog that I ever trained on pee pads, and my only dog ever that was not reliably housebroken.
 
#14 ·
When we were training Tina to go inside, we used pee pads and only put them in one place, the master bedroom shower. When we had to leave her alone, we put a baby gate across the bathroom door so that she had plenty of room to roam and still had her pad available. After normal potty training, three or four days of constant observation, she had full run of the house and always returned to the shower to do her business. Now, trying to get her to stop chewing, that's another story. :smile2:
 
#15 ·
So far, I have only heard good things about indoor potty training. If anyone has had similar bad experiences, please let me know.

The puppy I have now is only my second Havanese My first Havanese was trained to pee outside only. Yet, he peed all over my house - on rugs, furniture, etc. He would refuse to use a pee pad. I really do not want to experience that again.
 
#21 ·
So far, I have only heard good things about indoor potty training. If anyone has had similar bad experiences, please let me know.

The puppy I have now is only my second Havanese My first Havanese was trained to pee outside only. Yet, he peed all over my house - on rugs, furniture, etc. He would refuse to use a pee pad. I really do not want to experience that again.
The problem is not indoor potty training, it is pee pads (that are not under a grate) It really is not surprising that it is difficult for a dog to differentiate between this and a scatter rug...

A dog who is "trained" to potty ourside, yet still has accidents all over the house, really isn't fully potty trained, no matter what method was initially used. A dog like that in my house would either be confined to a small space with a hard, easily cleaned surface, or tethered to me at all times so that he could be watched like a hawk until he WAS completely reliable. You have to go totally back to basics, no matter what the age of the dog, and no matter how long it takes to solve that kind of problem.
 
#17 ·
We have the pad in a plastic holder and we just remove it when we shower and replace it when we are done. Tina does go outside, she either goes to the door or paws at me to let me know. Wanting to go outside does not necessarily mean that she has to potty, she does potty outside but on occasion she will comes back in and go directly to the shower.
 
#22 ·
Someone mentioned at some point that the pellets have a distinct smell that is different than anything else you have around your house. I think both the smell and texture are more unique and that helps with the differentiation. It was the reason I decided to go ahead and try pellets and continue to attempt indoor potty training, and it worked much better for us. We had a lot of trouble before that with both paper and pads. He did have a head start on paper training with the breeder, and seemed to understand he was supposed to pee on certain things, but didn’t differentiate very well. Anytime anyone left a piece of paper on the floor he peed on it, and it was sad because he always looked super proud. I am really glad we did it. My only regret is not keeping up on it - we had s winter puppy and when spring and summer came around indoor potty was forgotten. Our second winter I really wished we had prioritized it better.
 
#23 · (Edited)
If you haven't bought a ex-pen/crate ... you might check this out. I have two of these from this manufacturer but different styles than this one. The medium size has tall sides and it's wider. For some strange reason the larger size on Amazon is cheaper than the small. Go Figure.

I WISH I could figure out how people get photos to show up on this Comment Section .... One of these days I may figure it out. Maybe it's because I use a Mac. Hummm...

If interested ..... Click the 301 Moved Permanently .... and the Amazon link will Open. :surprise:

 

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#25 ·
A reviewer commented there's not a top and she had to put a lip around the top to keep her dog from climbing out. The photo shows a small hard-sided pet carrier inside the crate/ex-pen. I had one of those and ended up taking it out because Patti was climbing on top of it and she would have eventually climbed out. Besides she preferred to lay on the floor and not inside the pet carrier. I think, it got hot. The height of the medium crate/ex-pen 31 inches. It would be hard for them to jump that high without something to stand on.

There's lots of options out there. I bought a lot of things I used for a short while, some I liked other's not so much. The puppy stage is like the new baby stage .... time moves very slowly ... you're an exhausted puppy mom or baby mom. You think it will never end. Then it does.:laugh2:
 
#27 ·
LOL!!! I wanna say around 9-months things seemed to settle down. :| It had been a l-o-n-g time since I had a puppy. In addition, I'm much older and particular. I wasn't sure what to do and worried a lot about not doing the right thing or not knowing what I didn't know. I THINK! if I had another puppy now I wouldn't be so exhausted because I'd been through the process. This website was my LIFESAVER of good advice. Karen and many others were very! helpful.

One thing ... I wouldn't worry so much about would be the dog crying when I left the room. I'd decide where and when the puppy was going to sleep and not worry about it. When they cry, whine or bark - most of the time you need to ignore it - because it teaches them to keep doing it if they get their way.

Dogs are smart and especially these little gals and guys. Patti, now almost 19-months, has learned if she steals things like glasses, napkins, a pen, a shoe, the TV remote ... she gets a Treat when I say Drop It. Treating to Drop It ... I think, has encouraged her play the game of Catch Me If You Can and I'll Drop It for a Treat. (We no longer care if she tears up paper napkins)

Everyone in the family knows to keep things put up but... she's quick when we forget. >:) We even have the teenage boys room gated off ... It's The Safe Zone ... because the kids have too many expensive digital gadgets and aren't very good about always putting things out of reach.

I don't know how to correct ... the Drop It ... Get A Treat Game. I HOPING she outgrows the Fun of all this. It's very annoying.
 
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