What Am I Doing Wrong With Potty Training My Westie???
Filed under Care & Training Q&As
i am having a dificult time house breaking my westie. ive had him for several months now and i am at witts end with potty training him. i know that it is a stubborn breed and i am trying to keep my patience. i am using a crate like they say to do and it is the size they recomend and i never leave him in there for more than 3 hours at a time. i would never spank my pup nor would i ever rub his nose in it. i simply take him to the spot and give him a firm no. i thought maybe it was a medical problem so i took him to the vet and they said theres no medical problem. when he goes outside i clap and give him a treat and say good boy. he knows going in the house is wrong. i bought my first house and ill be moving soon and i really dont want him going on the new carpets! any suggestions on what i can do or what i am doing wrong? besides putting a diaper on the little booger ; )
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Congrats on the new house and for the puppy. House breaking can be a trying time especially with new carpet, I love having all tile. When you take him out and he potties out there, be sure not to clap loud as it may deter him. Loud noises such as clapping your hands can scare them. It’s a tactic that works well when you don’t want them to do something. Also unless you actually catch him in the act of peeing in the house, it’s not worth telling him no. he has no idea what he’s being chastized for. Even bringing him back to that spot doesn’t help and KUDOS to you fo rnot rubbing his nose in it, that’s the first thing many people will do. Just clean it up with a good cleaner meant for pet urine smells. Pine sol will actually make the urine smell stronger to a dog. Make sure it has no ammonia in it as well. Really until he gets the hang of going outside I would take him out every hour, regardless of how long he can hold it. the more you take him out and show him where to go the quicker he will learn to associate it with one another, We also use command words with our GSD. Break for pee and poop for poop. It has worked well for us. If you’d like more details baout it, feel free to email me. Good luck and I wouldn’t give into the diapers just yet.
take him out about every 30 mins for a little while so he doesnt have an accident. Then once he goes give him a treat!!!! and lots of praise. but consistency is the most important thing..if he does have an accident, take him to the spot that he did holding his collar and say Bad Boy but not yelling just in a stern voice!! KEEP IT UP IT WILL PAY OFF!
They do make them for 100% guarantee that he will never mark your carpets. They have waist bands for males if he is pee marking and other types to collect feces. You don’t say whether it is both or just one?
To truly and solidly housebreak a dog, it MUST be crated at ALL times when in the house UNLESS you have him leashed to you on a 4 to 6 foot MAX length leash! You must be ALL IN to get the dog to completion now that he has had so many accidents. If you want to give him free time in the home, buy baby gates and section him off on the linoleum of the kitchen while you are working in the kitchen. DO NOT allow him to run free over the new carpets until he is over 6 months and has lived in the home for about 3 months. If he never has access to the carpets in the beginning, he can’t scent mark or otherwise make a mistake that he will be more than willing to go back to and re-mark over and over.
You must be certain that he gets outside immeadiatly upon release from the crate and he must have access to water just three times per day. If you think about a pup in the wild, they don’t sit up at the creek all day long, taking long sips every 5 minutes! They visit the creek 2 or 3 times per day then it is off for hunting, napping and scent marking. Also, if he pup is older, you need to practice a little longer period of time in the crate now and then so that he builds up bladder power. If he is 3 months or more, he should be expected to be able to hold it over night IF you remove the last of his water after dinner. NO LATE WATER! Just like kids! He can have a big drink ‘at the creek’ in the morning.
If his problem is feces, he needs to be on either dry food or on a raw diet but he needs to be fed at similar times of day, twice per day, rather than being free fed. (Means do not leave food available all day long) Do not feed him dry food that is made all mushy by the addition of water or runny canned food. If you like to feed canned, feed a specific amount at about the same time each day so you KNOW when he will have to have a bowel movement. Resist the urge to feed nothing but canned food. He could have one meal canned, one meal dry. This rigid schedule will help pinpoint when he will need to relieve himself.
EDIT: I’m sorry that this edit will likely earn me PLENTY of thumbs down but I TOTALLY disagree with ALL who say that the dog does not remember taking a dump or a whizz in the carpet!!! Hasn’t ANY of you ever really WATCHED a puppy running back and forth in the living room, nose to the carpet, as if saying “Now Where WAS that spot I used when I was in this room last???” And chances are GREAT that he will find the tiny remnants of urine smell that the cleaner was unable to suck up from the pad and he will plant a turd or a new puddle within a few inches of the last mistake!
It has worked the best in my lifetime by making a huge deal about a found accident AND to tie the pup close to the spot and tell him how naughty he was the ENTIRE time you are cleaning the mess! “What a BAD doggy! NO pooping on the carpet!!! We don’t do that in this house! Bad Bad Bad!” Also there is no need to spank or beat the pup but the mother would most certainly give a shake by the collar at the scene of the crime. Of course she wouldn’t punish for a carpet accident but if the pup were misbehaving in other ways, you BET she WOULD discipline him! We as humans have a need for a clean house so we must reprimand for house accidents!
This thinking that dogs are SO DUMB that they can’t remember 3 seconds ago or even an hour ago is precisely WHY the shelters are FULL of dogs that supposedly could not be housetrained! Because people seem to want to allow that they are some dumb, mentally challenged animal when I know for a FACT that I own dogs that almost seem smarter than some people that I have met and my dogs even have a vocabulary of words that I speak to them that they KNOW, up towards maybe 100 words! So if you want a truly GREAT dog, EXPECT it of him and that is what he will be. STOP trying to expect anything LESS!
Your PUPPY I’m assuming, has a short attention span. Unless you actually SEE it urinating or poo’ing on the floor and repremand it WHILE it’s doing it, it actually has no idea what it did wrong! You walk your puppy over to the spot it has urinated in, shove it’s nose down near it or into it and tell it “NO” . It just learned that it shouldn’t smell or shove it’s nose into pee. Not exactly what you thought it should learn, eh? (Much like those that have dogs that run away from them, then call them back and repremand them for running away. When you do this, the dog learned it was bad to come back to the owner!!) Walk your puppy FREQUENTLY (start out at every 1/2 hour). You can give it a treat after it does it’s business, but you MUST give it the treat IMMEDIATELY after it goes. If you let it run back to the door where you’re waiting, it did not learn that it got the treat from going potty outside, it learned it got the treat for rushing back to the door, which it will now do frequently, because he/she wants a treat!!) If it’s going in its crate, it’s too big (needs only to be big enough for them to stand and turn around). Feed at set intervals during the day (your puppy will usually need to have a bowel movement about 20-30 minutes after it eats, so if it has food down all of the time . . .it has more frequent bowel movements). Never give food or water in the crate for the same reasons! Good luck!
Watch him like a hawk and when he gets ready to go outside he goes. Eventually they learn. At night keep in a small crate just enough room for sleeping. Close to you. When he has to go take him out and right back in the crate. Just be patient
Crate Train him. Feed/Water and then put him in the crate. Depending on how quickly food moves through his body (probably around 20-30 minutes) take him out side, immediately after taking him out of the crate. And then if he doesnt go to the bathroom bring him back inside and put him in the crate. Wait until 10-15 minutes and try again. Eventually he will get that the only place to go to the bathroom is outside. When he finally does go outside…give him tons of praise. Get a ball or a toy he likes (my dog loves his squeeky chicken leg) instead of treats so often. We dont need a chunky puppy!!
Keep him in the crate unless he can be supervised and not left on his own. Just as you would watch a toddler.
Also word of advice, when you bring him to the spot he has done his business in he doesnt even know it was him that did it. Its within the matter of seconds that dogs forget that they have went to the bathroom. So scolding them for it unless you catch them in the act is pointless. And confusing for them.
Also when you give him a treat as him comes inside he will learn that everytime him comes inside he will get a treat and will expect that. So he could trick you into thinking he has gone.
Remember also to look at the stool and note any abnormalitites which could be a sign of parasitic infections.
from what i learned through the AKC puppy training classes i took my dog to don’t let your dog have free run of the house unless you are there, & watching it non stop, if he/she goes on the floor DON’T rub their nose in it, & if you punish it make sure you do it as soon as it went potty on the floor a puppy’s memory span is not that good that if you wait 5 min. or more & then spank, or say naughty, it’s not going to remember what it’s in trouble for. always take it outside to go potty as soon as it wakes from a nap, & as soon as it’s done playing, those are times they are most apt. to go. a crate works good for while you’re gone, or asleep (pet taxi) you only want enouph room in the crate for the puppy to be able to stand, lay in the same spot, & turn around!! if there’s anymore room than that in there the puppyu will go potty in it. they say dogs wont/dont go potty w/ in so much distance from where they sleep, & eat.the puppy may howl, & cry when being shut in it, but it will eventually get used to it, each time it will be less, & less time that he/she cries/howls in it, but dont give in. in time your puppy/dog will find the crate to be a place to feel safe/secure, after a long time our dog got used to the routine, & when we got ready to go to bed she automatically went in her cage/crate, & layed down to sleep.good luck!!
i actually use the “have him smell the pee and spank him on the butt a few times” method. that way they actually know they did something wrong – of course you don’t shove the dog’s nose into the pee, and you don’t beat the dog, but a few spanks to let the dog it’s bad. even if you bring the dog back and say no, he is still getting away with it. How old is your dog? how often do you take him outside?
Westies can be little devils, been there. The male trained easily, but the female was so small (7lbs.at 4 months) I couldn’t tell if she was squatting, she was so low to the ground. I kept her in the kitchen with me for almost 3 weeks on tile floor when she was out of her crate and watched her like a hawk. Every time she peed I’d scoop her, say outside, then take her out even though she’d already peed and say go potty. If your pup is still peeing he shouldn’t have the run of the house. When he’s out of his crate keep him in a confined area or with you so that you can scoop him up and get him outside when he pees. I have a bell on my door that the dogs ring to go outside which I believe helped with the training because I’d always ring the bell when I’d say outside and it was an added cue to help them understand what they needed to do. Be patient, your pup doesn’t fully understand what’s expected of him. Good Luck.
When you find a mess in the house that he has left, are you taking him back to it and saying “no?”
The reason I ask is because you said “i simply take him to the spot and give him a firm no”
If you ARE doing this, this is a very bad thing to do. You absolutely MUST catch him IN THE ACT in order to punish him-even if he is walking away from a mess he has made it is too late-he must must must be in the middle of making the mess. Here’s why taking him back to the mess he made is bad;
You come into the room to see your pup laying on the floor chewing one of his toys. You look across the room, and see a mess he has made. You drag him over to the mess, and say “NO”.
By doing this, you have just punished your dog for laying on the floor and chewing his toys.
Dog’s attention spans are only fixed on what they are currently doing.
Keep an eye on him-dont even give him the opportunity to relieve himself in the house. If you cannot watch him, even if it is for five minutes, crate him, then let him out again. This way, the only time he will be able to relieve himself in the house is while you are watching, in which case you can immediately jump up and say “outside! let’s go outside!” and hurry him out the door, then praise the daylights out of him when he finishes outside. Make sure you take him out after he eats, drinks, plays, gets excited, and before bed.
It really does sound like you’re doing a good job so far, just a few details to work on and you’ll be set. Be consistent, and don’t give up. I know it tries your patience, but if you keep working on it you will get there soon!