I have a 4.5 mth old m ger. shep.puppy and I am at my wits end.I have had him for 2 mths and have never had a more difficult time house breaking a dog!I use the bell on the door and he is getting use to it,slowly. I take up his water at night after dinnerand make sure he gets plenty of play time!! The problem-- no matter how many times he goes potty outside before bed,he still wakes me up several times during the night to goout and pee. Even then I still wake up to a spot on the carpet somewhere in the apt.I tried once to put him in his kennel at night but since he HATES his kennel SO MUCH that didn't work. I have to bribr him with hot dog pieces just to get him at least half way in then I have to push him in the rest of the way just to go to work. I DO praise him and give him a treat once in the kennel.I am sooo exhausted from not getting any sleep and feel like I am doing something wrong. I do have most of your training tech. Please help me.
I am so sorry to hear that his housebreaking is not going well. It is so frustrating, isn't it?
I have found with my foster puppies that the easiest way is to crate them during the night. Even if they soil the carpet during the day, they hardly wet their crates. If crating doesn't work, make a very small area for him to sleep in. The smaller the area is less likely he pees in there. He should be able to hold it for 6-7 hrs at his age, of course every puppy is different but if you limit his water intake in the evening, he should be able to.
I heard about training dogs to ring a bell when they need to go potty but they can ring it for some other reasons, for example, just to get your attention. I would not go let him out just because he rings the bell. I would rather time it and let him out when YOU think he needs to go. I am afraid he is still too young to let you know exactly when he needs to go.
As I'm sure youve figured out, every dog is different with housetraining, and some of them take longer than others!
Is there a chance I could get you to describe exactly what your housetraining routine is? Do you keep him confined and let him into the house little by little, or keep him confined at night? How have you trained him to the bell?
If I can picture how youre training I might be able to offer better advice about solving your dilemma. From my experience, keeping the pup confined to a very small part of the house, with his bed in with him, is the best way to start. Dogs typically won't potty near their bed or food, so if you've got a laundry room or can stand to just train him to accept his crate, I'd start there with keeping him put up while he's in the house. Little by little, you allow him access to the next room, or the hall, and then the next room, etc...until he can go through the whole apartment. If he has an accident in a room, you set him back a level and keep him out of that room for a few more days as long as he isnt having accidents elsewhere. Its a stepwise training program that helps emphasize that the whole house is the dogs home, and he shouldnt potty in it This has always been the method I've heard best results from.
But as I said, I'd like to hear more about how you train in your apartment, if you dont mind
