Housebreaking New Puppy...

[caitlyn8161]

ok, ive always crate trained all of our new puppies and never had a problem. they whine when they have to potty and i let them outside and they go. no problem. occasionally an accident, but who doesnt expect that? it happens. i have a new puppy now. her name is ariat, she is a sheltie/american eskimo cross and about 12 weeks old. i just got her a couple days ago. ariat does not whine at night. when i let her go out to potty i wait around and it seems like she'll only go half the time. then, in the house as soon as something scares her (like our boxer for instance) she pees. shes peed once in the house without being scared. i left her in the car for a minute to pay for gas the day i got her and she was afraid that i left her and peed on the seat. when she went in the house i reprimanded her then put her outside to see if she would finish. she caught on and started to pee so she could go outside. now when she has an accident i put her back in the crate. does anyone have any advice on training this puppy? she is much different than the other dogs i have trained and im at a loss on what exactly to do. i dont want to teach her bad habits early on.

[Shmee]

This is always the most frustrating part of ownership if you ask me... Caitlyn, I would try using a leash with her and see how that works. Also, if she doesn't go when she's taken outside, dont let her meander around the house, place her right back in her crate. Let 20minutes go by, and then try again. It took my Jack's MONTHS to get this to a science. If the nervous peeing continues you're going to have to take her to the Vet. There could be a problem with her plumbing that's causing it.
The use of the leash will let her associate a different level of activity, knowing she has to 'get serious' when she's on the lead. I would also encourage babytalk in the way of, "Go pee-pee hunny!!" and just keep repeating that phrase as that will also help with association.
It takes alot of patience for some dogs, (not to mention a couple of bottles of "Natures Miracle" couldn't hurt either).

Goodluck and don't give up!!

-Shmee

[Rivsky]

I think the leash is a great idea and if your dog is peeing when something frightens her please don't reprimand her for peeing inside, I think it's just going to make things worse and she'll start to think she's going to get in trouble for peeing in front of you which will cause all sorts of headaches as you want to be able to know she's gone when you've taken her out.

[Ritz459]

Chloe didn't catch on to housebreaking until she was about six or seven months old...and it gave me a headache.

If she is having accidents because of nervousness/anxiety, don't repremind her, like Rivsky said. This will just make her more anxious and more nervous and she'll just pee more. I've never had to deal with a submissive wetter before, so I can't give you much more information other than that.

What I did with Chloe was I had to take her out every twenty minutes or so, because if any longer went by she'd pee on the floor. When I took her out I would say, "Wanna go outside?" when I walked out the door so she would associate those words with going out. Then I took her to the same spot in the yard, on leash, and when she would start to squat I'd tell her, "Go Potty!" and as soon as she finished we'd have a nice game of chase. If she wouldn't go I'd bring her back inside and kennel her and then take her out a few minutes later. It was a headache and horrible, but she's finally gotten it and will now actually tell me when she needs to go out.

[caitlyn8161]

thanks for the advice everyone! ive never had to deal with a submissive wetter either and it sure is frustrating. when ariat is in my room with me she is fine and doesnt have an accident, but the other animals just scare her. all they want to do is play with her lol! ive always used 'go potty' as the command for going to the bathroom. question- if she isnt reprimanded for peeing when scared, wont she think its ok? i dont want to punish her for being scared, but i dont necessarily want to reward her for wetting in the house.

[Doglover1988]

If she is peeing while frightened it's not something she can control. The only thing you can do is try and prevent her from becoming scared. She will likely grow out of it with age. My sister's Chihuahua puppy was a submissive/fear urinator and finally has almost grown out of it at the age of 1 1/2 years. She still pees while very exited usually only with my sister.

[Shmee]

Cait, if you reprimand a submissive wetter, you'll never get her to stop. It's alot like wheel. Just keep in her crate as much as possible and she will come to understand what you want her to achieve.

Patience is exercise for the day.....

stick with it!!

-Shmee

[caitlyn8161]

no accidents so far in the house today! the other dogs have not been allowed around her as not to scare her into an accident...

[Dangels]

My American Pit Bull Terrier puppy, Jags, was already crate trained when I got him.... but we are still working on housetraining, right now. When I let him out of the crate, I always take him outside to go potty, right away. I generally let him outside every 15 - 30 minutes during the day when he's running around the house, and he hardly ever has any accidents. I also let him out right after he's been eating or drinking water. It's been working really well for me. At night, I always give him his last meal of the day at least a couple hours before I plan to go to bed. Then, I let him outside right before I go to bed.... then he's good until 6-7:00am when I get up in the morning, and I let him outside right after I get out of bed in the morning.

I agree, you should not reprimanded her for peeing in the house when she's scared, doing so will only cause' the problem to get even worse. Instead, when she pees in the house.... take her outside, right away. If she goes potty while she's outside, be sure to give her lots of praise.

I wish you the best of luck!