Help! I am working on potty training my female Mini-Dachshund who is 3 and a half months old. She is actually doing really well. However, the past week she has been acting out, which I am assuming is separation anxiety, because this happens when my husband and I are gond at work during the day.

No matter how much I let her out to play in the morning, by the time we come home from work, she has ripped up her pee pad and now whatever poo was on it, is now all over.

I've tried showing her the mess, giving her a spank and sending her to doggy jail "timeout". However, nothing seems to be working.

Help! Is it probably separation anxiety and what should I do????

[DoggieVogue]

Not to sound judgmental or like a jerk, but I think you are going about house training all wrong. Spanking and punishment don't work. And for some reason a lot of dogs rip up pee pads. Maybe the smell or some thing? I know they are supposed to have some kind of scent to make dogs want to use them... I think some one on here could give you better house breaking advice, when they come along. I personally don't like pee pads. I think they train dogs to think that its okay to go in the house, but that is just my opinion.
Also, if you are gone all day, she might be ripping up the pads out of boredom. My dog gets destructive when he is bored and unsupervised. May be you could try to give her something to do while you are gone, like a kong with peanut butter or plenty of toys, etc to keep her occupied.

I have to disagree, respectfully. Spanking is not necessarily a bad thing. I have a 4 month old lab who I trained to not pee in the apartment. The first few times I said "no!" Really loud and had him smell the poop. It didn't work much. I tried redirection that didn't work either and I had him for 3 weeks. I played with him a lot all the time. Finally when he went poop in the bedroom I yelled at him, made him smell the poop, and spanked him...not hard but enough for him to know that was obviously wrong. It's not mean, or cruel it's just like a child. I was spanked when I was younger as the the last resort for gettin a point across. Sometimes it's needed. So it's not being cruel just don't make it a habit everytime once or twice shld be enough and he'll learn

in the midst of my rant I forgot to answer the question....my bad. Anyway take him/her out every time u get a chance very often when they're babies. Give them a treat when they make their mess. I use a crate, but am now training him not to poop in there, but I have a mini schnauzer with me mom who does amazingly well with the crate. It just takes time. Have a lot of patience but don't let pooping in the house go unpunished make sure u scold him/her everytime so they know it's bad. Don't let them poop and get mad...and then another time let it slide be consistent.

[crstev]

We tried the pads with Alvin when we first got him (about 3 mos old) and he shredded it almost immediately.

Then we tried a crate but he cried endlessly. One of us (not me) can't handle the crying.

I'm home all day so I keep him on a schedule and take him out every few hours. He's 6 months now and still has accidents but they are infrequent.

If I were working, the crate would be my first choice, especially if you or someone else can break up the day into segments so the pup spends no more than 4 hours without a break. As she gets older, you can lengthen the crate time during the day.

[Lara's mom]

I have to agree with Doggie/Vogue. Hitting a dog is completely inappropriate.

I have to get on board and say that negative reinforcement is not a good thing. Consistent positive reinforcement is the key to good training. I think that it will just take some time to get the training going well.

[DoggieVogue]

Dogs don't respond well to spanking and punishment. They naturally want to please you and respond much better to praise and positive reinforcement. You will train your dog much faster with praise than spanking.

[AnimatedPet]

I agree with DoggieVogue. My roommate has a 3-year old Beagle who still uses pee pads which is neither convenient for her nor appropriate for her dog. Puppy pads are used to prevent accidents but they also condition dogs to relieve themselves inside the house since their human will take care of it for them. :mrgreen: While it may be easier for some dog owners who live in apartment buildings to let their dogs go on pee pads rather than taking them out, it also tells the dog that they don't have to wait to go outside and AWAY from their home to go.

Solution: Your dog doesn't want to be punished for something that they cannot control. Keep a regular walking schedule so your puppy knows that there's time reserved to go to the bathroom. Even as your schedule grows busier with other responsibilities, your puppy will learn that it's okay to wait because you'll still have time to take them out for a walk.

If your puppy is prone to destruction, crating will keep them safe while teaching them how not be afraid of being alone. There are lots of information out there on crate training, but if you have any questions, I can try to answer them for you.

Good luck to you and your puppy!

[Lara's mom]

I don't know what it is with pee pads but, most people I know who have tried them ended up throwing them out in disgust. I know they never worked for either of my girls. They'd either rip them to shreds or pee and poop all around them but, never on them! I tried newspaper instead and left a pee and a poop on the paper as a reminder. It worked! Perhaps, it will work for you also.

Originally Posted by Lara's mom

I don't know what it is with pee pads but, most people I know who have tried them ended up throwing them out in disgust. I know they never worked for either of my girls. They'd either rip them to shreds or pee and poop all around them but, never on them! I tried newspaper instead and left a pee and a poop on the paper as a reminder. It worked! Perhaps, it will work for you also.

I agree. I tried using puppy pads when my dog was a puppy, but she tore them up as well ;-p. Of course she was a crazy playful Great Dane :-p.

Thank you all for your replies, it does help. I am not a big fan of spanking and time-out (it doesnt work for kids so why would it dogs right? lol), but I just did not know how to go about it. But,for every spank and a time out, I give her lots of positive reinforcement. Every time she potties right she gets lots of loves, hugs, and a little doggy treat.

As I may be gone all day I did not want her to be stuck in a crate. I know many people see the benefit of crate training, I just dont know how I feel knowing that my little girl is locked up in a crate all day.

She had been doing really well going on her pee pad. She rarely had accidents and she would 90% of the time pee on her pad (which I thought was great considering she is still so little, 3 1/2 months). Its just been recent that she is acting out. She has toys, but maybe I should find a better assortment to keep her busy, and trying that thing with the peanut butter inside may be a good idea too.

[Lara's mom]

I tried it with my now 12 year old, Bailey. I put in the ticking clock, snuggly blankets, a hot water bottle - you name it; I tried it. She screamed bloody murder from the time I put her in the damn thing until an hour or so later when I just couldn't stand it for one more second, took her out of the crate and into bed with me. She slept like a little angel right through the night. The crate got taken apart, wrapped up and put into my locker.

Eleven years later, I got Lara. I'd heard so much about the benefits of crate training that I went down to my locker, dragged the stupid thing upstairs, reassembled it and gave it another try. Guess what? Exactly the same thing happened! The poor little thing was so upset that she was actually sick to her tummy along with screaming as if she was being tortured. I made myself stick it out for an hour...Then, I just couldn't stand it anymore. She ended up in bed with Bailey and me and the stupid crate got sold at my next yard sale.