[bentleybooboo]

Hi there,

I am at my wits end with my 7 month old puppy. Bentley is a Bichon male puppy who came to me 12 weeks old. When I picked Bentley up from the breeder, he was kept in an area that he ate, peed and slept. The breeder cleaned the newspapers daily but there was no training started until the 12 week. We currently take him out every 1.5 hrs. Bentley will pee- pee- pee- up a storm outside. In the mornings I try not to come in until he poops no matter how long it takes. The problem is he will still pee and poop in the house in between. He does NOT bark to tell you – there is just no warning. I remove his food during the day and only leave it out for a period of time in the morning and at night. I feel as though I have tried everything and don’t know what else to do. I love this puppy but I am so tired of washing my rugs every week and taking him out so often is exhausting. If it was working - I wouldn’t complain…did I mention he pees on anything up right?...and that is including my 5 year old female Bichon.

I need Advice pronto…..Thank you all in advance….

[Daisy]

I don't know what you've tried already, but I will let you know what worked for me. Both of my dogs came from shelters and were very hard to potty train. When I took them out, every time they went in the grass, I praised them like it was the best thing in the world. I mean I REALLY made a spectacle of it. I jumped up and down, got excited and would exclaim, "Good girl pee-pee in the grass!!!!". And she would get part of a treat. hen I first started, she would break up the pee sessions as much as she could so that she could get a treat. She would even squat and not pee, just to get a reaction from me. That was fine, since I knew that she was associating squatting in the grass with something good.

There were some rough patches. I got my hands on some grass scented pee-pee pads to aid in getting her used to the smell and that worked rather quickly. I found that scolding her after she had an accident off of the puppy pads did nothing if i didn't catch her RIGHT when she was starting to squat.

Now, neither of my dogs will come and let me know when they need to go out other than to go to the door and sit there, so I have to be in the living room at the time to see them there. When I do see them there, I will still make a big deal out of it and give them a treat for being good and sitting there and waiting for me, then they get another when they come inside IF they go outside.

The bigger dog was a little more tough to train, so I had to walk her once in the morning, once in the middle of the afternoon and then once in the evening. This worked out for both of us since I lost those pesky extra 5 pounds.

I know it will sound silly, and you see it on the dog shows all the time, but I had one of those little fanny packs that I had stuffed full of dog treats and I wore it all day long. I got the small Zuke treats since they are both good for the dog and can easily be broken in half for training.

I hope this helps.

[lange]

First, check with his vet to make sure there's not an underlining medical reason that doesn't let him hold his bladder for long...veryy important to rule out.


you'll probably get different advice from people. Just choose which sounds best for you and your dog and stick with that one to give it a real chance.

You're dog shouldn't need to go out every 1 1/2 hours if nothing is wrong with him. It also sounds like he's starting to mark which means there are two separate problems. Has he been neutered? That might help with the marking! It helped my Lhasa greatly but didn't eliminate it completely (granted mine was much older when he was neutered and by that time was a manic marker). The sooner you neuter the better.

If the potty problems aren't medical I would use a crate. I don't know if you already do or whether your dog keeps it clean as you didn't mention that. I would give the dog less roaming privilege in the house until there's a better handle on house training. Some people don't like using crates, I think they speed up the potty training process.
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First step, try to figure out how long after he eats/drinks he needs to empty his bladder.

Second, figure out with an empty bladder approx how long he can hold it.

With the info you figured out in mind & working around whatever your daily schedule is you're going to write out a dog schedule and post it by your clock If you don't work outside of home?..It should look something like this:

7 am ... potty break Follow how to reward below
7:20 ... water/feed
7:30 .. crate
8:00 - 8:20 ... potty break
8:20 - 9:20... inside playtime/you MUST commit this time to watch him & only him w/out distraction. Follow how to correct & reward below..
9:20 .. crate
11:30.. potty break
11:50..inside playtime
12:50...crate
----- on and on
-----
----
9:30 .... last water
11:00.. last potty then crate overnight

Leave enough room on your chart so that with each new day you can keep track of any accidents' when & why. After a couple days you should have a better understanding of what is going on and adjust the chart as needed.

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**If you ever see him circling, sniffing around, walking towards the door or doing anything indoors that cues you in that he might be looking to relieve himself. Take him out asap. REWARD if he relieves outdoors. Find his favorite treat & only give it to him then, cheer, tell him, "WHAT A GREAT BOY YOU ARE!!!" Give him a few more minutes to see if he's emptied his bladder. Come back and continue following your chart. then go back to schedule

**If when he's he has an accident indoors, CORRECT him: clap your hands loud and say "No!" The point is to startle him. Walk him out asap. Ignore him outdoors until he relieves himself. Again, REWARD like crazy!!.. give him a few minutes. Then back in following schedule.

Hope this helps.