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The doghouse

House training- going backwards!

15 replies

Namechangeforthiscancershit · 27/08/2018 08:01

My puppy is 14 weeks now and we’ve had him from 10. His housetraining was amazing- we took him out every hour to start with then gradually less, no daytime accidents other than a wee when I forgot to let him out first thing and had a shower instead- totally my fault.

Overnight I was taking him out a few times, then fewer, now he goes through the night. Only accident was when I decided in a moment of madness (tiredness) that he could go through the night at nearly 12 weeks and he couldn’t. Anyway all good now and more sleep all round.

This essay is nearing conclusion! Yesterday was absolutely torrential here and he had lots of opportunities to go out but I didn’t actually watch him as well as I should have and at bed time found two poos upstairs.

This morning, no rain but wet grass, he went out at 6 and did a poo but I’ve just found another one on the bath mat. Great.

I know that it’s not his fault at all but mine. My plan of action is:

Back to watching him in the garden, rewarding him for going, and timing it.
Not let him upstairs again (upstairs is where I found all these presents) until things are sorted, other than to sleep. I have a baby gate so this is easily achievable.
Generally be a better puppy owner and not be complacent.
I’ve cleaned all affected areas really thoroughly and put on that odour covering spray.

Is there a puppy equivalent of PFB? If so he is definitely one and I am so new to all this and so precious about him!

Is there anything else I should be doing? Trying not to panic that this is a massive backwards step etc.

Thank you to anyone who’s read this far!

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Namechangeforthiscancershit · 27/08/2018 08:02

timing it

Timing the trips out not how long it takes him to poo. That would be too far even for me.

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BiteyShark · 27/08/2018 08:05

It's a constant two steps forward and one back at that age. I suspect you just got a bit complacent thinking he was toilet trained so yes go back to basics again.

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Namechangeforthiscancershit · 27/08/2018 08:07

Thank you! Yes I think complacency is absolutely it as I had it so easy to start with so now this is a shock. Back to basics.

Good job they are so adorable at this age!

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Theworldisfullofgs · 27/08/2018 08:08

It's not a massive backward step. All normal.
You sound like you are doing the right thing. We've only got and had one dog. So I'm no expert!

I remember feeling like he'd never get it and then one day it clicked.

By the way where is the photo!?

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Namechangeforthiscancershit · 27/08/2018 08:13

Thank you! It seems like everyone knows what they’re doing other than me! Puppy classes start next week (none over the Summer here) so I am hoping meeting more clueless owners will reassure me a bit!

Here is the little monster!

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bluebird3 · 27/08/2018 08:20

Oh he's gorgeous! He's still very young and it sounds like he's not keen on the rain! My dog is the same but if you carry on with your training they get it in the end. My dog was nearly perfect but would randomly have the odd accident (1x month?) until she was 6 months old. It was usually where I'd missed the signs looking back. Just keep at it.

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Theworldisfullofgs · 27/08/2018 08:27

Oh he's soo sweet.
House training seemed to go on forever. If I remember correctly it took 2 months.

By the way my ddog still doesn't like the rain.

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BiteyShark · 27/08/2018 08:58

I found that typically the ones that look like they knew what they were doing either had been through a nightmare puppy before or if they were a first hand owner they just had an easy puppy. I 'fondly' remember people saying that they had toilet trained in a couple of weeks and their pup slept 10 hours solid from day 1 when I was sleep deprived with a puppy that needed to pee every few hours at night and took a few months to toilet train. You will get there in the end.

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liz70 · 27/08/2018 10:42

Ah, he's gorgeous, is he a Springer? It's still early days for toilet training. Bracken is nearly 18 weeks, but we're not completely out of the woods yet.

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missbattenburg · 27/08/2018 21:16

Yeah, this sounds like mine.

I found a "Days Since Last Accident" board really helped me a lot. It FELT like we were not making progress but the number on the board kept sneaking up before being reset again.

One minute making it to "3 days since last accident" before having to reset it to zero was a big deal. Then it was 5 days. Back to zero. Then 7. etc.

It's helped me recognise that progress was being made.

He was about 5 months old before all accidents stopped, think.

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Namechangeforthiscancershit · 27/08/2018 21:20

Thank you everyone. Great idea about the board!

He’s mostly cavalier, obviously just looks a bit bigger in the pics! He has a long muzzle for a cavalier which is because of the cross, so he doesn’t totally have the cav face I think.

He had a very active play this evening after dinner, so I expected a poo, found him scrabbling frantically at the baby gate to go upstairs. I took him outside and he went straight away. So he definitely has formed a new habit which needs to be broken, but you have all given me the confidence that I do actually know how to do that!

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Pigletpoglet · 27/08/2018 21:21

We have a 15 week old, and she had accidents in the rain too! We reckon that she was born in the heatwave, and didn't experience rain at all until she was over 12 weeks old. We had to go and buy her a coat on the first day of proper rain! She's still definitely not keen, and went from a full 2 weeks without a wee in the house, to 2 wees on the rug in one day when it was raining. She has house trained quicker than any of our other pups though: we put that down to the heatwave too - the garden absolutely stank of piss...

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missbattenburg · 27/08/2018 21:21

p.s. your plan of action sounds good, escept this bit: Generally be a better puppy owner and not be complacent.

Honestly, I suspect you are a great owner already (just because you're hear wondering how to be better). He will be a puppy for such a short space of time. Please remember to ENJOY it and have fun. As I've said on other threads, if I could just change one thing about Battendog's baby weeks, it is that I wish I had worried less and just enjoyed him more. More laughter, less stress.

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CleverQuacks · 27/08/2018 21:23

I had exactly the same problem this weekend with my pup. She hasn’t had an accident in weeks and then did several wees in the house on Saturday. For her it’s the rain. She absolutely hates it and will just sit and shiver in the rain and refuse to move. When it’s dry she has no accidents at all.

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Namechangeforthiscancershit · 27/08/2018 21:24

Piglet that timing is virtually the same then. I do think this is a thing. He is a little wuss about the rain and I think it’s just not having seen any. The first time he experienced rain he barked at it like wtf is this!

missbattenburg thank you! I do probably need to chill a bit! It’s just that he is such a lovely natured little thing that I feel a lot of responsibility on the training front. As a child we had some pretty badly trained dogs and I know it’s not fair on them. But I need to remember that this time is short and enjoy it!