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At my wits end. I need help!

17 replies

Puppyissues · 06/01/2019 12:05

We have a 9 week old puppy, who is absolutely gorgeous but I'm losing my mind with house training!!

We have another dog who sleeps upstairs on her bed so we thought we'd put the puppy upstairs too as that's where she will be when she's older but oh my god it's not working!

We have her bed on our bed and she just slithers out of it and sleeps with her legs in it but the rest of her on our bed- but the issue I've got is she doesn't make any noise at all if she needs to go outside so just pees on our bed 😓.

I've tried a crate at the side of our bed it she just escapes it and jumps on the bed to snuggle in. She sleeps really well apart from just randomly weeing!

Also I've been taking her out very regularly (following an article by sally b). But we can go outside for a poo and wee and 10 mins later she'll poo again inside.

I'm also struggling with her settling properly. If we're downstairs and she's asleep but then we go to bed I wake her up to pee and take her upstairs and by the time we 're upstairs she's a biter land shark again over tired! Am I doing it wrong to wake her up?

And lastly! (Sorry it's long) our house is a funny layout. So our front door is on the ground floor but the back door to the garden is in the basement so we have to go downstairs and obviously she can't go downstairs so we carry her out side and I'm worried she's not getting the association to go outside because we just carry her out 😳

Please help!

At my wits end. I need help!
OP posts:
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CarolDanvers · 06/01/2019 12:07

Crate training.

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missbattenburg · 06/01/2019 12:22

At nine weeks old she is still a tiny baby so buckle up - it could be a few weeks yet before she gets into a routine.

I am not sure why or how she is escaping a crate? Perhaps you mean a pen without a roof? If so, then get a proper crate with a lockable door and use that.

With Battendog I popped him in the crate beside my bed, sat right outside with my fingers through the bars and just kept telling him to 'settle down' in a quiet voice. Slowly I moved up and into bed when he was settled. The first night this took about 20 mins but it reduced down to nothing by the end of the first week.

If he cried in the night I opened the crate, picked him up witout any eye contact or talking or fussing. I carried him out to the arden and popped him down. As soon as he wee'd I prasied him gently and carried him back to the crate - again no fuss or talking.

The first week or so I did this 3-4 times a night and from there on it reduced by a factor of 1 each week - so 2-3 times a night for weeks 2, etc. I got my first full night of sleep about a month in. Puppies vary though so yours could be qicker or slower to go through the night.

During the day I, or someone, watched him at ALL times. I took him out every 30 mins plus immediately after waking, playing, eating and whenever he looked like he was sniffing about for somewhere to go. I praised him when he went outdoors and ignored him when he had an indoor accident (just cleaned it up with an enzyme cleaner). It took him until about 5 months to start asking (VERY subtly) to go out and he was 6-7 months before I could start to relax and not watch so closely.

In essence, you just need to be strong, calm and consistent in all you do plus remember she is a baby and it'll take a lot longer than a week for you to even start to see any headway.

Good luck!

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missbattenburg · 06/01/2019 12:24

p.s. puppies sleeping on beds risk falling off and can do huge amounts of damage to themselves if/when they do.

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Puppyissues · 06/01/2019 12:27

It's a fabric crate so she bites open the zip and jumps out. Maybe we need a normal one too

OP posts:
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ChardonnaysPrettySister · 06/01/2019 12:28

No, OP, you absolutely cannot deal with that horrible pup. I’ll do you a favour and will have her off your hands.

[Grin]

Seriously, she’s a tiny baby. Keel doing what you are doing and you’ll get there.

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missbattenburg · 06/01/2019 13:06

It's a fabric crate so she bites open the zip and jumps out.

Oh no! You've gone and got yourself a CLEVER one. They are the worst Grin

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Puppyissues · 06/01/2019 14:03

@missbattenburg I know! 🤦‍♀️

OP posts:
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Hoppinggreen · 06/01/2019 16:52

Ooh, a Goldie
They are awful, definitely better send her to me instead for re-education and cuddles .
(Conveniently forgets how vile Goldenhopping dog was as a puppy)

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TopBitchoftheWitches · 06/01/2019 16:57

The pup is 9 weeks old? What did you expect, a puppy that would pick up toilet training in a week?

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ChardonnaysPrettySister · 06/01/2019 16:58

Hopping no jumping the queue!

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BiteyShark · 06/01/2019 17:09

TopBitchoftheWitches to be fair some of the articles I read really would make you think toilet training in a week was normal. It's only when you have had the puppy that doesn't follow the training manual and sort out real life help do you realise that most of those articles talk utter rubbish which is compounded when you run into the puppy owner that says theirs slept through the night from day one and never had any accidents

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ChardonnaysPrettySister · 06/01/2019 17:15

I suspect it’s just like with children, everybody fibs a little, or s lot.

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harrypotterfan1604 · 06/01/2019 17:36

She’s still so young! My puppy wasn’t reliably toilet trained day and night until almost a year old! She didn’t have accident every day that entire time but I still wouldn’t have considered her fully trained she was still watched like a hawk.
I got up with her very often in the night, starting every 30 mins then building up the time In between toilet trips. Although properly crate training might help, it would certainly stop the toileting on your bed at least.
It’s hard work with a puppy and not a quick process. Good luck

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CarolDanvers · 06/01/2019 17:45

Mine did sleep through the night from day one. Sorry but he really did. Loads of accidents during the day though but I trained him by keeping him on a long lead constantly for two weeks and watching him closely. When I wasn’t able to watch him he was in the crate. He was fairly reliable after three weeks.

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BiteyShark · 06/01/2019 17:49

CarolDanvers I am sure yours did but lots don't and just realising that yours isn't abnormal and you aren't doing anything wrong can be really helpful when you are in the thick of it and expecting something different. I have even seen people post saying they had puppies before but this one is completely different and toilet training or sleeping is a nightmare despite doing everything the same.

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CarolDanvers · 06/01/2019 17:59

I know all this, I have owned dogs all my life. I am responding to the accusation of “fibbing” by a previous poster. Am I not to post my experience unless it’s a negative one or risk a slightly bossy telling off?

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ChardonnaysPrettySister · 06/01/2019 18:04

It's not an accusation, it's personal, I suspect a lot of people do fib, but nowhere did I say you are one of them.

Sorry if it sounded that way.

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