Please tell me the puppy will be housetrained soon!

[booreeve]

Hello - need some encouragement/reassurance really......!
I have a 17 week old French Bulldog who I adore, and is great in every way except for the house training. She has a crate which she's in overnight or if I'm out, or if she needs to be kept "out of the way" IFSWIM. I take her out every 30-45 minutes, after every meal, play session, drink etc....but having not had any accidents in ages, in the last 2 weeks there are about 2-3 pees and the odd poo. She was starting to ask to go out (standing by the back door) but this has now also stopped........
Any tips or suggestions? It's starting to drive me a bit mental because I thought we were getting there but apparently not. I know she's still young - but any idea when I can have any realistic expectations of success?!

I think she's doing incredibly well for a 17 week pup.

When you say 2-3 wees - do you mean each day or over the whole last 2 weeks? I'm guessing you mean each day.

Per day......it's just super frustrating as I thought we were really getting there, but we seem to be going backwards!

Are you cleaning the area properly when she's weed? Has her food/ routine changed? Are you ignoring the puddles (not scolding) ?
If it's none if these then you should probably have her checked out for a possible infection .

No routine change - cleaning area thoroughly (on a hard floor so I think there's less chance of her smelling it) and ignoring puddles and try and clean them up when she's not looking.
Might try the vet avenue next.....

Well, unless you're using an ammonia based cleaner I would probably pop a sample into the vet. Ask them for a collection tray (much easier than trying to get puppy to pee into a sample bottle). It's a quick easy test.

Keep us posted, please.

i could have written this post a year ago - our puppy drove me insane - as bella will tell you

it does get better

Thanks - took her into the vet, and all ok! Might be the cold outside that she's not delighted about!

Could be - I suggest you up the rewards for a little bit, maybe?

I'll give that a go - have been doing lots of praise more recently so will go back to treats and see how we go - thanks for all the advice

Intermittent treats work best - start off treating every time, then aim for every 3rd, 4th or 5th time. It's the unpredictability of when they'll get a treat that makes them work for it: bit like us playing a one-armed bandit machine - you just never know when you'll win something

Thanks for all your advice Bella, it's much appreciated!

You're very welcome - do keep us posted and if she doesn't improve then there are always lots of helpful, knowledgeable folk around on here who can help.

Sometimes they do just go backwards a little, especially once they are so reliable that we stop being quite so vigilant. Plus nobody likes going outside to pee in the cold Since you said she had been so reliable, though, it was worth ruling out any infection so that you know you're dealing with a purely behavioural issue.

Good luck

actually bella - dh likes peeing in the snow/cold and making patterns in the snow

though obv dh is not a dog and doesnt get cold paws

Lovely.

Never eat yellow snow, as they say

indeed, that you tip for this year

Having always lived with dogs, it is a tip Bella learned very early

personally i wouldnt eat any snow!!

You are almost certainly way too young, but there used to be a tv ad where someone squashed some snow between their palms and it turned into some sort of mint.

I can remember spending hours as a very small child trying to pull that one off!

im def too young