Potty training tips please

[Superspecs]

Hello wise dog owners,

I'm after some much needed advice! We brought home our beautiful cavapoo two weeks ago. We live in a flat with a large balcony and I would like her to pee in the corner of the balcony. So far she is peeing and pooping indiscriminately all over the house! She is four months old and has never peed or pooped on a walk, she waits for the living room floor when we get home!

Some things that I think I've been doing wrong that I'd appreciate comment on. She has a playpen which we put her in at night and when we're out in the day (someone is home most of the time). I thought this was 'crate training' but now I realise a crate is much smaller. I put a puppy pad in the playpen at night but not the day, she also has her toys and food and water. I now realise that to get the potty training benefit of a crate ie not wee in bed, then it should be smaller. Would you ditch playpen entirely or put crate in pen? And do I stop putting puppy pad in there? And stop food and water in there? And how much of the day does she spend in the crate?

I see the playpen as somewhere that it's sad to confine her, so she's out most of the time and that's when the wees and poops happen. So do I keep her in the pen/crate most of the time except when I can give her exclusive 1:1 contact?

On the balcony, I take her out to wee or poop and she never does, she just walks around or lies down, or barks at people. How do I make her know this is the place to go?

How do I make her poop on our walks?

Things I hope I'm doing right! We have marble floors so I meticulously clean poos and wees with enzymatic cleaner.

This is so tricky! All advice is welcome, please help this tired puppy mum!

Thanks!

We found when ours was a puppy, to start with it was a case of taking her out every half an hour or so. We had really high value treats (tinned hot dog sausages cut up very small or primula squeeze cheese) we would say the same command each time and point to where we wanted her to go. Something like wee wees. She eventually did a wee and we praised "yes! Wee wee!" (We use "biz" command for poo like do your business 😆) And treat straight away. We started to see that she had a set routine forming and realised she would wee immediately when we came down in the morning. So we would make sure the absolute first thing would be out for a wee. As soon as we saw her sniffing at ground we would take her out. It's quite a commitment for the first few weeks and we had some real tear your hair out moments. Mostly when we had been lazy and not seen the signs she needed to go. Also make sure everyone is doing the same reward routine and using the same commands.

Also... maybe a bit of astro turf on your balcony might help.

The favorite tip I had for potty training was to NEVER let my dog roam around by himself. This worked for chewing also.

I agree with PP to take out frequently to the potty spot, give the command and treat and praise excessively when you have success. My neighbors probably thought I was a nutcase clapping and exclaiming for a dog pee!

you need the small size of a crate to stop your pup from peeing. Generally, dogs won’t soil their own space. The pen is too much space.

And what I did if I was sitting on the couch or at the table and let the pup out of the crate, I’d attach him to my ankle or the leg of the table with the loop on his lead, so he couldn’t wander off and pee or poo. He could be near me, but no wandering off to do his business inside.

Also, if I caught him in the act of doing business, I’d be really loud (waaaaah!) and grab him and run to the potty spot. And put him there and give him the word, then praise, treat etc.

My dog had about 3 indoor incidents because the kids were playing with him and not paying attention and that was it from 10 weeks old till 12.5 years. Best dog ever!

Oh my gosh Lizzie! Mine has had more than three accidents in the last three hours!

Thank you both so much, that's really helpful. I'm going to buy a crate and stop the roaming! And praise like crazy if she ever gets it right!

To update, I made the playpen super small (but big enough to turn and lie down). And she's happy in there and also not pooping and weeing, so that's a big step forward.

However, she's mega reluctant to go on the balcony, has managed one poop and no pees out there since yesterday. The second her feet touch the ground in the living room she does wees and poops. Why does she prefer the lounge so much? How do I stop that?

At the moment her life is going to and fro from playpen to balcony, with not much 'family time' because she poops and wees in the lounge! I'm happy to sit out with her on the balcony and take her for walks but the kids are a bit reluctant and just want to play with her indoors!

Would you get a behaviourist to visit, or chalk it up to being early days?

Thanks!

You need to train her where to go by taking her out regularly , introducing a cue word and praising when she goes . It’s not training her just shutting her in a small space , that’s just cruel . You need to clean the areas indoors that she’s been using with an appropriate enzyme cleaner so that the smell is properly gone . If you catch her weeing / pooing pick her up quickly and take her to the correct place to finish and then praise . You need to be watching her like a hawk for all the waking hours and listening overnight for when she needs to go .

Hello, thanks for replying. I think I'm doing all that. I'm using an enzymatic cleaner and we have marble floors so they should be cleaning okay.

I am taking her outside every 1-2hrs, I say wee wee and I'm all ready with a treat but it so rarely happens! I stay out with her for 20-30mins then bring her back in to the playpen and repeat.

Any moment she is allowed on the living room floor she wees or poops. She did it today while I was doing up the buckle on her harness ready for a walk. She must be desperate holding it in the playpen and holding it on the balcony and only weeing/pooping if she happens to be allowed to go in the lounge.

I'm a stay at home mum at the moment and my kids are older so I have the time to devote to this, but still it's a struggle to see how to make it work!

Thanks!

EDITED.

Have you tried mopping up her wee/poo from the living room and putting in the area of the balcony you want her to toilet? She should then learn (by her scent) that that's where she needs to go.

I am taking her outside every 1-2hrs, I say wee wee and I'm all ready with a treat but it so rarely happens! I stay out with her for 20-30mins then bring her back in to the playpen and repeat.

This is nowhere near frequently enough. It needs to be every 20 minutes at that age.

Sorry for the multiple posts!

The living room is hard shiny marble and the balcony is tile. I am trying to get her to go on a puppy pad in the corner of the balcony with some of that attractant pheromone stuff on it, but anywhere on the balcony would be welcome at this point! That's a good idea to move some wee/poop to the balcony, I will do that next. Thank you.

Dogs are very scent orientated as well as routine driven so if all the scent of her wee and poo is on the balcony, she should eventually learn to go there.

However if she won't go on walks either it could well be a confidence issue. Lots of puppies aren't confident enough to toilet on walks as it can make them feel quite vulnerable.

No worries about lots of posts Margot rose, it's helpful. I was doing 1-2hrs because I'd read at 4months she should be able to go 3hrs so I halved it. And because she chooses to hold it rather than go I thought that was probably about right. I will start to try more frequently. Thank you!

No worries! We brought our beagle home at 12 weeks and he went out every 20-30 minute at first. I'd say by 16 weeks we could do once an hour, and then we slowly increased it every month.

We were very lucky though, he only had 3-4 accidents indoors overall.

I have a 7 month old puppy that has been a nightmare to toilet train.
You need to take her out every 20 minutes and before and after meals, naps etc.
She goes in the house as that is where she feels safe. Try spending time out on the balcony with her. Make that a safe space as well.

As I said , when you see her starting to wee scoop her up and run to the balcony saying ‘outside’ loudly as you run .