Potty Training Suggestions PLEASE!

Hi everyone

In case you don't remember, I bought a shih-poo back in late july and have been crate training and potty training him to go outside since the first day I bought him.

He is EXCELLENT in his crate.

The problem is when he's out about in my apartment. Maybe my expectations are too high, but I have been expecting that he can hold it in for the same time as he holds it in in his crate.

You see, in his crate, he can hold it up to six hours (even more over night). The problem is is that I want him out of his crate to play with my other dog during the day. I cannot supervise him for hours at a time and so what I have been doing is letting him play for an hour after a walk (and he never makes a mistake) and then crate him for five.

I want to extend this hour and have tried for two hours. But once we get to two hours playing then he'll go pee in my kitchen. Only in my kitchen. Since I don't watch his every move, I kind of expect him to wine when he needs to go. Instead, I think he goes to the kitchen, does his little three circles then pees. When will he start whining? My other dog picked it up real fast - or he just sat by the door... I can't watch my little guy to see if he's gonna do his circles....suggestions?

Today, I was expecting to be gone for one hour and so I let them roam. It happened that I was gone for 2.5 hrs and I found a boo-boo in the kitchen. A little bit upset but I do realize that it is my own fault.

The question now is - because I want to train him to hold it in for a longer period of time - do I keep letting him play for only one hour and crate him for five hrs or do I block off the kitchen completely and hope that he won't make a mistake in the rest of the house?

If you suggest the former, when can I start extending his free time?
If you suggest the latter, when can I open up my kitchen to him and how do I go about doing it?

Am I expecting too much from a 3 and 1/2 month dog?

Thanks much in advance for your advice!

 

Potty Training

I'm having the same problem with my little 3 month old Shih Tzu - he lets me know when he has to go as long as he is confined to his little pen or kennl but has problems - or maybe I have problems figuring him out when we let him out of his pen or kennel - hopefully someone has some answers! :?

 

I am not one for crate trainning ,but i can say this .It is too much to expect for a 3 month old dog .Toy dogs have small bladders and other and cannot hold as long as most would think ,Alot of experts advise to not try and crate train a toy until much later because of it ,there are also different views ,you sould reseach both beofre trying crate trainning for a toy dog ...Just my two cents ..

 

ilovemaltipoos,

thank-you for your concern but, like i said, he has taken to crate training exceptionally well. i started off with one hour sessions and have slowly increased it to what i think he can handle. he does not make any mistakes in his crate for up to six (i recently went up from 4 hrs).

the issue that Valmar and I are concerned with is how do we train them when they're running around the house. you seem to have small dogs, how did you do it? if you're not crate training them, then what are you doing? Are letting them go in inside? I'm against that because I hear that when you take them out of their house and to a different house, they'll make mistakes in other people's house. I wouldn't be able to handle that...

I also wanted to add - because i got the impression that you think crate training is bad - that my shih-poo loves his crate. he has toys specific to his crate and he'll actually go in and play in there during the times when i let him free.

 

I use puppy pads and puppy litter for my puppies ,for my older dogs they havea doggie door that leads to an area outside so they can go in and out to potty ..
I did not say you were bad ,i just said you have to have an alternative method for a puppy that if you leave it out and it needs to go ,it cannot hold it and will go where it can ...so ,the best thing to do is to have puppy pads and /or litter when you are away and cannot be there to control the situation .
Glad you are having good liuck with crate,I just personally do not use them .

 

I would crate him while you are gone regardless of how short of a time it is until he is fully house trained. You say that he is fine playing for one hour but then goes on the floor if he's out longer than that, correct? I would try to make a habit of taking him outside to potty every 30 - 60 minutes (and using a phrase such as "gotta go potty?") during play time. I would try to stay outside with him as long as it takes until he goes so you are sure he won't have to go in the house while playing. The more you can prevent inside accidents the faster he will pick up on house training.

 

thank-you nern,

my only concern is - how does that teach him to hold it in if you're walking him all the time?