Need help with potty training

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reddevil00745
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Need help with potty training

Post by reddevil00745 »

Hi, this is my first time posting here & I see that the people here are very helpful at giving advice :) So here goes my question: My wife & I have a 10 week old cream colored female chow named Sandy that we got when she was 5 weeks old. When we first got Sandy we had her trained to go pee & poop on wee wee pads, but about 2 weeks later she started tearing at them & eating little peices. This got us worried & when we took her for shots when she turned 8 weeks old the vet said that wee wee pads are only good for small dogs & that we should just train her to go outside. The reason we had her going on wee wee pads in the first place was because we were told we could not take her outside til she had all her shots. When we got her shots the vet said to just take her to our own back yard & not on walks. Ok. The vet said to leave her in the kennel & every 2 hours take her outside to go to the bathroom. That after some time we can stretch the time out inbetween potties. So we started doing that. We were both off from work for a week & ahalf for the holidays so it worked out well. Now we are going back to work & we won't be home all day to take here out that often. What should we do? I might be able to work out my daily schedule to fit one stopoff at home to take her out but otherwise she would be in the kennel from 8 am til 12 pm & then from 12:30 pm til 4:30 pm every day. Is it ok to leave a 10 week old in the kennel that long every day? We have a pen for her to play in that we used to keep the kennel & wee wee pad in so she can play, sleep, & go potty without destroying our apartment. She hasn't had any acidents in the kennel yet, but has peed in the pen when left in there for more than 20 minutes. We are taking Sandy out to potty right after taking her out of the kennel, feeding her, letting her play in her pen for 20 minutes, then taking her agin to potty, & back in the kennel. Also sometimes she is just relaxing in her kennel & doesn't want to come out, should we take her out when its her time for potty? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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Ursa's daddy
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Re: Need help with potty training

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A 10 week puppy may still have some problems. Malachi was I think 12 weeks when I got him. I picked him up at the shelter, and he peed on the floor. I took him around to visit friends, and it happened three more times. I took him home, and the first evening, no problems, but he spent some time in the back yard (fenced). The next morning, he made a little sound, and I took my time getting up and going, so he peed on the floor. He stayed in the back yard most of the day, with frequent outings in the evening. No problems. The next morning, he made his little sound, I was trained to let him outside, so we went outside. After that, I didn't have to clean up the floor. Now his signal that he needed to go was not very attention getting, so you have to observe your puppy. Also, if you take her out and she does eliminate, you need to praise her, so she knows she did the right thing.

We have a system of taking the dogs out first thing....the truth is that at the crack of dawn, Ursa will start to vocalize, or Malachi will come to the side of the bed and stick his wet nose in my face. They know how to get my attention. They go out after breakfast, and then in the evening, they go out after eating, and then around 8pm (20:00) before coming in for the night. Of course, these are adult dogs, and they know how to speak up for themselves.
reddevil00745
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Re: Need help with potty training

Post by reddevil00745 »

Thanx for the reply. Sandy actually gets up whenever we get up & starts making noise. We let her out of the kennel & take her outside to go potty. We praise he lavishly & give her a treat whenever she dows this, but she does not know not to go in her pen. If we leave Sandy in her pen for any length of time she will pee in there. When we are around I notice that she does give us a sign she needs to go. She will sniff the floor, then jump up & make a noise & then go. So I know that is her way of saying "I need to go!". But my wife & I are not around all day & I want her to learn to only go outside. We have been putting sandy in her kennel for a couple hours at a time, but I have heard not to put her in all day. We are trying to find a solution to this problem. We work all day & are generally away from home for 8 hours a day. Can we leave her in her kennel for 4 hours if one of us can come home in the middle of the day? Also how long before she gets that she is not supposed to go inside the house? We also don't have a yard to let her play in during the day when we are away. We live in NYC.
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Ursa's daddy
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Re: Need help with potty training

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Puppies don't have the bladder size or control to go all day. The fact that she is signaling to you is good. She probably doesn't realize that she has to go until she HAS TO GO. Hang in there, it sounds like you are doing the right things. She should be better at it shortly.
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MissV
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Re: Need help with potty training

Post by MissV »

wow!
Let me part some of my chowlie woes on you... first off, my chow REFUSED point blank to stay in her play pen when we were at work. In fact, she caused such a problem that she ended up getting herself trapped trying to open the play-pen door thingie and cried for hours while we were at work. One of our neighbours called our land lord, who in turn called my boyfriend who called me in a panic!!! We rushed home, free'd her (she must have been trapped for about an hour) and she was as happy as happy could be. (thank the pope!!!!)
So we quickly realised that when we were at work, we would have to let her roam around the house. She was good with not chewing cables but she developed this wonderous "I LOVE PEEING ON THE CARPET" habit!! :(
Its been the hardest thing to break! She had a puppy patch to pee on, but carpet was so much better! Needless to say, our house STANK! eeeeeeu!

shes now almost 6 months old, and shes only getting the whole pee thing now.
She can hold her little bladder for quite a few hours now, so accidents in the house are becoming rare. Brace yourself for a lifetime of coming home at lunch time and cleaning up little puddels of mess.
Good luck - praise lots when she goes outside :) They eventually get it.
Pure is the heart of an animal - Evil is the heart of man...
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cherriemater
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Re: Need help with potty training

Post by cherriemater »

All this insight has been great to re-read. And, please let me preface what I'm about to relate that our situation may be different from yours as we have a home with an empty lot on one side and no one living next door on the other with a Township Park across the street AND I don't work so I can be home with the pups when Joe is working. Whew! That was a mouthful!! Anyway ...

On the first night the Leo and Max (8 weeks old) were home, both peed immediately in the house on the floor (the God for wood floors and windex. I went through two rolls of paper towels soaking up discoveries). Then, each proceeded to pee on ANYTHING that was laid down on the floor: the bathroom rug, the rug in front of the sofa, the rug at the front door, the pee pads I had laid over the pad in their crate. The lesson I learned quickly was: NOTHING must be left on the floor. So, we quickly made sure all rugs were removed, no clothes left lying about, etc.

Initially, I had some pee pads by the sliding door in the kitchen so that, at least, if they had an accident it might be confined to that place. Sarahloo asked me why I didn't just take them outside and after my blonde moment was over I agreed. Duh! It's more natural for them so that's what we should be doing. The other reason I agreed was Max decided to do just what your Sandy does, chew on them and drag the across the floor. So ... they're gone. I will save them for car trips and our Holiday travels to family.

The "every two hours" for peeing is SOOOO true. Poor Joe, he doesn't get much sleep because I'll hear a little whining and say, "Time to go, Joe." He'll sigh like a true Father and we're both off to the front door. "Wait, wait Leo, Mama's gotta find her shoes." (They're now by the door.) "Wait, wait Max, Daddy's gotta put on his coat." Once the door is open, they're off like a shot. Chowpups suggested that we say "pee pee" or "poo poo" depending on what they're looking to do so that during the winter time, this might actually expedite our time outside. So, we're doing that with lots of praise once their "mission" is complete. I'm trying NOT to be an overachiever ... we've only had them four days so, of course, they're not going to have learned to go on command just yet. But I have every hope that if we're consistent it should make this adventure a success every time.

At nighttime, when they're in the crate, I have been having a hard time figureing out if Leo's whine is because he want's to be out playing, or he's bored, or he needs to eliminate. I have begun looking at the clock to see if it's been two hours or not. If not, I tell him calmly to lie back down and go to sleep.

Our latest issue, however, is the Leo likes to play rather than do his business (he's getting distracted by leaves flying by so I can't WAIT for it to snow!). So, I find that he has to be taken out again a little while later. It's all a learning game: They're teaching us while we're trying to teach them.

Your post is dated from back in October ... how's it been going since then??
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Ursa's daddy
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Re: Need help with potty training

Post by Ursa's daddy »

It's all a learning game: They're teaching us while we're trying to teach them.
So true. It did not take that long for Malachi to get me trained. The second day, when he made his little vocalization, I already knew that meant he needed to go out side, so I knew not to waste any time.
reddevil00745
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Re: Need help with potty training

Post by reddevil00745 »

Hey, sorry I haven't gotten the chance to reply until now. So Sandy is doing a LOT better with the potty training. We fought it for a long time but we started doing the crate training & it works like a charm!! We let her out every few hours to drink, eat, & go to the bathroom. When we are home we have been keeping her out but we take her to the bathroom every hour & are slowly increasing that time. She had an acident a few weeks ago & it was a river!!!! I was so happy we didn't decide to just use wee wee pads because wee wee pads don't cover how much she pees right now (she is 20 lbs)!!!!!!!!! My suggestion to anyone with a new puppy is to crate train your chow chow. Let them out at intervals that are proportional to age. for example: a 1 month old puppy should be let out every hour, 2 month old puppy every 2 hours, & etc. Slowly increase the time as they get older. If you are home & you want to let them out of the crate for an extended period of time set up a schedule of taking them out to the bathroom. If we were just starting out i would start with every 15 minutes & then slowly increase it. Since we started this, no more acidents in the house!!! Yay!! Hope this helps someone out:)
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