Transitioning puppy to potty outside

pixie61582

pixie61582

Member
May 5, 2009
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#1
Since we bought our puppy (she's 14 weeks old today!), we've been having her go on puppy pads near the front door. She'll be getting her 3rd round of vaccinations next week and I'm starting to feel a little trepidation at transitioning her to go potty outside. Anyone have any tips?

Hubby and I have ventured to try and take her to potty outside a few times, but Momo seems more interested in investigating the dirt and plants. And I took her over to a friend's house so that she could observe their dog going potty outside. Still no interest on Momo's part.

Oops forgot to add that we've had her for a little over a month now, if that info helps.
 
#2
The key to getting a puppy to go outside is routine and repetition. Needs to go outside after drinking water or food (within 30 minutes). If she doesn't go quickly, then she comes back in, then repeat again in 5-10 minutes. If she goes, praise her and offer a tiny treat perhaps immediately after she goes. Take her out immediately after waking up in morning or after a nap. Also take her out before bedtime. Are you crate-training her?

Don't let her get into the plants and dirt - put her on a leash and direct her to where she needs to go.
 
#3
Also, observe her characteristics right before she goes to the bathroom. My puppy always starts sniffing the carpet everywhere and we know it's time to take her outside. Once outside, she's gotten the routine of just trotting out to the grass and doing her business. Hope it goes well!
 
#4
Odette said:
The key to getting a puppy to go outside is routine and repetition. Needs to go outside after drinking water or food (within 30 minutes). If she doesn't go quickly, then she comes back in, then repeat again in 5-10 minutes. If she goes, praise her and offer a tiny treat perhaps immediately after she goes. Take her out immediately after waking up in morning or after a nap. Also take her out before bedtime. Are you crate-training her?

Don't let her get into the plants and dirt - put her on a leash and direct her to where she needs to go.
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The crate training question... that's a bit tricky. We tried crate training her from the day we brought her home (about 7-8 weeks ago). One big obstacle was the fact that the girl at the pet store sold us the wrong size crate. Momo is a mini dachshund mix and will probably only get to be about 15 lbs. once she's full grown, but the girl sold us a crate that could probably house an adult german shepherd. It's a large crate. Puppy started messing in her crate, until I read up on crate training and discovered that a divider works in larger crates. Made the divider so that she had only enough room to stand, turn around, and lie down. Puppy kept messing in her crate. After each accident we used an enzyme cleaner to clean it, and we only kept her in the crate for an appropriate amount of time (according to her age). No success. Then we bought a smaller crate, suited for her size. Success for about 2 days, then she had an accident. This time we took the tray at the bottom out and washed it with soap and hot water and again cleaned the sides with the enzyme cleaner. She continued to have accidents whenever we left her in the crate (to run errands for about an hour or at night although she was never crated for more than 3-4 hrs without a potty break). About a week ago we decided to let her sleep in the living room in her dog bed, and got up at 3 am to make her potty. Finally, success. She held it until 3 am and again until we woke up at 7 am. Over the course of the past week, she's held it all night, and we recently started leaving her in a small area with her puppy pad when we run errands. In that small area, she'll hold it for up to 3 hours, then pee when we get home.

This is incredibly contrary to what the books say on crate training, and what crate training owners believe, but my puppy simply did not view the crate favorably. I may get flak for giving up on crate training, but it just didn't work for us.

Back to the original question though. She's getting her 3rd round of shots today and is ok'ed to be outside on a regular basis after this. So from today on, we'll be taking her out consistently to potty. I really hope she gets the hang of going outside! :smile:
 
#6
Diane d'Poitier said:
Put a puppy pad outside on the grass where you'd like her to go and see if that works, then after a while you can stop with the pads and she should be used to going outside.
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Thanks for this tip! I've read it and heard it from friends, so it's good to know that it works for others in general. I have put the puppy pad outside, where puppy is to potty, but so far she's too interested in sniffing the air and observing all of the things going on in the outside world.

Do you think once she's acclimated to being outside, she'll be able to get down to "business"? I sure am hoping this is the case!
 
#7
Toy dogs can be tricky to housetrain, but she should get used to going outside.

I forgot to mention this in my other post, with taking the puppy pads outside, take a soiled one out first, flip it over, and rub it on the grass where you want her to go, to transfer the smell of urine. The smell should help stimulate her to go there.
 
#8
Diane d'Poitier said:
Toy dogs can be tricky to housetrain, but she should get used to going outside.

I forgot to mention this in my other post, with taking the puppy pads outside, take a soiled one out first, flip it over, and rub it on the grass where you want her to go, to transfer the smell of urine. The smell should help stimulate her to go there.
Click to expand...

Thanks Diane! I put her puppy pad outside but she is still more interested in playing in the dirt/grass than going potty. I'm doing the "umbilical cord" technique at the moment as well. And taking her out to potty when she shows signs, if she doesn't potty then it's back in the house, then back out again about 15 minutes later or if she's showing signs. She's a very stubborn puppy and seems bent on only being paper trained in the house. Sigh. So far, it seems that it takes her awhile to be trained to do something, but once she gets it, she's good.

I'm just wondering how long this process takes???
 
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