housebreaking..please help!

[primabella]

i've had mickey for one week now, and for about 4 days, he was doing great with his housebreaking. whenever he had to go out, he'de come up to us, or stare outside. lately, whenever we see him sniffing around, we would bring him out (like usual) and he would just run in the garden, chew on rocks or weeds and hide under the wheelbarrow. when i pick him up to come in (he can't do stairs yet) he cries and squirms around, so i put him down and he continues chewing on weeds, so i bring him in. then he comes inside and pees. why was he able to do it and now he won't? please help. any advice/suggestions would be appreciated.
thanks :D

[aly]

When you take him out to go potty, take him out on a leash and don't let him get too distracted by anything. Take him to a designated area of the yard where you always want him to go potty. Give him a command to go and when he does, PRAISE and TREATS! After he potties, a good reward would be to let him off leash and THEN go run and chew on the weeds.

[Jessica12345]

i agree with aly............

that sounds like what jewels went through! first she could go perfectly... then all of the sudden she started having accidents. She is so tiny she goes in a litter box instead of outide though. maybe its just a puppy stage??? anyway, we corrected her a lot... and like aly said... treats and praise are the key!:)

good luck!

~ Jess ~

[primabella]

thanks :) mickey has been doing pretty good. only 2 accidents since we took him out on the leash. (those two times were because we weren't reading him properly when he would come up to us to be taken out. we thought he just wanted to play :o)

[aly]

Yay! I'm so glad he's doing better. Great job! :)

[gotta_hava_dog]

Try to remember that, since he's just a baby, he doesn't have much control or capacity. Putting him on a regular outing schedule will help along with him asking to go outside. Plan on taking him out every couple of hours during the day whether he needs it or not. When he does need to and does his thing, go out of your mind with happiness and praise him the instant he finishes. Connect his actions with your happiness immediately. Also, this helped me a lot; at night, put him in a box or a crate that he can't get out of. He won't soil his own area, usually, so he'll wake you up with his whimpering so you can let him out when he needs to go. This was a really big help to me, and I've used it on every dog I've had since I discovered it. Works like a charm! Be patient and you will be rewarded with a well trained house dog in no time!

[primabella]

lol, actually we dfo put him in his own cage and at the beginning he never liked to soil in it but after once he did he hasn't stopped. he'll pee in his cage and then sry to be taken out or maybe cry because he doesn't want to go back to sleep in a soiled area. i dunno. thanks, he's getting a bit better everyday :D

[Aspen and Misty]

Do you have his cage blokced up so that there is only enoguh room for him to turn around?? I'm assuming you bought him a cage big enough for him to be in when he is full gorwn? That size cage is to big abd becuase it is he will use a corner as a potty place. Try takeing sometrhing and blocking off the back of the cage so that he can't go back there.

Ash

[primabella]

oh, really? thanks ash. we got one that he would be able to grow into and they also sold one that came with a cage blocker thing but it was about 10$ more expensive so we just got the cheaper one. i'll try to stick something there. thanks :)

[skpaw]

We have 3 dogs, the youngest one, Rosie had to go out on a leash. She also had to go to the front yard. The others rarely were allowed there for bathroom visits. There was one "magic spot" that as soon as she reached it, she had to pee. After she did her business and we told her what a wonderful girl she was, we took her for a mini walk--only a half a block. She was happy. We were happy. The big girls did not like it that Rosie got extra walks, but they survived.