need advice for puppy potty training

[Sara luvs her Tinky]

My friend has a shih tzu puppy and has been crate training it. The puppy goes potty outside pretty good but has been peeing on the carpet pretty often too. Exactly how should you potty train a puppy and what can she do to get the puppy to stop peeing inside? The puppy will be two months old on the 8th.

[aly]

There are some key times to take puppy outside to potty:

- after a play session
- after eating and/or drinking
- after waking up and before going to sleep

When she takes the puppy out of the crate and outside, if the puppy doesn't potty, put it back in the crate for 15 minutes then try again. If puppy potties that time, then let it back in the house to run free.

If she catches the pup in the act of peeing, tell her to clap her hands or make another loud noise and then take the puppy outside. Of course praise the heck out of the puppy for going outside.

[Cookiebaker]

I always found that the most effective moments in potty training are catching them in the act. If the dog has already peed & moved on, it's too late to scold them. And repetition. Take the dog out every 1-2 hours. Yes, it get old taking the dog out *again*, but that pretty much doesn't give them opportunity to pee inside (all of it will be outside). Hope that helps.

[Rachel]

Two months old is still pretty much of a baby. They just don't have a lot of bladder control and need to go out early and often . Say the puppy goes outside, goes potty, comes back in and then play, play, play. After a lot of romping, he may need to go right back out again. I've had dogs who were easy to house break and one who I was afraid would never make it (look to the left)..... but eventually she did! Tell your friend to read up on puppy raising. A lot of good books are available at the Library. One in particular I am prone to recommend is Good Owners, Great Dogs by Brian Kilcommons and Sarah Wilson.
They have an excellent website as well. Here is the addy for the housebreaking section. Tell your friend good luck and don't give up.
http://www.greatpets.com/home/dogs/b.../housebreaking

[Pam]

Originally posted by Rachel
I've had dogs who were easy to house break and one who I was afraid would never make it (look to the left).....

Too funny!

[angelpuppy]

All dogs/puppies are different when it comes to potty training. Like the Shih Tzu puppy you described, my Maltese pup Mac just never seemed to take to indoor potty training very well (i.e., paper training). He was crate trained and would potty on the papers in the litter box in his crate if he absolutely could not hold it any longer, but he never made the connection between going to the papers when he had to potty while inside the house. He does fine outside, however, and we are happy with it!

My new puppy, Mei, who is also a Shih Tzu, is beautifully paper trained....for potty, that is. She knows to go to the papers when she needs to potty, but she doesn't seem to make that same mental connection with poop....therefore, she's had quite a few accidents. However, she is only about 11 weeks old, and she is also learning to go outside, so in short.....I guess my advice would be to go with the flow, and cultivate what the pup seems best at!!

[shais_mom]

Everyone is giving good advice and I second all of it. She will catch on eventaully. I too, like Rachel didn't think Keegan would EVER figger it out either!!! It took her until she was 5 mos. She has had a couple accidents since then. Like when she came home from being spayed and one day this summer when mom and I were cleaning and not paying attention to her.
Keegan was the opposite, she figgered out the poop thing within weeks. I got her like Middle of November and by the beginning of Dec she was pooping outside, but NOT peeing! When my Christmas tree was up I did find some underneath it, but I figgered she might have thought she was outside with the tree and all!!! My neighbor has a GR and a pomerian (and now a GR mix) and she told me that her 2 didn't get it until they were 5 mos. And it was like Clockwork! I know your friends probably don't want to hear that tho!!
But when the puppy does go outside praise her like crazy and I give treats. (one) And if you do catch her going in the house, I was told to like "shame" her I would always say "Keegan, shame on you! etc" and she would bow her head and look at me. Then she figgered it out!! It is such a relief when they do!!! GOOD LUCK and keep us posted!

[petavenger]

The Dumb Friends League has a lot of free training articles on their web site at www.ddfl.org. It's a great resource; we included it in our book The Complet Guide to Lost Pet Prevention & Recovery

Good Luck

Andrew

[Sara luvs her Tinky]

Thanks everybody... I am gonna print this out to give to her. I took a picture of her too so as soon as I get my film developed I will show you guys a picture. She is so cute like a little fuzzball. Thanks again.