HELP! Zoe is DRIVING us nuts!!

[RobiLee]

You have gotten some good advice. My best advice would be to constantly take Zoe out to potty. Take her out all the time and when she does potty give her lots and lots of praise. Make a really big deal out of it. Hopefull she will start to get the hang of it soon. Good luck!

[finn's mom]

I would definitely get a crate. They are amazing training tools, and, become the dog's safe spot. Whatever you do, never use the crate for punishment, though. The way I potty trained Finn was to ignore when he went inside and praise him like crazy when he went outside. You cannot discipline them (with the exception, as Ashley said, of a quick NO) especially if you haven't caught them in the act.

When I potty trained my friend's husky, I carried a bag of food with me always. He was extremely food driven. So, I put a portion of his daily ration of dog food in a bag and every time he peed or pooed, he got a couple pieces. You could try that.

Also, running the dog and really playing and getting their bodies moving will oftentimes make them have to go the bathroom. If I'm running short on time, I will jog Finn up the driveway and back, and, it almost never fails that he will poop when we slow down.

And, I think I mentioned this before, the first week is not always indicative of how a dog will act overall. The first week is really strange for the dog, and, they may not act "themselves" until they get comfortable. And, especially since your daughter was injured, Zoe may be stressing out about that. Has she been getting less attention, maybe, since your daughter was hurt? I mean, just pulling this scenario out of my head, since I don't know all the details...

But, maybe she's not getting the attention she's used to because you all are understandably spending a lot of time with your injured child...and, maybe not taking her out enough or for long enough...and, if you are disciplining Zoe or making a big deal of it when she goes inside...she may be doing it for attention. Keep this sortof "golden rule" in mind...negative attention is STILL attention.

I hope you're not seriously considering getting rid of her for exhibiting normal puppy behaviors, we can all help you with advice and training tips. Getting a puppy requires a lot of training and time and patience. These may be annoyances, but, they can be worked on. Getting an older dog doesn't guarantee that everything will be peachy, there may be problems with an adult dog that you didn't have with Zoe. And, those are oftentimes harder to fix or train the dog out of, because they are older. Please give the puppy another chance and try some of these tips out. Exhaust the options before giving her up! Please?

[poofy]

I just want to wish you luck..I havent had to do this my self, and will be starting it with Yoley this friday when I bring her home..so good luck to us both..

[buttercup132]

omg im so sorry i thought you ment your daughter had a bathroom accident not a real accident im so sorry , but maybe zoey is being bad because shes feeling a little left out or something

[Kfamr]

Again, sorry because I have not read the whole thread as to what everyone else as suggestions.

Crate training is a must with most puppies and a life saver. It's a very good method and if you want some good crate training tips, i'm sure several people here would have plenty.

Also - Puppies need to be taken to go potty, A LOT! After playing, after sleeping, after eating - those are the peak times because that's when their systems get up and going strong.

Maybe at times if you can't keep all eyes on her, keep her in a tiled area with baby gates - tiled because it'd be a lot easier to clean up and she can't destroy the tile. (I learned the hard way when Nala ripped up our carpet as a pup!)

Also, when she does go potty outside - PRAISE, PRAISE, PRAISE! May seem silly to be happy over potties, but that really makes them happy and realize that they've done good! Maybe if she has a favorite special toy, a favorite treat, keep those on hand when you go outside. That way that can be something special for her going outside. Also, whenever I brought my dogs out as pups I said "Go Potty" - That way they learned to potty on command if you're in a hurry. Sometimes Kiara will even squat outside for a few seconds and try and trick me if she wants to hurry up and go back inside.


Good luck and I hope you're successful!