Potty problems 8 months old

[blackcat]

Okay I have a 8 month old doberman who still wants to poop on the floor every morning. She is fine in the house during the day but if I don't crate her at night I find a pile of poop right by the front door almost every morning. I have been trying to potty train her since I got her when she was two months old. I can put her in the crate and take her outside in the morning tell her to go potty and she will go on command but if she's not in the crate I find piles. Have any advice? She goes potty for treats when I take her outside.

 

[Ilyena]

Stupid question perhaps but why can't you just keep her in the crate over night if that means she has no accidents? Only other thing I know is if you know when she needs to go, set the alarm clock before that and take her out at night.

 

[vanillasugar]

The crate (despite our human sentimentalism) is the best place for your dog to spend the night. If that's where she does best with no accidents, then that's where she should be sleeping.

I know, I've had a hard time with it myself, and Sierra's been known to spend some nights curled up on the bedroom chair instead of in her crate, but I know what's BEST for her, and most nights she's still in her crate where she sleeps just as happily.

 

[blackcat]

Two reasons one I often times fall asleep watching TV before I even have time to take my shoes off much less put the pup in the crate. And two she is the only dog that I have that barks and when she's in her crate she don't bark at anything. I would rather solve the problem then mask it I just don't know how and I would like to approach this the right way before I go making anykind of mistakes with her. The only way I can think of to solve this problem involves setting her up to fail and I really don't want to do that cause I know that would not be the best approach.

 

[Buddy'sParents]

I'm not sure why you keep her out of the crate at night if you know she will poop if you don't? It took us forever and a day to housetrain Buddy. We had to remain consistent, though. Perhaps the dog is seeing it as mixed messages of sorts.. or perhaps you need to wake up earlier to let your dog out. Do you have any sort of schedule?

 

[Buddy'sParents]

Two reasons one I often times fall asleep watching TV before I even have time to take my shoes off much less put the pup in the crate. And two she is the only dog that I have that barks and when she's in her crate she don't bark at anything. I would rather solve the problem then mask it I just don't know how and I would like to approach this the right way before I go making anykind of mistakes with her. The only way I can think of to solve this problem involves setting her up to fail and I really don't want to do that cause I know that would not be the best approach.

You have a puppy. Puppy is a lot of work. You need to make the time to train her properly or it will all start to go downhill.

Have you trained her to go on command? What is your schedule like?

 

[lizzybeth727]

You have a puppy. Puppy is a lot of work. You need to make the time to train her properly or it will all start to go downhill.

Agreed!

I'm concerned that if you don't have the time to put your dog in the crate, how do you have the time to take her outside at all?

The problem you're having right now with potty training, is that every time your puppy goes potty, she is learning where and when to go. If she is making it a habit of going in the wrong place at the wrong time, it will take more and more training to un-do this habit the longer it continues. Using the crate at night will not only stop this habit from getting stronger, but it also strengthens other, preferable habits - like going potty immediately before bed and again first thing in the morning, and "holding it" in the meantime. Once THAT new habit is firmly established (which could take anywhere from a week to over a year, depending on the dog), then you can start leaving her outside of the crate at night and she will have forgotten about ever going on the floor at all.

 

[blackcat]

I'm up at the crack of dawn every morning to let my other dog out and from there I start feeding and getting ready for work. I have an alarm clock but my other dog always wakes me up before it goes off. Kinda funny actually he's my alarm clock. If Adi (the 8 month old) licks my face I know I have to go clean up dog poop. She always licks my face after she goes poop never before. I'm going to stick with the crate some more and try leaving her out later on.

 

[stoyank]

There is an old method that helped me for my cat.
Let the dog poop over a newspaper, then put that newspaper at the bathroom, show it to the dog, let it understand that this is its place and everything will be OK.

 

[lizzybeth727]

There is an old method that helped me for my cat.
Let the dog poop over a newspaper, then put that newspaper at the bathroom, show it to the dog, let it understand that this is its place and everything will be OK.

Wow, maybe you should "let your cat understand" how to do circus tricks and then you can go on TV!

Is this the kind of advice you give on that website you linked to??