Potty Training Woes...

[Sean5033]

Problem is he falls asleep at around 11 pm and then wakes up at 5 - 530am crying to go out, so we let him out and he ALWAYS has to poop and goes to do it on the carpet, yet during the day he usually goes right to his mat.. i dont get it? So then we let him roam around until we wake up, usually he'll do another pee on the carpet.. and again..during the day, he's pritty consistant with the mat. I kno that we cant watch him day and night, could it be because its dark? we're so lost on how to fix these things..
suggestions? anyone ?

Domino used to do that when she was that age... If she's crated at night (we trust her enough now that she gets to sleep in the bed with us) sometimes she'll still wake up really early and start crying. If it were up to me, I'd probably wake up around 9:00 every day. But Domino wakes up with the sun and wants to go out right away. I've gotten used to it, and I enjoy the extra time I have in the morning now.

If he's crying in the crate that early, it sucks because you want to get back to sleep, but try to ignore him. He'll (eventually) learn that it's not time to wake up yet. Make sure you take him out before you go to bed too. That's what I did with Domino, altho she's still an early riser most mornings, but it's at least tolerable.

-Sean


PS. Domino had two accident free days! We took her camping (in a tent, in the middle of the woods) and she went outside EVERY time!! I was proud of her when she woke me up to signal that she wanted out one night. I had one end of the dog tie in the tent, hooked her up, and she went right potty right away.

Back home, we're still working on things. But it was nice while it lasted.

 

[Sean5033]

Well, it's been what, 2 or 3 weeks since I first posted and got suggestions? We've been keeping the log, and I haven't used the clicker so much in training (I've actually been forgetting it inside). This past week, we had THREE accident free days! Only two were consecutive, but it's encouraging. Yesterday and Today have had a lot of accidents, most of them #2's without any signaling. We took Domino to the Dog Park a few days back, and she was chewing/eating a stick a little longer than we should have let her. She got a little sick. I'm thinking that's contributing to our current set back.

Overall, I can see positive results, she's signaling a lot more to go out by sitting at the gate, and there are less fake signals (altho there are still a few per day)

She still pulls on her leash a lot, and I try to use the Tree approach with that. Usually she'll sit down once I stop, and when I take a step forward, she'll lunge again, resulting in a stop, sometimes a reverse. It makes our walks a lot longer time-wise, but it's getting better unless there's something exciting like a squirrel or other dog on the sidewalk. Anyhow, I just wanted to post and say thanks again for all your suggestions!

Thanks!
-Sean

 

[Herschel]

Congratulations!

I'm glad to hear you're making progress. You might want to consider taking her out every hour or so (especially after meals) and walking her to make sure she goes #2 instead of waiting for her to signal.

Once she gets used to never having accidents in the house she will be more patient when she waits by the gate.

Your goal is to prevent any accidents! If she has a single accident in a day, that means you need to shorten that interval the next day.

As for the pulling, have you worked on attention training? Since you're good with a clicker that should help. Teach your dog a command like "Watch me" and use it constantly as you're walking. If she is maintaining eye contact keep clicking/treating.