We have had our Shihtuzu almost 3 months. He will be 5 months old next week and still having accidents. We have been using a crate effectively at night and most of the time during the day. Unfortunately, even though we take him out every 1-2 hours when out of the crate he's still having accidents on the floors inside. We have been training him to use potty pads in our garage. We made it 3 days accident free and then had an accident last night and again this morning. We have attached potty bells to the door that he is to go out of, but he doesn't seem to get the connection with those. I'm sure that we're doing something wrong. We are new pet owners and getting frustrated - Please help!

Do you ring the bell with his paw every time he needs to go out, and also ring the bell and call him to come? Most important is how often do you take him walks, and for how long? Now by a "walk" I don't mean taking him to the end of the block where he wanders and sniffs around. A real walk is where you don't ask his permission to go (eg, getting him excited by the tone of your voice saying 'wanna go for a walk?') You wait until he is calm, and just walk out with him "behind" you. You keep him on a short relaxed leash, and just walk at a fast pace, like you are on a mission. Make sure you have good positive energy, and walk him long enough so he drains his energy. He will be MUCH easier to train if this is done every single day, because he will see you as his packleader, and pay more attention to what you are teaching him.