[helenalford]

My husband and I made the uneducated mistake of purchasing an adorable, loveable miniature poodle from a pet store. I am ashamed, disgusted and feel terribly guilty about doing this after finding out information about pet shop puppies. I have lost sleep and have prayed for forgiveness for my mistake, but now want to go forward and give this puppy the best life imaginable.
The puppy was bought at 14 weeks and is now 15 weeks. She will continually mess in her crate and I spend every half hour in the yard repeating "Go Potty" to minimal success. She potties in her crate every night although I limit water, take her outside about 10pm and get her out at 6am With repeated consistency, how soon should I expect to see results. Am I expecting too much after only 1 week?
:confused: HAA

[Wondergirl]

Yes, you are expecting too much after only a week. This is not a McPet, but a living, breathing animal that has apparently not had a moment's training.

I hope labman and rubypitbull see your question. They will give good advice.

[labman]

I think we all have learned things the hard way. Maybe the government needs to require warning labels on pet store puppies and spay/neuter recommendations on all puppies. I am afraid our society in general does a poor job preparing people for pet ownership.

Moving on to recovering from the mistake. Start by reading the sticky at https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/i...tml#post251802

Your puppy will be much more difficult than the well cared for ones I get at 7 weeks. It may be able to hold it a little longer, but doesn't realize that by doing so it can have a clean crate. I think learning to carefully read the puppy and take it out when it needs to works much better than schedules. Another important thing is to make sure it moves around when you take it out. Movement stimulates elimination.

[RubyPitbull]

Helena, because the majority of pet store pups aren't given any training, they become accustomed to emptying themselves in their cages. So, you need to retrain this learned behavior. It is going to take a lot of time, patience, and consistency on your part in training her properly. Some dogs learn quickly, others don't. They are all different but I can assure you that it is not the norm for the majority of dogs to be housebroken in one weeks time. Please be aware that this will be only one of the many training hurdles that you will be encountering. I suggest you follow the information given on labman's link and work on her training over the next couple of weeks. If you continue to have difficulty, post back detailing the specific problem, and we will give you as much guidance as we can.

[helenalford]

Thank you so much for your responses. I realize she will not be trained in a weeks time... just wondering a general timeline for seeing repeated positive behaviors. I am so excited with every success... and she know it because she comes running to me for her praise. I guess I am looking for reassurances that I am doing some of the right things. It is hard because 5 different sources will give you 5 different views and suggestions (ie. Crate train, paper train, wee-wee pads, bedding in crate, etc.) I will continue to work with her as I am an educated, caring, patient person who has all the love in the world for this puppy who may have come from unfortunate circumstances.
If she retires for the night around 10 and is up at 6 (with a wet crate), should I be setting an alarm to take her out in the middle of the night?
Thanks again!

[RubyPitbull]

Helena, if you can do that it might just help get her trained more quick. She is still growing and doesn't have complete control over her bladder yet. Your taking the time out to do that is part of the consistency in training I was speaking about. Keep up the praise whenever she eliminates outside. She will eventually make the connection that when she goes outside, you will pay "happy" attention to her. Ignore when she does it in the house or crate, and you find it after the fact. She wants the positive attention. When you catch her in the act, saying "ah, ah, ah" done in a quick staccato voice will get her attention focused on you. Immediately pick her up and get her outside. When she finishes her elimination outside, praise her and make a big deal out of it.

[modular01]

From some of the pet owners I have talked to, I have learned that for every month in age a puppy is, it's an hour that they can be in a crate before they need to be taken outside to do their "business". I've followed this rule with good results.

[helenalford]

Thanks! I will set my alarm for 2 am. Good thing she loves to take naps with me in the afternoon!

[labman]

I have to agree that setting the alarm clock may be a good idea for the puppy that doesn't know that by holding it and crying, that it can keep its crate dry. The more you are able to keep it from wetting the crate, the sooner it should decide it likes it that way and work at holding it.

That one hour for every month just isn't true. I have found 7 week old puppies can mostly go 4-5 hours. Well before 15 weeks they are consistently going over night.

I suspect much of the conflicting advice about housebreaking is due to people, including book authors, never having housebroken that many puppies. I was given a manual with instructions in 1991. I followed them, and they worked. What is in my sticky is largely based on the manual plus what I have learned from 16 more of my own puppies and 8 years of answering questions on the net. I have to admit I have never tried pads, papers, and some of the other stuff you read about elsewhere. I never tried it without using a command, praise, a crate, etc. I really can't say all that I do is necessary, or the only way, but it works for me and many other people I know. I have been going to meetings every month for years with others doing the same thing, working from the same manual. I seldom hear any of the new people asking for help.

[beaglesgal]

Helen
I had to weigh in on your question because I too just bought a puppy from pets unlimited 25 days ago.We purchased an 8 week old bernese mountain puppy.I like you did not know prior to buying him that buying a pet from a pet store was so shunned upon.Like you though we knew the only thing we could do was show him lots of love and encouragement to learn good manners .I just wanted to say to you,please don't get too discouraged.. because your puppy will start coming around with your love and guidance.I know the first 2 weeks of having Jake I just wanted to sit down and cry.It was so frustrating to be taking him out every hour and still have him messing in his crate.. only to cry after he messed and not before.I would like to ask you ,have you had your puppy checked by your vet.I ask this because we took Jake to the vet the day after we got him and he had coccidia,the next week we took him to have him checked and he had worms,the next week we took him for his follow up and he had garidia.The garidia is clearing up and he is doing so much better with his training now.I do know that as long as he had these conditions ,he was never going to train for me bacuse he had the poops and he couldn't hold it.I am happy to report that he is going for 5 to 6 hours at night now and he is actually whinning for me in the morning to let him out!! Yippeeee.. lol... There is hope helen and I just wanted to share my story with you,I hope this makes you feel better about your puppy. I also found that when I take him to his spot in the yard where he is to go poop.. I give him a treat after every one and that seemed to help a lot.I also read to never let him see me cleaning his mistakes from his crate (which I was doing) and after I stopped letting him see me clean up after him that seemed to help too.I hope you post your progresses,maybe we can help each other through our training.. lol... Good Luck!!

[helenalford]

Thanks so much... this is what I needed... help and reassurance from someone going through the same situation. Fancy is filled with love and wants to please me so bad. I am spending so much time outdoors, only to have her come inside and peep/poop within minutes. She did have a UTI and had been on antibiotics for a week. I am not sure what the other things you mentioned are... do they have symptoms?
I do the same thing, outside with a treat in my pocket to reward immediately. She know it because she comes running to me right afterwards.
Do you have your dog in a small crate? Do you wake up and take the puppy out in the middle of the night?

[labman]

The symptoms are loose bowels, great fun for house breaking.

One thing that helps with getting them to go outside is walking around. Exercise stimulates the body to eliminate. You also spend less time outside if you watch the puppy, not the clock. Watch for the sniffing, running in circles, getting up from a nap, eating, and drinking.

[beaglesgal]

Helen Jakes symptoms were phlemy,bloody greenish diaherra.He would start to form one day then he would go right back to the diaherra. Coccidia and garidia are very contagious so I am told.Jake is in a large crate but it came with a divider which we put in to make it smaller.I found that when he pooped(and he couldn't help it because of his condition) that it was just making too much mess,so I decided to give him more room because I felt so bad for him when he would have to practically sit in it because he had no room to get away from it.I didn't give him a lot of extra room but enough that he could get away from his poop if he had to.I have to say that since I did that he has not pooped in his crate,He has had a pee accident,I just didn't make too much of it cause he has been so good.I am sure that having all his problems treated have helped him the most.Pet stores I am finding out are really bad for these parasites and so if I were you I would just take him to the vet so you can rule all that stuff out.I know we shouldn't have to do that because they charged us enough money already.Jake is on sentinel which he will take for a year at different intervals for his worms.Also did your puppy come with a quarantee against any of those sicknesses,because if he did it will only be good for so long so I would definitely have him checked by your vet.I hope that helps,keep us posted!

[helenalford]

Yes, Fancy had a full vet work up when she got home. No worms, just the UTI. She is up to date on all her vaccanations, so I am keeping my fingers crossed she does not contact anything. We are revisiting in 2 weeks for the next heartworm shot. She seems perfectly healthy (lots of energy, solid stools, plenty of urine and happy)
I'm like you, if I make the cage too small, she is just soaked in it. Does not seem to phase her, so I made it a little bigger. Cleanup is easier, as I don't have to give her a bath each morning, only a foot washing.
It is 1:30 and we have no successes yet today. Went while I dropped my daughter at school and then later while I was at Wal-Mart. I gave her plenty of opportunity to go several times this morning.
Here's hoping for a pee-pee outside to make Mama happy!

[beaglesgal]

I am glad to hear that fancy has passed her vet checks.. I found some success with leashing jake right to me throughout the day...