Horse Barn Forum

So our new pup is not house trained as I originally thought. When we're home he has lots of opportunity to go outside and never makes a mess in the house. During the night or when we're at work he can't hold it.

When we are home he never "asks" to go outside... how do we get him to "ask".... he shouldn't have to make a mess during the night..........

It takes time and patience. How old is he?

What I have always done, as soon as a pup wakes up from a nap I would take them outside. When they start going to the bathroom, right away I tell them good pup. As soon as they finish, I pet, praise and tell them good pup and bring them back in the house. At that point, don't play with them outside, go right back in the house. That way they usually learn fairly quickly that outside means bathroom. If he potties in the house, in a firm voice say no, bad, then take him outside right away. That is only if you catch them going to the bathroom. If you don't catch them while they are going, don't punish them for it as like a horse they won't know what they are being punished for unless they are in the process of doing it.

Does he have the run of the house at night?

A way to help them learn they can hold it is with crate training. They normally will not mess in their crate as they see it as their bed so they will learn that they are capable of holding it for periods of time (depending on their age...the older they are, the longer they can hold it).

Thanks Pat,

We did get a baby gate to keep him in a smaller area, I also picked up his water last night to see if that made a difference. No accident last night! WOO HOO

He's 4 1/2 months, he should be able to make it through the night no problem, I got no real history on him from his previous owner, maybe he just lived outside always? Who knows.

Its a work in progress, that's for sure.

how is the training going?? Blue Heelers as a whole are very smart and learn quickly, but if you don't know what the previous owners did, then it becomes more tricky.... Hope all is well, I am thinkin that my next dog, will be a heeler, as I have had the crosses and they were great dogs.

Well its still comming along I think, I had him at work with me thursday and friday so he was in a kennel (smaller than our laundry room) and he was great, he was quiet and slept all day, and he didn't poop at all at work so obviously he can hold it through the day. He's been pretty good but he snuck off yesterday while I was inthe house with him and peed on the carpet, and we had JUST been outside. So I don't know........... we'll get there.

Keeping him crated at home would help too. Shalee is 8 months old now and still sleeps in a crate next to my bed. During the day she's in a crate in the kitchen. Never messes. When you take the pup outside make a big deal get all excited and see if he gets excited to go out. Shalee gets excited and barks like crazy when she has to go out now. She was really easy to train. good luck!

He's going to be comming to work with me for quite a while I think. The general rule of thumb is that they should be able to hold it one hour for every month they are old. Since he's only 5 months and we're out of the house for 9 hours, we really can't expect him to hold it, crated or not. Otherwise he's doing ok. Hasn't had an accident in a few days at least. He still wont bark to go out so we just have to watch him sneak off to the back door and catch him before he messes in the house.....