House training our dog

[melissasmummy]

I hope some-one can offer some advice.

We have a 3 month old Jack Russell. We have had him since he was 8 weeks old. We have got him trained with regards to wee-ing, 9 times out of ten he will go on the paper/in the garden. The poo-ing is the hardest part. He will show signs of needing to go & we can move him to the garden to do his business, but he won't favour the garden/paper like he does for his wees.

The times we have missed the paper & he goes elsewhere we have cleaned it up quickly as we have a toddler. With the wees, when he missed we would take him to the paper/garden & tell him thats where he should wee. Is it because we don't do this when he poos that he just poos randomly?

He has only just finished his injections so we can now take him out. Maybe this will help?

DH takes him into the garden & waits for him to go as soon as we get up in the morning.

Any advice on how to continue with the training? He is a good dog & understands commands like sit, down etc. Where are we going wrong? All the books etc offer inflicting advice. We are against hitting him (my dad said that a tap on the nose, or showing him what he has done helps, but we are not going down that route, as I don't believe it helps)

Thank You

[munz]

we rightly or wrongly sternly told our two off when they were caught pooping or weeing in the hosue, we didn't bother with paper as it was always torn up, but we'd tell them off then put them in the garden, if we saw them pooping/peeing outside then we made a huge fuss over them straight after it was done so they knew it was good, and gave them a little treat. now they sratch at the back door to go out, either that or come running into us bark then run out to the back door.

the main thing thou is to do it as/whilst they're toileting if u leave it and wait for 10 mins they will have forgotten why you're telling them off.

[Nbg]

It can take a while for dogs to get the pooing thing (my, what a lovely subject!)

Our dog got the weeing outside quite well but the No.2's took forever. He just didn't know what he should be doing until one day the light switched on IYKWIM.


An alternative to hitting is making a loud noise. I was recommended to bang a wooden spoon on a pan and it does have the desired affect. You could try that when he messes inside but it will only work if you catch him doing the business.

3 months is still quite young but I understand how frustrating it is.

[munz]

ooh actually our two hated the sound of keys being thrown on the floor (not at them but by us) it made them stop what they were doing.

[RedZuleika]

Just seen this thread. I know it doesn't help when you're cleaning up doggie matter all the time, but I think he's doing really quite well for a 3 month old. I would say that the lights didn't really go on with my dog (a Scottie) until four months and he wasn't completely housetrained until six months. I know other people who have said the same with regard to age. Ours was the other way round: he would go out to poo, but we were still finding puddles. Partly, I think this was because he didn't make enough noise to attract attention when he wanted to go out, if someone wasn't right by the door. He also started to wee in the house a couple of time when he started cocking his leg, but I think this was just a brainfade and he stopped when I shouted at him.

I don't think hitting them is a good plan: it might make him start eating his turds before you find them. When mine started doing something indoors I would say 'PUPPY!' in a loud, sharp and sorrowful tone. I didn't want to use his name to tell him off because I wanted him to come to me when I called, not associate it with his having been bad. As Munz says, rewarding them with a treat and praise when they get it right is better.

Watch out for conservatories too: even when house-trained, initially mine got confused in my parent's conservatory because he obviously thought it was outside and therefore weeing was permissible.

[melissasmummy]

Thank You for all the replys. Your advice certainly helps! Never having had a dog before we weren't quite sure what to expect with regards top training. He picked up sit & drop quickly so we just assumed this would follow on. To cap it all, I am tryng to potty train my toddler too!

We have started giving treats when he does it outside, which he loves!

We are now taking him for walks too, and all week we have had 1 poo accident! Brilliant!!!


Thanks again