House Breaking!! Help!!

[RottenGirl]

HELP!!

We have a 11 wk old female rott and we are trying to housebreak her. I am having a little success with her, but it is still difficult for me. My fiance on the other hand, will walk her and stay out for 10 minutes or more and she will do her business (#1 or #2) as soon as she gets in the door. He's not a big dog person and doesn't do a whole lot with her, but he tells her that she is good when she goes outside for him (which was last wednesday). He takes care of her in the morning during the week. We have the same place that we take her to when we walk her. Any ideas? She is driving him nuts!

[myrottie_chyna]

Then he is not letting her stay out long enough. Sometimes it took my girl half an hour to do her biz. Try keeping her on a leash so that she cant go inspect and explore the yard. Dont walk her too much, stay in the area you want her to use to do her business. Also say good girl when she does pee or poo outside, then give her a piece of kibble or a treat kept in your pocket. Say "good girl, good potty" when she goes. Tell her to "go potty" when out, and always put her in the area you want her to use for doing her thing.
When I first got Chyna, she was 7 weeks. Now she is 14 weeks, and tells me when she needs to go out.
When I started out, she would do the same thing.. go on the floor as soon as we came back in. :(
When you CATCH her in the act, say "NAHHH!" in a growly voice, then take her out to her spot. Say "potty outside". Keep her out there a while before going back inside. You have to do this when you catch her doing it, not after. IF you find a piddle, or poopie, then its too late to punish her.
If you cant watch her, then put her in a crate, or on a leash attached to you. That will keep her where you can watch her.
If you notice that she is walking in circles, or sniffing around, that is your cue to take her out.
Take her out when she wakes from naps, and soon after eating or playing. If you know its been a while since she has gone, then take her out before she starts to look for a place to go.
If you see her all of a sudden run to another room, go after her. Chances are she is sneaking away to find a spot to go potty.

For each month of a pups age, that is how many hours they can go without going potty. So a pup 11 wks, its about 3 hrs.
Get on a schedule of taking her out every three hrs or so.
IF you feed her on a schedule, then she will start having to go at about the same times each day.
Routine is good.
Hope this helps. Tell your boyfriend to be more patient, and stay out there til she goes!! :D

[Tara]

when housebreaking roxy,the hardest part was when we would get home and go to her crate to get her out, she would pee. so we would immediately pick her up and take her outside and tell her go potty. she's 8 months old now, i still say go potty, the neighbors probably think i'm crazy. and when they do their business praise them. now when i dont say good girl, she turns around and gives me that look, with the head cocked, as if to say, c'mon, i did it, now you tell me what a good girl i am, and then as soon as i say good girl, she's happy again.
one of my friends would put something around the door handle dipped in hot dog juice and everytime the dog would go to the door, they would take her out. gradually weened them off of the "trick" and the learned that when it needed to go outside it needed to go sit by the front door. i never tried this but she said it worked. :p

[nmbr1mom57]

I certainly wouldn't claim to be an expert on this or any other subject, but I found what helped me tremendously with Inki was a crate. We put her in the crate during the day, while at work and school, as well as over night while everyone is sleeping. At first I felt like she was never out of the crate! But soon all the time rewarded itself. My pup is nearly 6 months old and we can just now begin to trust her to stay out of the crate overnight without having an accident. It takes A LOT of time and patience to housetrain any animal, Rottie or otherwise.

Just like with children, patience, consistancy and a schedule are imperative for successful potty training of a pet.

Good luck.

[kaiser's mom]

I rescued a 3 mos old rottie from the shelter two weeks ago..Max is doing wonderful... We are crate training like we did with Kaiser.. He is out with me supervised at all times!! then when we need to do chores he is put in the crate in view of me...I do not respond to his howls and praise him when he is quiet in the crate .. I use one word "potty" command before we go out... I do not use his name with the commands.. When he goes'potty" i give big happy praises !!! 'yes,potty" etc.. seems to be working.... One word commands seem to be working well in combo with the crate..I use a happy positive voice with the commands including the "crate" command... He goes to his crate with one command and is no longer howling... After one week he sits at the front door when he needs to go out... We have had no potty accidents,( except for the first day he came home, only two piddles)...keeping my fingers crossed and hope this helps........

[babydungeon]

i have done almost everything everyone said on this post. my boy is 5 months old and is just now holding himself until we take him out. he has his crate that he stays in during the day, we started letting him sleep in the open house about 2 months ago. we would wake up 6 1/2 days a week to a potty in the morning. he is not very good at letting us know, like scratching the back door. but whenever he did go in the house it was always right in front of the back door. we praise him when he goes outside and firmly tell him no when he went inside. sounds like everyone else's reply right? well, the magic trick for us, keep in mind your puppy has only had around 4-5 weeks in your home & mine is 5 months old, we STEAM CLEANED the carpet in our house. my parents are coming down soon and my wife wanted the carpet cleaned. i never even thought about it. i guess it took the smell away, even though i scrubbed after him with carpet cleaner after every accident, and he hasn't done it since! it worked for us, it might work for you, too. the reason i said my puppy is 5 months old is that he had all that time to have his smell in the house and when we took it away he knew something was different. your puppy may or may not have had enough time to establish that.
good luck-kevin