Who's potty trained, me or Lizzy?

[rott51]

Well, we rescued a rottie mix about a month ago. Little girl we like to call Lizzy, cause she is driving me dizzy!

I'm not sure who is potty trained in this house, her or me. I thought we were doing pretty good. I would let her out and she would go. I always figured that if you keep catching them before they went in the house, that they would eventually figure out that outside is the place to go.

Well, I have found out that my little darling has been having accidents in the house. I have gotten the nature's miracle out with the black lite to clean the spots up.

Any good ideas or suggestions. It seems to me that little girls are harder to housetrain than little boys.

Help! Please!

[AngelBunny]

rott51:

Do a search for "housetraining" and "housebreaking." The subject has been discussed, relative to puppies and older rescue dogs.

Briefly, the trick to successful housetraining is to never, ever, ever let Fido out of your sight. If you can't watch Fido, Fido's put in a crate. Try having Fido leashed in the house & slipping the leash over your wrist. This is one way to ensure the dog is never out of your sight.

The other trick is to periodically take Fido out to the latrine spot & to be profuse with praise & a treat or 2 when Fido uses the spot.

[rott51]

Angelbunny, Thanks for the advice. I should have kept her close to me at all times, but didn't know how. I'll try the leash.

She is about 7 months old. She spent her first 6 months of her life tethered to a 8 foot rope. I suppose I can allow her an accident or two..:)

[Judi W]

If she spent that much of her life tied up, she never even had the opportunity to go someplace that was not her "bed" so it is going to be more difficult than it might be otherwise. Also, you can hang a bell on her collar so that you will hear her when she starts moving around. Crating should help her learn to hold it also.

[rott51]

Interesting that you said the crate will help her hold it Judy. We started using the crate about 10 days ago and I had noticed that she is not peeing everytime we go out now.

I guess when you think about it, if she was tethered outside her whole life, she would have potty'ed when ever the urge hit her.

An interesting note. She hated the crate in the bedroom at night, even though it was located right by my side of the bed. So I put a tethered her to the bed and now she is the first one in the bedroom, sitting there waiting for us!

:D

[Judi W]

The idea of the crate (or a VERY short teather) is that dogs, excluding some toy breeds) have a strong aversion to having to lie down in their own waste. When she was teathered before I'll bet she peed and pooped in one direction and then laid down in another spot. The crate teaches them to hold it so they won't have to sleep in it. Yes, before she could go whenever she felt even the slightest urge, so she never did have to learn to hold it for even a minute. A small room would not work for her as it would be the same amount of space she had growing up. The crate is best for teaching her to hold it as long as you are dedicated to not putting her in a position of no choice and she is old enough to hold it for a reasonable time, but the learning will need shorter times than a dog raised in normal circumstances.

[rott51]

thanks for the good advice.

[AngelBunny]

rott51:

It's not unusual for a dog to protest the first few times the dog is crated. However, the fact the dog doesn't like being crated & scratches, whines, howls, whimpers, screams, etc. doesn't mean crates should be avoided.

Being crate trained is a good skill for a dog.

It's easy to travel with a crate trained dog.

My mom & the mom of my SO are elderly. Mo's mom lives in a "just so" house filled w/ dainty pieces of furniture on which sit bric-a-brac. Mo's mom is 87. While she likes our dogs, a little bit of them go a long way. It's very convenient to have crate trained dogs who lies quietly sleeping in their crates when they must be crated.

Some friends of ours aren't as dog tolerate as we are & when they visit or we visit them, the dogs can be crated w/o problems.

Also, I think I read someplace the Red Cross allowed people to bring their crate trained dogs w/ them into shelters during some hurricane or other.

[rott51]

Yes, AngelBunny, it has been hard listening to her bark/cry when I put her in there, but I keep telling myself it is best for her. You know the old saying, 'this will hurt me more than it does you'.

It has been a struggle with Lizzy. She hasn't been the easist dog in the world. She came to us with lots of nasty habits. But I must say she is trying. I have been using positive reinforcement, rather than negative and I believe it's starting to work. It takes longer to train (I believe) but better all the way around.

[AngelBunny]

rott51:

Are you feeding Lizzy her meals in her crate? I do this with puppies and rescues who aren't crate trained.

Do you also periodically crate LIzzy during the day? Leave her there for 10-15-20 minutes, only letting her out when she's quiet. I never make a big deal of letting any dog out of its crate.

[rott51]

No I haven't fed her in there. Of course there is water, and a toy or two, but thats it.

You made an interesting remark about not making a big deal when you let her out of the crate. I never thought about it, but I quess when you do, they would feel like your 'saving them' from something. Good thought. I won't be doing that anymore.

[Mattweiser]

rott51,

I wanted to jump in here....

using food is probably the single esiest way to crate train...

We talk on this forum about drives ad-nauseum.... but their hunger-drive is probably their strongest of all. If a dog is hungry, it will do whatever it takes in order to eat.... If your dog is hungry, and you out it in the crate and feed it while it is in there... after a few days of this, it will begin to asociate the crate with good things (eating)... if it likes to be in the crate (to eat) you won't have nearly the amount of whining/barking/scratching...

good luck

[rott51]

Mattweiser, Because Lizzy was denied food (this is something I believe happened, but have no evidence) she gobbles her food down as soon as you give it to her. It seems like she is obsessed with it. I have never had a dog like this. Would this cause a problem with the crate training.

Also, when a dog is an adult, 18 months to 2 years, how long do you think a reasonable time would be in the crate. I have been leaving her outside while I am at work (I work 3 days a week) but feel bad about it. I don't like to leave animals outside all day.
:(

[Mattweiser]

my dog is also a rescue, and he treats food the same way....

IMHO, this actually works to our advantage (you and me) because our dogs value food that much more than the average dog, which is saying alot :D ....

As far as how long they can stay in a crate... once properly conditioned, they can stay in one all day (7-9 hours) with no problem.... but the key here is conditioning..... If you make the dog think that being in the crate is good/fun.... then you will have no problems... they will sometimes , over time, prefer the crate to just laying around... mine is about 50/50, if I am not paying him attention.....

you should really do a search against the archives on crate training, there are many good posts about the subject.... But IMHO, food is the best motivator..

Good luck,