Ivy says:
Good morning, Home Eccers. I sincerely appreciate all the good wishes you all sent last week about my grandmother. She is, at this moment I’m writing, still alive, but weakening. If you’re at all interested, I did write a long post about the situation yesterday over at my parenting blog. Here’s a link.
Now, for my question. It’s primarily for pet owners, but parents who have potty trained a kid might have answers as well. My puppy is crated (sort of, she has a doggie playpen that’s about 3.5 feet in diameter and has space for her bed, toys, food and water bowls and a puppy pee pad) when I’m not home, but generally when I am home, she is free to roam the living room and kitchen. (I gate off the rest of the house to keep her safe.) I try to keep a close eye on her to get her outside quickly when it appears that she needs to go potty, and have pee pads down in several areas, but she still ends up peeing on the floor quite often.
I don’t necessarily need dog housebreaking tips, although if you have some surefire way to housebreak a dog quickly, I’m sure we’d all love to hear it. And I don’t need “this is why I don’t have pets” comments, I’m in no mood for that whatsoever, heh. What I do need to hear is what’s the most budget friendly/greenest way of cleaning up the messes. Here’s what I’m doing now- using paper towels to wipe up any liquid mess and then spraying the area with a vinegar/water solution to clean the area. Oh, and I have laminate flooring like Pergo in the living room and vinyl flooring in the kitchen. With solid messes, I generally grab some TP and flush the mess down and spray down the area with the vinegar and water solution.
I’m going through an awful lot of paper towels this way, but my thinking is that if I use rags, I’ll be doing a whole lot more laundry, which I both don’t have time to deal with, and seems about as expensive since we recently had a 60% electric increase plus, I’ve been using Tide lately which is spendy but worth it.
So, what do you think, Home Eccers? Is the paper towel/vinegar water solution the best way to go or do you have a cheaper and better route? Better yet, how do you get your puppy to consistently use puppy pee pads? I don’t get it- when she’s in her playpen she uses them no problem, but when she’s out, let me look away for a second and she’s peeing 3 feet away from the pee pad. Is it REALLY that hard to get over there, dog? Really?
Quickest way to get her used to doing her business outside is putting her outside after each meal, after every time she’s taken a nap and, if she’s awake for a longer period of time, in between just for good measure.
If you wait with taking her out until it looks like she needs to do something, you stand a much bigger chance of her not being able to hold it up and letting it go in the house. And if she does that, she gets used to it and is, consequently, less likely to wait for the humans to take her out cause she can just as easily do it inside.
This worked for our dog when we got her as a puppy. We had her house trained in a week. After that she’d stand at the door an whine to be let out if she had to do something.
Key is to let them get used to doing it outside all the time.
Of course, this is dependent on someone being there all the time so it might not work if she is left alone for longer periods of time.
Yep – put their little hineys outside right after they (here insert damnnear any change in habits) and they’ll get the picture. After they eat, after they wake up, after they play, yada, yada.
As far as the greenest way to clean up, one of the best purchases we ever made was a little green cleaning machine – it’s like a mini fabric shampoo gadget that totally cleans things up – oh – you meant enironmentally green….. 😉
I have no better idea than you regarding cleaning up, but I am currently obsessing over getting some ShamWow things, and I bet they suck up dog pee like nobody’s business. Ha. This is a worthless comment, sorry.
Oh, you could try those recyclable paper towels if you wanted to. I’m going to assume that urine is recyclable as well. I’m afraid I’m no help with the pee pads, because our (large) dogs have come to us when they were old enough that their output was much more than a puppy pad could handle, so they got crated while we housetrained them and just hosed out the crate when they couldn’t hold it.
I just want to say try Odornix for the odor. I love this stuff. I am thinking about carrying it in my purse. If you use some strong smelling cleaner and it’s too much this stuff will knock the smell right out. I think it would even make a porta potty smell good.
I don’t work for the company, I get it at Walmart just like everyone else, but it works wonders.
Kitty apparently got left in the other day and had an accident. The LR smelled horrible, and I just sprayed the air. Ten minutes later, smell was gone.
Sorry about your grandmother. It’s an incredibly stressful time to be potty training too.
This is what worked for our dog, but of course it won’t work for everybody.
We were encouraged to get a small crate that matched his size perfectly. Enough room to sleep, but not enough to pee in a separate area (we got an adjustable crate so we didn’t have to keep buying them as he grew). Whenever we let him out of his crate, we took him outside to potty before doing anything else. We also took him outside right after eating, playing, etc. He only had three or four accidents in the house, and after (or during!) each accident we picked him up and took him outside. I think he learned that it is never okay to potty in the house.
Now this didn’t work at all for a foster dog who had submissive urination issues. So at that point we bought a gallon of Nature’s Miracle, which has been a great stain and odor remover. We used paper towels for small cleanups, but regular towels for the occasional big cleanup.
Random cat tip — don’t use ammonia to clean up if you have cats, because that can encourage them to urinate in the house!
It’s the same for dogs if you’re cleaning their mess. 🙂
You could try giving them a small treat as soon as they do their business outside. don’t give them a treat after they are back inside, because they’ll think that they’re being rewarded for coming inside! I agree with the pp who said to take the dog out as soon as they have an accident inside…they’ll start to make the connection. Also, be vigilant about taking them out. If it’s been two hours since their last time, go ahead and take them outside, whether or not they look like they need it. Once they figure out that peeing inside is bad and they gain more control over their bladders, they’ll find a way to tell you that they need to go out, like sitting by the door or whining in your direction.
Remember to keep the faith! One of my dogs was housebroken in a week, but the other one took between one and two months. It was so frustrating, but eventually she just got it and she hasn’t had an accident since. As long as you’re consistent with your training, they’ll understand…at some point 🙂
You have gotten great advice.
One other thing that I had heard about is to attach them to their leash. Attach the other end of the leash to you, so that they are always with you.
You will always see when they need to go potty, and you can immediately take them out.
Good luck.
We got a “used” dog from the Humane Society as my kids say 😉 She was 7, but was an anxious pee-er.
Gating her over night works, but during the day, we were taught by our “obediance” class (It was mostly us being trained you see..) to use “umbilical cord technique” which as the poster above me said – you get a 6 ft leash, one end on the puppy, and the other end around your waist. We put a carbeener clip on the loop end of the leash, and loop the leash around our waists, then clip it back on itself.
Within 2 weeks of Aura coming home we had corrected the nervous peeing, settled some of her anxieties about the new house, and corrected some “pully” leash behaviour! It was GREAT! We’ve had her for 1/5 years now, and she’s the sweetest dog!
Good luck!
Dogs will pee where it smells like pee, so I don’t know if the vinegar will do the trick–the house needs to smell like a place not to pee. I’m not an expert, but I’m pretty sure that’s the case. Our dog is extremely well trained (not me, she was a humane society dog) and she still pees at the pet mega-mart, every time. Marking her territory (yes, it’s a girl). Maybe ask your vet? It’s not like you’re going to be doing this for years (I hope!)
Good advice above, I’d listen. My mom always rubbed their nose in it, yelled at them, then put them outside, which I know isn’t PC, but it always worked. She never had a dog trained in less than a week. (She also took them out very regularly, asked, “do you have to go outside?”, etc.) Good luck!
I don’t know what kind of puppy you have, but it took my shih tzu 18 months to have a good housebroken sense about her. So, hopefully you have a less obstinate type of dog!
As for clean up, I love Nature’s Miracle. Even when the puppy was a peeing machine (seriously, where was she storing all that pee?), my house never smelled like a dog lived there, and that was with carpet!. Paper towels seem to be the way to go. The last thing anyone wants is a bunch of puppy urine soaked rags. Shudder.
I wish I had trained my dog to ring a bell. As it stands she sort of whines at me and then sits by the door. Or if she’s really desperate she scratches on the door. While this is going on I generally look at her and wonder why she’s acting so strangely, until I look at the clock and figure out how long it’s been since she went out!
Urine Gone is amazing…my husband and I stumbled upon it and it works wonders…it’s not cheaper than a vinegar solution, but it does work.
As for the training, take puppy out every time you let her out of the crate and after meals. We did this, and the treats, like others have already mentioned here.
The best part, though–We also attached a small bell to the door where we take the dogs out. It hangs down from the doorknob on a chain, and whenever we took the dog out, we picked up her paw and rang it for her. Now, our dogs are trained to ring the bell whenever they need to potty…it’s wonderful! And, we can also tell how urgent it is, because if it is an immediate need, they know to ring it LOUDLY.
I think you need to get a crate that’s just big enough for the dog to turn around in, and get rid of the pee pad, the water and the food in the dog’s “home”.
According to the book, Good Owners, Great Dogs, crating is more about teaching the dog CONTROL and SECURITY more than anything else. We crated our dog whenever we left the house for almost the first 12 months we had her. We’re just starting to leave her out for extended periods, but she absolutely LOVES her little crate. Love it so much that I tried to get a bigger kennel for her and she cried until I brought her little one back up from the basement. Loves it so much that she’ll come running in from outside if I hold it up to the window 🙂
By the way, I have had plenty of housebreaking challenges since I adopted my dog. I have found that a good way to prevent them while we’re at home and she’s running free is to corral her on the same floor I’m on. Dog’s territories can be pretty small to start out with, and they tend to “go” when they’re outside of their little territory.
This is way too long, but hang in there! It will get better with time!
Same advise here really. We never did crate training so I’m really no help there. But we did make sure our pup was taken out 15 minutes after each meal, waking up, or heavy play. We took her to one spot in the yard and praised with small pieces of cheese when she went potty. That worked wonderfully. Within 2 weeks she was completely trained and now asked to be let out. She also still sticks with the same spot in the yard to do her business which helps us with easy clean up.
You could try a spray bottle with bitter apple. Most dogs tend to shy away from that particular smell. They also use it in training. HTH
Just went thru this…….too much “stuff” in the crate…..there should only be enough room for them to sleep comfortabley…..no food….no water in the crate. Put them outside one hour after eating. Stand there and praise them after they go. After that put them out at least every two hours during the day.
Hi Ivy,
We used “Poochie Bells” to potty train our puppy. She was 8 weeks old when we began to use the bells to train her for going outside to take care of her business.
Basically, you hang the bells on the door that you want the dog to use for exiting and entering the house. To train the puppy, every time the puppy goes outside, you ring the bells. After a day or so, you physically help the puppy to ring the bells.
I know it sounds corny, but our puppy got the hang of the bells and doing her potty thing outside in less than a week. You do need to be consistent about helping the puppy ring the bells (even in mid-stream), but I could have fallen off of my chair the day our puppy went and rang the bells herself. Yes, less than a week!
If you’re interested, Google “Poochie Bells” for a website and demonstration.
Good luck, and Godspeed to your grandmother.
Let me explain why she’s not traditionally crated. Through a long and complicated situation, Kitty (yep, that’s my puppy’s name) lost her mom and brothers when she was only 4 weeks old. She got sick fairly quickly afterward (most likely stress) and for the first 2 weeks her mom and brothers were gone, I had to keep her with me or have someone puppysit at all times.
Because of this, I’ve worried about her becoming a neurotic dog, both the losing her mom and brothers part and the having to be hand fed every 4 hours, etc. Shortly after she got well was when my grandmother started going in and out of the hospital. Now, I work at home so I’m home most of the time during the day but with my grandma’s situation, there have been times where I’ve had to leave her on certain days for 8 or more hours during the day. I’m not comfortable with leaving her for that long in a tiny crate without being able to have anything to drink or eat and not having anywhere to go potty.
I’m well aware of the benefits of traditional crating, however, in my situation I don’t think it would be fair to her. Besides, she’s used to that setup now and goes in and out of her playpen to rest and drink and whatever- that’s her home, just like a crate would be, had the situation been different.
Once the weather warms up and dries out some, I’ll be taking her outside a whole lot more often but right now she’s mainly just going out when my older dog goes out. I don’t want her to get sick again- and with all her fur it’s hard to get her fully dried out if I’m taking her outside as often as I’d like to be. So that’s why I’m going the puppy pee pad route for now. Once the weather warms up, I doubt housetraining will be much of a problem.
I absolutely love the idea of teaching her to ring a bell. I have to wonder how much my cats would think it was a fun toy for them though, haha.
I don’t have any suggestions for cleaning that would be better than yours, but I do have some comments about potty training the pup.
I personally don’t believe in pee pads. I think that for the young pup they can be confusing. She may be confused as to why its okay to pee inside in this area and not that area (to her they are both inside). As for in the crate, the pee pad isn’t seen as something she’s attached to like a toy. Because she loves her toys and her living space she won’t pee on them, but this pad isn’t something that is her’s so its okay with her to pee on it. My suggestion is to take her outside to potty every couple of hours and when she goes outside give her a treat and/or praise. When she does have an accident tell her no and take her outside to ‘finish’ (before you clean it up so she sees the connection). soon she’ll be letting you know when she needs to go out.
It may not be convenient to take her out so often, but we had both of our fur babies trained within a month or two. I hope my advice helps!
My parents have a two-year old Standard poodle. Same problem, when we were watching him he was fine, but turn your back and he was peeeing! They also had cnstruction being done so the floors were covered with paper which i think encourage him to go there. They decided to train him to ring a bell, everytime we took him out we rang the bell, and he had it figured out in about two weeks. For him to be completely trustworthy took about 6 months.
We ALWAYS used Nature’s Miracle and paper towels to clean, you need to be sure the smell gets out so they dog is not encouraged to go there again.
WE used M&Ms to train my little sister to use the potty, so giving him a treat every time he goes outside might work.
Funny story, when we had our first dog this same sister (now 22) was four, and we were training Fudge to go in a particular corner of hte yard for easy cleanup. Well one day Betsy comes in with this big smile on her face and announces, ‘Mommy I went poppy where the doggie goes poopy!”. Sure enough we went outside, and there was the puppy eating the toddlers poop.
Oh and the downside to the bell, is now he rings them whenever he wants attention, because he knows we will respond.
I’ve always felt that those training pads confuse dogs. It’s not ok to pee in the house, except when it is? That’s too abstract for your average canine. They need to know that it is NEVER ok to pee in the house, and that they ALWAYS need to pee outside.
My dog is large, but she would sooner chew off her feet than pee in the house. My mom used training pads with her small dogs (granted, they have smaller bladders) and they have NEVER become potty trained, and they’re both well past the age where they should’ve been (the one is 15 and now is incontinent for other reasons, but even when he SHOULD have been potty trained, he wasn’t, the other is well over 5 but under 10, and has no excuse, but is not trained).
If you simply must use the training pads for some reason, I’d put them as close to the door used to take the dog outside as possible. Always use the same door to take the dog out, too, so he’ll go to that door instinctively when it’s time to pee. Take the puppy out every 20 minutes, and after he eats or drinks.
Having a training pad in the “crate” area is counter intuitive. You’re teaching your dog that it’s ok for him to pee in his “den” – something that dogs won’t naturally do, unless they’re 1) inbred and stupid or 2) trained to.
I think you need to get yourself a good “how to train your dog” book, because you’re creating bad habits that may come back to bite you (see also: my mom and her completely destroyed floors).
Not 20 minutes, 2 hours. I was distracted. 🙂
No one would have a dog if you had to take them out every 20 minutes!
The bell is great…and my cats leave it alone, for the most part. They play with it every now and then, but once the “newness” wore off, they got bored quickly.
I hope everything works out for you!
Ivy,
We’re caring for my in-laws’ year old dog — maybe while they’re still in the nursing home, maybe permanently. My father-in-law spoiled Missy rotten and never required her to go out to pee or poop (in part because it’s sometimes hard for him to walk her to the yard, in part because when she was a puppy he indulged her in every way)
We’re working with her on the issue, and we take her out to the back yard all the time. My hubs walks her (she’s a hound/wippet combo and needs lots of exercise) and she hasn’t connected going for a walk in the woods with peeing yet; the back yard is for peeing, I guess. And the dining room, alas.
Crating her when we’re not in the room, as well as overnight, helps. She’s understanding the go-pee-after-crate-time thing, but not so much the it’s-been-an-hour thing. It’s getting better, but we still can’t leave her alone in a room with any confidence yet.
We’re going to try putting her in the kitchen, instead of the crate, if we have to go upstairs for a few minutes. Hope that helps.
Of course, she’s starting to like her crate, so maybe down the line that may be a better bet than the kitchen. Don’t know. If she could talk this would be easier. 🙂
Just have to step in here and give another point of view on pee pads, food and water in a cage. If you travel with your dog, (mine is small) it is a wonderful to be able to set up their “home” in a motel, somebody else’s house or a boat. I have trained my little one to do exactly what Ivy is doing. When we are at home I am diligent about putting her outside every hour. My next door neighbor works and her dog is inside a crate for 10 hrs a day with no food, water or potty break. I wonder how other working people handle their dogs. Anybody know???
Oh, — I just dug out some bells and am figuring out how to hang them on the back door. Great idea! We’ll try it!
Oh, again.
We use a Little Green machine for pee cleanups. I have rags that we wash and reuse to sop up first, then we use the Little Green. Nature’s Miracle helps with the smell.
I have no idea what’s in the Bissell pet cleaner liquid —- if it’s
“green” or not, but I’m not too concerned. Dog pee IS “natural”, but I don’t want it in my carpets or on my furniture! The little bit of the cleaner I use is not going to destroy the planet. It smells like there is vinegar in the mix, but I don’t know what else.
Am I awful for not caring?
we have to take quick actions if the carpet gets dirty like using vinegar to reduce smell … if so not! Best way to is to get Professional Carpet Cleaners…
To answer Jan……I’m gone 12-14 hours a day and i pay $15 a visit to have a dog-walker come in once or twice a day while I’m gone. There’s no way my greyhound could make it all day if i didn’t. If i have to crate him for some reason (like the FD coming to inspect the smoke alarms in my apartment) then the dog walker comes twice. It’s expensive, but it gives me flexibility not to have to come tearing home every day after work or risk having a ‘present’ on the rug (can i just say here that while i enjoy attending the Houston Rodeo, I hate that it TRIPLES my commute time home because of all the extra people heading to Reliant Stadium). I just had to drive him from TX to MD and back, and having the crate was great, we’d set it up in the hotel room (or my brothers living room one night) and he’d go right in. Then i didn’t have to worry about him having an accident or destroying something in the middle of the night.
As far as something green to clean it up with to conserve paper towels. I know you can find pick stacks of washcloths at Wal-Mart, Target and even the Dollar Stores. Maybe you could go get a big stack of washcloths that are SPECIFICALLY for this task (less than $10.00). You could then keep used/soiled ones separate from the other laundry in the house and wash them on a small load when they accumulate (rinse them out in the sink before placing them in the basket (or on the basket to dry)).
Papertowels are such a huge suck on a budget…and it is a shame to fill up your garbage bags with them!
Another poster said something about shamwow….and I think that might, actually, be a good road to go down, too. I’ve never used them but I would think you could have three in rotation that you use specifically for this chore and they would see you through this stage in “Fido”‘s life!!
Good luck…..(sorry about your mum, my thoughts are with you and your family!)
I wish I had wood floors, I have professionally done my carpet twice already but I love my frenchies!!!
When our pups were babies, the best thing to sop up peepee mistakes was with either adult diapers or feminine pads (I used to get them free from CVS/Rite Aid/Walmart with coupons). They are very absorbent for this type of thing, far more so than paper towels, so you can dab over the spot and it cleans it up. I could use 1 pad per accident. Follow up w/ Natures Miracle and a swipe with a dedicated towel just to get the residue off.
I too agree with other posters who said that puppy pads make it harder to train a dog. We had puppy pads on our balcony right off the room we kept the dogs in, and they had a lot of accidents at or near that door or elsewhere in that room (even when the door was open and they were free to go outside and go on the pads). As soon as we removed the pads and had them only going outside, they had no more accidents in the house at all.
First off get rid of the pee pads, they are a waste of money, and they train the dog to pee inside.
Secondly I clean up pee accidents with cloth towels and bleach water. Then wash the towels.
Also I agree with all the others take the dog out constantly ( just as if you were potty training a little kid) every 2 hours, after waking up, after eating and drinking, out kitty goes until she does her business, regardless how cold it is.
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Hi,
I am a licensed veterinary technician and over the years have worked with some pretty awful potty issues (my own dogs and others).
I agree with many of the tips other posters have said, but have a few to add.
1- Discontinue the puppy pads. It sends the wrong message to the puppy. Dogs understand rules best when they are black and white and straight forward. Allowing a puppy to use a pee pad in the house sometimes, but wanting her to go potty outside at other times ( like when you’re home ) can be very confusing. Its like saying telling someone that they can have ice cream, but only when it rains..or something else that sounds ridiculous.
2. The bell technique- is a good idea, but I find it hard to actually enforce. I think it is better suited for a dog past the potty training stage, used as a way to announce that the dog wants to go outside, rather than barking in the house.
3. Positive reinforcement – using key words ecstatically like “Good Potty!” immediately followed by a tasty treat ( this should be done the second she has finished her business) every time she goes potty outside, even if it was only a dribble of pee that made it to the grass as you carried her out. Puppies need praise or punishment at the exact moment the desired/undesired behavior takes place, so you have to be quick.
4. The umbilical leash! – While it can be annoying to drag a puppy around your house while doing your household chores, I think that this is one of the most successful techniques. This gives you the chance to learn visual cues to warn you when she is ready to go. A little annoying, but really speeds up the learning process.
5. More Trips outside than you could possibly need.
– The more chances you can take your puppy out on leash, even for a few minutes, the more opportunities your puppy has to learn that outdoors is a designated spot for potties. Do this rain/sleet/snow. Dogs are more resilient than we think. When I trained my lab Barliegh, I took him out the backyard on a leash every 30 minutes that I was home, No Matter what. It really payed off.
When you’re not home during the day, the play pen is a good place obviously. Although a crate would be better because a dog is less likely to soil a smaller enclosed area where it sleeps ( like a crate). I understand being fearful of neurological fear, but still think teaching her that crates are as safe and comfortable as a play pen is a good idea for the future, if she ever has to be boarded or if some sort of emergency happened and she needed to be crated, it would help ease the stress if she was already familiar with it. (Also you can add water dishes or better yet lixit bottles to a crate)
6. NO Free feeding.
Scheduled feeding times (Am and PM meals) are great for puppy training and for the duration of Dogs lives. It allows you to monitor how much your dog is eating/drinking/and how long it takes your dog to digest, so that you are more in control of the potty situation.
7. Cleaning
Urine off or Urine Gone or other similar products, usually available at your local veterinarian or Pet store are the Best way to go as far as a cleanser. There are Enzymes in the formula that break down the components of the urine. This is important because after you clean up a mess without these enzymes, various proteins, hormones, scent molecules are still left over, undectable to us, but a dog will still detect them and continue to remark these spots (boys and girls both mark). As for absorbancy….Im not too sure. I typically would just use rags. I bet those bissell little green wet/dry vacs would be great though!
I hope some of those tips might help. Good luck on your potty training efforts!
I couldn’t give you any dog training techniques but I can tell you how to clean up those urine and feces. It’s important when cleaning pet stains to not only clean the area but also kill the bacteria within the area. When bleach is not an option (furniture, carpets, clothing, etc. ) enzymes work great. By the way, pet odor smells come from bacteria, not the actual excretions. The enzymes will eat up the bacteria and the odor. It then turns to a gas and disappears like magic. Note – When enzymes are mixed with water, they stop working after 24 hourst. Buy enzymes in the powdered form and stay away from watered down products.
Great blog. I’ve learned a lot just reading the conversation. Thanx
You’re definitely going to want a smaller ‘crate.’ Crating only works for housebreaking purposes because they’re so reluctant to ‘go’ where they have to sleep and relax.