HELP PLEASE! About To Pull Out My Hair!

[Lindsay 0]

Just got my baby girl on Friday. I thought she was doing really well as she pees on her pee pad when she is confined and poos about 25% of the time on the pad. I'm trying to litter box train her. When she is out playing, she starts going to the bathroom on the carpet every 15 minutes. If it's not pee, it's poo. I always catch her right as she starts going, tell her "NO", and then take her to her litter box and leave her in her space for a "time-out". I'm trying to be patient but it almost seems she is getting worse than improving. She is only 8 weeks and barely eats. She isn't interested in any treats I've tried to give her so rewarding isn't really an option. I would love to praise her but I never watch her go to the bathroom because she either waits until she's alone or tries to go on the carpet. Any suggestions? I know it's going to take time, I just want to make sure I'm doing things right and not screwing her up. Thanks!

[MisterMom 11]

Find a treat for training. Something she really likes. It might be some kind of fruit, or peanut butter, or green bean. There is something she must crave. 8 weeksis a little eary to expect much potty training results. My little one is 8 months old and just got bladder control a month ago, poop, more or less, at 5 months. BUT I have three others she can follow around and watch to see how it's done.

It could be a year before she is fully trained to do it your way !!

Good Luk !!

[kcsheperd 13]

I've never used the Litterbox, so I don't know how hard or easy that is to train..But when I brought home Sawyer he didn't love treats either. It took him about 2 weeks to really start wanting treats, so its probably going to take your little girl awhile. When they are 'playing' or 'exercising' it stimulates the bowels, so thats probably why she is trying to go on the floor. I would try playing with her outside, and then when she starts to go Praise her and offer a treat. If she doesn't respond to treats just really praise and love on her. It took Sawyer a LONG time to 'get it'.. so don't expect results quickly..When they are young it just takes them awhile to get it, so Hang in there..she will eventually pick it up. :dede:

[FairyTail Josette 14]

My little Josey came to me litter box/potty pad trained by the breeder. Josey didn't come home with me until she was approx. 4 months of age, so, the breeder did all the work and I can't take the credit. If you do potty pad or litter box train, make sure you never place a pad or litter box on the carpet. They will start to confuse the two. So, it should be in your kitchen, laundry room, bathroom, but, somewhere that is easily accessible while she is out and about.

Briefly, there are 3 C's to potty training:

Consistency. Which it sounds like you are doing. Stick with one method, either potty pads or outside training for now. (Josey is actually trained to do both methods.) Praise, praise, and praise when you receive the correct behavior and as Mister Mom mentioned, find a liver training treat or something she really loves. Always take them to the same spot outside or have your litter box in the same place in your home.

Confinement. It sounds like you are doing this too. She can't have run of the house until she's fully trained. She's very, very young, so, be patient. She's doing extremely well for her age. We always used an x pen to confine Josey when I was unable to keep an eye on her. Take her to the same "spot" you want her to relieve herself every hour on the hour and say the same command, i.e., "go potty." She will look at you like you have two heads, but, they do finally get it.

Clean up. On the carpet, make sure you saturate the area with an enzymatic odor neutralizer. Many like Nature's Miracle. But, there are several products on the market. Follow the instructions to a t, or, the scent will be left behind on the carpet, and she will want to return to that spot to do her business.

Good luck, it takes time and work. She is doing very well for 8 wks of age. Kudos to you for job well done, already! :)

[bluesy 2]

Suzi's post says it all, it takes a lot of time and consistancy. Jasmine wasn't reliable until she was probably 6 months old or so, I still can't trust her around carpet though. Chase and Maggie trained pretty quickly because they followed Jasmine. Good luck!

[KristenE 2]

My little Josey came to me litter box/potty pad trained by the breeder. Josey didn't come home with me until she was approx. 4 months of age, so, the breeder did all the work and I can't take the credit. If you do potty pad or litter box train, make sure you never place a pad or litter box on the carpet. They will start to confuse the two. So, it should be in your kitchen, laundry room, bathroom, but, somewhere that is easily accessible while she is out and about.

Briefly, there are 3 C's to potty training:

Consistency. Which it sounds like you are doing. Stick with one method, either potty pads or outside training for now. (Josey is actually trained to do both methods.) Praise, praise, and praise when you receive the correct behavior and as Mister Mom mentioned, find a liver training treat or something she really loves. Always take them to the same spot outside or have your litter box in the same place in your home.

Confinement. It sounds like you are doing this too. She can't have run of the house until she's fully trained. She's very, very young, so, be patient. She's doing extremely well for her age. We always used an x pen to confine Josey when I was unable to keep an eye on her. Take her to the same "spot" you want her to relieve herself every hour on the hour and say the same command, i.e., "go potty." She will look at you like you have two heads, but, they do finally get it.

Clean up. On the carpet, make sure you saturate the area with an enzymatic odor neutralizer. Many like Nature's Miracle. But, there are several products on the market. Follow the instructions to a t, or, the scent will be left behind on the carpet, and she will want to return to that spot to do her business.

Good luck, it takes time and work. She is doing very well for 8 wks of age. Kudos to you for job well done, already!

Only one thing I wanted to add is to not show frustration or anger. She is a baby and is learning. Just like with kids positive reinforcements (praise when you see her going potty in the right spot) will do so much more then scolding when she does it in the wrong spot. Also if she has an accident and you don't catch her actively doing it don't even bother telling her no or anything because she's forgotten all about it. But of coarse like you're doing now if you see her actively pottying say "NO" and take her to where she is suppose to do her potty.

[chloechanel'smommy 2]

Potty training is very frustrating but it does get better in time. Like the others stated, consistency is the key as well as patience. Chloe is pad trained. I just confined her to the kitchen with a baby gate. I took her to the pad after eating, naps and playtime and told her repeatedly to "go potty." When she went, she got a liver treat as well as lots of praise. She loves to hear "good girl" because she knows that usually means a treat is coming. I would go crazy and act a complete fool when she went to her pad and she just ate that up. Now she is almost six months and roams all over the house but goes potty where she is supposed to. Your baby is still young. She'll catch on soon. Keep us posted. Good luck!

[tzuhouse 4]

Lindsey, potty training can be the most frustrating part of a new puppy, but remember, it comes with the territory, so to speak. And also, your baby is only 8 weeks old. Most breeders don't even release a new puppy until that age or even later. I think you need to accept that it will take awhile and you will more than likely will have a number of accidents before she gets the hang of it.

I agree with playing with her outside....stay and play til she goes, and then offer a treat while you praise, praise and do the pee pee dance...just go silly praising and be so excited. She will catch on, but if she does make a mistake in the house or out of her box, don't react, just clean it up and move on.

Good luck...now, how about a pic???? PLEASE????

[Shihtzuluvr 5]

The best training treats ever are by Bill-Jac- they are called little jacs- AWESOME- i had lizzy and charlie trained in no time with the help of little jacs training treats- you gotta get them (purple bag at petsmart)!!!!!!!!! I have owned shih tzus before, and they were always difficult to train, these treats made my life a whole lot easier!! good luck!

[Boo and Gidgys Mom 2]

She is very young. I have read that a Shih tzu and other toy breeds should not leave their litter until they are 12 weeks old. I got my Shih Tzu at 12 weeks and he was the easiest puppy to train. The breeder had him paper trained. I just continued with that for a few weeks while he was getting used to his new surroundings. I praised every time he would go. He soon started to show excitment when he would go, knowing he would be praised and get a treat. I started putting the paper in a litter box. When this became habit for him we also put another litter box out on the back deck and put in a doggy door. We praised him every time he used the doggy door with a treat. He still comes in all excited jumping around and doing his little dance all the way to the treat jar every time he goes. He does't use a indoor litter box at all anymore, and doesn't have any accidents. The only problem we have now is sometimes he will try to fool us and go out, come back in and go to the treat jar thinking we wont check if he really went potty or not. Its kinda cute because if we go to look when he hasn't really gone, he trys to distract us from checking his litter box. I get a kick out of when he trys to out smart me. I have to admit sometimes he is successful, little stinker.

[Ozzy'sMommy 5]

i got ozzy at 8 weeks and he wasn't completely potty trained until he was 6 months old...then we gave him free reign of the apartment because he would stop playing and run to his pad and go. now that we live with my mom he runs to the back door since we have a backyard.

one thing i did that might sound odd is when he had an accident on the carpet i would either soak up the pee with a paper towel or pick up the poop with one and go put it on his pad and say GOOD PEEPEE or GOOD POOPY! and then give him a treat...mind you a very small one since they are only like 2 pounds at that age. and then every time he actually did his business on the pad i would give him a treat too. i think showing him where the poop or pee belonged made him catch on to where he needed to do it.

but if we couldn't watch him (like cleaning the house or going to work) we confined him the the kitchen which was pretty big for an apartment and had plenty of room for his bed and food/water and one end and then a pee pad was maybe 8 feet away...which doesn't sound very far but is when you're only a 2lb dog

since we've moved into this big house oz has had a couple of accidents if he's running around playing on one end of the house and has to cross the whole thing to get to the back door and then can't find anyone to open it for him...or i make the silly mistake of picking up his emergency pad to wash it and forget to put down a clean one :ohyeah:

[Seastar 44]

Patience, patience, patience. Eight week old babies take some time to develop control and put two and two together. Just figure it's going to be quite a while, and whatever you do, don't get mad.

It really does take a year for many of these little dogs.

[mileysmom 2]

Miley is 9 months and she still poos inside sometimes. (like when I'm gone, or I havent taken her out for a while) but Shes just now getting the hang of it.

I read somewhere that if you give negative reaction at a young age, its good to them! Because all they want is your attention. AND they got it! So they'll do it again!

Just keep it up, and stay consistant!

Your doing great!

[pookiebear01 0]

Don't give up! Smaller dogs are harder to train in general, Pookie Bear is 6 months old, and he still has accidents from time to time, we use belly bands, and baby oneies to help him learn to hold it in the house, Belly bands won't be any help to you since you have a girl, but they do make girl diapers, that you can use to help her learn that we don't poo or pee in the house, basically you put them on her and every time you take her to the litter pan you take them off, and put her in the pan and say "go potty" I take pookie bear out every 2 - 3 hours at 6 months old, and I make a HUGE deal when he goes outside, the belly bands have been a HUGE help, saves my carpet (and since he's a boy... my walls, furniture, etc...etc...etc...) So anyway, that is one idea you may want to try, also, make sure you are getting your carpets good and clean when she does have an accident. I use a product called "natures miracle" works great!