house training young shih tzu

[fwest3975 0]

I have been trying to house train the shih tzu, libby, that my wife got my kids for their bday. I can get her to do basic commands quite well, she struggles sometimes, but i think it's either cuz of my lack of experience or because her being new to the methods. I've taught her SIT, UP, go in the BATHROOM, get in her HOUSE, LAY DOWN, and sometimes GO POTTY successfully directs her to her training pads.

She had pretty much given up due to her tight parenting sched. so after few months of 'misconduct', i've taken over. I know she's not beyond help or anything.

I am crate training. And after leaving her in there for a while to let her rest until the time comes for her to pee, I'll take her by leash to the bathroom that's next to our bedroom (where she stays in her crate). I have her some pads laid out and i've gotten her to where when i take her in there, she'll pee on the pads. Today she even went in there on her own and peed.

Pooping is the big problem, very very seldom will she go on the pad, I've tried taking her outside, it works well, but the weather is kind of at extremes lately with sever snows, rains, and cold temps. and my work sched requires me to be gone sometimes from 5 AM until 7 or 8 PM. To top that off I've got two white german shephards on the loose out there, and I don't feel comfortable with her being around the older one (even if i didn't have em I wouldn't turn libby loose in the yard regardless due to her being a small dog)

Any advice is gratefully accepted. My goal is to have here when I can let her loose throughout my entire house (small house) and feel confident that she won't go waste in my kids bedroom anymore, which is @ the other end of the house.

[MisterMom 11]

How old is she.

It takes time & patience.

Food in / poop out.

A puppy needs to go pee about every 2 or 3 hours, if not more often depending on fluid intake.

[tzuhouse 4]

Wow, that could be a real problem with your being gone so long...but if using pads, that would help. Crate training is good, it teaches them to "hold" it longer and they basically go on YOUR schedule. First thing you ever do when opening the door and take them out, is take them to potty..as for the poo....mine eat on a schedule and consequently poo on a schedule. As a puppy (my puppy is almost 5 months old) goes poo about 2-3 hours after eating. If you start to recognize his signs, circling, sniffing, etc, you can then predict when he will go and begin to train that to the pad or outdoors. Good luck, it is about the hardest thing to train in my opinion....EVEN the easy ones are not easy IMO....LOL

[fwest3975 0]

shes about 8 to 10 mo. old. sometimes i feel like shes starting to get it, and then she'll do something wrong, like last night, she went to pee, missed the pad by 6 inches. then went into my bedroom to waste.

another question: Im considering the pet repellents to stop her from eliminating in certain spots, which i hope will promote her to go on her pads instead.

when I catch her soiling my carpet, I have had the carpet shampooer loaded,ready to go, to use on that spot. Does this remove the smell good enough, or should I get a product tailored for pet odor and waste removal on floors? can I spray it on the carpet and vac it up with the shampooer??

[FairyTail Josette 14]

I'm not so sure if the pet repellants will really aid you in potty training to the pads. I think they are more effective for marking and chewing, etc. To clean up, Nature's Miracle works well for an odor neutralizer. Carpet shampoo alone isn't enough to neutralize the acids. Start to log in entries of the times when feeding and eliminating, this will help you to see a pattern, as Mister Mom mentioned. When you use pee pads, you need one pad for potty and another pad for poop. They do not want to use the same pee pad to do both. The most successful way to pee pad train is to cover the entire area of the floor with pee pads within a closed x-pen. Instead of taking them outdoors to the same spot and saying your command of "go potty," you put them in the x-pen and say your command and reward with a treat when she eliminates for you. You do this as soon as you let her out of the crate. It's important to set them up for success, not failure. Eventually, when she gets the idea and is consistently going in the x-pen, you open up the x-pen, so, she can walk in there on her own, but, the x-pen should be in an area that is in close proximity of where she's playing and spending time outside of the crate in your home. It's also common for them to miss the pad by several inches, still reward her with a treat. My Shih Tzu never went poop on the pee pads, she always preferred to go outside to do that. However, she would use the pee pads to potty when she was a puppy. Your Tzu is still a puppy, it's very common for them to regress in potty training. So, hang in there and just be consistent in your training method. Also, when rewarding everytime that she eliminates, use a high valued treat, meaning something that she REALLY, REALLY loves. Not your everyday treats. Some have used a bit of peanut butter straight from the jar. It's conditioning their minds to make the association of elimination in the proper area with a high valued reward. If she has an accident, ignore her and clean up. Hope this helps a bit. :signthankspin:

Edited February 14, 2010 by FairyTail Josette

[fwest3975 0]

thanks for the help. your dog sounds like mine, she seems to take to pooping outside much better, I was going to take her out today, but my leash mysteriously vanished (I have 2 and 4 yr old boys haha)

So how does you dog react when it wants to go outside now? does it scratch at the door? or do you go outside based on your own intuition?

[tzuhouse 4]

thanks for the help. your dog sounds like mine, she seems to take to pooping outside much better, I was going to take her out today, but my leash mysteriously vanished (I have 2 and 4 yr old boys haha)

So how does you dog react when it wants to go outside now? does it scratch at the door? or do you go outside based on your own intuition?

That too depends on the dog....we train to ring a bell, but right now one of my older ones is driving us crazy ringing it every 15 minutes...so our puppy, Rudy, he is 5 months old tomorrow, now goes to the door and whines. The oldest comes and just stares at me and if I don't react, she paws at me and the other one, if the bell is not there, he will bark....so they are all different. You can TEACH, barking, whining, the bell, or however you want them to tell you. Just before you go out, YOU make the sound and get excited...if you want them to bark, then YOU bark and say VERY excitedly, wanna go outside, (or whatever you say) and bark again....then after they start getting excited keep repeating the bark and they will begin to bark and begin to associate barking at the door with going outside....same with a bell, I took the puppy paw and rang the bell and kept saying wanna go outside and they finally begin to do it too....Rudy, I was working with the bell and got annoyed, so picked it up and he just started whining on his own. But of course in the mean time, you need to learn their "schedule" and whether they let you know or not always take them around that time until they learn. I know within 30 min or so when my puppy will go now...

[FairyTail Josette 14]

The answer to your question is both. They go to the door and bark. (Josey hates the cold weather, she will hold it too long, imo.) Also, I take them all out every 3 or 4 hours, too. To this day, I still stand there and watch them and say the command and praise verbally.

[Claudiabehr 3]

I was told when I got Panda, who was puppy pad trained, that if I wanted to train her to outside, I had to choose ONE method only. Puppy pads inside working up to going outside was too confusing. Once I got this idea, it meant that I had to go through a couple months of sleep disturbed nights, as Panda would need to go outside every couple of hours. When I stopped using the pads, she really got the idea of outside pretty quick. It didn't mean there weren't accidents, but by the age of 5 months, she was pretty well trained. She's 8 months old now and we haven't had an accident in (I'm counting, so I can remove baby gates) almost 6 weeks. I tell you, I have to go down 3 sets of stairs and this winter, although not too cold, has been a pretty even 10 to 20 degrees and at 3 in the a.m., that's COLD. However, I feel it's the only way to go if you want to train the baby to outside.

[eeyoredag 0]

Tonka is all about food so when I got him home he took to peeing on the pads quickly but the poop part not so much. He didn't know about pooping on them I guess. I would pick up his poop and put it on the paper and say poop here Tonka but he wasn't getting it UNTIL I gave him a treat for getting it right ONCE and that was it!! He also doesn't care if there is pee on it or not. He just picks a pad and goes. Now after 6 weeks he rarely misses. Tonka will even come and get me to show me he pooped and he wants his treat!! He hasn't been outside yet since he hasn't had all of his shots and I live in an apartment. too many strays around to risk him being out.

[fwest3975 0]

I wish mine were that easy, the only time I've been able to get her to poop with leash attached is outside, I got a good amount of know out there right now, and i can't take her out all the time. if i turn her loose, she's gonna does it deliberately on the carpet, if she has access to the whole house, she goes in my kids room.....

[Tzumommy 1]

I agree with Mistermom about food in poo out and also when you are House training space needs to be limited and no run of the house except when you can watch them and you need to take her or him more often when potty training. Constancy is the key here.

Also watch for clues that your puppy gives you that they need to potty like whining or doing turns or what ever.

I hope this helps.

[debo 1]

Oliver was (mostly) pad trained when I brought him home. I kept pads down and also took him outside. He would run to a pad to pee, but didn't do as well pooping on them. When we started puppy class, the trainer said to choose one and stick with it. I went home and picked up the pads and he did a lot better going outside. I always stayed with him until he went, gave the command 'go potty' and rewarded him when he did. One thing I think helped a lot was that we stayed out until he went. I hear so many people complain that they stayed out for x amount of time, then their puppy went in the house as soon as they came in. I spent what felt like half the summer waiting and watching, but it worked!! By 6 months he was completely trained with no accidents. Best of all, he will potty on command when we're away from home and I have to walk him. Hang in there! Patience and persistence will win the day!

[tzuhouse 4]

Oliver was (mostly) pad trained when I brought him home. I kept pads down and also took him outside. He would run to a pad to pee, but didn't do as well pooping on them. When we started puppy class, the trainer said to choose one and stick with it. I went home and picked up the pads and he did a lot better going outside. I always stayed with him until he went, gave the command 'go potty' and rewarded him when he did. One thing I think helped a lot was that we stayed out until he went. I hear so many people complain that they stayed out for x amount of time, then their puppy went in the house as soon as they came in. I spent what felt like half the summer waiting and watching, but it worked!! By 6 months he was completely trained with no accidents. Best of all, he will potty on command when we're away from home and I have to walk him. Hang in there! Patience and persistence will win the day!

Good point about staying out with them and one more thing to add to that....if you keep them ON a leash until they go and always take them to the same locations, that too will help. Once they go, you can take them off leash, if you have a fenced yard for them to play, but they always know that FIRST they must potty BEFORE play.

[emmasmom 14]

I also agree..... stay out with them until they go & use a leash, you have to be more stubborn than they are!!! LOL! They don't get to come in until they go! You WILL spend alot of time outside (no matter what the weather is), but you will get results. Watch the body language when inside & soon the worst will be over! Good luck!