House Breaking my Puppy... Need a Hand!!!

[Westtexaswingshooter]

Hello, Hello, Hello everyone. I'm brand spanking new to the forum so please forgive any of the dumb and retarded questions that I might ask. I've got several questions but instead of listing them all on this posting I'm going to create a separate posting for each question. Ok, first I just got my first "bird hunting" dog, A black female Labrador Retriever, she's 10 months old and chewing the dog out of everything including my face. Both parents are full blooded and excellent hunters. I've owned one other hunting dog, a American bulldog crossed with a Red heeler. He was my catch dog when I hunted large/dangerous game. I'm a complete novice when it comes to training a dog for hunting. My first, all his hunting ability's came natural to him and I discovered it completely by accident. With that said I need some guidance. I'm going to train her to hunt Duck, Dove, Quail... That's all we have down here in West Texas, maybe one day I'll hunt her on geese, pheasants, ect.

My problem right now is her house breaking. The breeders had her pretty much h. broke. She went outside almost all the time and any accidents indoors was on a puppy pad. The breeders brother wanted a pup and apparently it didn't work out. But now she's acting like he screwed her up on the house breaking, he only had her for about a week but I think he messed her up maybe. I take her out and she relives herself, then come back in and not a few minutes later I got messes to clean up. She's going inside more than outside it seems like. What can y'all recommend as far as training for the house breaking? I have rubbed her nose in it and commanded NO! Then immediately take her out and walk her trying to get her to understand. I really haven't swatted her back side at all really, I'm afraid of being too aggressive and ruining her. I don't want her scared her or her be terrified of me so I'm trying to be stern but gentle, this is my first bird dog with plans to train her myself to be the best retriever I can help her to be.

Thanks to all,

[mnaj_springer]

Same as any training. Reward the behavior you want, correct the behavior you don't want. Be fair and consistent.

[ezzy333]

I wouldn't even attempt tp house break a dog of any age without having a crate for them.

Ezzy

[GmanHawaii]

I wouldn't even attempt tp house break a dog of any age without having a crate for them.

Ezzy

This, crate training is your friend.

[getzapped]

I going through crate training now. She has been home a week and had maybe 3 minor accidents. The hardest part of crate training is having the will power to not go get em when they whine.

[gonehuntin']

Crate her.

[RoostersMom]

A crate is your best friend when raising a pup. She'll eventually use it as a den and if she ever has to be crated (vet's office, emergencies, kennels, etc.) then she'll be comfortable with one. If she seems to be peeing a lot more than would be normal, please check her for a UTI - a female dogs' plumbing is really close to the ground and they tend to get infections easy.

Step two....get a rolled up newspaper and when you find pee or poop spots in your house take the rolled up newspaper and hit YOURSELF over the head several times, repeating the statement "I didn't watch my dog close enough, I didn't watch my dog close enough.' Repeat as needed until you are watching the dog like a hawk EVERY time she is in the house loose. If you can't watch her, she goes in the crate, if you're watching t.v. and she walks out of sight - you need to follow her or watch her - eyes on the dog EVERY second she is loose in the house until she is potty trained.

Pee pads teach a dog to pee inside your home - is that what you want to reward? I'm guessing not, so I'm thinking you're already behind with the "training" that was done early on before you got the dog - pee pads are an awful lot like a rug or any soft surface. She needs to relearn that pottying only happens outside. And as any trainer on here will tell you - timing is the number 1 thing you need to be good at. Catching her in the act and hustling her outside is the way to go. Correcting her for something that happened more than 3 seconds ago is worthless - a dog doesn't work that way - sure, she knows you're mad about something, but she doesn't know what you're mad about unless you catch her in the act of doing it.

If she pees in the house, it's your fault for not watching her closely enough. You don't have to do this for very long - most fosters and puppies I've house trained are good to go within 2 weeks of really intense "watching." After that, they do pretty well. I have taught many of mine to ring a bell (hanging on the door) to ask to go outside - that works well for our Pointers and GSP's (the chessies haven't figured it out - they just go to the door and sit).

Just have patience - but really commit to watching her EVERY second she is loose in the house. And also, she can likely smell where the pee and poo has been in the house so you'll want to get a good enzymatic cleaner so that she can't smell those spots anymore (bleach, vinegar, soap and water, ammonia - none of them work to eliminate the smell from a dog's point of view). Unless you've used an enzymatic cleaner, your house now smells like a giant litterbox to her nose. The cleaner I use a lot is Nature's Miracle - there are lots of others out there though - be sure to get one that works though!

You'll crack this - it's only a small portion of time in the life of the dog - even if (god forbid) it took you 2 months to finish her potty training - you would still have the next 15 years or so to enjoy that she's well trained!

[Sharon]

This is all perfectly normal, as she's been in 3 locations over 10 months and pee pads for 10 + - months.

I feel badly for this dog as it has never been properly house trained; sounds you are the best thing to happen to this dog.

"She has been here a week and had maybe 3 minor accidents." quote

You have nothing to worry about. Crates are essential but don't overdue the time in the crate.

[mnaj_springer]

Step two....get a rolled up newspaper and when you find pee or poop spots in your house take the rolled up newspaper and hit YOURSELF over the head several times, repeating the statement "I didn't watch my dog close enough, I didn't watch my dog close enough.' Repeat as needed until you are watching the dog like a hawk EVERY time she is in the house loose. If you can't watch her, she goes in the crate, if you're watching t.v. and she walks out of sight - you need to follow her or watch her - eyes on the dog EVERY second she is loose in the house until she is potty trained.

This made me laugh so hard I almost peed, ironically enough. And it's soooo true!

[Sharon]

RoostersMom wrote:
Step two....get a rolled up newspaper and when you find pee or poop spots in your house take the rolled up newspaper and hit YOURSELF over the head several times, repeating the statement "I didn't watch my dog close enough, I didn't watch my dog close enough.' Repeat as needed until you are watching the dog like a hawk EVERY time she is in the house loose. If you can't watch her, she goes in the crate, if you're watching t.v. and she walks out of sight - you need to follow her or watch her - eyes on the dog EVERY second she is loose in the house until she is potty trained.

Absolutely , so well said.

[Westtexaswingshooter]

Step two....get a rolled up newspaper and when you find pee or poop spots in your house take the rolled up newspaper and hit YOURSELF over the head several times, repeating the statement "I didn't watch my dog close enough, I didn't watch my dog close enough.' Repeat as needed until you are watching the dog like a hawk EVERY time she is in the house loose. If you can't watch her, she goes in the crate, if you're watching t.v. and she walks out of sight - you need to follow her or watch her - eyes on the dog EVERY second she is loose in the house until she is potty trained.

Wow! I didn't finish reading and thought to myself. "WHAT? are you crazy? I'm not going to swat her after the fact she doesn't understand what she has done!" then I finished reading and almost "Peed" myself! That was good. Ya I know it's going to take time. In fact something I didn't mention is that not only was she raised with pads but during a week transition to me she was with another "owner" turned out he didn't want her and that he had another dog that is blind and partially deaf and that dog would just go all over their house. So she was raised as "I go in the house" to "Oh I can go anywhere in the house!". But we're getting better. She's not have accidents so much out of eye sight, I am watching her like a hawk when I'm there with her. But funny enough she's walking up to me and squatting right there. I have too go but I can't wait any longer . I walk her about every thirty minutes regardless just to help enforce we do this outside. As far as crating I do have a crate and she hasn't had a problem yet with it, now saying that I've just jinxed myself. But we're working on that as well and it seems to be going better that anything else. It's right by the bed so she's been pretty cool with it, in fact she'll go in there by herself lay down and sleep without any prompting. She sleeps about half the day if not more. she also sleeps pretty much through out the night. The other night I left the crate unlocked, all the hectic of the day. She got out jumped into the bed and slept the entire night on my head, it was kind of funny.