Question:
i guess i am doing things a little unconventionally from what i have read, but i wanted to ask you all whether this version of housetraining is likely to work?
we have a 15 week old saint bernard we have had for 3 weeks now. we have a small area of the garden adjacent to the back door fenced off and have taught him to wee and poo there, and associated it with the words "busy boy". now if i take him out there and say busy boy, he's wees almost instantly for me so i know that part has worked.
when we are in we leave the back door open all the time and whenever her needs to go he just goes outside, and we have very few accidents in the house when the doors are open.
within a week of praising him whevere he went outside he has learnt where he is supposed to do his business.
but if the doors are closed and we are in, he suddlenly seems to wee every 20 minutes and has quite a few accidents.
he is also very good overnight, he sleeps in a crate with the door open, and can go 8 hours overnight without any accidents, so long as we go downstairs before he wakes up. if he wakes up first there's a puddle by the back door, which is only to be expected.
if we go out he can manage a couple of hours dry.
so my problem is that at present, if the doors are open, he is almost reliabley potty trained, and if we go out, he can manage a while, i'm happy with overnights too - but what about if it gets cold, i can't have the doors open all winter!
he has no way of telling us he needs to go. if he can get out fine, but if he can't then it puddles ( no, floods actually!) everywhere.
will this just gradually get better as he gets older. i know he is still quite little, and i think he seems to have made good progress (although he is the first puppy i've ever had so little to compare him to).
but i just need to know if we continue this for another month or two he will get there, or if we need to train him differently now.
many thanks
Answer:
You shouldn't leave the door open because he shuldn't be going out. You should be TAKING him out for his safety. It also teaches him to let you know that he needs out. He should not be making puddles at night because he should be in a crate overnight, so he can't puddle, he can't chew, he can't choke on something etc etc etc
Answer:
might help to put a bell on the door for him to learn how to ring for the winter time. if he is used to going thru an open door, then shut the door enough where he has to nudge the door to get thru. the bell will then ring and he'll maybe get use to the sound and start associating the bell with outside. I know there are training methods out there using the bell, and I have 1st hand knowledge of it working. my sister has a very stubborn bassett and he learned via bell training.
Answer:
do exactly what brad said - TAKE him out each & every time. For now you will have to go back to taking him out every 20 minutes or so & be sure to use your word, altho I don't think you would want to use busy boy as he may squat right there. I'd use the word OUT. Its back to basics for him.
Answer:
hmm good trigger word might be outside...then he can alert you to when he wants out...
come to think of it....we I have been taught all the wrong ways of potty trainng...from rubbing there nose in it to leaving the door open..come to thinkk of it....by leavin the door open has increased accenedts ..