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Need tips for puppy to start doing their business outside (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 days ago by pathief@lemmy.world to c/dogs@lemmy.world

15 comments fedilink hide all child comments

We adopted a Golden Retriever puppy and everything went pretty smoothly. She's currently almost 5 months old. The in-home potty training went very well and very fast, she always does her business in a diaper-like sheet (sorry, I don't know the english term).

Now that she has her vaccines in order, she's ready to go outside. We've been trying for 1 week for her to get used to doing her business outside but it has been a frustrating experience. She doesn't feel comfortable doing her business outside and will only do it when she can't hold anymore. Her ability to hold poop is not that high so we have had some (not much) success with pooping outside but... we discovered that she can hold her pee for at least 4 hours. We haven't managed to get her to pee outside yet.

Things we tried:

We take 3 walks a day, after every meal; Shorter walk on lunch time, longer walk on dinner time.
Take the diaper sheets (both clean and dirty) outside, to create a sense of familiarity or smell. She ignores them completely
Long walks with leash on grass or open field
Long time in a doggy park, without leash and no other dogs and lots of water
Walks with other friendly dogs that pee/poop frequently
Praising other dogs when they pee/poop
Play time with other friendly dogs in the doggy park
Removing the diaper sheets inside, which causes to do her business on the floor without much of a thought
Do a picnic on the grass and have her on a long leash to walk "freely"

We praise and reward her heavily when she poops outside and have no reaction when she does her business inside. She is still excited to go outside, I feel like she loves it there! Just doesn't enjoy doing her business there, I guess.

Any tips? Thanks a lot!

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[–] fulcrummed@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Honestly, I’d try to phase out the inside sheet for her. You’re doing all the right things - taking her out regularly, and after every meal - she’s old enough that she should be able to hold it between outings (nighttime can be tougher). If you don’t have a dog-door, now would be a great time to teach her how to let you know she wants to go out. I taught my dog to ring a bell (like on a hotel or shop counter) when he wants to go out. I started by teaching him to give me his paw, then getting him to do it while the bell was in my hand, I would ring the bell every time I went out the door, would get him to do it and then just let it evolve. It’s been so helpful for him to communicate what he needs. Esp as he’s a bit of a vocal dog - helps to know when he needs out.

The best way in my experience is to get to her outside before she has a chance to go inside. It may mean waking really early or going to bed late so that she can last between trips outside. There might be some accidents while she gets used to it, but for example, if you can take her out first thing in the morning before she wakes up, and then (like you do already) reward her with lots of praise and treats when she goes outside, she’ll get the hang of it pretty quickly. The trick is to to give her so many opportunities that she won’t have an accident inside.

That’s what’s worked for me in the past n

[–] pathief@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

The best way in my experience is to get to her outside before she has a chance to go inside.

We have been somewhat doing this. We close the door to her usual go to place and check out when she's circling around it, then we go outside. Works great for poop but unfortunately not for pee. She holds her pee for hours until we finally give up and let her go.