Housetraining

[ClickMeBC]

How long did it take you to housetrain your Border collie pup(s)? On average, about how long did it take for them to grasp the idea? What methods did you use?

 

My terrier, Sparky is 100% housetrained and hasn't had an accident in years. My IGs, however, are only 80% there - they tend to be very good about it in the summer as they get all their "business" done outside, but winter can be catastrophic. They are NOT fans of the cold(it's not really the snow that bothers them, Sierra will play in it, spin around and toss it in the air as long as it's not below 32 degrees), and as a result they end up "going" indoors to avoid having to stay out. It frustrates me to no end that despite all the praising, cookies, and toys they recieve after going outside, they have to do it inside. IGs are notorious for their housebreaking problems

 

For this reason, until we DO get those girls 100% 'there', I'd like to limit the interaction between all the dogs unless they're outdoors. I've heard of BCs being housetrained in 3 days, and though of course I'm not going to expect that from this new puppy, I'd like to avoid letting this carry on into adulthood. I've always used crate training methods(constant supervision when not crated), the "umbilical leash", clickers, all positive reinforcement.

 

Any input would be appreciated!

[Meg's mum]

Meg is 16 months old....and NEARLY completely housetrained. I have had her since she was 7 weeks old. We don't crate her for long periods of time and she is out frequently. She potties on command when I have my timing right. But when our attention is diverted by having the kids over, or long computing or artwork sessions we sometimes mistake her stress for demands for attention becuase they look identical unless you're keeping track of her rythms. We made the mistake of taking her off a tether too early and giving her too much freedom. Potty training and absolute recall have suffered.

[RaisingRiver]

Took me 6.5 months with River, but she was also the first puppy I potty trained myself - and I didn't watch her like a hawk all the time (like the times when I thought she DID get it and then well... she showed me she didn't.)

[Guest LJS1993]

Took me 6.5 months with River, but she was also the first puppy I potty trained myself - and I didn't watch her like a hawk all the time (like the times when I thought she DID get it and then well... she showed me she didn't.)

 

I'm struggling with my 5 month old. She is just so inconsistent with her restroom patterns. It's so hard to delineate between her trying to tell me and just simply playing around. What works? My last dog had a way of basically fitting her movements into the pattern of my life. What can I do?

[Anda]

Around 4-4.5 months my dog was completly house trained. By the second day, at 8 weeks, he knew to ask to go out to the balcony.... He would get a treat each time he would go on the balcony. So he soon figured out that if he asks to be let out, he gets a cookie, so he would pretend he went to the bathroom, then rush back in for a cookie Lil' stinker!

 

Most of the accidents were because we were ignoring some of his signaling (like at night or early in the morning... lazy us....)

[Guest LJS1993]

Around 4-4.5 months my dog was completly house trained. By the second day, at 8 weeks, he knew to ask to go out to the balcony.... He would get a treat each time he would go on the balcony. So he soon figured out that if he asks to be let out, he gets a cookie, so he would pretend he went to the bathroom, then rush back in for a cookie Lil' stinker!

 

Most of the accidents were because we were ignoring some of his signaling (like at night or early in the morning... lazy us....)

 

 

It just happened guys. I was chillin, she was playing, then started pawing at me, then bam, urine on the carpet. What in heck do I do?

[Anda]

It's at the pawing stage when you have to intervene, either lift the puppy up and take her out, or tell her to head out towards the door, and praise her for peeing out.

[sharkie]

my lab was 100% when we got her at 4mo...she'll whine and paw at the pen when she has to go. my 9wk bc is at 70%. she learned to whine (alot ) from my lab and when she starts to sniff around we know it's time to go. even if she doesnt need to go my mom still takes her out every 3-4 hours during the day and she just got used to doing it out in the yard.

[flrpwr52]

Kya is now 11 weeks old and she goes to the door and barks when she has to go. We got her at 8 weeks and she has only had a few accidents in the house, all my fault.

I still take her out even when she doesn't ask to go but for the most part she lets me know. She has never messed in her kennel.

[PSmitty]

Jack, my BC mix, spoiled me for all other dogs. We got him at 3 months old, and he had exactly 1 accident in the house, the first week. He was trained so fast! I can't take any credit for it, he's just brilliant.

 

Now, Alex. He's going on 8 months old and we're still having the occasional accident. But I think we've got a handle on it now.

[Maizy]

Keegan was fully housetrained by about 4 months. He was easy. He only had accidents after about 3 months that were right after playing and it was like he had to go right then and there and was usually poop. Keegan started waiting at the back door and when we didn't notice him there he one day barked. Now he waits by the back door and barks if we aren't paying attention.

 

Tess on the other hand was not fully housetrained until about 14 months or more. She continued to have accidents for a long time. She always gave us this look like "hey stupid...I've been starring at you for about 5 minutes now...I have to go out!!!". Now she will give us a little woof or she just holds it while we are gone now.

[ZoZo]

At 10 weeks, our BC already had a pretty clear idea of what was expected. She had a couple accidents to start, like the time she walked up to me and started to pee on the Persian rug we were standing on. I clapped my hands and said "no" while she was doing it and that shook her up enough that she never tried it again. She's been 100% ever since (shes' a little over a year old now). We have a bell hanging on the back door knob that she rings with her nose when she needs to take care of things. That makes it easy on everyone- and no guessing, the bell is the clear signal "I need to go".

[Kat's Dogs]

Within the first week Dazzle would ring her doorbell to go outside and would get REALLY embarrassed if she went in the house. So that was when she got the idea. It was in the next week that she learned to ring the bell a little before bursting point to give me time to get the door open!

 

With her, it was given a command. We would go out on leash to a good spot and wait, she was good about going quickly when it was raining. Lots of praise for going and the command then back inside. In the case of an accident, I do nothing - not to mention the fact that she felt bad enough already! Playtime in the backyard was given a different command. We would go outside on leash, I would take the leash off and give that command - so she knew that it isn't always playtime, only when mom says. But she never scratched at the door or whined or anything - she would just go and stand there so I introduced the doorbell ("pet chime") and taught her that if she rings it, the door opens. For each of our outings I would make her ring the doorbell first. Then we faded the leash (went to a light line, then no leash but me with her, then I stayed at the door) and she was on her own! And that was it. With a puppy, there were many times a day to practice the routine

[marky48]

Riley (the worlds smartest dog) uses the bathroom with the rest of us. I'm training him not to leave the seat up.

 

Only kidding!! He trained in a few weeks....we do have occational accidents if we don't get him out in time...our fault.

[painted_ponies]

Constant supervision worked for Faith, once we got the coccidia she came from the shelter with under control. She was about twelve weeks old when she came to live with me and is six months old now. She's had maybe three accidents in the house, all of which were a result of my leaving her briefly unsupervised and out of the crate after she hadn't completely tended to business outside.

 

I wouldn't judge by the IG's - I've known twelve year old whippets who still had "accidents" on a regular basis. I never managed to housetrain mine.

[borderlicious]

Eve was housetrained (as in, asking to go outside consistently) at about 3 months. Dakota was at about 10 weeks, but Dakota had less bladder control than Eve and had accidents up until he was about 4 months old, despite knowing where he should go.

 

I was comfortable about leaving Dakota unattended when he was about 6 months old. That's as far as housetraining goes, mind you, not his urge to bring doom to everything valuable in the house. That didn't go away until he was about 1.5 years old.

 

I'm actually comfortable leaving Eve alone with pee pads in a corner of the room, I just keep her crated when I'm gone becuase she's a mountain goat and can climb anything. I left my bedroom for about 5 minutes once, and returned to find her prancing around on top of my television.

[Kyrasmom]

We've had Wenty for about a month now, he's about four months so has good control of his bladder and sleeps through the night. I still leave pee pee pads in a few places but he's been doing really well and hasn't had any accidents in well over two weeks if we get him out. He learned to use the pee pee pads in less than two days so he's a very bright little guy.

 

I've found with our numerous puppies (I routinely foster also) is to not put undue pressure on the pup and they learn quickly. Get them out after meals and naps and any time they seem to be wandering aimlessly and sniffing. Once they've established their "area" outdoors, and you continue to bring them to the same area, they're less and less prone to accidents. Most of the accidents are simply because we're not paying attention.

 

I never scold for accidents, I praise when they hit the pad, and just get them out if I can catch them in the act and praise if they finish it outdoors. Pee Pee is a very used word in our household. It's kind of funny as the adults have also grown up knowing it so when I take a pup out and ask for pee pee...they all go look for a pee pee place as well.

 

Maria

[jackpine]

Keegan was fully housetrained by about 4 months. He was easy. He only had accidents after about 3 months that were right after playing and it was like he had to go right then and there and was usually poop. Keegan started waiting at the back door and when we didn't notice him there he one day barked. Now he waits by the back door and barks if we aren't paying attention.

 

Tess on the other hand was not fully housetrained until about 14 months or more. She continued to have accidents for a long time. She always gave us this look like "hey stupid...I've been starring at you for about 5 minutes now...I have to go out!!!". Now she will give us a little woof or she just holds it while we are gone now.

 

 

I guess I've been pretty lucky with all three of my dogs. Bucky hasn't has an accident for two months and he is almost 4 1/2 months now. It was very hard at the beginning to understand when he was trying to tell me he had to go. But now I can distinguish between his whine to go out to pee and his urgent bark that a poo is imminent. With both, he looks at me very seriously, and his "got to go bark" is unlike his normal little barks. I say, "what, do you have to go 'hurry ups?" and he looks very serious and his eyes turn toward to door. It was probably easy to house train all three of them because with all three, I was able to keep a constant eye on them at the beginning and able to rush them out quite often at first.

 

It was incredibly easy with my first dog (a female). She was only 7 weeks when I brought her home and she had never been in a house before that. After two weeks, of training, (catching her when she would start to pee inside and rushing her outside) she simply would go to the door and whine. I think that it was so easy with all three because when I got each one of them, I didn't have much else going on in my life, and I was at home all the time so was able to focus entirely on getting them house trained at the beginning.

[Lunar]

Zoe's almost 2 and she's still not 100%. She hasn't had an accident in weeks (except for at Kerry/Kitch's house, sigh, that was my fault), but I still don't leave her in a room unsupervised because she figures if there's no one to "warn" then the floor is fine. It's SO frustrating.

[shelb'smum]

at 8 months old, I can leave Shelby out of her crate, alone for 6 hours. oh AND trust her to not do anything!!! :D

but wicket at 1 years 3 months I cannot trust for more then 30 minutes to be alone out of the crate and not find a place to poo.... we are still working on that.

 

ACTUALLY he is great in MY place, but leave him alone anywhere else and he poos, dunno why!!

[fotobridget]

Liberty has been sick ever since i got her from the humane society at around 8-10 weeks old. She is now right at Five months old and does pretty well. I too use the bells on the door. I travel every few days to different places and having bells on the doors keeps it consistent for her, as she travels with me.

 

She rings the bell and if i am not quick enough she rings it louder. We've had one accident in the last two weeks i think, so i am crossing my fingers.

 

My boyfriend's lab/bloodhound mix was also a humane society rescue at around the same age as Libby and he was trained within a week.

 

Guess it differs with each dog.

[Beth G]

It took Popcorn two weeks to get the gist but Pepper still has mistakes every few months...

[Carson Crazies]

Nick was housetrained at about 95% by about 12 weeks, 99% by 16 weeks. Bree was housetrained by about 18 weeks. It took June about three days (having been a kennel dog) to totally figure it out, but she was right at 5 years old. Ginger wasn't housetrained (had NEVER been in a house before) when she came to me (a year old), but housetrained herself from the moment she walked in the door.

 

Each dog is different... and IMO boys can be tough. I learned they can walk and pee without even breaking stride. On the couch.