Help house training a 4 months old Shih Tzu

Tine2105

Hi fellow forum dwellers! I really need your help!

3 weeks ago, I adopted a four month old shih tzu male. He's cuddly and adorable, but in the three weeks I've had him, I've made little progress in house training and am getting very frustrated (so are my brand new floors!)

He sleeps in his crate and is also crated when I go out of the house. I spend most of my time with him however as I am on sick leave from work at the moment. I want him to go potty outside.

Every morning I take him out of his crate and put him outside where he usually does his business, for which I reward him with much bravos and petting (as I do every time he does it outside.) Then I allow him back inside and have my breakfast, after which I feed him and the cat. I watch him after he has eaten (since they usually go soon after) and if I catch him sniffing the floor I take him outside. I have missed a few of his sniffing instances and puddles of pee have appeared in different spots, but I have never scolded him for it. I have instead scolded the mess and picked it up. If I catch him in the act, I scold him firmly (usually with "no, bad dog, pee outside!") as I carry him out the door.

I have been doing this consistently since he came here. I go outside with him and stay for long stretches of time, reading and waiting for him to do his business. Often he does nothing, then I take him back inside and the very second my back is turned (answering the phone, going to the loo myself, turning on the telly or whatever) he makes a mess! He'll sit outside for hours not doing anything and pee or poop the second he comes inside. I'm at my wits end here. What am I to do??

Please help!
Tine and Boris

Tine2105

Oh, I'm in the process of having a baby barrier modified so I can restrict him to the kitchen area and spare my wood floors from the floods. But short of that and crating him every second he spends inside except when he eats (which I don't think is the way to go!) I am really out of ideas...

kmes

This thread would be a great place to start!
House Training How Tos:

Be patient! Not only is your pup still adjusting to his new home, but he is still quite young! House training requires patience and constant supervision. Keep rewarding him with praise and treats for going potty outside.

You may also find it helpful to take him on a brisk walk. The exercise helps to "get things moving"!

Also, you may want to record the times that he does go potty. It should help you to figure out your dog's natural pattern, so you will have an idea of when her may need to potty.

pawsforthought

i know kmes has put the link to the thread on housetraining, but i thought i'd put my routine, since it seems to work. woody, since a couple of weeks after we got him (at 10 weeks,) has been perfect except for the occasional excitement-wee! lol

so this is what i do: if i catch him in the act, i say 'bad boy' and put him outside. if i catch him just after he's peed, i don't say 'bad boy' but i still put him outside. at regular intervals during the day i go outside with him and tell him to wee. the door is left open the whole time, though, so he can also learn to go out by himself. when we come back from a walk, or going out anywhere else, i take him onto the front lawn area and wait for him to wee. (he knows the routine now and will head for the grass himself because he knows that unless he's only just done a wee, i will not let him go inside until he's done one)

when he goes outside, i give him lots of cuddles and verbal praise, and a treat if i have one handy (i.e. on every walk we go on)

so yeah. that seems to have worked. excitement wees are given with a 20 week old puppy! lol

fawkese1

just a few things to add in to what you are already doing... first off, don't scold the mess either... any amount of scolding in this situation is either unecessary or does more harm than good second, rather than trips out meaning play time, he needs to learn that there is business to do. don't take him out and wait so long... i'd say take him out give him no more than 5 min to go, then back in the house for 10 min or so and repeat the process until you can catch him going outside.... when you do, he should get something fantastic and yummy...

you may need to take him out really really often for a while so that you can catch him going in the right place as many times as possible and reward him, soon he will start to get the idea...

if you can't keep an eye on him, can you keep him leashed to you? that may help...

good luck

Tine2105

Thanks for all the advice!! I will stop scolding puddles of pee (I felt ridiculous doing it anyway) and try not to leave him outside too long. I think confining him to the kitchen should help too, and maybe get him slowly used to not being attached to me at the hip (he's a bit dependant at the moment...)

I hope it works, he's such a perfect puppy otherwise!!!

fawkese1

hmm... personally, i'd work on the being attached to you thing after you work on house training... once he really starts to "get it" if that makes sense... you have a long time to encourage independence, but he is still quite young, and house training can be very frustrating... you may also want to consider using the newspaper/pad method while he is confined...

Tine2105

I do have a pad. He used it once, I think by total chance... I put it in the spot he usually tend to go to in the house but now he pees around it. I'd rather put him outside when i catch him than put him on the pad as I don't intend on using that method in the long run...

Leashing him to me seems like a good idea though. I'm sure the cat will like it as well I'll try that, thanks

fawkese1

if you read the link to the house training thread, the pad method involves putting them everywhere at first...then slowly removing them as long as he is still going on the pads... i meant to use it if you are going to confine him to the kitchen... the kitchen floor is likely easier to clean then the floor in other rooms, but unless it is very small, it will do nothing to help you with house training. keep in mind that every time he goes in the house, the act itself can be reinforcement to do so again.... you want to try really really hard to keep him from going in the house at all, but if you cannot prevent it(like you have to leave the house for a few hours and he hasn't been crate trained), then using the pads is a good alternative while you are doing the real training... and yeah, i totally agree, i would also rather not use the pads, but for some situations, they are a good interim tool....

anyway... i'm sure that you'll be fine...

Tine2105

Thanks again for the advice! I have him leashed to me at the moment and so far so good, no messes inside today (yet) *touches wood*.

He is crated when I leave the house for a bit, and if I plan on leaving for longer amounts of time he gets hauled off to my parent's house for a bit. I don't like crating him for hours on end...

I do hope this works. At the moment, getting him potty trained is the main focus of my days (sick leaves from work get rather boring after a few months!!)

I'll keep you updated to Boris's progress