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So I've been struggling with housetraining my five month old pointer puppy. The fact that I'm on a 4th floor walk up doesn't help. My puppy has regularly been holding it for 3-5 hours, but has frequent accidents. He can last the whole night - has since about 10 weeks, and often will hold it up to 6 hours.
So a few days ago, something sort of magical happened. I started just opening the door on the patio and sending him out. I stand on the porch and just watch him go, and click as soon as he goes. Then I call him and he comes right back up to a special treat and lots of praise. Hail Mary.
So I've been doing this steadily, and he always comes up afterwards. Sometimes he stops to sniff the garden, but I clap my hands and have him come back up.
But he's still having occasional accidents so I decided to up the ante and just let him out every hour yesterday. I also skipped our usual walk because I was organizing things at home, though I did play with him a lot more than usual.
Well, he went every hour. And he still had two accidents. It's like he immediately learned that he gets to go, so he started drinking like a fish. He drank more than a gallon of water yesterday - he's only 33 pounds. The first accident was only twenty minutes after his last potty trip. I took him out, then I jumped in the shower. When I came out in my towel, I saw him signaling to be let out. I raced to get my clothes on, but didn't make it - I peed all over the floor.
A couple hours later, he didn't even give me the warning. He had an accident about thirty minutes after he had last went. Overall he peed 14 time yesterday.
So that's problem number 1. I've taken him to the vet and we ruled out a UTI. Today no accidents so far, and he's drinking his normal amount of water (though I'm sending him out every two hours).
Problem #2. Last night, after being aggravated, he went out to pee. Twenty minutes later, he was at the door again. Confused that he had to go again, but also wanting to reward that behavior, I let him out - especially since he had already had two accidents that day within a half hour of his last urination. He just walked out, then dug under the fence, and ran as fast as he could without turning back.
This is the first time he had run away. I ran back into the house and got the juiciest treat I could fine - I giant link of alpine sausage that he's always staring at and never allowed to have because it's for humans, and went out waving it and calling him. I've heard that you're not supposed to chase dogs, because it makes them run more, so I walked carefully and slowly, kind of freaking out, but sounding cheerful and happy. When I found him, he was coming out of the neighbor's yard, holding a rotten guava that he had seen them throw two days ago and had wanted to pick up. He saw me and my sausage and started running to me, but then kept on running past me. Then he went to the next building, straight up the stairs. I know where he was going - the person who lives there has a dog that barks all day, and he's always looking in that direction. I crouched down and played dead to get his attention, in a dark alleyway in Chicago, like a lunatic. But it worked - he got worried and came to check on me.
Anyway, so these are the two problems - the potty training and the running away. If you guys could comment on either one, or both, that would be cool. I'm at my wit's end with potty training - he has an accident at least every three or four days now - two yesterday. As far as the running away - I wonder if I should just stop letting him go out on his own, or if I should continue to do as we've been doing the past few days and give him the freedom to do it on his own (which is super convenient for me). Will it reward him if I continue to give him freedom, and teach him that he's allowed to run away every once in awhile? I'm so glad that he's safe and he got loose late at night. I never want got that to happen again, and I'm already trying to strengthen my recall.
Thoughts?
So a few days ago, something sort of magical happened. I started just opening the door on the patio and sending him out. I stand on the porch and just watch him go, and click as soon as he goes. Then I call him and he comes right back up to a special treat and lots of praise. Hail Mary.
So I've been doing this steadily, and he always comes up afterwards. Sometimes he stops to sniff the garden, but I clap my hands and have him come back up.
But he's still having occasional accidents so I decided to up the ante and just let him out every hour yesterday. I also skipped our usual walk because I was organizing things at home, though I did play with him a lot more than usual.
Well, he went every hour. And he still had two accidents. It's like he immediately learned that he gets to go, so he started drinking like a fish. He drank more than a gallon of water yesterday - he's only 33 pounds. The first accident was only twenty minutes after his last potty trip. I took him out, then I jumped in the shower. When I came out in my towel, I saw him signaling to be let out. I raced to get my clothes on, but didn't make it - I peed all over the floor.
A couple hours later, he didn't even give me the warning. He had an accident about thirty minutes after he had last went. Overall he peed 14 time yesterday.
So that's problem number 1. I've taken him to the vet and we ruled out a UTI. Today no accidents so far, and he's drinking his normal amount of water (though I'm sending him out every two hours).
Problem #2. Last night, after being aggravated, he went out to pee. Twenty minutes later, he was at the door again. Confused that he had to go again, but also wanting to reward that behavior, I let him out - especially since he had already had two accidents that day within a half hour of his last urination. He just walked out, then dug under the fence, and ran as fast as he could without turning back.
This is the first time he had run away. I ran back into the house and got the juiciest treat I could fine - I giant link of alpine sausage that he's always staring at and never allowed to have because it's for humans, and went out waving it and calling him. I've heard that you're not supposed to chase dogs, because it makes them run more, so I walked carefully and slowly, kind of freaking out, but sounding cheerful and happy. When I found him, he was coming out of the neighbor's yard, holding a rotten guava that he had seen them throw two days ago and had wanted to pick up. He saw me and my sausage and started running to me, but then kept on running past me. Then he went to the next building, straight up the stairs. I know where he was going - the person who lives there has a dog that barks all day, and he's always looking in that direction. I crouched down and played dead to get his attention, in a dark alleyway in Chicago, like a lunatic. But it worked - he got worried and came to check on me.
Anyway, so these are the two problems - the potty training and the running away. If you guys could comment on either one, or both, that would be cool. I'm at my wit's end with potty training - he has an accident at least every three or four days now - two yesterday. As far as the running away - I wonder if I should just stop letting him go out on his own, or if I should continue to do as we've been doing the past few days and give him the freedom to do it on his own (which is super convenient for me). Will it reward him if I continue to give him freedom, and teach him that he's allowed to run away every once in awhile? I'm so glad that he's safe and he got loose late at night. I never want got that to happen again, and I'm already trying to strengthen my recall.
Thoughts?