[trouble maker fred]

Fred is now starting to go to the door and bark when he has to poop and he always gets a lot of praise when he does. Occasionally he barks to go outside when he has to pee but he mostly does that in the house. Do most puppies take longer to get the peeing outside part down? I take him outside after he wakes up eats and plays and he'll pee but sometimes right after he pees he'll come inside and pee again. I dont give him any water after 9 p.m. and he drinks normally during the day but he just doesnt seem to want to pee outside. He will be 3 months on the 28th so I know he is still young but I thought if he knew to poop outside he would start to get the hang of peeing outside. Am I expecting too much from him at such a young age?

 

[Mikey T]

Am I expecting too much from him at such a young age?

From a basset hound yes It is unrealistic to expect much before 6 months
of age and that is pushing it. Dogs tend to take longer than Bitches. The easiest way to prevent accidents is a schedule ths includes water and play session. When the dog will need to eliminate becomes predictable it is much easier to avoid accident.

IMHO one of the big mistakes made in housetrain is the notion that a lack of accidents means the dog understand. It gets more freedom and accidents become rampant. It is not that the dog regressed. It is the dog never understood its job yet it was just managed effectively to prevent the accidents. remove the managment and accidents occur. Never had a basset I would consider reliable before the age of six mouths a year being more typical.

 

[jmm]

mikey t said it all...he has described my situation. an 8 month old with virtually no accidents. thats because i am very vigilent and wont allow accidents. sadie still doesnt get it poo or pee....however, holding times have improved..
you are doing great if you get the poo part down at 3 months....good luck and continued success.

 

[Lina]

May be because Fred can still smell his own urine on the floor/carpet? (eventhough human's nose can't smell it)
That's attract him to go in the house instead of outside?

BTW Fred is sooo cute! It will be difficult to get mad that this little devil. I don't have a heart to do so.

 

[trouble maker fred]

it is hard to be mad at him. I do clean the area he pee's with carpet cleaner. I just thought it was weird that he goes to the door and barks when he has to poop but he wont really do that when he pees. He understands that when he goes potty outside he gets a treat because when he is done he gives me the "wheres my treat look" I guess if he is pooping outside on his own he will catch on about peeing outside sometime.

 

[bjsibba]

Sadie must be a fast learner. She is about 4 & 1/2 months and goes outside both poop & pee. Yes we are good about letting her out often but if we get busy or forget she will walk over to the door and just sit there and if still don't notice she will scratch at the door. Haven't had an accident in the house for over 2 weeks now.

 

[charvie]

Originally posted by trouble maker fred
I just thought it was weird that he goes to the door and barks when he has to poop but he wont really do that when he pees.

I'm not sure if it might be the same or not, but perhaps as like with potty training children I know that mine learned to notice when they had to poop before they got the hang of noticing when they had to pee.

It's a different feeling and seemed like they could tell when they had solids on the way as opposed to when they had to pass water. And for a while they still had "accidents" of the liquid nature long after they had learned to run to the bathroom to poo.

Okay, I'm hoping I don't upset anyone with my pup - child comparison here - I KNOW dogs aren't humans and visa versa I'm not saying to treat the dog like a human child potty training ... (just so you know I do know the difference because I have seen some people on here before get chastized for using "human" comparisons).

Anyhow I wouldn't be discouraged at this early stage. Seems this topic has come up a lot since I first joined the forum and all I can say is thank God for this forum, the people in it and the encouragement to hang on to patience *hehe* Before bassets I never thought a dog would be so dang difficult or take so long to completely potty train.

My pups are just over a year old now and I'm convinced that it's not them that's trained now... it's ME learning when they need to go out and being vigilant about getting them outside and for walks on a regular basis that has stopped the "accidents" here.

Good luck! And keep patient ... it'll get there

 

[trouble maker fred]

wow I worked at a daycare for a long time and usually kids start to pee on the potty before they poop. You mustve gotten lucky cause i would rather change a pee diaper than a poop one :lol: But I was thinking the same thing maybe with the child comparison. and 2 1/2 months is early to start going to the door to go potty. Sadie and fred must be two smart little pups.

 

[Terry]

Moe took forever to housetrain. He was young when I found him - it was estimated that he was seven to nine months old by our vet. We adopted him in July (it was hot and he drank AND peed GALLONS of water :roll: ) and he didn't seem to get the idea about going outside until five or six months later. Even then, he wasn't COMPLETELY trustworthy until he was two years old.

We used a reward system to housebreak him. I used to buy Pupperoni, cut them into one inch pieces, and keep them in a treat jar near the door. Each and every time I took Moe out (always on the leash for training so he wouldn't get distracted) I'd take a treat from the jar with me and, once outside, I'd stand in the driveway and say "Go PEE, Moe, go PEE!" in a high-pitched happy voice until he either went or he didn't. If he went he got the treat and lots of praise (praise the HE** out of them 8) ). If he didn't pee the treat went back in the jar and we tried again fifteen to thirty minutes later. We'd keep doing this until he did pee. Eventually he got the idea in a big way - the treat was a strong motivator. It got so he'd go out, squat and dribble, get his treat, squat and dribble some more, get another treat, and so on. Sometimes he'd squat and PRETEND to pee, then come back to me, tail wagging, looking for his treat. :roll: At least that meant he didn't need to go. At one point he was SO WELL TRAINED that when we walked him he'd pee whenever we passed a gravel driveway (ours was gravel at the time).

Another thing we needed to learn were his signals. They were so subtle as to be almost non-existent. Eventually I noticed that if he sat near the door he might need to go pee (and he wouldn't sit long - if you blinked you missed it and there'd be a puddle and he'd be gone). I began to be aware of where he was at ALL times (sort of like when you have a tddler in the house). "Where's Moe" was always at the fore-front of my thoughts, partly because of the housetraining thing, and partly because I had two teenage daughters who collected beanie-babies and Moe's mission in life seemed to be to eradicate them from the face of the Earth! :wink: After a while he learned to scratch at the door if I didn't notice him sitting there waiting to go outside (and no matter what I tried I couldn't un-train him from that - as you could see from the condition of my doors if you were to visit us :shock: ).

Have patience and be persistent and you'll get through it... eventually.

Terry