Potty Training

[mrbaguette]

Hi everyone,

I have a 3 month old Frenchie and I'm having a very hard time potty training him because he sort of gets it, but he sort of doesn't. When I put him on his potty mat and say "go potty" he will pee, which is good. But when it comes to pooping, he doesn't get that the mat is where he's supposed to poop also so he's pooping all over the place.

Every morning, I wake him up and literally have to pick him up and put him on the mat to tell him to go potty because he never does this on his own. His house is literally 6 paw steps away from his potty mat, but he needs me to put him on the mat before he will go pee and when he does, it's a huge puddle which makes it seem like he's holding in his pee.

When he's further away from his area (it's really not that far) he won't go to his mat to do his business. Instead, he just does it where he already is. I'm not sure if he's just too lazy to walk back to his area or if he really doesn't get it.

I've tried crate training him, but he just pees and poops in his crate. I've also recently discovered he pooped and peed in his own house! Everyone says dogs won't pee/poo where they sleep, but this is not the case for my Frenchie.

Does anyone have any tips on how I can go about training him?

 

[blushy]

We have a deaf puppy, he used the bathroom constantly where he slept to the point where I thought he was incontinent! I don't do the potty pad thing, so I was taking him outside every 30 minutes. It's been since Jan 10th with training, and I can say that for the last 2 weeks solid he hasn't had an accident that wasn't MY fault for waiting just a couple minutes too long to take him pee... He knows to stand up in his tote, and even barks now. And he's deaf, I cannot tell him "go potty" over and over unless he is looking at me and is trained for a hand signal, which for go potty, he is not. And he's a baby, and knows to run to the yard and do his business.

Keep at it! Frenchies are stubborn. And it can be frustrating but just take him to the pad yourself every 30 mins-2 hrs depending on last drink/food and he'll get it

Good luck!

 

[Tgirl]

Three months is still a baby. I wouldnt expect him to be potty trained whatsoever at this point. I would definitely use a crate though. Maybe get a smaller one so he can't pee on one side andn sleep on the other. If he does still go potty in there, make sure you clean it immediately. Some puppies have been in cages not kept very clean by the breeder and don't seem to mind being in a dirty cage. I'm not saying that is what is going on with him, it could just be that he is a baby and doesn't know better. Take him out of the crate very often and put him on the mat and tell him to potty. Praise him when he does. When you catch him going elsewhere, scold him with a firm "no" and put him on the mat. At 3 months old, if he is just running around the house, I would expect him to go anywhere and everywhere. If you can't watch him, he needs to be in the crate. It can take up to a year for some dogs so just be consisent and he will catch on.

 

[Ralphysmom]

I regret ever using the pee pads. I have a cream coloured bath mat that I love and well Ralphy thinks that its a pee pad The only thing that worked for us was a smaller crate and taking him out alot to the same spot and lots of good boys and love when he did what we wanted him to do. He is pretty much fully housetrained now at 16 weeks, and we have bells that hang from our patio door that he rings to let us know that he needs out. He goes down,does his business and comes back (if he doesn't get distracted !!! LOL)

 

[Jakeyjake]

Stella still has accidents because she is too afraid to go through the dog door where I have a perfect area of fake grass for them. I didn't like the pee pads either because ultimately this is not where I wanted them to be trained to go. Establishing a routine and consistency is the best. Not sure what your living arrangements are like but I would start taking him to where he will eventually be expected to go if it makes sense.

 

[davidh]

It does take awhile, even at 6 months of age they will have accidents and Frenchies can be hard headed and hard to potty train, so just keep it up and have patience.

 

[Emmpepp]

Patience is the key. We only put the pads out at night and when we weren't around for longer than an hour. We started with every 20 minutes we would put him in the garden and wait till he did his business. As soon as he went to wee we would say 'wee wees'. Once he did we praised him lots and brought him back in. Then twenty minutes later the same again and again. Then we extended this too thirty minutes then 45. Obviously throughout if we left it too long he would just wee. If we caught him weeing we scooped him up and put him outside. Eventually his accidents got less and less. Now every morning he knows he goes out and does his business on command and he knows his daily routine so we haven't had accidents for about 2 months now.
Patience is every thing and I would say over the top praise for doing his business outside. Good luck.

 

[eeturk]

As [MENTION=4]davidh[/MENTION] mentioned, some of them are quite difficult. I have one -- he wasn't potty trained until 8 months. BUT your baby is still just that, a baby, so I really wouldn't be distressed about lack of potty training quite yet. The thing that finally worked for us was just consistency, consistency, consistency. Get to know when they want to go. For us, it was before bed, after waking up, after food/water, and after play time, every day. Also, training with pee pads can, in some ways, force you to potty train twice because then you'll have to potty train OFF the pads and teach them to go outside. If you can, I'd take the puppy outside. Establish a cue -- ours is "go potty." This way they go to the bathroom on command. I was getting so frustrated when my guy was so old and still having accidents, but then I realized they were all my fault -- I had strayed from the consistent schedule. Now he'll hold it, but a schedule is soooo key when they are young. Hang in there!


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[shortstuff]

I'd personally recommend doing away with the potty pads and solely training outside. It can be very confusing to a dog to teach them it's okay to potty inside, but only right here. Also, Frenchies are your typical stubborn bulldog and can take some time to teach. Bisou came to us at 4 months old, where she was confined to a small playpen indoor sleeping area with a doggy door. Her previous owners said she never had an accident inside, but failed to mention that' because she was outside all day, thus she learned she could just pee wherever she was standing. It was quite the battle to get her trained 100%, but the potty pads didn't work at all for us.

 

[MickieBlue]

Hang in there. This is the one area Frenchie's are slower at picking up, mostly because of their stubborn nature. We are at 7 months and he still has an accident inside every once in a while. Mine is also very quiet, if I don't stay on him like a hawk to know that he is sitting by the back door, I miss my window. I just purchased bells for the door in hopes of training him to hit the bell when he needs to go outside.

Stay consistent and be patient. Take him out every 2-3 hours even if he's made no signal that he needs to go out. Also, no free range of the house. Even if that means keeping him on a leash with you in the house. The crate is also a great training tool. If you take him out and he doesn't go, put him in the crate for 5 minutes and then take him right out again. I also don't recommend using potty pads unless you absolutely have to. I think that is why it took us a little longer because he was confused.

Good luck! It will get better, I promise!