We adopted a 7 week old puppy on January 28, 2012. She is the sweetest dog! But, she is not house broken yet. This is the first dog I have owned. My husband is gone from the house 14 hours/day and I have trouble trying to train Sadie to not go on the floor. Any tips would be very appreciated!!! Thanks in advance!
First, lots of patience. 7 weeks is very very young. Puppy will probably need to be physically picked up and taken outside every hour-hour and a half. Use a consistent phrase like "Go pee" or "Do your business" and set it down. If it goes then call it back to you and act like it just accomplished the greatest thing since the invention of the wheel :lol:. Every time. Crate the puppy at night. You will still have to get up with it once or twice or possibly even more at that young age for a few weeks to let it go potty. Absolutely first thing in the morning, take it outside quickly, before you do anything else. I mean anything. By the time it is 16 weeks or so it will probably be sleeping through the night, but still need to let it out first thing in the morning, and last thing at night, and still need to let it out every 2-3 hours. Puppies are a lot of work. Expect accidents for a few months. If it has an accident pick up the dog and bring it to the scene of the crime and show it the mess and tell it no or bad in a big voice, enough to get it's attention, and then take it outside and tell it to do it's business. Consistency is the key to success, and lots of praise when it does the right thing in the right place. Won't happen overnight with a puppy that young, will probably be a couple months. Hope this helped.
While I'm not a big fan of the indoor piddle pads, a 7 week old puppy cannot be left alone for 14 hours and expected to "hold it". (or an adult dog either for that matter) 7 week old puppies need constant access to food/water & will need to relieve themselves every couple of hours or so. If the dog is going to be left alone for several hours daily, you may want to train them to use the piddle pads so they have a place to go when needed. And like Pocahontas said, lots of patience, consistancy & praise. A 7 week old pup is like an newborn infant child, so go easy on the scolding, he/she wont understand why you are fussing at her & hasnt gotten good bladder/bowel control at this point in their young life. A lot of pups are still with their Mom at 7 weeks old... Since this is your first pup, you may want to invest in some puppy training books and consult a professional trainer for some tips. Zookeeper on this board is an excellent professional trainer and a very valuable source of knowledge about dogs. Getting your pup off to the right start is extremely important, Zookeeper can provide you with lots of good info to help you and your pup. Congrats on your new family member and good luck!
Never, ever reprimand the puppy for doing what is natural to them. Little bladder means lots of pee time. Lots of patience and as the dog matures (just like kids) they will be able to hold their urine a greater length of time and you will see the progress every week getting better. I've had a lot of dogs and found this method to work the best. 1. First thing out of the crate we go straight outside, use short words such as "out" as your walking your puppy to the door, then on the ground "be a good girl/boy", if they keep walking away put them back in that exact spot and little ones will pee almost immediately, lots of praise "good baby" etc. 2. Keep in mind that food goes in and it must come out. Back out we go after our meal. 3. After all of the above its time to play, about 20-30 minutes after play little ones usually need to pee again, then they can go a longer time. 4. Another pee/poop trip before we are back in our crate (their den for safe keeping), as your little one matures he/she will by nature not want to mess in their bed. It truly can take some dogs up to 6 months to stop having the accidents but most dogs will associate outside with their call of nature. They too want their house/bed clean, especially if you keep them healthy and clean. Some breeds more so than others. Around three months of age is when my dogs started showing the best control etc. and rarely if ever pooped in the house from the beginning. Its all about patience, persistence and timing on your part. I hope for the sake of the dog that 14 hour days are not the schedule for both of you, otherwise maybe a cat would've been a better choice for a pet.
