Puppy training advice please.
Discussion
Hi all,
We have a golden cocker, now six months old. He's coming along nicely except for the problem we have of him still messing in the house at night. We've tried the puppy pads only for them to be shredded/eaten when we come down in the morning. We make sure he has plenty of opportunity to 'go' just before bedtime. We've even brought his feed time forward hoping this would solve it. He's very quick to learn otherwise and he does know that messing in the house is naughty as he hides in his crate when we voice our disappointment every morning. Any suggestions as to what else we can do. We've never experienced it taking this long before.
We have a golden cocker, now six months old. He's coming along nicely except for the problem we have of him still messing in the house at night. We've tried the puppy pads only for them to be shredded/eaten when we come down in the morning. We make sure he has plenty of opportunity to 'go' just before bedtime. We've even brought his feed time forward hoping this would solve it. He's very quick to learn otherwise and he does know that messing in the house is naughty as he hides in his crate when we voice our disappointment every morning. Any suggestions as to what else we can do. We've never experienced it taking this long before.
First of all you need to stop voicing your disappointment in the mornings, there is no point, just clean it up, he will become fearful and make him more likely to mess if you continue to do this.
Get rid of training pads, newspapers.
What time do you feed him and what do you feed him?, this could be very significant.
Is there anything that switches on during the night which may disturb him?
What time do you let him out at night (is he on or off a lead when you let him out?)
Whenever he toilets outside give him lots and lots of praise and a treat.
Get rid of training pads, newspapers.
What time do you feed him and what do you feed him?, this could be very significant.
Is there anything that switches on during the night which may disturb him?
What time do you let him out at night (is he on or off a lead when you let him out?)
Whenever he toilets outside give him lots and lots of praise and a treat.
Edited by bexVN on Thursday 4th November 21:39
Hi Bex,
I knew you'd reply and as usual very constructive. We don't shout at him, we just say 'Ohhh Barney' and he senses the tone in our voice I suppose. But we'll stop doing this - pronto. We've stopped with the puppy pads, as mentioned, he just shreds them. We feed him at 6pm - James Wellbeloved 'puppy'. He was on Hills Scienceplan until a couple of weeks ago but I think that was a bit rich for him. He's off the lead when he's let out at about 11pm and he does get lots of praise and a treat when he 'goes' outside. He's only just stopped eating his own poo but will eat our other cockers poo if we don't distract him. This sounds disgusting I know, but I understand from our vet that this is a very common problem. Do you know of any floor cleaner that doesn't have ammonia in it. as I believe this could be why he's messing in the same spot.
We live out in the country, so it's pretty quiet and can't think of anything that could be disturbing him.
I knew you'd reply and as usual very constructive. We don't shout at him, we just say 'Ohhh Barney' and he senses the tone in our voice I suppose. But we'll stop doing this - pronto. We've stopped with the puppy pads, as mentioned, he just shreds them. We feed him at 6pm - James Wellbeloved 'puppy'. He was on Hills Scienceplan until a couple of weeks ago but I think that was a bit rich for him. He's off the lead when he's let out at about 11pm and he does get lots of praise and a treat when he 'goes' outside. He's only just stopped eating his own poo but will eat our other cockers poo if we don't distract him. This sounds disgusting I know, but I understand from our vet that this is a very common problem. Do you know of any floor cleaner that doesn't have ammonia in it. as I believe this could be why he's messing in the same spot.
We live out in the country, so it's pretty quiet and can't think of anything that could be disturbing him.
Edited by susanq on Thursday 4th November 22:04
Ever predictable me 
Any cleaners from eg pets at home should be suitable.
I assume he messed with the Hills aswell. How often does he defaecate in a 24hr period?
JWB should be ok, however I do know quite a few pups where they get a lot of wind with it and seem to poop quite a lot (my own dog did this on jwb, I changed to Pro Plan Puppy and never looked back).
It may be worth changing portion sizes of food, feeding bigger portions during day and just a very small tea and poss feed him even earlier if you can e.g. 4pm to see if this helps him empty his bowls before you go to bed.
And yes eating their own faeces (copraphagia) is very common in pups! (not so common eating other dogs though)
Any cleaners from eg pets at home should be suitable.
I assume he messed with the Hills aswell. How often does he defaecate in a 24hr period?
JWB should be ok, however I do know quite a few pups where they get a lot of wind with it and seem to poop quite a lot (my own dog did this on jwb, I changed to Pro Plan Puppy and never looked back).
It may be worth changing portion sizes of food, feeding bigger portions during day and just a very small tea and poss feed him even earlier if you can e.g. 4pm to see if this helps him empty his bowls before you go to bed.
And yes eating their own faeces (copraphagia) is very common in pups!
(not so common eating other dogs though)Edited by bexVN on Thursday 4th November 22:10
You mention a crate ? Is he shut in the crate over night or does he roam ?
Dogs usually crap as far away from the bed as possible. If the cage is closed he may then decide/learn to wait rather than crap so close to the bed?
break the habit anyway you can, then move to the next stage.
Dogs usually crap as far away from the bed as possible. If the cage is closed he may then decide/learn to wait rather than crap so close to the bed?
break the habit anyway you can, then move to the next stage.
BOR said:
bexVN said:
What time do you let him out at night (is he on or off a lead when you let him out?)
What's the significance of on/off lead, out of interest? Off lead "seems" better in our case.Our pup is just 5 months and has been "clean" for 2 months.
He had issues on James Wellbeloved (going all the time, horrible poo etc) so we swapped to hills and he now goes twice a day usually.
But the best thing we ever did was get a dog flap. Bloody great-he just comes in and out as he pleases and all is well.
I would get rid of the JWB-although one vet recommended it, it was rubbish for us.
He had issues on James Wellbeloved (going all the time, horrible poo etc) so we swapped to hills and he now goes twice a day usually.
But the best thing we ever did was get a dog flap. Bloody great-he just comes in and out as he pleases and all is well.
I would get rid of the JWB-although one vet recommended it, it was rubbish for us.
We were warned by many Dachshund owners and breeders that they might be particularly difficult to house train. The older one is 11m and still not 100% 'safe'.
We were told to take them out lots, (every 2 hrs when tiny, building up to 3 or 4 hrs) at similar times each day and to use a phrase "wee wee" and "busy" which you say every time they do it + lots of reward and praise the second that they do, have some treats in your pocket when you're in the garden and reward instantly! They soon get the message if they are food motivated!
Our neighbours must be sick to death of the 10pm wee-wee song! but it is paying off. On the occasions we have an accident we simply clear it up quietly & pop the dog outside for a minute so he makes the connection.
With the older dog (our first one) we made the mistake of leaving newspaper down too long, the younger one is only 3 and half months and is much better.
Good luck!
We were told to take them out lots, (every 2 hrs when tiny, building up to 3 or 4 hrs) at similar times each day and to use a phrase "wee wee" and "busy" which you say every time they do it + lots of reward and praise the second that they do, have some treats in your pocket when you're in the garden and reward instantly! They soon get the message if they are food motivated!
Our neighbours must be sick to death of the 10pm wee-wee song! but it is paying off. On the occasions we have an accident we simply clear it up quietly & pop the dog outside for a minute so he makes the connection.
With the older dog (our first one) we made the mistake of leaving newspaper down too long, the younger one is only 3 and half months and is much better.
Good luck!
Edited by parakitaMol. on Friday 5th November 12:54
Thanks everyone for the feedback. Barney normally does a poo about 3 times a day, which I would think is normal. I will start closing the door on the cage from tonight as he has had free roam up until now. Thanks Becks for the feeding tip - larger portions during the day and small one at night - makes sense. Having said all this, we actually had a 'dry night' last night for the first time. Hubby got up at 5.30am to let him out and he went, no problem. Maybe this is also the way forward. We won't give up on him though, he's a lovely little fella.
My BSD is 6 months old now and seems sorted, has had about 2 accidents in the last 2 months. We used to feed her James Wellbeloved it made her poop very squishy and 3-4 times a day. It is recommended as a good food but particularly the turkey flavour is known to make a lot of dogs squishy.
I have changed her to Arden Grange food now and she does good solid poops 2-3 times today the only downside is that there is only 1 flavour of it until she is an adult.
I have changed her to Arden Grange food now and she does good solid poops 2-3 times today the only downside is that there is only 1 flavour of it until she is an adult.
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