Puppy Training Q&As

We have a 16 week old puppy, who has just become house broke; however, she will only "do her business" outside if we are standing out there with her. We also have two small children who can't be left alone while we are outside with our puppy & it's too cold to take them out with us. If we put our puppy outside by her self she just stays on the steps & whines. She will not step foot onto the yard unless we're with her. We've even thrown toys & treats out for her, but nothing seems to work. ...

Hi! I have been to your site and really enjoy reading your advice. I have two questions that I am hoping you might be able to answer: With regards to potty training- I live on a three floor walkup and whenever I am about to take the dog outside for a potty break, he never makes to the door without peeing in the lobby first. He is able to hold his bladder for 7-8 hours so I know it is not a matter of control. I just don't think he understands the difference between peeing ins...

Hi, I am writing because I need some input about a potty training problem. I have 2 of your videos and I have a 7 month old chi/pom. He has been doing good potty training in his crate. I started that when I got him at 9 weeks. He just recently started to cock his leg up to pee and now for some reason when he is in the house he will some times just stop and do that on the couch or on any of the legs of the furniture and pee. We don't always catch him but we have a few times and ...

Hi Cindy, can you tell me a time frame on how long it takes a puppy to be house trained? I have followed the recommendations of crate training. Our GSD puppy is 19 weeks old. He is not free fed. He is crate trained and is not allowed out of the crate without our watchful eye. I take him, via leash, to a designated area to potty and use the word 'go potty.' He will potty and then we are done. He is not allowed in the house until he has 'emptied' himself. Unfortunately, while he is in the h...

Mr. Frawley, I looked through all your topics and didn't see this one. P.B. is my 7 month old Chihuahua, a Father's Day gift. I am at home 24/7 recovering from brain surgery, but this is not about me. P.B. sleeps by himself in the laundry room with full access to the backyard which he uses faithfully. He always goes outside and never on the floor between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. While in the office/spare bedroom, P.B. was advising me when he needed...

I am not sure how to proceed with Bailey and her potty training. I got Bailey at 7 weeks. She is an 11 week old female Doberman. She came from a good breeder and a clean environment. She has a great personality, learns quickly and is an all around happy, playful puppy. She is crate trained. She is exercised, walked, trained and I play with her every day. At first I thought the constant peeing was her age. After about a week and a half of the relentless peeing I began to real...

Hello. I have read many of the articles you have here and I understand you are a strong believer in crate training. I am a strong believer in whatever will work to solve my problem. I have a St. Bernard that is about 11 months old. No matter what I do he pees where he should not. I began by crate training as you recommended but this soon failed as everytime I would go to the crate he would be laying in a puddle of his urine. I would have to bath him everyday and it wouldn't stop. I moved to l...

My husband and I have watched your video regarding establishing pack structure, and we have some questions. Let me preface this by apologising for the length of this email. John and I are somewhat new parents to a 9 month old male, altered Havanese, named Zippy. We got him when he was 4 months old, so we've now had him for 5 months - just enough time to spoil him and turn him into an undisciplined small doggy that everyone thinks is adorable. We, however, continue to see bad behavi...

I want to see if you can give me some advice with an american line GSD. I know you do not prefere American line GSDs and it is not what you specialize in but I respect your many years of exprience and would like your opinion on something. I am the owner of a 3 yr. old male american line GSD that is a SOFT dog. He is not a fear biter, but becomes "nervy" and has a problem with submissive urination. I have read about submissive urination and it doesn't seem to be very common in adult males....

I have an 11 week old Chihuahua that just lost his sister to Parvo. I purchased the pups together from a breeder so they would have each other when I am not around. Unfortunately one of the puppies passed away from Parvo. Of course I am concerned about the other puppy and getting Parvo. I am keeping a close watch on him and getting his vaccinations in a few days. My training issue is this: Both pups were great about not using the crate for peeing and pooping when they were together. Now th...

I am so glad I found the crate training solution for our 8 week old lab pup. We have been doing things wrong for our first 3 days but I feel they are correctable, all except one problem that I have not found any comments on at all. Our pup has started to eat its poop, and we find this to be quite disturbing, and we would like to correct this as quickly as possible. I think he was probably allowed to do this in his first home, with a litter of 8. If you know, could you please answer our questi...

Please help! Our Boxer puppy is 5 months old and we have had him since he was 10 weeks. We bought him from a breeder and we visited them a couple times, he was kept in a clean kennel with a doggie door to outside. He has ALWAYS peed and pooped in the house, we cant get him to stop! We take him for walks, take him to the dog park, take him out every 1/2-1 hour. He will go outside and go to the bathroom and then come in and go to the bathroom. I have been keeping him in the kennel fre...

Dear Ed, I have backed myself into a corner (handler error). We have a 10 week old Ridgeback who is crate trained. He does not need to 'go' in the night. He easily last 1 to 2 hours between each potty break and is once a week left for 3 hours alone in his crate while we are out, no problems. I made the mistake of not taking him on leash to a 'special corner' in the first two weeks, but just let him free range in our large back yard, its all grass (I think the breeder did that t...

Good Morning! We have just ordered the "8 weeks to 8 month" training tape to help us in training our 11 week old male Yorkie. We have read many of the free eBooks on your site and are very pleased with the progress we have made as trainers! We had a puppy two years ago and failed miserably as handlers. That puppy went to live and be well trained by a woman who knew her stuff. The obvious issue there was our poor training. We certainly don't want history to repeat itself here. ...

My name is Kyle, and am a owner and lover of dobermans here in NY. I love your website, all the training information and have ordered your DVD on drive building. Ed, I have two wonderful dobermans who I raised since pups, and are exemplary in behavior and demeanor. Both my eldest two were crate trained from day one, their personalities built on positive praise, I am alpha and have complete and total control over my animals with voice command- NEVER by corporal punishment. Ed, I fee...

Is it possible to transition a dog from grass to gravel? We just rescued a 5 month old Airedale and he knows to go outside, but doesn't like to use the dog run. He prefers the grass of our yard. Any suggestions on transitioning him to the gravel? Thanks, Aileen

I am a new and very inexperienced yet proud Yorkshire Terrier owner. I came across your site from doing a google search. After reading your advice regarding puppy training and crate training, I immediately went out and purchased a crate for our 7 week old Yorkie. I have been keeping him in the crate with the door closed and only coming out to relieve himself, excersize & play and to eat & drink. My question is... when my dog is in the crate, should the door be closed at all times or i...

Hello, I want to thank you for the helpful puppy video. It is great! I do have two questions regarding our puppies. They are both going to be 6 months old and are both crate trained. We have to kennel them for almost a week and I'm wondering if this will undermine all of our housebreaking and crate training? Next, our male puppy has started not eating out of his bowl. He will only eat if the food is on the floor. Any suggestions why and how to deal? Thank ...

Hello! I am hoping you can help me with our Puppy? I have purchased the books, and taps and read all the articles you on your site. We have had our pup for 8 weeks now and things are going well. The biting is calming down unless she gets in a hyper mood. Which is usually when we get home and let her out of the crate. The house training is also going well? Except that after a few accidents, I did what your site recommended. We stopped putting her nose in her mistake, and I wo...