Puppy Training Q&As

I currently have a 1 year old Dachshund mix that I just adopted about 2 weeks ago. She knows to go outside and pee and when she pees or poops I praise her and say good job and she gets a treat when she comes in. The problem I am having is, it seems like she will hold her pee until the next time to go out if she has to pee but if she has to poop she just goes. The vet checked her out and said she is healthy and everything seems fine. I can?t make her understand that potty is for outside only. ...

I have a 3.8 pound Morkie. She will be 7 months on the 23rd. She is a good dog. Lot's of personality but...the housebreaking has been a nightmare. I started crate training her and she was peeing in the kennel at night even though I walked her during the night. Then she stopped doing this and recently started again. She was kept in the crate during the day and walked once sometimes twice a day until I got home at 3:30. But she has always had accidents in the house no matter how many times I wa...

My 9-month-old Cavalier King Charles has been eliminating outside successfully for the past two months. He rings the doggie bells we have on our door or barks when he needs to eliminate and he generally defecates at the same time (morning and before bed) everyday. Recently, after we took him outside to play, when he came back into the house, he defecated on our carpet (this was mid-afternoon, and we had not changed his feeding schedule). He gave no signal that he had to go out - no bell ringi...

I have an 8 month gsp. I trained him fully on papers. He holds it in all night. I am frustrated and I walk him, he refuses to make outside... any tips? Should I not put down the papers... Your Q&A page was not working properly. I need some help so the gsp can be fully housebroken to go outside. I am one step into sending him to a foster home for adoption. My gsp has the makes on a good family dog. Need help. Thanks, Anna

Hello, I've recently adopted an adult male rescue dog (4-yr old-Dachshund) who I'm told was turned in most likely by a local breeder. I currently have a 3.5-yr-old female Dachshund. The new addition is very sweet and submissive, but seems to have had no housebreaking (or anything else) taught to him. He pees everywhere in the house, and will occasionally poop in the house as well. I've read about your isolation method, which appeals to me. Is this the right path, and if so, what's next...

Our new dashound mix 7 month old puppy will bite my husband's legs when we put the kids to bed. Only when it's his turn to tuck them in, he does this. Will not do it to me. Why and how can I fix this? Trying to search the web for answers, but not coming up with anything for this. Thanks a bunch if you can help.

Hello, and thanks for your wonderful website and training materials! You have already made a huge difference for us in dealing with our 3.5-month-old GS/Rottie mix. Sorry if you have answered this question elsewhere but I couldn't find anything on it. Our problem is that our puppy happily poops and pees on our property, but she will not do anything away from our property! We live in a pretty rural area and there are lots of places along our walking route where she could relieve herself, but s...

I got your puppy package of 4 DVDs and enjoying them. High quality production values and great info. I am on marker training one now.... one piece of info I have not yet found.. is how much time to train on a daily basis? I am retiring and getting a 3 1/2 month old standard poodle... I have lots of time to walk, train and be with him AND I do not want to over train. How much time each day should be spent "training" as he grows up? Mark

Hi Cindy, We have a 14-week-old German Shepherd puppy who bites at hands and ankles. From reading the articles on the site, I have come to understand that this isn't aggression. But, at 14 weeks, he's almost 40 pounds and, if not aggressive, he's certainly persistent and hard to handle -- to the point that walking him has become extremely difficult. I have seen in your Puppy video (8 Weeks to 8 Months) that you do not recommend reprimanding a pup for what is basically prey drive. (Befor...

Hello, I have a problem with my 8 month Bassett Hound chewing the car. I have tried toys and things he is allowed to chew on and he's not interested but he dose not do it all the time. He's only left for about 2 hours but I go and check him every half hour. I've tried anti chew spray and he got immune to it. What can I do? It's making me depressed.

Hi, This question seemed a little too in depth, I wasn't finding an answer in the database... my parents' dog is a little older and we recently moved to a new house. At our old house we had a fenced in yard where she was just let out to go to the bathroom. At our new house though she has to be on a leash. The problem is when I take her out she won't go. I was out side the other day about five times each in 20 minute increments and twice when she came in she immediately pooped on the carpe...

Hi Cindy, I searched your site and could not find info specific to my situation, so here it goes. I bred a litter of pups this time last year. The pup I kept from this litter is 10 months old now. We have been having a difficult time housebreaking her. She continuously eliminates in the room were the ex-pen was kept were the pups lived until 8-10 weeks old. Right on the same spot (area) in the pen (when it was up)for poop/pee. The ex-pen was divided with sleep area, play/eating a...

Ed and Cindy, I have been following your books, DVDS, and podcasts for some time. I have followed your 8 weeks to Adult puppy video and have had much success. I only am experience one major problem. Our Whippet is very comfortable with her crate and never goes in the house when we are around. This year at 18 months I started to leave her out of her crate during the afternoons (six hours). She constantly goes bathroom on the carpet. Our first house was a tile floor and had no carpet. I hav...

I have an 11 month old husky puppy and am having an extremely hard time house breaking him. When we go for walks, he will not relieve himself until he gets to our backyard. Even when we take him out in our backyard a lot of times he won't do anything, but once we get into the house a couple minutes later he will pee in our walkway (one of two places that he will pee in the house). He knows he does wrong when it happens because he runs to his crate, no matter how many times we take him out thr...

I have two maltipoo puppies. One is 7 months old, one is 8 months. I am still having trouble getting them house trained. They are in the crate at night and sleep all night without accidents. They are taken out first thing in the AM and usually both go pee and poop. Once they eat, they are taken out again within the hour. Sometimes they will both go pee and poop again... sometimes just one will. Here is the problem. They do NOT tell me when they have to go out. I have them confined to the fami...

Hello, I have an 8 month old 80 pound labradoodle. He is intended to become my service dog, but for 4 of his 8 months I have pretty much been unable to train him in any manner that requires physical interaction on my part. Yes, he can be out of control, but in general he prefers the attention I give him and behaves himself. He is very energetic and hunts out all possible items he can chew, then literally eats whatever he may find. This includes his harness!! Simon has chewed through 3 h...

Can you tell us how to housebreak our puppy?

My son's 4 month old German Shepherd snaps or bites quite often. What should I do?

Hi, We just got our 23 week old papillon. She took to the crate right away and for 2 weeks now has not had an accident in the crate. She even seems to enjoy her crate time. There have been numerous times that she has gone in during her play time when the crate door was open. My question is this: She is only allowed in the family area of the house which includes kitchen (which is tiled) and family room (which is carpeted).?We have caught her in the act of relieving herself in the family ...

My 18 week (Chinook) puppy loves to chew shoes and especially boots. We have a boot matt near the front door and he will often try to grab one and run off to play with it. He never has a hold on one for more than a few seconds as I always make him drop it and distract him with something else but I am wondering if I were to give him an old pair of boots as his toy would I be able to teach him to distinguish that these are his and the rest are mine and off limits or should I keep it black a...