HELP! I think I messed up the potty training somehow. We have had our chocolate lab puppy Charlotte for 3-4 months and she is between 6-7 months old now. She's a pretty good puppy, highly food motivated, a jumper, loves to play. We have kept up on regular vet visits and she has no health issues. She has a big brother who is a great pyr and he LOVES staying outside all-day. So...it has been easy to let her stay outside most of the day too (all day if I'm honest). She has now learned that when I come out, she will get to go in if she goes potty first so she will squat, but not empty her bladder. Then inside, she might have to potty again very soon. I have 3 little kids who litter my floor with lots of crumbs. I have a hard time telling the difference between her sniffing at all the wonderful smells and trying to tell me she's about to wee on the floor. So...we have accidents. She has never let me know she needs out by going to the door or barking or obvious things like that. She "slept through the night" fairly early on, but now she might get up 3x a night to go out. She is poo-ing in the middle of the night now too (outside), which she used to not do. I'm afraid to ignore her if she whines as I don't want to have to clean up after her if she really needs to go out. She is crate trained, but really whines and barks if she is crated during the day, especially if we are home. So now, what do I do? Do I have to start over? I'm not fluent in owning a puppy. We adopted the pyr at 1 year old and he was potty trained and has an iron bladder. Lol. I want to have both dogs in the house more, especially since it will snow soon. I also want to get sleep again soon. Thanks!
Hi Amanda, You haven't got the best adviser here as Dexter is our first dog and came to me pretty much toilet trained at 5 months but I didn't want to read your post and just pass by. I think reading your post you already realise that her having free access outside has prevented her learning about 'asking' to go out ....if the situation is pretty consistent where she isn't completely empty are you noticing a pattern when she does her next little accident? what I mean is ,can you be on your toes and put her out again before she 'goes' ?If not I'd go back to the beginning and put her out again 5 minutes later and keep trying until she goes outside....I can appreciate that's time consuming when you've got 3 human little ones to care for too but it will help her make the association. Does you other dog sleep outside at night?If so she may be wanting to go out where he is ? If she is actually needing to go though I'd go back a few steps again and ( you will hate me for saying this ) setting an alarm and getting up .... then gradually setting your alarm back later as her control improves.She is only still quite young,I'm trying to remember and at 6 months I reckon Dexter was going from 10pm until 5ish am ....although he wasn't desperate to go when I let him out,he could have gone longer. For the pooing in the night,in my limited experience, I would try feeding her earlier so you have more chance of a pre bedtime poo and I would reward her heavily with something tasty for doing her toilet before bed. Hmmmmm whining and barking in the crate during the day makes me think she isn't properly crate trained,she's not happy about being in there if she's making a din.... Here's one of the articles on the main site that may help... http://www.thelabradorsite.com/crate-training-your-labrador-puppy/ There's plenty of other help and advice there too.... Sorry I haven't been able to suggest anything else ...have a look through the puppy boards too,there's a lot of puppy owners working through this and chatting about the challenges they are facing x
