I dont know if I am expecting too much as we bought a 15 week old Lab puppy a week ago. He poops and pees on the carpet numerous times every day often going directly after we have taken him in from the garden, I work for 4 hours a day and he will happily wait in his crate, on return I take him outside, and he wont go, and then will go in the house. He will only walk about 10 steps with a treat dangled in front of him resulting in my neighbour thinking I am some kind of stalker as I stop outside her house for about 20 minutes twice a day as he refuses to move. Maybe i am expecting too much but it is so frustrating. What makes it worse is that everyone else in the family things he's great and I seem to be the only one who gets frustrated with the situation, making me feel even worse. Anyone got some advice regarding toileting or is this normal for a puppy of this age
I'd say this is all fairly common. He's a very young puppy in a brand new environment who A) doesn't have control over his bladder yet and B) doesn't understand the rules of your home. The early weeks can be very tough but if you keep working at it everything will work out in the end! In the first weeks I had my pup, I was having to take him out every 30 mins during the day as, otherwise we had accidents. As he got older, I lengthened the time between potty trips until now at 7 months he'll quite happily hold it without any complaints. A general rule of thumb is that if your pup lasts, say an hour between each pee, then you take him out every 50 mins.
You need to wait outside longer with him. If he STILL doesn't go, then he does not get to be loose in the house - simple. He comes back inside and he goes back in his crate for another 15 minutes. Then he goes outside again with you and has another opportunity to toilet. He only gets to have free range in the house, immediately after he has toileted outside. 14 weeks is quite old to bring a new puppy home, especially if he has been kennelled and allowed to toilet in his kennel in all this time - you may have a lot more work to do, on the toilet training, than someone with an 8 week old pup. Raising a puppy is a lot of work, but you have to be into it. Did you want this puppy in the first place?
Hang in there Trevor, it gets better...you just have a case of the puppy blues. My pup drove me crazy at first, made me question if I made the right decision to get a pup (all mine have been senior rescues). It helped me to keep my 'eyes on the prize'...all my work, frustration, bites, scratches, destroyed clothes, etc will be well worth it in the long run. If possible, you should get into some puppy training classes and you will see you are not alone in feeling that way. Cheers, Blaine
Sometimes the bonding can take a while. I had this issue with our Dreama and I wanted her more than anybody else in our household. I had the job of being her caretaker and she was not an easy puppy. She was totally independent and not at all concerned with pleasing me. She was a horrific biter - I rarely ever cry but that puppy brought me to tears of frustration and pain many times during the first six weeks. I also had another puppy only four months older than her which complicated things. When out for a potty, I stood in one spot with her on a short lead ignoring her except to say "go potty". The first few times, I know we stood in that spot for as long as 20 minutes. Gradually the time got shorter until she was pottying on demand. She was on a long trailing lead outside (very light) and a shorter one inside if she was out of the crate so that I could always get a hold of her when she went on one of her freezied dashes or if she showed signs of doing her business in the house. It was a long haul to get her to the point where I adored her (and still do) - she was the most difficult puppy I have ever raised. Hang in there. It will all come together with a bit of time.
I have exactly the same with our 16 week old pup. I literally stand in front of the neighbour's house waving treats around, calling, begging, crying to no avail. Hang in there, I'm sure in the weeks to come they will be dead excited when the lead comes out for walkies. Just in time for the bad weather
I hated my German Shorthaired Pointer puppy until she was 10 months old and she turned out to be the most special of dogs
Are you cleaning the carpet and floor where he goes with an enzyme cleaner like Natures Miracle? If you use a cleaner with ammonia it will smell like urine to the dog so he thinks it is the right place to go. Starting at 14 weeks is going to make it harder, but I agree with Jo that he should go back in the crate when he comes in, if he did not go outside. When he does go outside be sure to praise him and give treats. We always told our pups to "Go Pee" when we took them out. We still tell them to do that if we are going on a car ride or something, though they generally figure that out on their own.
