How do you instill potty confidence?
This morning, I wanted him to start to 'detach' himself from the need to have me accompany him. I let out the dogs. Asterisk and Wendel hop off the deck to do their morning routine. Levi will NOT leave the deck. In fact he barks and paces. I decided that maybe I should get out of sight so he can't see me. I got into the shower as is my normal routine (let out the dogs, take a shower, let the dogs back in). Needless to say, he didn't stay out long because Josh let the dogs back in. He said that it was 6:30am and our neighbors didn't need to hear a crying puppy. When I went into the basement to feed the cats I saw three piles of poop (at least they were solid). I don't know if all of it was from the morning fiasco or if some was while I was sleeping. I have decided that I will confine Levi to the kitchen at night by getting more baby gates. He still cries when he's in the crate. With Josh's work schedule, he has no patience to wait close to an hour for the puppy to settle. Am I moving too quickly to expect him to leave the deck and go with the other dogs? I am torn that I don't want him to expect this behavior. As he ages, the last thing his forever home will need is a large dog that cannot go to the bathroom by himself. Any advise that you guys can give would be appreciated! |
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| I think you're moving a little fast with him. Even though he's a big boy, in house training, he's really probably the equivalent of a 10 week old (only with the ability to hold it longer). He still needs all the same baby sitting that a puppy would need until he "gets it." It's a lot of hand holding for awhile but when he feels confident enough and comfortable, he'll want to go on his own and not want to be bothered with you, lol. I wouldn't worry about him becoming dependent on you. Right now, it's so early on, I'd just let him get comfortable with you, your family, living in a house and gently start working on house and crate training. If he's stressed on a leash, give it a week and start slowly. He doesn't have to (and can't) learn everything right away. As he gets more comfortable, he'll be more responsive to training and you can build on that. You're doing a good job, he just needs time and consistency. He'll get everything! |
| Thanks, Jill. I think you're right, I am moving a bit fast on wanting him to feel comfort enough to launch off the deck like Asterisk and Wendel do. I'll keep going out with him and the others. The plus side, is his crate has been completely dry for the past two days  How awesome is THAT?I also noticed, he doesn't do his business on the grass, only on the concrete. At least most of the time. I think it's a good thing that he be exposed to going on different surfaces. If I can conquer the bouncy 'Hi, Hi, Hi, Hi, I'm here, I'm here, I'm HERE' behavior of launching himself onto my back, that would be awesome, too. |
| Every once in awhile, one of mine will poop on the driveway and, without fail, I run it over. It's so odd to me that they'd choose the pavement to go on. They're crazy. What you might try to do, to kill two birds with one stone, is start taking him out for potty on a slip lead. That way you can focus him on his business while just getting used to having something around his neck (but without the walking). You can just lasso it around him softly. Even though we have a fenced yard, I house trained all of mine on a lead so they didn't take too much time just sniffing and they knew they had business to do. Clyde was such a little jerk and he bit the leash constantly.  |
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