housebreaking problem

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housebreaking problem
by susan
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
housebreaking problem I have a 4 month old male who has been crate trained since I brought him home at 6 weeks old. He does not go in his crate at all and will go outside when I put him out. The problem is that when he is inside running around he will suddenly go on the spot without warning. Most of the time I don't even know he has gone until I pick him up and feel he has wet. I am concerned that because the places where he has wet are almost undetectable I am unable to clean them up. Will this habbit improve with age? Or is this something that will continue? I hate to think he will never be trusted completely. HELP!

DISCUSSION:

Hi, Susan!! Well, #1 you'll probably hear this a lot from this forum, 6 weeks is way to early to be taken from his mother. 12 weeks old is a good time. I think maybe your problem with training has a lot to do with that. You might want to try only putting him in his crate at certain times. If you notice, they pee a lot as puppies. For instance, try putting him in the crate after each time he eats, drinks, plays and wakes up and leave him in the crate until he does his stuff. And, when he is out of his crate make sure you're watching his every move and don't let him out of your sight for one second. Also, there's is this liquid stuff (don't know the name) that can help. You put a couple drops on his paper so they know they can go there when they smell it. You can buy it at a pet store. Hope this helps, good luck!!
Charlynn

Susan - Patience, Patience, Patience and then some more...Your baby is still just that - a baby. Of course, the main problem is that you got him too young and feel he should already be trained but, unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. Just stick with it and one day, suddenly, you'll see he has it down pat. When training my Bailey I would remind myself is she was a human baby would she be trained by 4 months? Hope this helps and Good Luck!
Robin D.

Susan, you need to keep him in the crate EXCEPT when you can watch him!! A typical schedule in my household would be:

7 am: Take puppy out to potty ON LEASH (even inside a fenced area).
7:15: Supervised play for a few minutes.Cuddles. Breakfast...food down for 20 minutes. Back out to potty...on leash. Supervised play for a few minutes. Cuddles. Back in crate for 1-2 hours.
9-10 am: Outside on leash. Play supervised. Cuddles. Snack. Back to crate till 12.
12:00 Potty...on leash. Lunch..20 minutes. Repeat breakfast procedure.
1245: back in crate till 2:00 Repeat morning procedure.
3:00: Potty...Play....Cuddles...Snack(handfeed puppy food)
4:00 Back in crate till supper. Repeat....Repeat....Pepeat, being very flexible, but SUPERVISE VERY CAREFULLY if you want a housebroken dog. Crate training is best, but it isn't trained til it doesn't go in the house AT ALL...unless submissive urination.Try this "schedule and let me know !
anne

With all due respect to Charlynn, I believe where your puppy needs to be after playing, eating and drinking or waking up is at the spot you have designated for him as his potty area. There are contributors to the forum who can explain it all better than me and I'm sure they'll post. Maltese are quite clean and do not like to soil where they sleep, i.e. the crate. The crate should be used for sleeping and for when you cannot be closely supervising your puppy. Good luck.
Marie

It's me again.Thank you all for your advice! This is my first time training a small breed, mostly all my other dogs have been large and they were trained by 4 mos. I guess I should have done my homework before bringing little Bing home. The breeder told me all his littermates were already gone so I could take him at 6 weeks, I feel awfull. On a positive note I will say that Bing seems to have adjusted well, he is a happy little guy, except at bathtime. I guess I have let him run and play indoors a little too long, it is so tempting as he loves running around. I am so thankfull for your kind words of encouragement, I realize now he is simply too young to understand. I guess I was fooled into thinking otherwise because he has done so well in the crate and going outside. I deffinatly will be more patient! Thanks
susan

#1 I agree 6 weeks is too young but this pup is 4 months old. One has nothing to do with the other. The 2 dogs we brought home at 6 weeks are much better behaved than the other 2.

#2 You do not want to lock a dog in their crate until he "does his stuff". He will go through toture trying to keep from soiling in this confined area. You will find very many pretentious and self righteous people on this site who instead of addressing the problem want only to attack or parrot what others have said. Four months is still too young for complete bladder control. Over-excitement can cause sudden urination. Ever heard of laughing so hard you wet yourself? Or tickled? He will outgrow it. Until then you might restict the really wild playing to outside or go for a walk before playing. Hope this helps. This is a great site with lots of valid information. It could only be improved by some of us getting off our high horses, which I am going to do now. Hugs and kisses to your playful pup
Starr

Many people don't agree with other people's way of training. And I didn't think that I was on a my high horse or anything when I said these things. This place is all about sharing your knowledge and effectiveness on raising these babies. In fact I learned everything I know about raising my maltese here at this site. And, a lot of the things I learned worked. I was merely just sharing what worked for us. Some people, I think, are too overly sensitive sometimes. As puppies it doesn't take them very long to use the bathroom especially when after drinking and eating. Also I never used the crate but one of those pens. They make a huge enough space to fit his puppy john, bed and food area and plus walking space. Sorry you were so offended. But I was too.
Charlynn

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I don't even use the pen anymore. Sunny's 8mos. now and I stopped using it when he was about 5mos. or so. I think that's pretty good. Thanks!
Charlynn

Starr, I'm fairly new to this web page and have found the Maltese friends here to be very warm, caring, thoughtful and very genuine and sincere in their responses to others. I'm sorry you have found most of us to be pretentious and parroting.
anne hudson