# Need help with indoor training!!!



## aerialdreams (Apr 12, 2013)

Hi guys, 

I just brought Coco home this afternoon, and while she has been a total snugglebug and an absolute dear, I have to say I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed...I've been reading Ian Dunbar and Deborah Jones (The Focused Puppy) and Dr. Sophia Yin, and I thought I knew exactly what I going to do with regards to house training and house etiquette, but as it turned out I had no idea what I was getting into! (get ready guys, it's kind of a saga)

After she came home today, I decided to put her in her expen with her crate attached. Imagine my joy when the first thing she did was walk to the Ugodog to go potty! After that, I took her out of her expen with her leash on attached to me because I wanted to do some computer work but still keep an eye on her. First of all, she wouldn't stop chewing her leash. Then, she started wandering around and then proceeded to have an accident. While I saw her do this, I was too slow to grab her and move her to the Ugodog. Bad me! So I put her back in her expen. She was a little fussy at first, but then went to use the Ugodog on her own 10 minutes later. However, when my back was turned, she then did a #2 in her expen! Noooooooo! I tried to keep to the schedule of taking her to the potty every hour and every time after she eats, but I realized that this is a lot more challenging with indoor training--her ugodog is in her expen, and even when I bring her to it and plant her on it, she'll just wander off and not use potty... 

I thought "oh no! this isn't working!", so I tried to put her in her crate. I put 2 stuffed kongs in there and lured her in, and closed the door. She was fine for 10 minutes, but then lost interest in the Kong and started to cry and bark for my attention! I felt so bad, but I always read to ignore the whining, so I didn't pay attention to her but she just kept crying for the next 10 minutes. Eventually when she was a little bit more calm and I let her out, and she slept for a couple of hours in the expen. When she woke up, she went to use the Ugodog on her own again. I thought she was empty, so I took her out of her expen to do some playing/training, but I guess she was really scared of the living room since she's never been here before and wouldn't move, then had another accident.... so back in the expen she went. After this point, she went to use the ugodog a couple more times, but also had a couple more accidents in the expen, all while I thought she was asleep. And all this while I've sitting here right next to her expen! 

How did I fail so miserably? Make no mistake, I know this is all my fault for not watching her closely enough, but I thought she was sleeping  am I supposed to stare at her while she sleeps? and crating her isn't an option since she hasn't been crate trained yet and hates being in there, even with 2 stuffed kongs  So now I'm at a loss! I'm even scared to let her out of her expen now, but I know she should be running around and having fun and socializing and training... what do I do? 

Am I giving her too much water? She seems thirsty and I don't want to keep her from what she needs, but she's been drinking water every couple of minutes and her pottying has no pattern to it whatsoever. Is it just that she's in a new place and it's all unfamiliar to her? I'm sure she's excited and scared at the same time. It seems like she'll potty every couple of minutes, then randomly not do anything for an hour, then randomly starts pottying again! Is it normal for a 12 week old puppy to potty >10 times in 5 hours? 

Any advice? I feel like I'm failing her and I'm at a complete loss! I feel like I should do better, but I don't know what to do! I definitely want to train her using the indoor option (and eventually adding an outdoor one), but it seems like indoor training is a lot harder than outdoor since I can't make her stay at her Ugodog to potty. I guess I need to work on crate training first? I feel like that would make everything go smoother. But in the mean time while she's not crate trained, what should I do about her potty training? I take her to her potty on the hour, but she doesn't use it and wanders away, and I can't confine her anywhere to have a regular pottying schedule. Also, with the crate training and her crying, I feel like I may not be doing it right. I always wait for a pause in her crying to pay attention and give a treats, but the pause is always ~ 1 sec since she won't stop for very long, and I'm afraid that she'll think she's getting the attention and treats b/c she was crying instead of the stopping (since she literally just stopped crying). 

Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry to blabber on for so much and writing a wall of text! I just want to do good by Coco and I know I'm doing something wrong but I don't know how to fix it. Any advice?


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Ypu want to set her up for "errorless" training. That means you ahve to either close the ex-pen up so that it's small enough that she only has room for her crate and the UgoDog, or else line the entire ex-pen with pee pads for now. Since every where will be a pee pad, ther is no "wrong place for her to go. After a while, you cna either expand the ex-pen a bit or take away one pee pad at a time. If she shows any sign of going on the non-potty area, close things back up to the last place that she was successful. Slowly expand her territory as she shows understanding.

Right now, she's still very young, and she's in a totally new place. There will be some settling in period. It sounds like she knows what the UgoDog is for, but hasn't yet learned "not" to go other places. It is always easier to teach a dog a positive (what do do) than it is to teach a negative. (What not to do). You'll both get there. Be patient with her ANd yourself!!!


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## lfung5 (Jun 30, 2007)

I have 3 Havanese and each time I got one, I was completely overwhelmed! I think it is normal to feel this way. Puppies are hard work!! The more time you put into them, the more it pays off. 

Chewing is normal. I sprayed bitter apples on everything they would chew. There are other brands that work well too. Please hide all your electrical cords….

Here are a few tips that helped me. I put a bell on their collars so I could hear when they were on the move. If I was working in one room, they would be in there with me with the door closed. I would keep a close eye on them and if I couldn't, I had a portable crate I would carry from room to room. I took them out to potty after naps, playtime and mealtime. I also took them out every 30-40 min. 

When I was at work, I set up an xpen. I had water, toys, bed etc in there. I lined the entire bottom with pee pads. As they would use the pee pads, I would slowly take one away until eventually there was only one left they could use. If I was in my bedroom, there would be a pee pad. I would carry one from room to room wherever I was. If they had an accident, I would clean it up and put treats down on that spot. I just did this thinking where they eat they don't potty….seemed to work for me as I eventually gave them an entire room while I was at work. Before I would leave I would sprinkle treats all over the room so they thought of the room as a playroom and eating room. There was a dog door off that room to go potty outside.

If she is drinking a lot, I would tell the vet. There could be something wrong with her as increased thirst can mean something is wrong. 

Hang in there! It is always so hard in the beginning but it really does get better!!

Also, my sister in law trained her dog to a liter box in 2 days. She literally spent the entire weekend sitting in the kitchen with the dog. She watched his every move and when he went to potty, put him in the liter box and praised the heck out of him.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

lfung5 said:


> If they had an accident, I would clean it up and put treats down on that spot. I just did this thinking where they eat they don't potty&#8230;.seemed to work for me as I eventually gave them an entire room while I was at work. Before I would leave I would sprinkle treats all over the room so they thought of the room as a playroom and eating room. There was a dog door off that room to go potty outside./QUOTE]
> 
> I didn't use this trick regularly, but when Kodi was old enoug (and well trained enough!) that I started letting him go up stairs, he had a bit of a back-slide, and started pottying in the room of my son who was off at college. I learned that with. Kodi, the rooms he was most likely to have mistakes in were the rooms we used least. (It also happened in the dining room at one point) so, after cleaning it up thoroughly, I did what you did, and scattered kibble all over. i also made a point of going into that room with him and doing some training and playing with him there. Once he understood that this was also part of his "den", so not a spot for pottying, we had no further trouble.
> 
> ...


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## lfung5 (Jun 30, 2007)

krandall said:


> lfung5 said:
> 
> 
> > If they had an accident, I would clean it up and put treats down on that spot. I just did this thinking where they eat they don't potty&#8230;.seemed to work for me as I eventually gave them an entire room while I was at work. Before I would leave I would sprinkle treats all over the room so they thought of the room as a playroom and eating room. There was a dog door off that room to go potty outside./QUOTE]
> ...


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## Naturelover (Nov 30, 2013)

Don't worry! Lots of great advice on here. I love Ian Dunbar's stuff but he does make you feel like you're a horrible failure if your dog has any accidents in the house. As long as you have a clear plan and are committed you will do great. I felt really frustrated when my pup had accidents too but he is turning out just fine. It's a steep learning curve for the first weeks with a puppy!


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## Lalla (Jul 30, 2013)

You've had really good advice from great people on this site, aerialdreams; it is incredibly time-consuming and often really hard work, the first few weeks settling a puppy in to its new home, and getting to know each other and relax. And I agree with Naturelover that Ian Dunbar can make one feel like a terrible failure if there is so much as one single accident. I've given up worrying about feeling I've allowed a catastrophe to occur if I slip up even once. I've had the hardest time housetraining Cuba that I could have imagined possible - at least be thankful that you don't have a puppy who favours peeing and pooing in her bed, I can tell you that's really fun!! Cuba is now nearly a year and a half old and still has accidents. It's been a nightmare but you know what, it's not a tragedy. This is not Syria. We now have several weeks between accidents, and then for some inexplicable reason the little blighter will go and wee indoors and I feel total despair all over again. I've tried the food technique of Karen's with mixed success; both my dogs are totally un-foody and I don't think equate food with anything much. I just struggle on and try not to get too stressed with it all. Most of the time she is now fine, but it has been a long and frustrating road. Some days she'll ask to go out (a bark at six o'clock in the morning and I am downstairs like lightening, out she goes and all is well); other times (mercifully rare nowadays) she'll have been out last thing at night and I'll come down to a morning offering of poo on the floor.....I don't know where I've gone wrong, I've done everything possible in the way of advice-following. I guess what I've learned over the last few months is not to get too stressed out about it.


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## lfung5 (Jun 30, 2007)

My guys had many accidents and they housebroke 100%. It takes time but it eventually clicks for them.

As far as the crying, put her in the crate or xpen and walk out of the room. Yell quiet and as soon as she stops crying, casually walk back into the room without looking or paying attention to her. Act like you are doing something else. You can calmly say quiet, if she starts crying when you come in the room. Make sure to give it a beat before you go to her. Then just tell her she is a good girl but be very calm. Do this several times everyday. She will eventually learn you are coming back. This is the technique I used on all 3 of mine to cure their anxiety.


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## aerialdreams (Apr 12, 2013)

Thank you SO MUCH everyone for your advice and encouragement! I'm definitely going to keep at this! 

What I did yesterday was I made the long term confinement smaller than the full ex-pen, but still a little bit bigger than just the ugodog and crate so there's a little bit of floor space (when I made the pen so small that there's no floor space, she just used the ugodog like a bed). With this system, I don’t actually know when she’s going or how many times she’s gone (pellets under Ugodog, hard to tell), but so far she's only had one accident with this system, and that's because she just missed the ugodog. She is going in the right place!!! This is great! However, this means I have no way of keeping a potty schedule though—since she’s not crate trained yet, I can put her on her ugodog every hour but she won’t use the potty and will just lay down on top of it. Is it ok if she’s not kept to a strict schedule? I mean, she is going in the right place right? Or is this a problem and I should watch her like a hawk? This system is sort of working, but the big issue I ran into was when I wanted to take her out of her expen to play and right before bed--I need her to potty right before coming out or going to bed, but I have no way of doing this—I don’t know when she last went, and I don’t have a potty command yet, so she didn’t know what I wanted. So, I brought her downstairs into the grass patch and she went, and we came back right away after that, and that worked great. Overall, like Karen said I think she knows what the ugodog is for and what outside is for, but she doesn't know NOT to go in other places inside the apartment. So my questions are:

1) is it ok that I’m not keeping her to a strict potty schedule and I don’t know when she’s using the potty? (she IS going in the right place… the downside to this is I don’t always catch her using her Ugodog and I can’t praise her and have a mini party with her whenever she does go in the right place… the other option is to keep doing this same long term confinement with no real schedule, but watch her like a hawk and praise her whenever she does go)

2) If #1 is ok, is it ok then to take her outside to make sure she goes before bed, since I can’t crate her and can’t make her potty before bed any other way? This is kind of mixing indoor and outdoor training all at once… I was planning on first training her on the indoor method, and once that’s set then add the outside, but right now that’s not working out… will she be too confused if we do both inside and outside?

3) I’m afraid whenever I do catch her pottying in the right place, I’m not making big enough of a deal for her—she’s not very food driven, so sometimes even if I get a treat to her in time she won’t take it (not even the freeze dried livers!)… if food isn’t really a prize for her, then how else can I convey to her that she DID THE RIGHT THING and we’re making a big deal out of it? I mean, my voice gets super happy whenever she does right and I try to praise her a lot, but she pretty much just ignores me and go on to do whatever she was doing. 

4) Along the same vein, I'm trying to acclimate her to her crate, and she's eating her meals in there and even went in there by herself a couple of times (!!), but she's really not food motivated so even when I left 3 kongs in there stuffed with cheese and hotdogs, she lost interest after a 3 minutes and began crying... how can I train her to love her crate if she doesn't care about food??? 

...man, at this point I feel like it would be so much easier to just train her to the outside since we can keep a schedule that way, and I'm almost ready to give up the indoor training, but I really need her to learn the indoor potty as well! I'm going back to work in 1 week and I'd hate for her to have to hold it for 4 hours at a time (I can come home at lunch, but that's still a long time). Should I give up what I'm doing now and just do what some of you said, and just sit in her full sized expen and watch/catch her? I'm just so slow though! even sitting right there sometimes I don't catch her in time, and when I do and put her on the ugodog she never finishes her potty on there.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

My overall thoughts, when I hear your situation, are that there is NO WAY you can get a puppy reliably trained in one week. So you ABSOLUTELY have to find a system that will work for both of you once you're back at work.

I also believe strongly that errorless training (or as close to that as you can get&#8230; it's never perfect, so don't sweat it when occasional accidents DO happen) is MUCH more important than a "schedule". &#8230;Especially if that schedule will totally change in a week!!! It is highly unlikely that she will be ready to "hold it" for 4 hours at a time a week from now, if you think you'd need to be going out hourly now. Does that make sense?

With that in mind, I'll try to address some of your individual questions.



aerialdreams said:


> Thank you SO MUCH everyone for your advice and encouragement! I'm definitely going to keep at this!
> 
> What I did yesterday was I made the long term confinement smaller than the full ex-pen, but still a little bit bigger than just the ugodog and crate so there's a little bit of floor space (when I made the pen so small that there's no floor space, she just used the ugodog like a bed). With this system, I don't actually know when she's going or how many times she's gone (pellets under Ugodog, hard to tell), but so far she's only had one accident with this system, and that's because she just missed the ugodog. She is going in the right place!!! This is great! However, this means I have no way of keeping a potty schedule though-since she's not crate trained yet, I can put her on her ugodog every hour but she won't use the potty and will just lay down on top of it. Is it ok if she's not kept to a strict schedule? I mean, she is going in the right place right? Or is this a problem and I should watch her like a hawk?


Excellent! This is what errorless training is all about. Your long term goal (I hope!) is not to have to take her out on a schedule, but that she knows where to go, and can handle getting there (or letting you know she needs to go out) independently. This is a big step in the right direction! At the current size of her ex-pen, she IS handling it independently! I don't see that there is anything to be gained by putting her on the UgoDog every hour if she is using it when she needs to go&#8230; that's just confusing to her. She's thinking, "What the heck does she want me to do here? I don't need to potty!" 



aerialdreams said:


> This system is sort of working, but the big issue I ran into was when I wanted to take her out of her expen to play and right before bed--I need her to potty right before coming out or going to bed, but I have no way of doing this-I don't know when she last went, and I don't have a potty command yet, so she didn't know what I wanted. So, I brought her downstairs into the grass patch and she went, and we came back right away after that, and that worked great. Overall, like Karen said I think she knows what the ugodog is for and what outside is for, but she doesn't know NOT to go in other places inside the apartment. So my questions are:


Again, perfect! She DID go when you took her outside, so THAT is when to start to teach her "potty word". She may NEVER go "on command on the UgoDog, because it is there, available to her all the time&#8230; She knows how to use it, and sees no reason go try to pee when she doesn't need to.



aerialdreams said:


> 2) If #1 is ok, is it ok then to take her outside to make sure she goes before bed, since I can't crate her and can't make her potty before bed any other way? This is kind of mixing indoor and outdoor training all at once&#8230; I was planning on first training her on the indoor method, and once that's set then add the outside, but right now that's not working out&#8230; will she be too confused if we do both inside and outside?


This is absolutely NOT confusing for her. You are just teaching her that there are TWO perfectly acceptable places to potty&#8230; which is just what you want. Kodi used both his litter box and the grass outdoors from his first day home. Never any confusion. The Kings train all their puppies this way.



aerialdreams said:


> 3) I'm afraid whenever I do catch her pottying in the right place, I'm not making big enough of a deal for her-she's not very food driven, so sometimes even if I get a treat to her in time she won't take it (not even the freeze dried livers!)&#8230; if food isn't really a prize for her, then how else can I convey to her that she DID THE RIGHT THING and we're making a big deal out of it? I mean, my voice gets super happy whenever she does right and I try to praise her a lot, but she pretty much just ignores me and go on to do whatever she was doing.


First, try something different for treats. Boiled chicken (or if you want to do it the easy way, buy the pre-cooked Perdue chicken from the grocery store!) is a HIGHLY motivating reward food for many dogs. Being "food motivated" is partially a matter of age, (little puppies have little tummies) and partly a matter of training. When they start to understand that you're praise and happiness are tied up with that little bit of food, the food itself becomes more rewarding. (just like there is nothing innately rewarding about the click of a clicker, but clicker trained dogs QUICKLY learn that the click means they did something right, and it becomes a STRONG motivation in their work!!!)



aerialdreams said:


> 4) Along the same vein, I'm trying to acclimate her to her crate, and she's eating her meals in there and even went in there by herself a couple of times (!!), but she's really not food motivated so even when I left 3 kongs in there stuffed with cheese and hotdogs, she lost interest after a 3 minutes and began crying... how can I train her to love her crate if she doesn't care about food???


I think you are on the right track with the crate&#8230; keep it slow and positive. Some puppies NEVER take to Kongs. Kodi never did, and he is HIGHLY food motivated. If you REALLY want to develop your pup's love of her crate, invest in Susan Garrett's "Crate Games" video. You won't regret it, and you'll have a dog who HIGHLY values her crate.



aerialdreams said:


> ...man, at this point I feel like it would be so much easier to just train her to the outside since we can keep a schedule that way, and I'm almost ready to give up the indoor training, but I really need her to learn the indoor potty as well! I'm going back to work in 1 week and I'd hate for her to have to hold it for 4 hours at a time (I can come home at lunch, but that's still a long time). Should I give up what I'm doing now and just do what some of you said, and just sit in her full sized expen and watch/catch her? I'm just so slow though! even sitting right there sometimes I don't catch her in time, and when I do and put her on the ugodog she never finishes her potty on there.


I don't see how you can POSSIBLY give up on an indoor potty if you're going back to work in a week. You would have to pee pad the entire ex-pen, and just let her go any old place. There is no way she can be expected to reliably hold it for 4 hours at a time at her age.

It sounds to me like you are doing things just right! Just take some deep breaths, realize that there may very well be some set-backs here and there, but that you WILL get this done. I have yet to meet ANYONE who hasn't been able to teach their dog to go both on an indoor potty and outdoors, AS LONG AS they maintain interest in the indoor potty. It is often impossible to get a dog to use an indoor potty when they are trained to ONLY go outdoors.


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## Suzi (Oct 27, 2010)

When Maddie was a baby I learned really fast that she liked to move back and forth in a larger space than just a pad. I called it her poop dance. I doubled the size and it took care of the problem. Now while I'm at work because I have a rug where their potty area is I first have a towel then a throw rug then two piddle pads. The pads leak and I can wash the under part. When she does go on her potty area get really excited and give good treats like chicken. Spend at least a minuet praising her. I'm always amazed when some Havanese owners have such good luck training fast. I think they are few and far between. Most take up to a year.


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## lfung5 (Jun 30, 2007)

Keep her crate door open when she's not in it. She will probably go in it by herself when she is tired. Put her favorite toys and treats in there. She must like something. Try chicken, steak etc. Don't always close the door. Put her in there for short periods when you can't watch her. Build her up to it.

I only used pee pads as an emergency option. You should take her outside to do her business and praise!! You need a pee pee and poo poo command. Dog can learn to go on command. If you have cpmmands, it makes them go much faster. The potty system can still be in her x pen in case she needs it. It will not confuse her. I did that with all my guys. They only go outside at this point because they have a dog door! 

Hang in there


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## Lalla (Jul 30, 2013)

Was just about to write 'get Susan Garrett's "Crate Games" DVD' and see that Karen has already suggested it...seconded by me. Really worth it.


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## SOPHIES-MOM (Oct 4, 2010)

Rambo is one of the King's dogs and when he came to live here he refused to use the litter box. Part of the problem may be that he had a uti for a month before I knew it and peed every five minutes. Thankfully I have been able to spend lots of time with him and taken him out every 15 to 30 minutes.It has been exhausting but he has not had an accident in several days and is able to go an hour during the day without peeing, when he is running around. If he is in his pen he will go 5 hours. And he sleeps in his crate for 8.5 hours. 
I think they are all different and they do eventually get it. I think part of our problem was my first dog causing him to play too hard too much. They are starting to settle down some
and things are better.
Sometimes patience is hard, but your baby will get there!


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## aerialdreams (Apr 12, 2013)

Oh man, you guys are all so AWESOME!!!! All the tips have been so good, and your encouragements really keep me going! I will definitely check out Susan Garrett's "Crate Games"--it sounds like a wonderful resource. 

Some updates: 
I kept my setup the same yesterday (smaller long term confinement area but with some floor space still), and even though Coco had accidents about 1/4 of the time, most of them were her going right off the edge of the Ugodog. I guess having 2 ugodogs together would give her more space and probably be easier for her, but I don't have that much space in the expen. The other option is to make the long term confinement area smaller. However, the problem with both getting another ugodog or making the area smaller is that she is now using the ugodog as a bed, a table/pillow for her head, and even eats food on it :suspicious: I thought dogs didn't like to eat where they do their business! Anyway, is it really bad that she's using her Ugodog this way? And do you guys think her current "accident rate" is acceptable, or should I make the area smaller/get another ugodog? 

Since her pen is small, there’s no place for me to sit in it with her, and so whenever I see her in the middle of a mistake I can never make it to her in time (since I have to open up the gate to get up to her, and even when I get up to her in time there’s no space inside for me so I can’t even pick her up). Any advice on what I can do to "correct" her if I see her in the middle of mistake? What I've read is just get to her fast and pick her up and set her in the right place, but I don't think I can make it to her in time. How will she ever learn not to potty in other places if I can't get to her in time?

I think the schedule I eventually want is to take coco out for walks every morning and evening, but have her use her Ugodog during the day. Should I start doing that now? If I’m taking her out 2 or 3 times a day, can she still successfully maintain her indoor option? I don’t want her to loose this option! Should I wait for her indoor pottying to be more established before I take her out 3 times a day?

I'm so sorry to bother you guys with all these questions! I just really want to do right by Coco


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## Lalla (Jul 30, 2013)

aerialdreams said:


> .....
> 
> I'm so sorry to bother you guys with all these questions! I just really want to do right by Coco


It's so NOT a bother! That is one of the great things about this forum, that's what people can help with, and even while we are helping we are learning about someone else's situation, comparing notes, feeling supported, and sharing what we can. We all want to do the right thing by our beautiful little dogs, and this is exactly why I, for one, love coming back here and asking for help when I don't know what to do - there are people here with phenomenal experience and expertise, and the kindness and generosity to share it.


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## Tom King (Aug 2, 2006)

When they are still babies, and especially when they first go home, the only schedule you can depend on is that they will go when they have to go. Smaller is better to start with for the expen in a new environment, even if they were used to a larger space where they just came from. To start with in the new space, they need to be set up so they won't have mistakes. Room for a bed area, and potty area is enough to start with, until they are settled in.

For play time, open the expen and sit near the potty area so you can help them back to the potty area when you see a sign. They will always give a sign, but you have to pay attention. Having them on a leash means that they are close to you, but if you can't watch and talk on the phone at the same time, the puppy goes back in the expen. If for some reason the setup is not convienient to open the expen, lift the potty system out, and place it near the play area. Their metabolism is flying at this stage, and they have to go often.

After a few days, one should be comfortable in the new environment.

Regardless of how reliable the puppy seemed where it came from, they are still a baby with a habit, and the habit can be quickly broken. There is no reasoning to it for the puppy. It's all habit.

The first days need to be all puppy. You cannot have a life for the first few days, other than puppy, unless you know for a fact that the puppy is well worn out from playing, and sleeping hard.


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## Marbel (May 20, 2014)

Can you show us a pic of your set-up? Wonderful advice has been given. I hope everything works out for you.


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## aerialdreams (Apr 12, 2013)

Once again, THANK YOU to everyone who has replied! I really do love this forum and community!!  Everyone has been so great and I've learned so much from all the advice!

I've included a picture of my set up and I wanted to give you guys some updates! 

In the last 4 days, Coco has done REALLY well! Whenever she is in her ex-pen, she almost always uses her Ugodog (I say "almost" because she had actually not made any accidents at all in her expen until 5 minutes ago when we had an accident during a training session :redface: It was completely my fault too since she went right in front of me but I didn't realize she was going! :frusty: EGHH I'm so angry at myself). But basically the only times she's had accidents is when I'm playing with her outside of the expen. Even after walking, when she comes back and we do playing sessions she’ll make accident within 5 minutes. I think it's because I just assumed that she was empty, and I didn't have her indoor potty in the room with me. This pretty much happens without fail--every time I take out her of her expen to play, she will make an accident, so now she spends most of her time in her expen and I feel really guilty about it!  I don't want her locked up! But I've been doing more training/playing sessions next to her expen, which I hope is ok. This just means we don't get to spent time in other rooms and we don't get to play games where she runs around, since there's no space... is this ok? 

I have a really big question regarding this errorless housetraining method of keeping her in a small confined space and eventually giving her more space. Right now she's basically using her Ugodog pretty reliably, but like I mentioned in a previous post, I don't always catch her using her Ugodog, so i don't always get to praise her in time. Once I give her more space, will she really learn to only use her Ugodog? Her biggest problem since the beginning is that she knows to go on her Ugodog, she just doesn't know not to go other places. I feel like with the current system there's no active learning--I'm not actively teaching her to not go other places, and since I'm not catching her using her ugodog I'm not actively teaching her to use her ugodog either. Is there anything I should do in addition to what I'm doing now to help her understand? Will she really know not to potty other places once I give her more space?

Otherwise, she is going outside really well! She does great on her walks and definitely knows to potty outside :biggrin1: I'm super proud of her! She's such a good girl :biggrin1:


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## Lalla (Jul 30, 2013)

Tom King said:


> ....
> The first days need to be all puppy. You cannot have a life for the first few days, other than puppy, unless you know for a fact that the puppy is well worn out from playing, and sleeping hard.


First few DAYS??!!!! Gosh, Tom! I was going to say the first few weeks, then thought I might amend that to the first few months!! My life seems to have been revolving around Cuba non-stop! Joking apart (which I'm not...much!), I certainly found I was full-on puppy-mode for longer than a few days, and still haven't got everything right even now. I'm not actually sure that one ever gets absolutely everything right....


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## Marbel (May 20, 2014)

Yup, definitely longer than a few days, try a whole year.


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## Nicm (Feb 28, 2014)

Marbel said:


> Yup, definitely longer than a few days, try a whole year.


Ditto!! Just had a couple accidents this am :frusty::frusty::frusty::frusty:

Nic & Darla


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

That's because few of us have the experience in puppy training that Tom has had. I've seen him with those puppies... He knows when they are going to need to potty before they do!


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## aerialdreams (Apr 12, 2013)

Oh man, I really wish I had Tom's expertise! Sometimes even when Coco goes in front of me I still can't tell if she's low squatting or just sitting :frusty: haha 

I included a picture of my set up in my last post--do you guys think the set up is ok? I would also really appreciate it if someone can comment on my question from last time! 

To expand on my first question:
At this point Coco's spending most of her time in her long term confinement b/c I’m afraid to let her out and make a mistake. She’s doing well with her expen right now with no accidents. At what point should I let her out around the apartment and have more freedom? I'm afraid right now I'm not playing with her enough--she doesn't like playing outside, and inside she's in her expen most of the time, which is not big enough for us to play in. Should I start letting her out now whenever I’m home? But even with me watching (I've tried having her attached to me on a leash inside) she’s still having accidents. Should I just accept that the accidents will happen and let her out of her expen whenever I’m home anyway? Or should I keep her in her expen at all times (other than when we go walkies or short cuddle sessions) until she’s reliable enough that I can remove the long term confinement entirely? How long does that usually take? 

THANK YOU!!!!!!:biggrin1::biggrin1::biggrin1:


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## Molly120213 (Jan 22, 2014)

Can you use a baby gate or open up your expen so you can confine your pup to one area like the kitchen? I used to do this with Molly at first to give her more room than the pen but not run of the entire first floor. This way I could play with her on the tile to get her used to more freedom but keep a close eye on her still. I also used to get in her pen with her to play but you would have to take your crate or ugodog out first. The longer Molly went without accidents in the house the more area she got to have freedom in. I still keep the upstairs gated off and doors to some rooms closed so I can keep better tabs on her.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

aerialdreams said:


> Oh man, I really wish I had Tom's expertise! Sometimes even when Coco goes in front of me I still can't tell if she's low squatting or just sitting :frusty: haha
> 
> I included a picture of my set up in my last post--do you guys think the set up is ok? I would also really appreciate it if someone can comment on my question from last time!
> 
> ...


Your ex-pen set-up looks fine, if she's successful with it that way. You should definitely NOT just let her run around and accept that there will be accidents! Every time you let her have an accident it sets your training back. You REALLY need to observe her carefully, and figure out the difference between sitting and squatting&#8230; they usually also give other signals, like circling and/or sniffing the ground. You need to figure it out.

At this point she should NEVER be loose unless you are actively playing with her with EYES ON her. Being in the same room with her, or even tying her to you is not the same. It has to be ACTIVE supervision. And then, for now, you should choose just one room, preferably with a hard, easy to clean floor as the place where you play with her. That way if she DOES have an accident, it's easy to clean it up completely, so there is absolutely NO smell left behind. (use and enzyme cleaner for this&#8230; Nature's Miracle is OK, Anti-Icky-Poo, available on line works much better) Dogs have a MUCH better sense of smell than we do, so just because you can't smell any residue doesn't mean they can't. Only enzyme cleaners REALLY get it all.

The best times to play with her are right after naps, call her to the potty end of the ex-pen and tell her "Go Pee". She will not, of course, understand this at first, but she will probably need to go pee just because she just woke up. When she does, praise, praise, praise, and then take her out of the pen to play for a while. It might only be 10-15 minutes to start with, as you figure out how long you can safely have her out.

Also make sure that you have the ex-pen open, so she can get back to the potty as needed. Have a HUGE party if she goes back and uses it on her own. (If the pen is in a different room, get another potty to keep in the room where you are playing with her) Only when she is VERY reliably using the potty in the first room would I even THINK about expanding her territory, one room at a time, and only with CONSTANT, EYES ON supervision.

As far as completely doing away with the long-term confinement. There are different thoughts on this. Many "pet people" eventually give their dogs full run of the house at all times, with better or worse results. Almost EVERY person I now who is SERIOUS about dog training uses some sort of long-term confinement throughout the dog's life, at least part of the time. Many dogs are routinely crated when the owners aren't home. Until Kodi was 3, he was in his ex-pen/crate "bed room" any time we weren't home. When he was 3, we put an addition on our house, and I now have a first floor office, where he spends most of his time with me. He is gated in my office when we are not home. This is partly because he is more comfortable there, and doesn't get anxious the way he does if he's left loose in the house. But it is also because I know he is safe there, and can't get into anything that might harm him while we're out. I am a firm believer in confining dogs when you're not home. Not necessarily to a crate, depending on how long you're out, but definitely at least to a single, safe room.


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