# Need help with housebreaking and chewing



## havadash (Feb 21, 2010)

Hi,
I'm new here. My family and I adopted Dash when he was 2 months old. He is now almost 4 months old. We set up a crate attached to an exercise pen for him--one for upstairs and one for downstairs. We put him in the pen when we need him contained, but want him to have room to move about, and we put him in his crate when we think he will need to go potty soon or when we leave the house.

We started him off with using piddle pads in his pen, then transitioned him to go potty outside. We recently installed a doggy door for him to use. When he showed signs of needing to go potty, we'd take him out of the pen and encourage him to go outside through the doggy door. It didn't take him long to feel comfortable going through his doggy door. 

Most recently, we moved his pen and crate to the doggy door, so that he could freely access the doggy door from within his pen. He goes in and out through the doggy door on his own, and for the most part goes potty outside (and usually wants one of us to accompany him outside to go potty), but still has accidents inside, especially upstairs where he does not have a doggy door. 

He has also started chewing everything and anything. Inside and out.

So we are trying to address two issues: 

1. How to prevent accidents upstairs (get him to let us know we need to take him downstairs to go outside to potty), because he won't go down the stairs--we have to carry him down.

2. How to prevent him from chewing on something he shouldn't when he's outside (through the doggy door) and we are not. We have caught him with pebbles in his mouth (and he has swallowed some). And he will eat his poop, so if he poops outside without our knowledge, then he could eat it too.

Did we introduce the doggy door too soon? How do we get him to let us know he needs to go potty when he's upstairs?

Thanks!


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

part of the problem with doggie doors is that they are only good once you have trained him to go outside reliably. I have some articles to deal with chewing and stairs but they are a little long for here. Email me privately at [email protected]


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

I wouldn't let him go outside alone at all, he's too small and can get into lots of trouble on his own. As long as you're out there with him you can praise him when he does potty outside.

Invest in LOTS of chew toys!  Whenever he wants to chew try to make sure he has something available that he's allowed to chew on and he'll get the idea. 

The first few months with a puppy are wonderful, and quite exhausting!


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## HavaneseSoon (Nov 4, 2008)

Patience....patience..........

Chewing.....(Teething)....Have chew toys available and play with these toys with your pup. Praise him for chewing on the chewable toys when playing alone. Distract the little pups when chewing on something forbidden and give them chewable toys or flossies.

As for poop eating: My new pup has already found rabbit poop! Yum! Yum! I am teaching "Leave it," then distracting and go on to something else........Mmmmmmmmmmm....maybe they will find something else just as good....like the cat poop over there!

Exercise and run your pup! *A tired pup is a good pup! * Maybe the extra chewing will stop...

Welcome to the forum. Oh! We need more pictures of your pup in order to answer more questions. :biggrin1:


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## havadash (Feb 21, 2010)

Thanks for all the responses and warm welcome. It sounds like we need to monitor Dash's use of the doggy door more and provide him with more chew toys.


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## TurboMom (Jan 12, 2010)

i'm no help, sorry...our pup is 4 months today  
i was wondering what kind of doggy door you guys got? we want to get one as well.


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## TurboMom (Jan 12, 2010)

and WELCOME to the forum!


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## good buddy (Feb 20, 2007)

For inside you can provide more acceptable chewables but there are also nasy sprays to stop chewing on furniture legs or other inappropriate items. It sounds like he's teething and will want extra things to chew on. Since he is pee pad trained, I would offer the pee pad upstairs. He's very young to expect him to make it downstairs when he has to go. 

You should still go outside with him when he has to potty even though he can use the dog door since he's very young. He needs to be watched carefully and taught the "leave it" command. Little puppies taste everything and rocks or poisenous plants area no-no and I'm sure you want to deter the poop eating. I have a poop eater too and decided against a doggie door for that reason. Mine is 2 this week and could (knock wood) be outgrowing it. *fingers crossed!


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## havadash (Feb 21, 2010)

TurboMom said:


> i'm no help, sorry...our pup is 4 months today
> i was wondering what kind of doggy door you guys got? we want to get one as well.


We got this door (and from here too): 
http://www.ryanspet.com/productInfo.aspx?itemNo=PZ10915

Thanks for the welcome!


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## Tom King (Aug 2, 2006)

At this age, he's still too young to have any reasoning about pottying. It's all habit until later. It's way too many steps to expect for him to let you know that he needs to go with enough time before the event happens at this young age. It can happen not too far in the future, but not without getting going in the right spot established first.

First you have to establish good habits. He either needs some place that he has been trained to go and can get to quickly and easily without having to solve a puzzle, or you have to take him out when he needs to go.

Knowing when he needs to go is the hard part, but if he is just to be trained to the outside only, it's necessary. Training to the outside only is the hardest way, and the method that most people have the most accidents in the process.

Chewing comes with puppydom. Diligence is necessary. He can be provided with more than enough stuff to chew on that's okay for him, but it will not stop him from investigating anything else. Fortunately, they do grow out of this stage at some point.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Tom King said:


> Knowing when he needs to go is the hard part, but if he is just to be trained to the outside only, it's necessary. Training to the outside only is the hardest way, and the method that most people have the most accidents in the process.


That has certainly been our experience! We don't necessarily know when Kodi needs to potty, and it seems to change pretty often. The good thing is that because he's litter box trained, we don't NEED to know when he needs to go... he just does it!

Kodi is our first dog, and I'd never even heard of litter box training for dogs. Having experienced it, I wouldn't do it any other way. I don't have to worry about him having an accident if I can't get home at a specific time. We have two litter boxes, one in his ex-pen for when he's shut in there and one in the kitchen that he uses most of the time. He'd prefer to go outside if that's possible and the weather is nice, but if we can't take him out, or if it's rainy, he's perfectly happy to use his box.


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## havadash (Feb 21, 2010)

good buddy said:


> For inside you can provide more acceptable chewables but there are also nasy sprays to stop chewing on furniture legs or other inappropriate items. It sounds like he's teething and will want extra things to chew on. Since he is pee pad trained, I would offer the pee pad upstairs. He's very young to expect him to make it downstairs when he has to go.
> 
> You should still go outside with him when he has to potty even though he can use the dog door since he's very young. He needs to be watched carefully and taught the "leave it" command. Little puppies taste everything and rocks or poisenous plants area no-no and I'm sure you want to deter the poop eating. I have a poop eater too and decided against a doggie door for that reason. Mine is 2 this week and could (knock wood) be outgrowing it. *fingers crossed!


Will offering the pee pad upstairs confuse him if we're trying to train him to go potty outside?

We would go outside whenever we heard him go through the doggy door, but sometimes we don't hear it, so he'd be outside without supervision. We aren't doing that anymore. Now we close the doggy door all the time except when it's time to go outside to potty.

We'll work on using the "leave it" command. Thanks for the advice!


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## ama0722 (Nov 28, 2006)

I think you have received some good advice but just want to say welcome. I have a Dasher! The only dogs I have met with that name have been Border Collies.


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## havadash (Feb 21, 2010)

Tom King said:


> At this age, he's still too young to have any reasoning about pottying. It's all habit until later. It's way too many steps to expect for him to let you know that he needs to go with enough time before the event happens at this young age. It can happen not too far in the future, but not without getting going in the right spot established first.
> 
> First you have to establish good habits. He either needs some place that he has been trained to go and can get to quickly and easily without having to solve a puzzle, or you have to take him out when he needs to go.


Great points. Thank you!


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## havadash (Feb 21, 2010)

ama0722 said:


> I think you have received some good advice but just want to say welcome. I have a Dasher! The only dogs I have met with that name have been Border Collies.


Thank you! My son named him after the character in _The Incredibles_.  Pretty fitting too, I must say.


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## Tom King (Aug 2, 2006)

There is no confusion involved with having a designated method to use inside, and also going outside. The inside method can be done away with when the dog is an adult and has the understanding that he is not supposed to go in the house, but this will come much later. It's a great help that he already knows what a pad is for, but he needs to have them in sight at this age. The puzzle can get more complicated later, but for now it's important that he goes on the right surface and does not learn to just let it go when he has too.

I have potty trained something over 200 dogs, so this is not just conjecture on my part.

These dogs are too smart for any negative training, but respond very quickly to properly timed positive reinforcement.


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## havadash (Feb 21, 2010)

Thanks very much, Tom!


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