# Still trouble with housebreaking



## Lucy419 (Jun 10, 2013)

Lucy is almost 4 months old now and I feel that she is regressing with housebreaking. She poops on the carpet the minute I take my eye off her, and tends to run away from me when she knows she did something wrong (I don't scold her though). I had been trying to transition her from potty pads to outside a few weeks ago, but I wasn't consistent about it with the awful heat, poor lighting outside at night, and awful mosquitos, so I kept her on the pads. I'm moving on Saturday to another apartment and want to start fresh with her. The positive is the only carpet is in the bedroom and the rest of the place is wood (she tends to go on carpet). I got bells for her also for the door. I think I have to go back to the basics with her...crate training her. However, she is excellent at holding herself until we get back inside-even first thing in the morning. She has NEVER peed outside (has pooped outside a couple of times) even with her pee pads outside. Is it too late to get her to prefer going outside when she doesn't like it now? I never heard of a dog that refuses to potty outside. I don't mind using pads, especially when I'm at work. But, she needs to learn that she has to go outside too. I'm stumped.


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## Tia (Nov 28, 2012)

Good luck. I think you know what to do so don't need advice. 4 months is still very young so restricting her movements and focussing on the crate training will help I am sure.


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## SJ1998 (Feb 4, 2013)

You might have to stay out with her for a longer period of time. I had to do that with my puppy. Sometimes he would go right away, other times I had to walk him longer to make sure he had time to take care of things outside. Even this morning I noticed he didnt go to the bathroom until we were well down the block and I took him out a little later than usual.


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## HavaneseSoon (Nov 4, 2008)

Four months is still young. Havanese dogs are not like the regular dog who can be trained in a week's time. You must be patient and very diligent on taking your pup outside to go potty every before meals, after meals, after drinking water (about 30-40 minutes later), after playing, after naps, first thing in the morning, before retiring for the night, and....anytime they look anxious and smelling the floor. 

When I was training Dexter, I watched him like a hawk. I learned his body language and what he did when he wanted to go potty. 

If there are open rooms you are not using, close the doors...these are potty areas. 

I would have a timer that reminded me to take Dexter outside to potty every 45 minutes, slowly lengthening the time out to every 2 hours. 

If your pup is reluctant to use the potty, take longer walks in the neighbor. Praise all good results. They do not know what you want, they do not know where the potty areas are, so you have to show them. 

Sometimes it is a matter of maturity of the bladder and the brain.

Hang in there... 4 months is nothing.....Be patient...we have all been there and some of us are still there.


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## Lalla (Jul 30, 2013)

HavaneseSoon said:


> Four months is still young. Havanese dogs are not like the regular dog who can be trained in a week's time.


Is there any actual study that says Havanese dogs are 'not like the regular dog'? I'm really mystified!!! Do you perhaps mean that no small dog breed is quite like large dog breeds? Or is there really something peculiar to the Havanese? I honestly don't think this can possibly be the case!!

I too am having difficulties with Cuba; she is five months old now, so I'm not too bothered that it is taking time; I'm more bothered, as posted elsewhere, that she shows a decided preference for peeing in her bed. So she hasn't had a bed at all for the last month now. I tried a raised 'hammock'-style, nylon-fabric bed and that seemed to be working brilliantly for the first two nights and then I came down the third morning to a lake (a very small lake, but nevertheless..!) on that bed, too. So now it's back to no bed. She's great at peeing and pooing outside too - I am still getting up at 4:45am and she'll have held on till then and goes immediately I take her out. If I leave it any later (I tried 5am the other morning) she will have given up on me and pooed and peed in the litter box (she's taken to that happily, but if there's a bed in there too she will use either) in her ex pen. I can't crate train her because, as already said, she pees on bedding, so the whole premise is negated. She doesn't in the least mind peeing where she sleeps. Ah well. Time, no doubt, will sort it out.


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## fishtwinslink (Dec 9, 2012)

Not sure if you are already doing this but I found when housebreaking my guy that I routinely brought treats out with me in the beginning so I could reward his potty behavior. Later, I rewarded him once back inside. 

Plus, I would tell him, and still do: "go potty" and he really seemed to catch on to that command. I would make potty time all business and then if he didn't go then back into the expen (I used my mudroom as the expen) he went then we'd try again 15 min later. 

I never used pee pads as once Lincolns started going outside he wanted nothing to do with them and would just shred them. 
Repetition was key and your little one is still young so I'm sure you'll see success soon! Plus, starting off somewhere after your move might be a fresh start too!


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## Lalla (Jul 30, 2013)

I'm ok with the going outside, and yes, do use treats and lots of praise; my command (maybe we English are more graphic??!) is "wee wee wee" or "poo poo poo" and she knows the difference. She's very good at going on command but seems to have a capacity for peeing that is positively delighted by any chance to do so on a nice fluffy fleecy bed even if she's just been outside....I'm sure she must have failed to learn, in her very early days, the difference between newspaper and Vetbed, or similar. Never mind. All will eventually be sorted out, I daresay. I hope!!


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## Lucy419 (Jun 10, 2013)

thank you for all your replies! I really had no idea that Havs are harder than other breeds to potty train. Well Lucy is 16 weeks now. I moved into a new apartment (previously in a townhome) yesterday morning. My previous place had carpeting throughout the entire place and she LOVED to potty on it. My new place has laminant wood flooring throughout except for the bedroom which has carpeting. She has been accident free since! She almost had an accident on the carpet in the bedroom yesterday, but I snapped her out of it and brought her to her pad. So, I need to be extra vigilant in the bedroom. But, she SEEKS out the pad which is so wonderful. I may be getting ahead of myself but so far so good.

Part 2- going outside- I think I'm going to hold off on it for now. I really wanted to train her but living on the 3rd floor, I realized its a pain in the butt to go up and down multiple times a day. I was babysitting my parents' Hav this weekend during the big move, so I got a taste of the outdoor responsibilities. Plus Lucy is too small to go up and down 3 flights without me carrying her- another pain in the butt (She's less than 4lbs at 16 weeks!). Down the road a couple years when my husband and I (hopefully) have our own house with yard, is it possible to train her then? Or will it be too late?


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## Lalla (Jul 30, 2013)

I am still absolutely positive that Havanese are NOT harder to house train than other breeds. They might well be harder to house train than large breeds, but to suggest that one sub species in the whole canine spectrum is different in this regard is vanishingly unlikely to be based on any scientific evidence; I'd LOVE to see it if there was any!! Individuals within any breed might well be harder to housetrain than others, and of course it is conceivable that the recent common ancestor of all Havanese might have carried a mutation that has brought about a characteristic not shared by other breeds. But again, if there is any scientific study that's been done I'd love to see it!! I can only imagine that the suggestion has come from anecdotal evidence alone, such as "I know three people who've got a husky, a Viszla and a chihuahua and they were all far easier to train than my brother's, my best friend's and my Havanese".


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## DebW (Jun 11, 2013)

I read somewhere - not sure where, maybe it was here - that one theory that "toy dogs are harder to house train" is that it's just harder to notice when they are getting into that pee position, and therefore interrupt the action at an appropriate training moment.

I've been thinking about that, and I think there may be some truth to that. A number of times I've glanced at Sheldon squatting and it doesn't quite sink in what he's doing until he's done it. The body language would have been much more obvious in a Great Dane!

My 12-year-old lunchtime dog walker tells her Mom that Sheldon never pees on their walk. I'm quite sure that he pees on every walk - my little dog walker just realize it.


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## swaye (Mar 28, 2013)

We gave always had medium to large size dogs. Sofie is our first toy dog. I do not think she was harder to house train than our larger dogs, but DID take a bit longer. To make the job easier I think choosing a method, sticking with it, and above all being consistent are the keys to success.


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## Lalla (Jul 30, 2013)

DebW said:


> I read somewhere - not sure where, maybe it was here - that one theory that "toy dogs are harder to house train" is that it's just harder to notice when they are getting into that pee position, and therefore interrupt the action at an appropriate training moment.
> 
> I've been thinking about that, and I think there may be some truth to that. A number of times I've glanced at Sheldon squatting and it doesn't quite sink in what he's doing until he's done it. The body language would have been much more obvious in a Great Dane!


I must be lucky because it's really easy to see when Cuba is peeing and the behaviour that precedes the actual pee is a totally reliable indicator: she goes from ordinary sniffing around to very specific circling to and fro for ten or twenty seconds and then squats very visibly. Imagine, anyway, having to interrupt the procedure and haul a Great Dane to the right spot!!! Help!


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