Caysun is 11 weeks old and has been with us for two weeks now. I've been keeping a housetraining journal here on the Smart Dog Blog. You've seen how the crate helps with housetraining a pup, you've seen a typical housetraining schedule.
Finally, after two weeks, I'm seeing progress!
Late yesterday evening, Caysun was gated in my office with me. She walked over to the gate and started to paw at it and whine a little bit. It was a delayed reaction, but I finally got with the program: Caysun had to go to the bathroom and she was trying to get to the back door! Yahoo!
I jumped out of my desk chair, ran to the gate, and then ran outside with her. The instant her little paws hit the grass, she was peeing. I slathered on the praise and told her what a good girl she was. She seemed proud, I think. Or maybe that was just relief, who knows.
Later that evening, when we were in the family room where she had direct access to the "bathroom door" (the door she always goes out to get to the outside), she went to the door and scratched. If I hadn't been in the room with her, I wouldn't have known she was scratching at the door – she has the tiniest paws – but that rule of "don't ever let the pup out of your sight" served me well here. Again, I jumped up and ran outside with her, another party was had after she did her business.
Whew. It's quite a chore, housetraining a pup. But, MAN!, is it worth it. And it's comforting to know that all this scheduling, crating, and watching is beginning to pay off! We're not done, not by a long shot. We've got at least a month of watching-her-like-a-hawk and 100% management ahead of us. But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
And that's comforting for this bleary-eyed puppy raiser.
Whew! Progress is good and it keeps you looking ahead, even if there is a setback or two along the way. I love that you mentioned keeping a housetraining log. I think people THINK they are keeping track of when the puppy or dog “goes,” but without writing it down, we never get a complete picture and it’s easy for time to go by before we realize the dog needs to go out.
We are working on re-housetraining a 13 year old mini-dachshund that belongs to my father-in-law. Her housetraining, such as it was, lapsed about four years ago when a dog jumped a fence and went after her. Both Grandpa and his dog were shaken up and reluctant to go out much after that. You know how it is with little dogs, too — tiny poops don’t seem like a big deal and pee “accidents” go unnoticed until the years go by and it’s a big problem.
Can you post a picture of your log? I’d love to show people an example.
Oh, what a good, smart girl! You must be so proud of her! I know I am 😉