# Potty training in an apartment



## SheltieQuirks (Dec 1, 2011)

Ok guys, I've potty-trained dogs before, but my new 13-week-old pup is stumping me a little bit!

So far, my method has been to:
1) Give him a high-value treat each and every time he pees or poops outside. 
2) Keep him tethered to me during the day when I'm home
3) Crate him at night, and at various necessary times during the day (when I run off to the laundromat, etc.). I rush him outside whenever I take him out of the crate, since I know he'll need to go then. 
4) The rescue was free-feeding him, but they understood that I'd probably want something more structured to put his digestive system on a predictable schedule. So now he eats 3x a day (6 am, when he naturally wakes up, 12 noon, and 6 pm). I put the food in his crate, which I think is helping him to deal with his crate time, but I take it out after half an hour to encourage quicker eating, because (I presume due to the free-feeding) he came to me just munching on food throughout the day. 
5) Cleaning with enzyme-cleaner wherever he goes in the apartment/hallway/elevator/lobby.


So far, this has been working marginally well. He sleeps through the night without any accidents, which is a blessing. However, he just cannot seem to make it to elevator to go to the bathroom outside.

Since I live in NYC now, it's a walk through the apartment, down the hallway, into the elevator, and through the lobby and doorway to get to the outdoors. PLENTY of time for a desperate pup to stop and pee. I don't scold him when he goes inside, I remain completely neutral, but it is getting frustrating, because I can't interrupt and carry him right outside to show him where I'd like him to go instead like I could in a house. 

He also pretty much loathes going outside, which I think is part of the issue. I'm trying to make outside more appealing by working outside on things he finds fun, like "sit" and "come here," and taking him to the same few spots to potty every time, but he genuinely hates walking. Which is also making tethering to me difficult, because he often just plops down and then I'm dragging his hefty butt along if I try to walk! It's making me uneasy, he has so little body and pressure awareness that he's constantly running into things and getting tangled. Today I went into the kitchen and he couldn't figure out how to follow and cried very loudly when the leash got tangled around him and pulled. I felt awful. 

So far, I've been carrying him to the elevator out of sheer necessity and a desire not to tick off my neighbors with constant dog pee in the hallway, but he is quite a large puppy and I'm not sure how much longer I can feasibly do that (I'm 5'1' and he was already a very dense 20+ pounds when I weighed him over a week ago, growing like a weed too).

Any ideas? Tips for house training a dog in a high rise? I don't want to use pee pads if I can help it. If nothing else, just tell me it will get better and I won't wind up with a 100+ pound dog pooping in my apartment, because that's my big fear right now....

And here's a pic of the little (not really so little!) munchkin.


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## kcomstoc (Mar 9, 2013)

The only thing I got is to keep carrying him...but I can see he's getting big already....super cute by the way. maybe someone else will have more advice


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## Hambonez (Mar 17, 2012)

I'd take him out with insane frequency, even if that means you're in the elevator every 10-15 minutes. I know that won't help for times he needs to hold it longer, like overnight or if you've been out, but I'd try to set him up for as much success as possible when you are home.


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## Gally (Jan 11, 2012)

I feel your pain. We are on the fourth floor of our apartment building and raised our pup from 10 weeks old here. It can be done but it does take a lot more work and planning then if you could just open a door to a yard.

If he's having accidents on the way outside you will need to take him out more frequently. We carried our pup out at that age to reduce hallway accidents but he was half the size of yours. 

If you get really desperate, they make soft sided dog carriers that have wheels and a pull up handle kind of like luggage, if you could put him in that and then wheel him outside it might help prevent accidents in the hallway. You'll probably get some weird looks from your neighbours but it might be easier than having to clean your hallway/elevator all the time.


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## Kudzu (Aug 15, 2013)

Gally said:


> I feel your pain. We are on the fourth floor of our apartment building and raised our pup from 10 weeks old here. It can be done but it does take a lot more work and planning then if you could just open a door to a yard.
> 
> If he's having accidents on the way outside you will need to take him out more frequently. We carried our pup out at that age to reduce hallway accidents but he was half the size of yours.
> 
> If you get really desperate, they make soft sided dog carriers that have wheels and a pull up handle kind of like luggage, if you could put him in that and then wheel him outside it might help prevent accidents in the hallway. You'll probably get some weird looks from your neighbours but it might be easier than having to clean your hallway/elevator all the time.


That is a great idea!


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## Katsura (Aug 23, 2013)

Well, I think your best bet is to just carry him. When I first got my little guy at about 8 weeks, it was either carry him or have him pee wherever. He would literally just wake up, stand up, and pop a squat. So I just had to carry him outside.

Gally mentioned taking him out more frequently, but if your pup is anything like mine, you might as well camp outside with the length you have to go to get him outside. My pup would literally pee every 20-30 minutes (though now he can make it 45 min - 1 hour). Though, I'm not saying taking him out more frequently is a bad idea. It is definitely a good idea if he doesn't have to tinkle every half hour.

The luggage idea is a good one too. Pretty much, just carry him or tote him out until he can handle it long enough to make it outside. That's what I recommend, anyway.


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## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

Have you tried limiting the water intake to meal times as well? That has helped up get past the potty trips with our 12 week old puppy. The puppy had established a predictable poop routine as soon as we brought her home and stopped the free feeding. But until we gave water mainly at meal times, and limited water in between (due to weather concerns, overheating) we couldn't get a handle on the number of potty trips. Personally, I didn't think the number of potty trips was excessive recently (after a meal she will poop and pee within 10 min, then need 2 more potty trips about 20 minutes apart) but I did notice that she would just go a few drops sometimes. I asked the vet to run a urinalysis on the second shot visit today and she just phoned me to say the pup has a urinary tract infection. So I'm thinking this potty training should get a whole lot easier now that she should be pottying less once the infection clears up. I asked the vet if limiting water could have led to the UTI and she didn't think so because the puppy gets wet food at every meal and she was getting fed/water access 4x per day, plenty enough fluids she said.


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## Kobismom (Dec 17, 2012)

We live in a condo and had Kobi since he was 8-weeks-old. We also crate trained him, but we didn't put food in his crate. There is a water bottle attached for hydration. We would feed him in the AM and the PM with a stuffed Kong inbetween. 

I had learned a good crate training tool that seemed to help him "get it" pretty quickly. Upon taking him out of the crate, you immediately leash him up and take him out. If he pees/poops, reward him and then let him be out of the crate upon your return. However, if he doesn't "go" during your walk, he goes back into the crate for 15 minutes. You take him out again for another walk. If he is successful this time around, then he is rewarded with crate-free time. 

Each time you take him outside, he returns to the home and either gets crated for 15 more minutes or gets crate-free time in the house (even if that means being tethered to you), to help him understand where the appropriate potty place is. If he messes up, then do take him out, show him where to go. If he goes again outside, reward him with crate-free time, but if not, then it's back in the crate for 15 minutes.

This feels laborious, but I gotta tell ya, Kobi was about 80% potty-trained by the time he was 4 months old, 90% by the time he was 6 months old and we have been accident free since 6 months old (he's 10 months old now)!!


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## SheltieQuirks (Dec 1, 2011)

Thanks for the advice, guys! I really appreciate it. Just talking about this is helpful for seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. 

I've been more diligent about picking him up and carrying him, at least to the elevator (he's most likely to go in the hallways before the elevator - once he's in he focuses and sits), and so far, no accidents since early yesterday! He is starting to pee immediately on the sidewalk outside too, which is a relief as it takes awhile to walk to the grassy space from where the apartment is. 

I ordered a baby gate for the kitchen, as a transitional piece for when he doesn't need to be tethered/crated constantly (whenever that turns out to be). Hopefully going from constant tethering/crating to being in a smaller space, rather than roaming the entire apartment, will help things go smoothly. He still is very distracted and "body unaware," which makes tethering him a constant game of making sure he hasn't strangled himself (and the leash isn't even that long, he's just always poking around!), but we're progressing. I'm trying not to expect that much, because he's had a lot of changes in a short period and he is only a puppy. 

I also am thinking of putting him in my clothes cart for the laundromat to wheel him outside, based on suggestions here...eccentric, yes, but whatever keeps him peeing in front of people's doors!


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