# 7 month old pomeranian pup still isn't potty trained.. HELP.. GETTING FRUSTRATED



## xxeclipsedxx (Jun 13, 2012)

My boyfriend and I got a puppy (Coco) about 2 months ago, I'm still partly living at his house so we keep coco there. We got him when he was about 4 months and he used to live in an apartment but however, it is a completely different environment to where we live now (a house) so obviously its more spacious and he has more rooms to pee in LOL


We've tried crate training him, 
smacking him when he does go somewhere in the house and then putting him outside for a while..

hes sometimes good, but still everyday.. theres atleast one puddle somewhere in the house.

My boyfriends mum wants to get rid of coco now simply because shes a neatfreak and hates when coco pees otherwise she has no problem keeping coco..

Is there any good way to potty train him COMPLETELY this time?


also one more thing, he doesn't pee with one of his legs up yet.. is this a problem? and his testicles still havent dropped.. i remember my family dog (jack russell) was nothing like this, and he was potty trained within 2 weeks..

also, when we walk him he never goes outside.. and he's really picky with food... i dont know why..

heres a pic of him


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## lil_fuzzy (Aug 16, 2010)

The problem is that you punish him for going in the house, but you haven't shown him what he's supposed to do instead (at least that's what I get from your post). You need to leash him to you when he's not in his crate, so that he can't sneak off and pee. Once every hour, and after every meal and nap, you take him outside and wait for him to pee. When he does, reward him with 3-5 yummy treats.

However, because you've been smacking him he's now scared to pee in front of you, and so he won't pee on walks, and he probably won't pee in the yard while you're there either. So I would wait very quietly in a corner while he's doing his thing, and when he pees, praise and give him the treats. Throw them if you have to.

And there is no point smacking him. If he has to pee he has to pee, so it's your fault that he does it inside because you don't let him out often enough. Plus, it doesn't work AND it makes him scared to pee in front of you.


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## Wicket (Aug 21, 2011)

Take a step back and take a good breather, you have to remember your puppy is still a baby and a small breed dog. He has a tiny bladder and just started to get full control of it. Don’t be angry with him and do not punish him anymore. You have to go back to potty basics and start over. You have to set him up for success and prevent all his accidents. There are no instant fixes to potty training.

Restrict his access to the house; do not let him run free. Supervise him at all time, tie his leash to you, keep him his pen/one room you can watch him, or crate him. When you see him getting ready to potty, scoop him up and take him outside immediately. If he does have an accident, clean it with a really good enzymatic cleaner like Nature’s Miracle. Feed him on top of his accident spot, play with him there and help him realize the spot is not for potty.

If he is still having accidents inside, he needs to be taken out more. Take him out waking up, after eating, after play, after a nap, have a very strict schedule and take him out every # of hours. When he does go potty outside, give him lots of praise, love, treats, basically throw a party. You have to undo all negative association he has with pottying in front of you. You want him to be comfortable going in front of you again. If there is a particular spot you always take him, rub his pee and poop into the area to make it smell more like “him”. It’ll entice him to go.

Do not free feed him, have a set number of meals with a set time limit to how long get has before he eats. If he doesn’t eat after 15min, take the food away. A healthy dog will not starve itself. If he eats whenever he wants, it’s hard to predict when he will go. If he doesn’t like his food, try a different flavor or brand or try mixing something else in there (like wet food or some meat). Do you feed him off your plate and people food? If you do stop, it won’t help. Sometimes it helps if you get on the floor with him and pretend to eat some of his food and offer some to him while you’re pretending to eat. Dogs want what you want, so if you like his food, he might want to eat it too, lol. Also, be sure to give him enough exercise mentally and physically (walks, play, training), he’ll be more hungry the more exercised he is.

When he walks, he’s probably really excited to be outside that he forgets to go. That and he might be still afraid of going in front of you. Just keep walking him as usual with plenty of breaks to sniff around. Once he starts feeling comfortable going in front of you and realizes outside = potty, he will start to go potty during walks. Sometimes dogs just go at the start and end of a walk because they’re too busy sniffing around, watching the sites, and hearing the sounds. My dog is like this and will maybe take a small tinkle in the middle of the walk, but she empties her stuff mostly at the beginning and the rest at the end.

For him not lifting his leg, don’t worry about it. It’s not a problem and some males will still squat like females/puppies even though they lift their legs. He might start doing it eventually, might not, no major concern. As for his testicles, do you plan to neuter him? Since he’s 7 months he is definitely old enough for the surgery. If not, talk to your vet. I’m not too sure about boy dogs, only have a little girl here, lol.

He’s such a cute puppy  I hope things work out. Just stick to the very strict schedule and be consistent. Do not stray from it and take him out often. If you’re in doubt, take him out. Be gentle with him and encouraging, help build his trust. It might take a while, but it’ll be worth it in the end.


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## LilasMom (Jan 18, 2012)

Every dog is different, and 7 months is still very young. Smacking him will teach him nothing about potty training, but it will make him scared of you. Stop ALL punishments now, you need to gain back the trust and make him not afraid tinkle if front of you. Smacking and punishing will NOT teach potty training, it will only teach not to potty in the house in front of you. Hitting only makes things worse, because not only will he still potty in the house, he will start to do it in secret so he doesn't get hit. 

Be very sweet and gentle, NO punishment, absolutely NO hitting/tapping/smacking EVER, and praise, praise, praise! 

What do you feed him?


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## doxiemommy (Dec 18, 2009)

You've gotten good advice. In my opinion, the keys to potty training are all about prevention. PREVENT accidents in the house by supervising the puppy. This means you have to actually have your eyes on the puppy, not just be in the same room as him. That way, you can see when he starts to sniff or circle, and you can get him out in time. Yes, it's a hassle to keep your eyes on the puppy, but it's necessary. Think of it as how parents have to keep their eyes on a baby when they are learning to crawl.

Besides supervising the puppy, you need to take the pup out on a schedule. I'd suggest every 1-2 hours. I know, that's a lot. But, this puppy doesn't understand where to potty yet, obviously, so, by taking him out that often, you are teaching him that.

If you can PREVENT accidents, actually not allow them to happen, then your puppy will start to learn that the only place to potty is outside, since you are stopping him from pottying inside.

Smacking him, or shouting can backfire. It can leave you with a puppy who is afraid to pee in front of you, or one who tries really hard to hide his pees and poops, and then you have an ugly mess.

Also, clean all accidents with an enzymatic cleaner, not just a regular household cleaner.


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## thegoodshepherd (Jun 12, 2012)

I agree completely with these guys, smacking =scared dog. When he gets up first thing, take outside. when he eats take outside. when he's done playing take outside. But remember when he does something good praise,praise,praise! I just rescued a 12wk old pup with no manners and with in a week he sits, comes, lays down, shakes, and gives hugs. have had him for about a week and a half now and he's completely house broken. Just goes to show you if you spend time and work with them the outcome is nothing but positive, I know this is not the norm but Ive truly been blessed.


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## ManyRoses (May 28, 2012)

Good advice so far...the only thing that I would add is that seeing as your bf's mum has an issue with the peeing for cleanliness reasons, you CANNOT let the dog have free run of the house. Really, at this point, I wouldn't be giving him free run of the house anyway - its not safe until you know that he is trained not to eat/chew/destroy things. 

Get a play pen, or a babygate to keep him in one spot. Ideally, pick a room with hardwood/laminate/lino flooring - something that is easier to clean up! No rugs or carpets, obviously. If he is still squatting, then you have less cleanup to worry about - he won't be peeing ON things, just on the floor. This just means that your bf's mum isn't going to be finding pee all over the place - its in one spot, and quickly and easily cleaned up. That should help ease the stress in the house.

And for the record, I am not necessarily against correcting a dog peeing in the house - although probably not by physical smacking. I think that the important thing is to correct in the house and praise out of the house - otherwise, I've seen dogs just get the idea that peeing IN GENERAL is an awesome thing to do, so they have no issues peeing everywhere. If praise is ONLY given when they go in their spot, they shouldn't become afraid to pee in front of you at all. 

And work on that crate training!! You said that you "tried"...which I am assuming means that you gave up? Crating is SO important, for a lot of reasons, and potty training is almost just an added bonus!


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## hamandeggs (Aug 11, 2011)

ManyRoses said:


> And for the record, I am not necessarily against correcting a dog peeing in the house - although probably not by physical smacking. I think that the important thing is to correct in the house and praise out of the house - otherwise, I've seen dogs just get the idea that peeing IN GENERAL is an awesome thing to do, so they have no issues peeing everywhere. If praise is ONLY given when they go in their spot, they shouldn't become afraid to pee in front of you at all.


I disagree with this. This is how people end up with "reverse housetrained" dogs that are afraid to go in front of people. The problem is that the dog might not understand that the "correction" is for inside peeing, as opposed to peeing in general. You can see how that might be confusing if you think about it. How is the dog supposed to know why they're getting yelled at, when they don't speak English? With a sensitive dog, a "correction" is scary and enough to put the dog off the whole idea of "peeing near people" in general. This is a pain in the neck to fix. I speak from experience. As others have said in this thread, the better path is to a) prevent all indoor pottying via constant vigilance; b) thoroughly clean up any accidents, but without corrections; and c) reward outdoor pottying. This WILL WORK.


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