New fur baby...need help!

aprildreams · ‎03-17-2010

Lost my shihtzu last January. He was 11 y.o. It was heartbreaking and I thought I would never want another dog. Lately I started thinking about getting a new little baby. So about a week ago, I brought Toby home. He is a tiny little shihtzu, 4 months old and will be smaller than my Riley. But he is so different. Hyper doesn't explain him. I can handle that, he is a puppy, I know. But my main issue is he is already "marking". I take him out and he goes when I tell him to...but when we come back in, he starts his running around and excited, but also starts squatting and marking on my rugs. I have tried everything...puppy pads, which he uses sometimes, and my latest is a doggie band. He is so tiny, I can't keep them on him. I am training him in a play pen instead of a crate. That's what I did with Riley and it worked. Any ideas? He wore me out today! And he only weighs 3 pounds!

Kachina624 · ‎03-10-2010

@aprildreams. IMO a playpen is too large. There's plenty of room for him to defecate or pee and still find a high and dry place away from it to sleep or "den". You need something much smaller. How old is your pup? He may be too young to be truly marking. He may be immature and unable to empty his bladder outside. it's said a male dog must pee twice to completely empty his bladder, so you may be bringing him inside too soon.

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New Mexico☀️Land Of Enchantment

ItsME · ‎03-10-2010

Is he marking, or just having excited puppy pees? How soon after you take him out does it happen? How frequently? Do you catch him in the at or after? What do you do/say to him when you catch him?

Name the acts and alway praise him when he goes outside. Add a training treat.

The boy I lost last week was basically trained at 10 weeks.... treats when he went outside, and I said nothing when he did something in the house. Three months later he had an accident when I was trying to wait out the rain. I got his attention (didn't yell) and explained that poopies go outside. That was the last accident. At 20 months he marked a couple times. This time I scolded him... he knew better .... I told him that peepees go outside. Never happened again.

None of that worked with my now 5 year old. He resisted until he was 10 months old. One night he made a major pee on my rug. I yelled louder than he'd heard me before, and probably put him in jail. That was the last time he peed in the house. I tossed the rug, which he'd chewed a hole in, anyway.

Four months is still young. Don't yell. Use positive reinforcement. Confine him to a small, non-carpeted room until he is more reliable. Spend a lot of time with him in that room. Maybe use a crate rather than a play pen. Give him more room when his bladder is empty.

ALSO.... get your carpets cleaned and deodorized .... get rid of any bio odors that might be there from your last baby. It might be that he is reacting to scents that you don't know are there.

Good luck with your beautiful new boy!

ECBG · ‎01-08-2011

I would personally never use puppy pads. How do you ever make peeing in the house wrong after it was right?

Drythe · ‎07-09-2011

Happy for your new baby Toby.

While it is Very upsetting,

I would clean, deodorize, and store the rugs.

Limit the amount of space available to him

Take him out frequently, scoop him up when he starts marking say NO, and take him BACK outside

Also, remember, he is just a Baby.

Best wishes to you Both!

"Animals are not my whole world, but they have made my world whole" ~ Roger Caras

K9buddy · ‎03-09-2010

Keep a very light leash on him when he's in the house and always keep him close by. When you see him getting ready to pee, you can step on the leash to stop him and carry him outside.

BunSnoop · ‎05-22-2010

When I potty trained my puppies I would always take them outside constantly - probably once every hour when they were awake. They never had a chance to go potty inside because I was taking them outside so much.

Also, ALWAYS when a puppy wakes up after napping or after playing immediately take them outside. That's about all I ever did and it worked very well for me.

Good luck with you new little bundle of joy!

RealtyGal2 · ‎01-05-2017

@BunSnoop wrote:
When I potty trained my puppies I would always take them outside constantly - probably once every hour when they were awake. They never had a chance to go potty inside because I was taking them outside so much.

Also, ALWAYS when a puppy wakes up after napping or after playing immediately take them outside. That's about all I ever did and it worked very well for me.

Good luck with you new little bundle of joy!

I read somewhere that puppies can only hold it for about an hour and it takes quite a while for them to graduate to 2 hours. It sounds like your way makes a lot of sense.

Warrior2022 · ‎05-31-2018

I trained my very small Shih Tzu with a pee pad by the door. You only want to have one pad. Not several evreywhere..

silkyk · ‎03-03-2011

@BunSnoop wrote:
When I potty trained my puppies I would always take them outside constantly - probably once every hour when they were awake. They never had a chance to go potty inside because I was taking them outside so much.

Also, ALWAYS when a puppy wakes up after napping or after playing immediately take them outside. That's about all I ever did and it worked very well for me.

Good luck with you new little bundle of joy!

Yes this is the way! We also made it like a game singing "Outside doodie time" and out we go then a little treat if doodies are done and lots of praise. Repeat in an hour. After a few days "doodie time" is FUN time and they remember and are happy to oblige. Works for us. Good luck and hang in there!