[Mike Tyson]

Hello folks.

Not been posting recently as I moved house just before Xmas and only just got my internet connection sorted, its like having an armed removed!

Anyway back to the point of this post. My other half bought me a miniature Jack Russell for Xmas. He is awesome, but I am having great difficulty getting him house trained. I take him out for a walk before I go to work, come back at lunch and let him out and take him out after work but he still shits and pisses pretty much everywhere! He is by himself fro no longer than 3-4 hours I'd say. He has also decided that the kitchen floor would look better without the Lino being down and that chair legs will be improved by chewing them. This I can understand as he is really only still a pup and gets bored and frustrated being on his own. But the shitting and pissing is becoming a nuisance.

Any hints or tips on how to tame the beast would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers 

[Houdini]

Mother breeds these fucking humungous white German Shepherds (fucking awful things)



ah . . .   the old toilet training trick for pups if you must leave them alone is to lock them in a room (preferably w/ out carpet & other chewables) and cover the floor completely w/ newspaper.  Something appropriate, I recommend the People or Mirror, or if you want to make it more interesting in a scat kinda way, the Sport . . .   But I digress. 

To begin w/ they shit over the entire floor as it's papered & doesn't matter, over time one reduces the amount of paper, and lo!  The dogs respond by shitting only on the paper.  In the end - after some weeks - you can expect the hound to shit in the corner that has the paper and nowhere else.  Well, that's what mother says and has found first hand.  And she's used to having upto 10 balls-of-white-fury shitting hither and thither for months at a time.  Fruitcake shenannigans really . . .  but it beats working I suppose.

[Mike Tyson]

Interesting, thanks.

We have kind of all ready started doing this, but we were simply putting the newspaper down in one corner. He had started doing his business only on the paper, but this only lasted for a week and could have been luck more than anything else.

I like your idea though, so I reckon i'll give it a shot.

Thanking you muchly.

Anyone else got any tactics?

[underground]

Mother breeds these fucking humungous white German Shepherds (fucking awful things)



ah . . .   the old toilet training trick for pups if you must leave them alone is to lock them in a room (preferably w/ out carpet & other chewables) and cover the floor completely w/ newspaper.  Something appropriate, I recommend the People or Mirror, or if you want to make it more interesting in a scat kinda way, the Sport . . .   But I digress. 

To begin w/ they shit over the entire floor as it's papered & doesn't matter, over time one reduces the amount of paper, and lo!  The dogs respond by shitting only on the paper.  In the end - after some weeks - you can expect the hound to shit in the corner that has the paper and nowhere else.  Well, that's what mother says and has found first hand.  And she's used to having upto 10 balls-of-white-fury shitting hither and thither for months at a time.  Fruitcake shenannigans really . . .  but it beats working I suppose.

And then you take the paper away because hopefully the hound's faculties have improved sufficiently to be able to hold it. And by that time it has also become territorial and therefore dunt fancy shitting on it's own doorstep, so to speak. The book I read also suggested bringing some pissy paper outside the first few times too.

It didn't say how to stop the beast from gamming itself every hour, and in between times when visitors were present, however.

[LucyB]

I'm a great fan of puppy cages! The RSPCA actually recommend them, don't feel cruel for locking them up. Our dog loved hers, she really saw it as her own, safe place and would generally wander in there to sleep even if we were home and it was open.

The idea is that they won't mess in their own bed, so as long as he is old enough to have a nit of bladder control, he should hold it in for a few hours, then will be ready to go when you let him out into the garden or wherever.

We locked ours in at night, too. The only problem we ever had was when she got hideous diarrhoea in the night...

[Plattsy]

A side note to the above would be positive reforcement. If the puppy happens to do something positive reward it with a scooby snack.

On the contrary if the puppy does something wrong. A firm, dominant 'No' and no scooby snack should inform the puppy (over time) this will not be tolerated.

Plus patience, time and consistancy in the way you and your partner treat the puppy will help too. Mixed up signals = mixed up puppy.

[Paul B]

I'm a great fan of puppy cages! The RSPCA actually recommend them, don't feel cruel for locking them up. Our dog loved hers, she really saw it as her own, safe place and would generally wander in there to sleep even if we were home and it was open.

  our dog did the same thing although we'd often find the door magically open in the morning (dog still inside asleep)...

[AndiT]

I've got two Jack Russells and they are difficult to housetrain, not least that they have small bladders and guts and a high metabolism. Mine were still making an occasional mess at 8 months old, so buckle up for the long ride!

You need a crate, they do learn to love it. I've got a canvas one, they are in it all the time, I only zip them up at night. The idea being that they won't soil their own bed, so they'll hold on. you then take them outside as soon as you let them out, they wee and poo and you praise them for it, they eventually learn that outside is the place to do it.

The newspaper method worked for Pixie, but not Reg.

Good luck and try to enjoy it and see the funny side.