I'm DESPERATE!!! Potty training help!!!!!!

[Miss Miasma]

Okay so I'm crate training my 7 month old puppy. I'd take him out in the morning, he'd be in the crate while I was gone and when I'd get home, I'd take him out again and then while I was home he'd just run around the house and I had potty pads out for him to go on and he didn't quite learn not to go in the house yet(which sucks because I'm in an apartment) but was doing a good job about not going in his crate for the first month or so but one day I came home a little late and he had an accident in his crate. It's got a little crate pad on the bottom so he's not on the hard crate tray. I took it out, washed it, put it back and he'd still have random accidents. Each time, I'd take it out, wash it, and put it back. Now it's at the point where EVERY DAY he's going in his crate and he won't do anything when I take him outside. He used to go potty as soon as we got to the grass and now he just stares at me like he's trying to figure out what I want him to do and eventually I just give up and take him back inside.

I'm thinking even though I washed it, his bed still had the smell that's why he continued to go on it, so I got him a new one and HE STILL GOES IN HIS CRATE.

I don't know what to do anymore!!!! I know there's trainers you can pay to leave your pet with them for a few weeks and they'll do all the training for you but I can't afford that. I'm seriously desperate though, I'm starting to lose my patience with him and he's starting to piss me off more than anything. My mom keeps telling me I should just get rid of him but I'm too attached to him, I want to work with him, I think it's really irresponsible of people to just get a dog and then abandon them as soon as they become too much work for them but I just have no idea what to do anymore?????

Also I live an apartment, so I don't have a backyard...

[Latrans]

Start over completely with potty training.

How long are you crating the puppy?

[JaziSnake]

Has he been to a vet to rule out a UTI? While less common in males, it's still a possibility.

[Srintella Tiagara]

Does he like balls? if so start throwing it in the yard for him and make him run.

Or how about extra long walks?

[Miss Miasma]

Srintella Tiagara

Does he like balls? if so start throwing it in the yard for him and make him run.

Or how about extra long walks?

I live in an apartment, I don't have a yard. lol

[Srintella Tiagara]

Miss Miasma

Srintella Tiagara

Does he like balls? if so start throwing it in the yard for him and make him run.

Or how about extra long walks?

I live in an apartment, I don't have a yard. lol

Dog park? Or a park near by?

You can still walk right?

[Miss Miasma]

Latrans

Start over completely with potty training.

How long are you crating the puppy?

He's in the crate for about 5 hours while I'm at school.

And I don't really know how to start over? Whatever I was doing wasn't working

[Miss Miasma]

Srintella Tiagara

Miss Miasma

Srintella Tiagara

Does he like balls? if so start throwing it in the yard for him and make him run.

Or how about extra long walks?

I live in an apartment, I don't have a yard. lol

Dog park? Or a park near by?

You can still walk right?

Yeah but I don't know how that's going to help with the potty training? I take him for walks 3 times a day, the problem is that he doesn't know how to hold it until I get home and can take him out. He just goes in his crate.

[Miss Miasma]

JaziSnake

Has he been to a vet to rule out a UTI? While less common in males, it's still a possibility.

No, he doesn't have a UTI. He just doesn't know how to hold it until I get home. And I mean if it was pee that I was having to clean up everyday then yeah, I'd suspect a UTI buuuut...it's not pee. gonk

[Srintella Tiagara]

Miss Miasma

Srintella Tiagara

Miss Miasma

Srintella Tiagara

Does he like balls? if so start throwing it in the yard for him and make him run.

Or how about extra long walks?

I live in an apartment, I don't have a yard. lol

Dog park? Or a park near by?

You can still walk right?

Yeah but I don't know how that's going to help with the potty training? I take him for walks 3 times a day, the problem is that he doesn't know how to hold it until I get home and can take him out. He just goes in his crate.

We had a puppy and the whole running thing seemed to help her. Thats why I said that.

However, I think your puppy is confused. He thinks his crate is his bathroom.

I am trying to think here on the issue. How long are you gone for?

[Krissim Klaw]

How big is the crate you are using?

[Erin puppy]

Miss Miasma

yeah you are not doing it 'quite' right, but don't give up! you can do this.
Your both going to start over, and follow some good rules and advice and the better you are at keeping this up the sooner he will understand! However I realize no one's perfect, I made mistakes during potty training and it took about 4 months to finish. and even after that she had a recession when she was about 2, so I had to be very watchful of her again.

The crate should be big enough that he can turn around, but SMALL enough so that he cannot find a place to pee in and then stay on the opposite side. take out the pad, and put in a doggy bed. and get a smaller crate if you need to.
I'm glad he's not spending too much time in the crate. He should be able to hold it for that long.
Go outside A LOT. I know it's hard sometimes. but he needs to be outside as much as possible. play at the park or in a nearby lot. think about this: if the puppy were outside 100% of the time, then he would go potty outside 100% of the time. and going potty outside 100% of the time is your goal! of course we can't be outside 100% of the time, so that's why you must try to be out as close to 100% of your time as possible.
When you do this, you get waaaaaay more chances to catch him doing the right thing and reward and praise him for it. The more times you get to praise him for doing the right thing, the sooner he understands. Always keep dog treats with you. and make sure you put a command to it like "go potty" or somthing

When you have to be inside, keep him tied to you. and watch him like a hawk.
it can be hard to tell when they are about to go, if he starts to go, or goes potty all of a sudden, yell 'NO' and immediately pick him up and take him outside, THEN make sure you praise him to let him know it is good that he is outside. outside potty = good

when you take him out before and after class, lead him to the door, don't carry him, and say something like 'lets go potty', this way he learns where the door is. and hopefully someday you'll catch him sitting by the door, wondering when it's going to open b/c he wants to potty outside.
if he's a quiet dog, you can teach him to speak and have him speak before you open the door. I had to do that with my dog so she would make some noise to go out, cause otherwise she was too quiet and I wouldn't know.
even now she prefers to stand on top of me and paw my hand than speaking, but I still ask her 'do you need to go potty' and she will grunt or growl

let me know if you have any questions! oh and throw away all those potty pads, that's just confusing for them

[Latrans]

I wouldn't spend tons of time outside to teach housebreaking; the dog's supposed to learn to hold it indoors and go outside, and if they're always outside, that's just half the equation. Plus it's time consuming.

Get a schedule and stick to it. If the dog is going regularly in the house, the dog isn't going out enough. If you haven't actually gone to the vet about the possibility of a UTI, do that.

Latrans

For housebreaking...

Latrans

Supervision is the key. The fewer number of times the puppy has an accident, the less work it will be to teach the puppy the proper bathroom place.

[...]

I've posted a couple things in other threads that might help that I'm going to quote here because I'm lazy;

Quote:

Anyway: Get on top of housebreaking NOW. Take the puppy out every half hour, AND 15 minutes after she eats AND 10 minutes after she has a drink AND immediately when she's done playing, and PRAISE HER as soon as she's done relieving herself. Pair her potty with a word (mine's potty). You'll be so grateful if you keep on this now. Ignore accidents in the house; they're your fault for not supervising. Don't rub her nose in it, don't yell at her. If you catch her IN THE ACT of pottying in the house, make a noise to startle, "Oooh no not there," in a sing-song voice and take her outside to finish. Throw a party if she does. YAY!

Quote:

Anyway; take the puppy out frequently; 10-15 minutes after drinking or eating, immediately after playing inside with you, and every 30-60 minutes besides. When you can't be watching the puppy, crate the puppy. If the puppy has an accident when you're not there, clean it up, ignore the puppy. If the puppy has an accident in front of you, make a noise to startle (not in a mean way, just 'oh-oh-oh-waaait a second nuuuuu') and scoop them up and take them to their potty spot. Encourage them to finish. Throw a party. When they bathroom outside, once they finish, throw a party. HAVE A BISCUIT! HAVE A HUG! LET'S PLAY TUG! RUN AROUND WITH ME YAAAAY! Tell them to 'go potty' when you take them out, too; it's a super useful command later. There's no need to ever punish your puppy during the potty training process. At best, it'll do nothing (seriously, I know it 'feels' wrong not to yell at them, but my dog has never been punished, yelled at, anything for going in the house, and she has been almost 100% reliable since 3 months old, except when she's sick and excitement sprinkles, which have nothing to do with housebreaking) and at worst you'll teach the dog that if they go in front of you, they'll get punished, which can be a real problem.

Good luck!