Lab potty training trouble

[thethinker]

I thought I'd see if any of you have an idea about my problem. I have a 6 mo old female yellow lab. She has not been too good at potty training. I am trying to get her to go to the door when she wants to go out. When she goes to the door and does her thing outside I give her a small treat. If she goes to the door but does nothing outside she gets nothing. Seems to be the correct idea, right? But then she'll just go on the carpet with no warning at all. No, she didn't just drink some water nor was she in the house for a long time nor was she playing hard. She just suddenly goes. My wife is ready to get rid of her because of this. Any ideas? Thanks for your help!

[DRH1175]

You need to crate train her. It takes a bit of patience at that age but in no time you will have her trained. The key is to put her in a travel crate. But you need to use one that is just big enough that she can lay down. The reason is that if it is one of the extra large one she may go on one end. Dogs do not want to lay in pee so that is why crate training works. Anyways the key is to leave her in there whenever you are not home. At night and when you can't spend time supervising her. She may whine etc... Honestly this is not crule. As soon as you let her out take her straight outside to the area where you want her to do her thing sometime carrying her works so she doesn't go inside. No need for treats. stay there with her till she goes potty and poop. She may or may not go right away but she will go. Use a comand like "do your job" or "Go Potty" whatever you wish. use the same words everytime. Then here is the key when she goes give her lots of praise tell her good girl etc... So she knows she did a good thing. Take her out frequently so she doesn't have accidents and in no time she will be trained. As far as her going to the door that will come in time when she is trained she will most likely do that on her own.

[Powerstroke]

I totally agree with the crate training. I have a 12 week old springer and its my first dog. There were a few minor accidents in the beginning, but the dog is perfect now. There hasn't been an accident for at least 2 weeks.

Every time I open the kennel door he goes right to the door. This is the ritual. Out of the keenel to outside. Goes to the bathroom and THEN he can run free. I always praise him when he goes potty. Every once and a while he wants to go to his food or water first, but I escort him outside to go potty first. He has picked up on the idea and has been doing very well.

One thing to remember about kennel training is that the kennel can never be used as punishment. My wife started putting the dog away when she would get mad at him and then I couldn't get him to enter his kennel voluntarily. Now we tie him to a leash in the kitchen when he needs a "time-out" and goes in his kennel for bedtimes or when we aren't around to supervise him. He will now go in the kennel on command and doens't mind it at all. He has NEVER peed in the kennel.

[caseymcq]

Quote:

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One thing to remember about kennel training is that the kennel can never be used as punishment. My wife started putting the dog away when she would get mad at him and then I couldn't get him to enter his kennel voluntarily. Now we tie him to a leash in the kitchen when he needs a "time-out" and goes in his kennel for bedtimes or when we aren't around to supervise him. He will now go in the kennel on command and doens't mind it at all. He has NEVER peed in the kennel.

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I will second that and add that a pups crate is suppose to be a place that they can feel secure. I crate trained my female (she slept there at night) and used shredded paper in the crate so if she did have an accident she wouldn't have it all over herself and be icky/stinky. When she was only 3 months old I ended up having surgery that took longer than expecte. She was stuck in her crate for 14 hours and didn't have an accident! Not something that a poor pup should have to go through but I was extremely impressed (and feeling sorry for the poor gal.).

Crate training is definately the way to go.

[LundExplorer]

I agree with the crate training comments. Here is another idea to also try. Hang a small (1" diameter) sleigh bell at the door and ring it when she goes out. Put it where she will be able to ring it w/ her nose.

My male yellow pup was ringing it himself a week after I did this. It is now his "I gotta go" signal. It worked spectacularly - his accidents dropped way off after doing this.

Watch so that she doesn't eat the bell. I had a golden that chewed the bell open, ate the dinger, and we had to watch for it in his #2.

[gonefishin11]

I'm guessing you have tried this but I just stuck my pup's nose in each spot of pee inside and yelled at her... ALOT. Like you, I also gave her a treat and praised her like crazy when she went outside. I got her at six weeks and at 10 weeks she was just about perfect.