We have an 11-wk old Sheltie puppy. Got her when she was 8 weeks old. We’ve been having difficulty housebreaking her. We started her off on puppy pads the first week until she got her 2nd round of vaccines. Been trying to swtich her to going outside. She’s making decent progress in pee’ing outside. We always reward her well with high-level treats (been using lunch meat or hot-dog pieces) when she goes outside. However, she seems to think that inside and/or her crate is the place to go poop.
Here is her approximate schedule,
5am – Wake, Immediately go outside to poop/pee
6-7am – She eat 1st meal, we get ready for work, play a little
7-7:30 – outside to poop/pee
7:30-1130 – work/crate
1130-1230/1 – poop/pee; eat 2nd meal, poop/pee
1-5p – work/crate
5p – poop/pee; eat 3rd meal; poop/pee; play
7p – eat 4th meal; poop/pee
9p – bed/crate
She normally doesn’t eliminate in her crate during the night. Only during the day when we’re at work.
It seems like she just refuses to go outside and will actually hold it until inside. The other day I took her on a walk hoping that it might activate her to have to go (and I knew she had to poop because it had been a while and she hadn’t gone yet). Well about 15-20 minutes into it, she started freaking out and started running as fast as she could back to the apartment. I wouldn’t let her in at first; butr after about 10 minutes of her trying to get inside, I let her into the apmt and she pooped in the apartment.
Anyone with ideas on changing this behavior? I’m fearing she is getting comfortable with eliminating in crate and we definitely do not want that!! I know she is still young, but I want to ensure we are progressing with her and not regressing.
To answer a few other questions, I have tried both to not say anything when the eliminate in apmt and take them outside as well as yell and/or clap when they are in process of eliminating, then take out. I always immediately take outside and I’ve never punished her after the fact; only in process. Also – We have an exapandable crate, currently at 22"Wx22"Dx24"H. She is about 15" in length, 3lb. Should I consider shortening the crate depth?
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