Kaylee, The Awesome JA *Updated 7/27 with new picture spam*
Formally Sabrina from @poeticdragon
Picking her up was difficult only because we spent 15+hr driving. On December 27th we left Modeto Ca for San Luis Obispo (where we live) to switch to one car. Then down to LA and Claire to pick her up. We were supposed to get there at 4 pm at the latest, but with traffic and everything we didn't get there until 9pm, then left to get home at 130am.
She was such a good girl, didn't have and accident, just cuddled the whole time. She slept all night, and when I got up the next morning for work she was a perfect little angel. Then when I'm on my break at work my boyfriend tells me that she apparently keeps peeing on the carpet.
SOOOO I think we must be doing something wrong. If shes cuddling or asleep in her crate shes fine. we watch her, take her out every hour, but she still stops mid play to walk away and pee. We take her out when she starts, when she wakes up, and finishes drinking. We praise her outside and give her treats. Everyone keeps saying how they trained their pups in one day, and maybe they had an accident or two. I feel like an unfit puppy owner. So if anyone has advice.
On a happier not, shes absolutely adorable, everyone loves her, and she thinks her chew toys are bombastic.
and so here she is, Kaylee!
Picking her up was difficult only because we spent 15+hr driving. On December 27th we left Modeto Ca for San Luis Obispo (where we live) to switch to one car. Then down to LA and Claire to pick her up. We were supposed to get there at 4 pm at the latest, but with traffic and everything we didn't get there until 9pm, then left to get home at 130am.
She was such a good girl, didn't have and accident, just cuddled the whole time. She slept all night, and when I got up the next morning for work she was a perfect little angel. Then when I'm on my break at work my boyfriend tells me that she apparently keeps peeing on the carpet.
SOOOO I think we must be doing something wrong. If shes cuddling or asleep in her crate shes fine. we watch her, take her out every hour, but she still stops mid play to walk away and pee. We take her out when she starts, when she wakes up, and finishes drinking. We praise her outside and give her treats. Everyone keeps saying how they trained their pups in one day, and maybe they had an accident or two. I feel like an unfit puppy owner. So if anyone has advice.
On a happier not, shes absolutely adorable, everyone loves her, and she thinks her chew toys are bombastic.
and so here she is, Kaylee!
Comments
Sakura peed on the floor ALL THE TIME, do not fret. She's approaching 4 months in the next few days and has a very good handle on it now, but of course I don't fully trust her. I trust her enough to take my eye off of her on occasion and she's been good with that. She was a LEAKY FAUCET when she was first brought home though. I would say not to give her free access to water, and give her designated water breaks when you can watch her over the next hour.
She will pee more if she's being more active too. I felt like I was taking Sakura out every 15 minutes when I was not crating her. That also might be a good idea... if you literally cannot watch her every second, she will need to be in a crate or playpen to really help with the potty training (this is only my opinion from personal experience). And if you are going to use pee pads, try placing them closest to the exit where she would need to go to pee (like in front of the back door, or front door if in an apartment).
You will notice a HUGE difference at the 2 week mark. Just keep on it and always praise her for going outside even if she just went potty inside (even if she only does a few drops). They're very clever dogs and she'll catch on
Congrats on your little one!
Your house breaking experience sounds awfully similar to mine 4 months ago, please don't despair.
Since your pup is only 9 weeks or so old, it's very different than people who get their pups at 12+ weeks old, and the ability to hold also varies by breed (shibas are just... different)
We got Meichan at 8 weeks old, and she pretty much did what you described Kaylee does re: #1. We used wee wee pads in her ex-pen so she could go pee & poo on her own when we were at work. We also didn't set alarm clocks to get up every 2 hours at night to take her out. What we figured out was that since we were still letting her use wee wee pads inside, she learned quickly not to go on bare surface (we have concrete flooring, wood and tile decks), but she couldn't distinguish between her wee wee pads, towels, bedding and carpet. She would also do this cute thing where her front paw was on the wee wee pad but her butt was on bare floor... So we rolled up the area rugs she soiled and sent them to the cleaners and set out wee wee pads in rooms where she's allowed to play. We still ended up doing laundry all the time w/ accidents on towels and bedding, but a few weeks passed... Somewhere around week 16 a switch was flipped and she no longer goes indoors anymore even w/ the wee wee pad around. I'm not sure if it's b/c she started to attend daycare 3 days a week and learned from the big dogs not to go indoors, or her bladder just got strong enough, but it basically took us 2 months to housebreak Meichan.
btw, this is the best pee/poo clean up product we've discovered:
http://www.antiickypoo.com/
Besides cleaning, it deodorizes very well b/c we were worried about concrete absorbing pee/poo stains.
Good luck and hope to meet Kaylee at the Feb AKIHO show!
Also keep in mind that she's in an entirely new environment, with new people, and without her mom and litter mates to pattern off of. Some setback and "forgetting" what she already knows is to be expected until she's acclimated and adjusted.
You could use an opened ex-pen to divide your kitchen apart from the living room and keep her on the tile for her indoor playtime until she learns where she is supposed to go in your house. Designate a location for her puddle pad and keep it in that same spot.
The smaller the puppy the less area I give them to roam around in "unchecked." Generally the pups stay in their playpen or box while I am not actively engaging them. If I have them playing on the floor of the living room with me, its only after thoroughly exhausting their energy and bladders outside.
Not all pups are trained day one.
Saya was pretty good house training Bella too, but both had incident here or there, but they learned outside is best place to potty. Saya would go on the rug by the door so at least she was trying. hehe
Bella had odd behavior and potty on the stairs.
It took her a bit, but she stopped the behavior with more stepped up monitoring and taking her out to potty plus convincing parent's to give her a treat each time she peed or poo outside. I think combo of things helped plus as she aged she got better at holding it.
Kaylee is a cute Akita pup.
I would also give her limited space to hang out if you can't supervise her. Tile areas would be perfect. If you have not invested in baby gates, it may be a good idea.
I've had dogs that only peed in the house a few times (not my akitas!) and others that took longer to get it, but they all do, eventually. But peeing in the house is pretty much par for the course for puppies. Keep to a schedule, and get her out at regular intervals, and there will be fewer and fewer mistakes, until one day you'll realize there hasn't been a mistake for months, and then you'll know she's got it.
And remember, this little baby has a very small bladder right now too. As she grows, she'll be able to hold it longer, and she'll also learn have learned what the appropriate place is.
Each puppy is different but one thing stays the same.... they pee a LOT lol All of the advice above is great and I wish you the best of luck. We are battling house training with a 10 week old AA so I know right where you are!!!
The last 24hrs have been worlds better. Both Ben and I realized that we had to take her out every time an activity changed, and that more sleepy time in her crate is good. Shes been sleeping through most of the night, only getting up once. So far the schedule is wake up, take a pee, eat some food or water, take a pee, play like crazy till shes tired, take a pee, nap in the crate, pee. repeat all day. In the evening put her in the crate by 10pm, wake up at 1/2am, and again at 7am to repeat.
she definitely is learning that pees outside get treats (she looks up after like now where is my treat) and that poos get extra praise.
Both of us realized it was our fault, and we know shes just a baby and doing her best. We probably would have caught on to her needs sooner if we hadn't been so tired from driving.
So far only one accident today.
AND she was a champion at the vet. Although I did get annoyed when the vet was all surprised I had actually researched my dog.
Thanks again guys : )
I'll be sure to post more pictures as soon as I find my camera cord
PS: Also hearing about all your guys' trouble, or how your pups were in the same place at this time helped a ton.
Remember puppies are trained my their mothers. Their mothers encourage them to poop and pee away from the den. Moms clean up all of the poop by eating it near the den and push the pups away from the den when the pups are about to poop. Haku Was potty trained at 6 and a half weeks old when we picked her out. These Japanese dogs are smart and clean and want to be able to go out side or to an area in the house. I remember when Keonu was a pup and when I forgot to open the dog door. I came home and he pooped in the bathroom on the towel on the floor in front of the shower. He picked the right room.
About the only peeing my pup has done in the house has been excitement submission peeing when I come home or submission peeing when she meets a new person or larger dog on a walk. The few drop of submission pee does really count as peeing in the house because she is only doing what she is supposed to be doing at her age.
I like the way you have given her treats and praise. Kaylee is going to go a long way with that. You are a good dog owner.
Do you have issues w/ your shibas digging in the yard? We only let the older shiba and JA pup in the yard under supervision (as a reward for good behavior), plus we've heard of raccoon attacks in the area... My husband laments that we put in a doggy door but I'm reluctant to train the dogs to use it.
@king_bidgood texture is everything and whoever said their puppy learnt in one day is bloody lucky, that is the exception and not the norm.
I remember bringing Kito home when he was around 11 weeks old, we stopped at a hotel for the night (the trip was too long, around 1000 km to get back home and it was winter) and he peed every hour or so. I had to carry him two flights of stairs every time and wait for him outside in the snow in my pjs.
I'll try and get some photos up soon
@Paranoidparrot Thanks! It's after Kaylee from the scifi show Firefly
@ThreeFish231118 She's good. We have a pretty good system/schedule for her now, and shes really good. She almost understands the door, I'll say time to go pee? and she'll calm down her playing, and that's when I know to take her out. Shes also gotten better at holding it, and when we go out really emptying her bladder. Last night she only got up once. Shes good at notifying us when shes in her crate, but not so much when in the kitchen.
Shes definitely very mouthy. She does really well with replacing what shes chewing with an appropriate chew toy. I think her teeth are coming in so shes really needing to chew.
The separation made her cautious and hard to get her to sleep at first, but now she just chews her mama hair sock (we call it her sleepy sock cause she likes to chew it as she falls asleep.)
She knows her name and potty (we say good pee/poop, and want to go pee) but when she gets really playful and starts biting our feet she forgets it all in her excitement.
@Poeticdragon haha, yeah she seemed to know that one already.
shes such a pooped puppy today. she had a hard day of playing with a new friend!
Are tears a normal akita thing? I remember seeing something about tear stains, and she definitely has wet eye (the fur around then is all wet and pinkish)
(pst, I was team Sabrina too. I was so excited Claire chose us for her)
Some dogs rarely have ducts that are too small even as an adult. Gojira is one of those dogs. We had an ophthalmologist put some stain in her tears and then watch how it drained into her nasal passages with a blacklight. Her left side is almost entirely blocked. Once we had her ducts flushed out while she was under an aesthetic anyway (for OFA) but saw no improvement. The eye doc assured us that she is fine and it is only a cosmetic issue at this time. Most of the time her eyes look good, it's only when she's reacting to pollen or fighting off a little cold that she starts getting stains.
We gave our pup a wide variety of toys, plush, squeaker, rubber balls/bones, kong/puzzle toys and rope toys while she was teething, she didn't like the rubber ones as I expected--she liked the squeaky ones that made the most noises! She also preferred edible chews like BarkWorthies Angus beef bars & bully sticks.
@rikumom Yeah, she likes the squeaky ones too, and especially likes edible chews... but we had to stop those, it was giving her bad diarrhea.
@poticdragon Maybe they are just the remainder of her baby teeth. They keep popping up overnight, and she cry's a lot. She really wants to sleep but looks like shes in a lot of tooth pain. Its definitely not the adult teeth coming in, but little teeth keep popping out of her gums (not like falling out, but becoming apparent.) Maybe that's not teething... I just didn't know what to call it.
@white_bear That's a really great idea! We froze a soft nylabone, and she really liked that.