Is my puppy going backwards?

[alou]

My pup is 14 weeks old today. I have trained him differently than my past dogs in that I have avoided using punishment for bad behavior. Progress has been slow, especially in the house training front but he has been getting better. He at least no longer pees in his crate. He knows sit, come, and is stubbornly learning down. The one trick he's consistently doing is he will sit and wait for me to nod my head before he eats. However, in the span of this past week, he has been peeing inside the house multiple times a day, hesitant to respond to the sit and come commands and won't lay down on command. He's even unresponsive to the head nod command to eat . The only thing I can think of that I'm doing differently is I've given him more freedom around the house because he WAS doing so well (don't crate him unless I have to). Any ideas about what's happening?

 

[trg]

I would suggest going back to what was working. Use the crate, I am currently using a crate. I plan on using the crate until theirs no doubt in my mind he is ready to abandon it. My guy likes the crate and will go to it on his own. Are you using the NILF training (google if needed).Basically this is rewarding good behavior with treats and making them work for it. Keep in mind 14 weeks is still a young puppy. He is and will be in training for a long while, be patient it should all come back together. Best of luck, keep us posted as I have a young one in training as well.

 

[April Nicole]

I agree with trg. And what a beautiful puppy!

 

[TylerDurden]

Agreed on what has been said. It‘s absolutely normal to experience inconsistencies and setbacks at this age. I wouldn‘t even consider it setbacks, as you really can‘t expect everything to work 100% smoothly at this age. Based on your description, he has been doing very well, although it seems to be periodical. I totally understand that it can be frustrating, but kepp doing what you have been doing and I‘m sure you will eventually see much more consistency in his behavior.
As far as the crate is concerned, I would definitely emphasize the training. Our boy used to pee inside too when he was young. We decided to replace a soft bed with a relatively firm crate mat (e.g. Kong). I can‘t tell if that made all the difference, but it never happened from this point onwards.

Your boy looks great by the way!

 

[alou]

Thank you for the support. That’s what I needed to hear! I expected more accidents but the timing of those accidents with the disregard of all learned commands concerned me. I’ll go back to crating and NILF. I’ll update with developments. Thanks again!

 

[Steven C]

Thank you for the support. That’s what I needed to hear! I expected more accidents but the timing of those accidents with the disregard of all learned commands concerned me. I’ll go back to crating and NILF. I’ll update with developments. Thanks again!

Join the club my friend. It is more and more visible that it is a mastiff thing, 14 weeks?? Wow we can only dream on a purebred CC. Bleach, extra cases of toilet paper, mops. We hate pee in the house with a passion and its been the hardest thing to train and still not totally there.

 

[alou]

Join the club my friend. It is more and more visible that it is a mastiff thing, 14 weeks?? Wow we can only dream on a purebred CC. Bleach, extra cases of toilet paper, mops. We hate pee in the house with a passion and its been the hardest thing to train and still not totally there.

Steven, are u saying that it is more difficult in general to house break mastiffs?

 

[Steven C]

Steven, are u saying that it is more difficult in general to house break mastiffs?

In my opinion and experience and the opinion of many other CC and DDB owners yes. It can be done and eventually will be done but it takes a lot of consistency. I am at 85% now and I don't want to even tell you how long because I don't want to discourage you. When it finally ends it feels like such a relief and deserves a nice bottle of cabernet for the hard work put in.

 

[alou]

In my opinion and experience and the opinion of many other CC and DDB owners yes. It can be done and eventually will be done but it takes a lot of consistency. I am at 85% now and I don't want to even tell you how long because I don't want to discourage you. When it finally ends it feels like such a relief and deserves a nice bottle of cabernet for the hard work put in.

Oh please do tell how long! My wife is so mad at me for not having him already house trained. I need to be prepared. Haha! Hey I should do a poll to see how long it took CC owners to train their pups!

 

[glen]

Iv got 3 male ccs all 3 fully housetrained at 16 to 20 weeks could be trusted not to pee when playing took a lot of my time butvwell worth it, so i disagree i think mastiffs on my exoerience and i kniw nany other mastiff owbers have said how easy they are to touleg train.

 

[Steven C]

Oh please do tell how long! My wife is so mad at me for not having him already house trained. I need to be prepared. Haha! Hey I should do a poll to see how long it took CC owners to train their pups!

Yes I would like to see a poll on CC pure bred and DDB pure bred. It would be very interesting from real world people. Maybe do it 3 to 4 months 5 to 6 months or 7 to 8 months or 9 to 10 months

Another thing to consider is for me I'm in more of a urban area even though we have a lake in the back. Many folks can open the back door to a yard and problem solved much easier.

What is your situation? A fenced yard or a must walk all the time?

 

[Boxergirl]

Oh please do tell how long! My wife is so mad at me for not having him already house trained. I need to be prepared. Haha! Hey I should do a poll to see how long it took CC owners to train their pups!

A 14 week old puppy isn't capable of holding it's bladder for long. Most puppies under six months can't control their bladders for more than a few hours at a time. I'm not talking about when they're sleeping. Not having accidents at this age is dependent upon the human making sure to supervise and take the pup out as often as needed. If puppy alerts, then great, but is still too young to be expected to be reliable about this. Or even able to hold it much past alerting.

Steven, all of my dogs are trained on leash only. I go out with them every time, teach an elimination cue, and reward heavily as soon as the deed is done. I think it's key to successful housetraining to go out with the puppy or even an adult that needs to be re-trained to eliminate outside. It's what works for me. Others may have a different opinion.

 

[mmmcc]

A 14 week old puppy isn't capable of holding it's bladder for long. Most puppies under six months can't control their bladders for more than a few hours at a time. I'm not talking about when they're sleeping. Not having accidents at this age is dependent upon the human making sure to supervise and take the pup out as often as needed. If puppy alerts, then great, but is still too young to be expected to be reliable about this. Or even able to hold it much past alerting.

Steven, all of my dogs are trained on leash only. I go out with them every time, teach an elimination cue, and reward heavily as soon as the deed is done. I think it's key to successful housetraining to go out with the puppy or even an adult that needs to be re-trained to eliminate outside. It's what works for me. Others may have a different opinion.

Disagree.
Have 3 month male CC for one week. First day 4-5 incidents. First night he slept 12-4am and crate was dry!. Second day we managed no incidents in the house!!!!
4 days now of our friendship and no incidents inside the house. He sleeps 11am-5am in the crate and it's working for us.
I don't rush with him after the meal, he is approaching me, sitting and staring at me - that's his signal!

I expected to get it done in one week like I did with many puppies but so far he is superfast learner. BTW, in 2 days he does sit, down, sit before the door, sit before the meal and i hope he wouldn't forget good skills!!!

 

[Boxergirl]

Yes, you know his signal and take him out, which is excellent and a job well done. Sleeping doesn't count. Awake during the day, most pups aren't physically able to hold it reliably. I'm not talking about accidents. I'm talking about expecting a young pup to be totally house trained and reliable. I'm not saying it's impossible, but that it wouldn't be the norm. I have an EM that alerted at 6 weeks. She never had an accident because I supervised, crated, and knew her signals. Not because she was physically able to hold it for hours. If that makes sense.

 

[Sheila Braund]

Great looking puppy!
I have to agree with Boxergirl... Little pups like little kids can't hold it for long. If you're lucky enough to believe you pup is house trained... I would believe it's you that are trained... ie no drinks after a certain time...not much water left for them in the crate? My girl has worked very hard to please me. She at 4 months old was no longer in a crate when left during the day.... But either my husband or myself would come home for lunch just to give her a potty break.
I find with training dogs it's best to do it without fear, without over powering them if that makes sense? I find the right motivation.... Instant rewards with lots of praise! Once the dog understands what you're asking them, most dogs are happy to do the trick.... Especially when lots of love and praise as been part of the rewards!
Dogs are a social animal. Because of this they want their humans happy with them.... Happy human means the dog gets more time with you.... They seem to catch on to that very quickly.

 

[BlackShadowCaneCorso]

Typically for pups in a crate they say 1 hour for every month, is what they should be able to hold it. But it also depends on the individuals routine as well. We spend more time outside than in when house breaking, after they eat we pee, after they wake they pee, after they play we pee, after they sniff something they pee, etc. We also do not leave water down at all times. It is picked up at 8pm with lots of outside time and pee breaks until around 11pm. I set my alarm for 3am for a pup that is 8-12 weeks, then 4am for 12-16 weeks and so on until we are sleeping from 11pm to 6am when I get up to get ready for work.

I also use my older dogs as incentive, the puppy usually being off leash but the adults being on when we go out. They pick up a lot from the dogs that are already trained.

 

[alou]

What is your situation? A fenced yard or a must walk all the time?

I have a fenced in backyard but when I’m home I always take him out front. I need to see how much he pees and poos. I don’t trust him. Haha! Sometimes he pees a little, gets distracted and doesn’t finish until he comes back in. But when I’m not home, my wife just lets him out back.

 

[Steven C]

Smart indeed, he might be storing for some in house surprises later. lmao Yes that was an issue with mine too earlier on. A duck or someone walking a half mile away and the pee would stop, so frustrating. I know exactly what you are going through. Then you get MMMCC come on with a 4 day training regime super lucky rubbing it in.

I surely hope these days will end for all of us frustrated CC owners out there. If you do a poll, do it off of this site as the people here have dogs that learned in sheer weeks. lol

 

[alou]

Smart indeed, he might be storing for some in house surprises later. lmao Yes that was an issue with mine too earlier on. A duck or someone walking a half mile away and the pee would stop, so frustrating. I know exactly what you are going through. Then you get MMMCC come on with a 4 day training regime super lucky rubbing it in.

I surely hope these days will end for all of us frustrated CC owners out there. If you do a poll, do it off of this site as the people here have dogs that learned in sheer weeks. lol

Lol

 

[Zeela]

Wow, I feel really lucky, I brought Zeela home at 12 weeks and she only had 2 pee accidents and 1 poo accident in the house; maybe the breeder played a part. However, for the 1st 2 weeks she came to work with me until the landlord of the property said "no dogs allowed", anyway, maybe that helped. She just trained so easily and I never crated her, she has a open space in kitchen & living room. I know it is difficult to potty train, just have to be consistent with the training process as hard and as frustrating it is.