Leah has been with us for two and a half months, and she turned six months old in the middle of November. From the start I worked on being consistent with feeding (three times a day for the first month, twice a day since then) and housebreaking. For us, what has worked with housebreaking is putting her out first thing in the morning (which for us is around 10am, lol), and then every 2-3 hours after that for ten to twenty minutes at a time.
For the last two weeks she has been VERY good with going out and doing her thing right away, coming in and being good to go. I admit that during the first two months we had a few accidents — mainly in the morning if I didn’t get to her in time, or during the day if I went out, or she just didn’t go outside like she should have. But for the last two weeks? She has been perfect. Absolutely perfect. Does her thing in the morning, goes out every three hours or so, including one last time around 11:45pm. I don’t put her out after midnight since it’s late, and I don’t want to annoy our next door neighbor with any potential barking (he was fine with the midnight cutoff).
The other thing I do is put down one of those puppy pads at night for Leah. This way, if I wind up sleeping in, or for some reason she’s got to go in the middle of the night, she can just go on the pad. Prior to two weeks ago, she would go sometimes. Since then? Not a single drop has touched the pad. I still put it down as a security measure, but in a few weeks I’ll probably stop with that, too. The exception is when we go out for more than two hours — I’ll continue to put down a pad then.
We have also been letting Leah sleep with us. Believe it or not, Dan was the one who suggested we let her in bed with us (he grumbles about not liking her, but in truth he ADORES her. And she loves him. They’re together on the couch right now). To say that she loves it is a MAJOR understatement. She hops right into the bed, snorting and snuffling and wheezing away, and settles down BETWEEN us, UNDER the covers. Yes, under them. We started out with her on top of the covers, but she always wriggles under them. I guess the girl has a thing for flannel!
So, we’ve had four nights in a row with Leah sleeping with us. It’s nice, actually. She settles down, usually laying on her side, under the covers (of course), laying against Dan with her paws stretched out and touching my side or back. I have to say though, last night was the best. Dan and I were lying in bed, on our sides facing each other. Leah wriggles out from beneath the covers (she was down by our legs) to stretch out right against Dan, on her side facing towards me, with her head tucked under his chin. Cutest thing EVER. And then she started to snore, loudly. That too was pretty cute, and also very amusing.
Honestly, I never thought I would be one for a dog in my bed. But she keeps us warm, she’s nice to snuggle with, and it keeps her out of potential trouble. Also, I think it’s reinforcing the housebreaking. Last night, for example, we forgot to put her out after 7pm, because we got busy with dinner, then putting up and decorating the Christmas tree. We finally went to bed around 5am this morning (which is when the snuggling began). Can you believe she came right to bed with us, and didn’t bother going to the bathroom until I put her out this morning at 11? I feel really bad about not putting her out last night at 9ish and then again around 11:45pm, but the puppy pad WAS out for her to use. She never bothered to.
I’m so happy at how well Leah is doing with being housebroken. 
Of course, besides her easygoing, go-with-the-flow personality, I also have to thank my own consistency, as well as a set schedule that I haven’t really deviated from. Also, getting a slightly older puppy (if you can call a sixteen week old puppy “older”; I think that is still quite young for a puppy!) was probably also a help.
Oh, and in case anyone is interested, I got my mom to admit to me that she regretted getting Molly (her Yorkshire terrier) at such a young age — eleven weeks. She’s had her for a month now, and she is just NOW starting to use the puppy pad to pee on. Sometimes. She can’t be trusted unsupervised for even a few moments (I’ll sometimes let Leah run around in the living room while I’m in the kitchen, and Alyssa often takes her into her bedroom), and she still poops everywhere. I speak from the unpleasant experience of stepping in it. Plus, the dumb dog poops in her own crate, and then DANCES in it. :yuck:
But it isn’t all the puppy’s fault.
She is young, yes, but my mom isn’t being consistent with taking her out all the time, and she took the divider out of the crate so that it’s big enough for Molly to run around in. Molly is maybe eight inches long, and the area inside the crate is probably 18″ x 18″. Definitely WAY too much room. I keep telling my mom to put the divider back in and make the crate just big enough for Molly to stand up and turn around in, but she won’t listen to me. She says she gets tired of having to wash Molly’s dog bed and towel, so she’d rather give her more room to roam around in. I keep telling her it’s a bad idea — Molly needs to learn that the crate is her den, where she goes for privacy and security, not a big, open caged area. My mom needs to stick it out and just deal with having to wash bedding. Molly will learn. But what she’s learning now — that it is acceptable to urinate and defecate in a “crate” that isn’t small and comforting like a den — isn’t what she should be learning!
Your Mother should read up on how to train a dog. While it may be hell for her to deal with and clean up, it’s going to be worse on the dog if she ever gets rid of her because she can’t handle it.
As for your comment about Leah in the bed and housebreaking, that is how I housebroke Leo. He slept with me and wouldn’t get out of bed until I did. First thing in the morning I let him out. He never once bothered me in the night and would whine if I was taking too long to wake up (some mornings I slept in a lot) but wouldn’t leave the bed. So, KUDOS!
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While it may be hell for her to deal with and clean up, it’s going to be worse on the dog if she ever gets rid of her because she can’t handle it.
Exactly. I admit that there were a few days in a row where I had to wash Leah’s bedding, because she was crated while we were out (this was when we first got her) and couldn’t hold it. But you know what? She learned within a week or two to go to the bathroom when she was outside, and it has been smooth sailing ever since!
I’m annoyed with my mom over this because she had almost a month to observe how I handled Leah, and I spent a lot of time going over things with her in person and on the phone. She also has books and access to the internet, yet despite KNOWING these things she just doesn’t follow through with them.
I know one thing: if she winds up dumping the dog, I’ll take it, sell it, and then keep the profits. Mwahaha.
Yay I’m so glad that Leah has done so well with potty training! They say if the dog has an accident it is almost always the owners fault for not being consistent– so I think it would be safe to say your consistency with Leah is why she is doing so well.
And just a warning: when I started letting Hamlet sleep with me he was also not having many, if any, accidents. However, maybe once or twice during the first few months he slept with me, even after he went outside to go potty before sleeping, he would have an accident on my comforter. Could be that he’s a boy …? I don’t know, but it’s not fun having to clean that up! However it sounds like Leah’s a smart lil pug so you probably won’t have any problems =)
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That’s great Leah has adapted so well and I LOVE sleeping with either of my dogs. It really helped having a warm body when Randy wasn’t there. When I was training Pebbles I let her sleep with me too and when she needed to go out she’d lick my face and stuff.
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Great job in Leah’s house training
SHe is the most cutest dog I have ever seen! There is no way my husband would agree to have a dog sleeping with us…LOL…it’s bad enough for him when the baby wants to sleep in our bed!
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Don’t the dogs like the small space because it makes them feel secure and they realize it is their home? I don’t know, I’m just assuming? I know the guinea pig has to have a small space to cover up in to feel safe, of course my pig bawks like a chicken and tries to communicate with humans so I’m not sure anymore?
I honestly can’t believe she’s at this point already! I suppose I told you so is in order huh? Are you taking bets on how long until she loses interest completely?
That is seriously the cutest little dog I’ve seen in a long time. I am incredibly jealous.
I never had to worry about housetraining duke because he was already over a year old when we got him & everything but he is starting to get really bad about doing his business when we are gone (even if we take him out before we leave and we dont ever stay gone more than 2hrs) he also gets entirely to excited when david comes home and pees everywhere.
we let duke sleep with us, but honestly I would like it better if he slept at the foot of the bed or in the floor and not beside of us. i have a full bed and sleeping with duke, david and shadow (my cat) well its getting old!
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We started training our dogs right away — crating and taking them out. They are now a year and 1 1/2 years old, and they still can’t be trusted unsupervised. One will poo wherever he likes, the other will poo on the pad but then *ehem* consume it if she is left alone. They are chihuahuas.
Sometimes it just depends on the breed. My boston terrier, which is a breed similar to your pug, caught on to potty training like a dream – we got her at 8 weeks.
The younger you start them, the easier it is to train them. If your mom had bought the yorkie when it was older, it might have been even worse to potty train unless the yorkie’s owner had put consistent effort into training her already (which most breeders, unfortunately, do not do).
Our Chihuahuas we have been consistent with, but they still haven’t gotten it down like my boston did. It sucks, but some dogs can take a really long time, and some may never get over some bad habits (like the poo eating, for us).
Your mom is going to either have to put in a ton of effort to stay on that dog, or maybe she should consider re-homing it while it is little and can still be easily re-homed. Maybe she will learn this time? And maybe she won’t pick a dog for its cuteness and size and instead consider getting one with a maintenance level that she can handle (maybe looking at animal shelters or rescues and adopting one that is a couple of years old and already housebroken).