I need help potty training my 9 month old maltese puppy. How do i get him to go potty out side and in one area of the yard so my daughter dosent step in it.

If your dog is already nine months old and still not potty trained, it will be a formidible task to get it trained now. The dog is already quite accostumed to going in the house and will be hard to retrain. You did not mention if you have had the pup this whole time or have just recently acquired it. That will make a difference. My suggestion is to treat the pup as if it is only 8 weeks old again. When the dog is not confined in its crate, it must be under your direct supervision all the time. Use a leash to keep the dog nearby you. When it starts circling and sniffing it's time to go outside. As the dog is urinating or defecating outside, praise it saying things like "Good boy, you're going potty outside like a big dog" This helps the dog learn the word potty or whichever word you prefer. When the dog understands what the word potty means, then you can begin to ask the dog when you notice the circling sniffing behavior "Do you need to go potty?" The dog should begin to respond to you in some sort of excited manner idealy going to the door. Eventually the dog should begin to notify you when it needs to go out. And remember praise praise praise for good behavior.

I'd put him on a schedule. Every hour on the hour take him outside. Crate him when he can't be watched, but make sure the crate's the right size. A crate should only be big enough for him to stand up and turn around and lay down comfortably, if it's bigger he may use the extra space to potty in.
Put a leash on him and put it around your ankle, so he's with you the whole time and you can watch him. When you take him outside, take him to the spot you want him to potty at every time. When he goes, praise him like crazy. If he does go in the house, if you catch him in the act you can make a loud noise to distract him and then pick him up and take him outside to finish. If you don't catch him, well you should have watched him better, and resume with the schedule.

Put it in a small area with the paper or "Wee Wee Pad" When ever she does it correctly praise her with a pat on the head or whatever your dog like as a praise. I consider getting "Wee Wee Pad" because its absorb the liquid so you don't have to worry about cleaning after picking it up. I did this to my dog and it work for him, hope training goes okay.

I would avoid resorting to "wee wee pads" if I were you. Some dogs do well with this, but some will continue to make mistakes in the house when trained to paper. Also, what a pain! For the rest of the dog's life, you'll have to purchase potty pads and clean up several times a day. YUCK!

You've gotten some good advice so far. Consider going to Petsmart to purchase the book, "Potty Training Is Possible." It is a small book and an easy read. It will give youa ll the tools necessary to properly train your pup.

Also, go through this list. We've had hundreds of questions on potty training. You'll get some great insight as you read other's difficulties potty training.

I'm afraid we have so many requests about potty training that many of us have tired retyping the info in. Your best bet is to read what we've typed in before.

Yea you're right about cleaning up the dogs mess. My dog Spirit usually bark to tell you he want to go out and he never poop inside the house which is very good for me. Cleaning that mess was not the best thing, he only pee on the Pad when I'm out or when I'm sleeping. And he got one special spot where he like to go so I just leave the Pad on that special spot and he does it. Thanks for the tip though.

i have the same problem my mini doxin sometimes "goes" in the houes but other times he barks when he wants to go out!

Dogs will not always go in one area. You really should focus on just gettin him to be potty trained before worrying about where is goes in the yard.

In all honesty if you are worried about your daughter stepping in something then you need to do daily picking up. Its not hard- most dogs go about once or twice a day. Plus its a maltese so its not like you are going to have huge piles. I dont know how old your daughter is but maybe you can get her to help with the cleanup too

Lots of good advice so I don't have to add anything but an interesting (to me at least) personal anecdote.

With a multi dog household; for sanitary reasons, one of us always went outside with the dogs and cleaned up each pile as they finished pooping and began to play.

When Beau came to live with us as a 10 week old puppy; within just a few days all we had to do was pick up the pooper scooper and he'd go potty!

We didn't plan it that way, but it sure came in handy sometimes!

I have two large dogs so there is always LARGE piles. I love how just as I am finishing cleaning up Kassie always goes and makes a new pile.

But really for sanitary reasons for you, your daughter and the dogs cleaning daily is necessary

and oddly nothing is better than playing with your dog in a poop-free zone (after you have cleaned everything)

quote:

When Beau came to live with us as a 10 week old puppy; within just a few days all we had to do was pick up the pooper scooper and he'd go potty!

Cool beans! My dogs have learned to go on-cue ("go potty"), but the response is not that fast!

Our puppy is almost 12 weeks, this Thursday. He will be 3 months on Feb. 2nd and he is already trained. He is an akita full bred and when he went in the house we would rub his paw in it, put it up to his nose so he would smell it and then wipe his paw on the door so he would put it together, now everytime he has to go to the bathroom he walks to the door and we let him out.

Right now he is trained to go on our deck because he is still little but when he gets to be a little older we will start taking him down to the grass to let him go but I am just glad he doesn't do it in the house. He still has his occassional accident here and there when he gets super excited because some one comes over then he will let a little out on accident and we just stop him and let him outside and he finishes.

But all in all he hasn't pooped in the house in 3 weeks and hasn't peed on purpose in the house in 2 weeks. It takes a lot of time and lot of work to get them trained. I am home all day long so I was right on top of it and like a pp said crate him. We have a crate for when we can't watch him and put newspaper down in it. We bought his crate a little big because of the breed he is. Akitas grow fast, he was 10lbs when we got him 6 weeks ago and he is 32lbs now so we needed something that would last more than a couple of weeks. But with your dog being 9months old he won't grow much more so just get something that just fits him so he can lay down in it because most animals won't pee or poop where they have to sleep.

I understand also for sanitary reasons keeping it clean. I never got more use out of my carpet cleaner, it is a power steamer until I got Kiba. I have a 5 and 3 year old so they are on the floor constantly so I have to keep it clean that is why I worked so hard to get him trained. It is just like potty training a child, takes persisent reminders and supervision to get the dog to go outside. Good luck potty training and I hope it happens soon.

Heather

My dog is not potty trained and he is 4 and a half! He is an outside dog and it doesn't really matter if he is potty trained.