My Puppy Bacardi

Question
Ok, So I have a 6month old Boston Terrier crossed with french bulldog. He is having issues going potty. I got him from a pet store on Dev.27th 2010 and he is still having potty issues. He sleeps in his kennel at night and will whine and scratch when he needs to go. Which is good. But when we go out at night say for dinner or to a friend sfor 3 hours max we come home to a big mess. We leave him in a area about 3ft by 3ft gated off by a baby gate. I put pee pads on the floor for him and a few toys. When we come home he has made a huge mess. Poop up the wall all over him and his toys. Now when we are at hom ewith him. He eats his breakfast at 8:30 and goes in his little area about 20 minutes after and does his business.But we have to go upstairs or he will not go. I love my little monkey to death but I need some help with this issue. He has just started going outside recently but he does not go out there to pee. He is peepad trained. Please help!!!!!

Answer

Hi Ashley,

You can't expect your puppy to "hold it" and not have accidents when you leave him home alone. He's not yet house trained after all. Give your puppy a good long leashed walk just before you leave him home alone. Besides giving him the opportunity to relieve himself, it will also help to tire him out so he's likely to spend time sleeping, than doing anything destructive.

I suggest using a thick layer of newspaper rather than using the pee-pads. It's much cheaper.

Be sure the entire containment area is well papered, but your puppy may still chew on (or rearrange) the paper just out of boredom. The size of the containment area gives your puppy space enough to relieve himself.  That's the point of containment, he's just doing it in one small area rather than all over the house. If your walls are getting dirty, you need to move the containment area away from walls. There are free standing indoor dog pens you could use, they can be set up in the center of a room. This is an example of the kind of pen I'm talking about:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/images/Categoryimages/normal/p-70237-FS48312-dog.j...

If I've misunderstood, and your puppy "breaks out" of the containment area while you're not home, then you need to use something stronger than baby gates.

It's actually preferable to use your puppy's crate for containment while you're away. Assuming the crate is the correct size (just big enough to stand up,  turn around, and lay down... no larger!) it won't doesn't give your puppy the chance to relieve himself and also lay comfortably. This is a big principal in house training. It's important that you don't crate your puppy longer than he is physically able to hold his bowel and bladder.

In general, small sized dogs are harder to house train than larger dogs. Puppies that have come from pet stores are usually hard to house train because they have spent their formative weeks in a cage where they had no choice but to soil in the place where they sleep. So you've got two very important things not working in your favor. You need to be diligent about preventing accidents from happening in your home, by not giving your puppy to chance to go to the bathroom in your home at all! That means more frequent leashed walks outside, and containment in his crate. Don't confuse your puppy with puppy pads. He doesn't understand that you want him to soil on them, and not use the area behind the couch. To him it's all the same... it's all inside your home!  
You have to show your puppy that it's not acceptable to go to the bathroom ANYPLACE inside your home. If he doesn't do all that he needs to do during his leashed walk, when you come home put him directly in his crate (not giving him the chance to soil, after all you KNOW he still needs to "go"!) Take your puppy outside for another chance to go to the bathroom in about 15 minutes. Praise him lavishly everytime he's done relieving himself outside. Let him know that behavior gets your approval!

Best of luck,

Patti