Training my puppy to use the bathroom outside

Question
I have a 7 month year old Mexican Hairless Pincher Mix. He is a rambunctious little thing that not only craves attention but wimpers and whines when he doesn't get it. He is mostly an inside dog. I have having trouble getting him to go to the bathroom outside. I will take him for a walk after he eats and he will walk around for awhile but doesn't do anything. And as soon as we get in the house he will circle a spot and poop or just straight out pee. I will tell him no and pick him up and put him outside but he won't do anything. How can I get him to recognize that outside is for the potty not inside. Also, I work and go to school and am gone for as long 6 hours at a time. So any advice that you could give would be great. Thanks so much
Jenessa D'Elia

Answer
Your puppy should be ok in his crate for the 6 hours during the day that you are not home, Jenessa. I would keep him crated so he doesn't learn that it's okay to potty on the floor. Dogs instinctively do not want to soil where they sleep, so he should not potty in his crate. If he does, just clean it up with an enzymatic cleaner such as Nature's Miracle. Don't scold him because he won't understand what he's being scolded for; he could have pottied hours or minutes before. Unless you catch him IN THE ACT, you cannot effectively scold him, and doing so could cause him to become fearful and learn to hide and potty so you don't see him. This can be extremely difficult to break him of.

When you take him for a walk, are you doing it on leash? If not, you need to start taking him out on a leash so that he is not able to become distracted by things. When you take him out to potty, do not allow him to play or investigate things. Keep him moving, and watch him for signs that he's ready to potty (circling, squatting, etc.). THEN you can stop and allow him to go potty, and then once he's through, praise the dickens out of him! Then you can also let him off leash, if you're in a safe place to do so, and play with him and let him investigate things or whatever. Every single time he goes outside, he should be leashed. If, after 10 minutes of walking him around on leash, he hasn't gone potty, bring him back inside and put him straight into his crate. Wait 5 minutes and try again until he potties. Then you can praise him and let him off the leash and allow him to go back in the house and be loose.

If he starts to potty while in the house, make a sudden noise to startle him and make him stop pottying, and encourage him to follow you to the door to "Go outside!" Don't pick him up and carry him if you can help it; he needs to learn to go to the door on his own. Clip his leash to his collar and take him out and walk him around until he finishes pottying out there. If, after 10 minutes he hasn't done anything, take him back inside and crate him for 5 minutes before trying again.

He should quickly figure it out, but until then, his freedom in the house and in the yard needs to be severely restricted. Once he's figured out that when he needs to potty he should go to the door, you can start allowing him more freedom inside the house. You should still take him outside on leash for a while, but when he's to the point where you can leave him loose in the house while you're gone and he's not pottying, you can start letting him out off leash to potty, because he understands that that's what he's supposed to do.


Good luck! Let me know if there's anything else I can help you with!

Kristen