Potty Training My Pom.

Question
1. Where did you get the dog? Shelter, foster home, pet store, breeder etc?
    I got him from a local pet store.
2. How old was he when you first got him?
    He was 6 weeks old.
3. Are you the first owner? If not, how come the previous owner got rid of him (if you know).  I am the first owner.

I am not afraid to set time aside to get him trained even if it takes 3 years, I made this commitment to him when I purchased him.
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Followup To
Question -
Hi, I have a pomeranian teen who is about 7 months old now and he refuses to potty train. He is crate trained but will even potty in his crate. I let him out between 5 and 7 times a day and he will come inside to go to the bathroom. He is the perfect little dog otherwise and has been highly socialized and is even loving with my 4 year old (within reason as she is still learning "gentle"). I have seen doggy diapers at the store and was wondering if this may be a solution to my carpet and wood floor woes. My husband is about to send him to the pound and I am frantic. Please any suggestion will help.
Answer -
Hi Adrian,  Diapers will not help you as then you are teaching the dog to go whenever he feels like it.  I need some questions answered before I can help you with your question.

1.  Where did you get the dog?  Shelter, foster home, pet store, breeder etc?

2.  How old was he when you first got him?

3.  Are you the first owner?  If not, how come the previous owner got rid of him (if you know).

Let me know the answers and I might be able to help you with the problem.  I can tell you it won't be a quick solution as it can take 4-8 weeks at least to potty train a dog, and dogs that have complications from previous experiences it can be longer.  Get back to me and I'll see what I can do.

Dawn

Answer
Hi, the bad news is that you got him from a pet store.  The problem with pet store dogs is that the environments they normally come from are dirty, so when the dog is in the imprinting phase of their life (normally from birth to 4 months of age) the instinct to keep their den area clean is burned out by being kept in crowded unclean areas.  they normally go to the bathroom in their cages, so the instinct to go to the bathroom away from their den is destroyed by that early imprinting.  That is why he pottys in his crate.  That natural instinct has been taken away from him from his environment at a young age.  

Also, now he is out of the imprinting stage, so now you have a real chore on your hands to try and get that instinct back.  it is not easy and takes a lot of work & scheduling on your part.  You will need to set him up on a strict schedule of going to the bathroom.  You need to start off by feeding him twice a day so that you can control what goes out at the same time by controlling what goes in.  A dog will go to the bathroom within 20-30 minutes of eating.  So you want to keep him in a crate at night as that is his quietest time.  That will make it easy for him to hold it.  Carry him outside every morning around the same time and let him go to the bathroom.  If he does not go immediately, throw a ball or toy to get him to run and make nature work.  Then feed him.  After feeding take him outside so he will go again.  If you are staying home, keep an eye on him if he is roaming the house.  Homes are huge dens to little dogs, so are pretty much impossible for them to get the idea of keeping the entire house clean for a long time when they are starting potty training.  

After a couple of hours, take him outside again.  At his age, he should be able to go at 4 hours inbetween going outside.  If he doesn't go to the bathroom, again try throwing toys to get him to go.  If he still doesn't go, put him in his crate to force him to hold it and then go get him out about a half hour later and try again.  At night feed him again at the same time every evening and then put him outside to go.  At bedtime put him out to go and again try to make him run around.  Then put him in the crate for the night.  

Never correct him for pottying in the house unless you actually catch him in the act.  A dog's attention span is 5 seconds.  If you don't catch him in that time, he has no idea what he did.  He may react out of your anger when you drag him back to the accident, but he is reacting out of your anger, not his actual accident.

Keep this routine up.  Anytime you have to go somewhere either put him in a small bathroom with paper or puppy pads on the floor so he goes on them or put him in his crate.  For dogs that tend to go in crates I use the pad routine and slowly take up the pads until I only have a small area being covered and the dog is following the pad.  This works by association and he gets the idea about going on pads.  

It takes a lot of time and a lot of patience when you are dealing with a problem like this.  Hope this helps, and good luck.

Dawn