Female Saints Harder To Housetrain Than Males?

[Lyn]

For some reason Lola is just not getting it in the housetraining department. She's not having many accidents since I take her outside often (last pee accident was 3-4 days ago), but when it comes to telling me she has to go.. forget it. Even when I ask her she has a yeah sure ok whatever kind of attitude. Then when we get outside she will sit there and watch Bubba go. LOL If I don't coax her to go potty most of the time she will just sit there.. for hours if I let her.

Bubba on the otherhand was fully housetrained at 5 months old.. Lola is just over 4 months old and doesn't seem anywhere close to be housetrained. I know she will get it eventually but I'm just wondering if it's a female thing..

[brandon]

From my very very limited experience with large breed females (1), I'd think about giving her cranberry tablets.  They sit almost right in their pee when they are going and pick up vaginitus and bladder infections easily, especially when they are young and don't have much of an immune system.  Which makes it very exasterbating later on trying to potty train them..   Thats been the case in our limited experience.  But I will say no more problems at all since we've been using cranberry tablets on a regular basis. Much rejoicing and reduced stress

ps: that is what a lot of the experts have recommended on the newf mailing list, thats why tried it.

[shangrila]

I've never had a male, so I don't know if it's a fe,ale thing or not, but I will say that zoey was WAY harder to housetrain than I ever imagined

[Lyn]

Thanks brandon, I will pick up some cranberry tabs. UTI's suck so if I can avoid them I'm all for it. I did have her checked for a UTI not long after we got her since she would sit and pee on herself. It was negative though.

shangrila, I don't know what's with her. She's not excitable AT ALL. So when I praise her for going potty she just looks at me and wiggles and snorts. LOL And if I praise her AS she's going potty she will instantly stop going. So I have to time my praise just as she finishing.

I guess it could just be her timid/submissive personality. Everything I knew about training etc.. just went out the window with her because I've had to change the way I deal with her. Praise, corrections.. everything. If I holler at her she turns into a pile of jello. She's the complete opposite of Bubba in everyway way. He was a nippy, stubborn huge pain in the butt as a puppy.

Well at least I know that she will never test me for the alpha position. She's quite happy being on the bottom of the totem pole.

[shangrila]

I think Lola may be Zoey's long lost sister  Zoey will do that same thing - if you talk while she is going to the bathroom, she will stop pottying to see what you want. And when she knows she is going to be in trouble she runs away tail wagging low because she is afraid to get scolded. She is the most submissive dog I have ever met  The only times she has ever tried to be an alpha, she challenged at the door, and that only ever happens because she is afraid to be alone so she gets upset sometimes when we leave

[LMT]

It's only been a few weeks with Adi, but I've been trying to be vigilant about the potty training. If he has an accident, its usually because I wasn't supervising close enough. But,, he doesn't really give clues either. I take him out of the crate and straight to the yard, and he pees, but when I praise him, he's like, so what? That's what I'm supposed to do...

He's totally submissive, but I haven't really gotten upset with him over this yet because it's all my fault really. Luckily, though, unlike Lola, Adi always pees - usually two to three times a walk. I'm amazed how long that pup can pee, to be honest.

Good luck w/ your girl. You'd think that having a role model, regardless of her sex, she would pick it up more quickly.

[Lyn]

The only one Lola challenges alpha with is Bubba. She's bossy as all get out with him and he lets her. It drives me crazy.. I purposely bought 2 of everything. She litterally will walk around and collect ALL the toys and bones and put them all in front of her in a pile. If Bubba takes one she will take it back, she flat out refuses to share. The first time she did it it was hilarious.. But then I realized what she was doing so I put a stop to that.

She reminds me of a spoiled rotten child. LOL Hubby says she's a typical woman. 

LMT, I figured the same thing.. that she would learn from Bubba. She has gotten much better since we first got her.. accidents are getting fewer and farther inbetween. But she still won't tell me she needs to go out on a regular basis. She's went to the door maybe 4-5 times on her own. But I finally have her peeing when I tell her to 'go pee'. So there is some improvement.. finally.

[LMT]

Do you split the two of them up so that Bubba has time to play with his toys? Poor guy, but I bet he enjoys letting her run the show!

[Krystal_00]

Hi there

I'm new here, also new to owning a Saint. Mine is a male so I cant really comment on female potty training, but with my puppy I kind of time him 2-3 hours after he eats or drinks to take him outside. He also wont go to the bathroom unless he is in his own yard!

Maybe Saints are just potty-weird in general!!

Krystal and Mack

[Lyn]

Aww, Mack is too cute. Welcome to BPO by the way.

Bubba won't potty anywhere but home either. He's always been that way. So if we take him anywhere we make sure he goes before we leave, and we don't stay out too long or he's about ready to erupt before we get back home.

LMT, Nope we don't spit them up, I just don't allow Lola to hog all the toys or take them from Bubba. If she's chewing something he's not allowed to take it from her either. Seriously they are worse than 2 little kids. If Bubba wants time to himself though he just leaves the room. Lola is not allowed to leave the kitchen until she's a little more trustworthy. I honestly do think he's fine with her running the show. He's not the alpha type and could care less what she does.. It's me that it bothers.. it's hard to watch her boss him around and not step in.