housetraining advice

[Brenda1427]

I have a 14 week bassett hound that I have had for 2 1/2 weeks.  Is there anyone who can offer me advice on housetraining her. She doesnt seem to be making any progress.  What really confuses me is that she seems to be disinterested in our praise when she does go outside.  I read that training bassets can be a challenge.  Does anyone know the reason for this?

[Sillygoose]

Hi Brenda and welcome to teh board. I know nothing of Bassett hounds and I am still haveing trouble with my 5 year pyr going in the house. So my advice is noooo good. I'm sure someone here on the board will be able to give you great advice.

[schelmischekitty]

i'm not sure about bassett's in specific, maybe because they're so short people have a hard time telling when the boys are peeing and when they're walking??     jokes aside, have you tried crate training?  if you're doing that, make sure the crate isn't too big.  i've had the best luck with crate training, though i can say that bringing them out every 30 minutes works, too.  as far as praise goes, have you tried a squeaky and talking high pitched, etc?  make a BIG deal out of it.  people will think you're crazy, but sometimes it's the way you say it / act not the fact that they're getting attention.  maybe even look into clicker training if your baby is more attentive to that.

p.s.-  some dogs are just harder to potty train, for whatever reason.  just like kids.  and also 14 weeks is still SUPER young to expect a puppy to be potty trained.  your baby might not really be able to control it yet.  it's just like expecting a 4 month old kid to be go to the potty.  it takes time to develop control, and the ability to communicate when they HAVE to go and be able to actually get there too.

[RMSChloe]

i would go with crating if youre not already, i didnt want to do it when i first got my pup, but it works... going every half hour, or when they wake up from napping is a great thing to do, and if you cant go every half hour because youre not home, they should be in the crate, and this will (should) eliminate accidents in the house. also, get an odor remover like petzyme to clean up after messes with, those will completely eliminate the smell, and then they wont smell it around the house, and think its ok because they did it before. when you praise them outside, you can even give a treat, but dont praise too soon, or they might stop in the act, and not too late, or they dont understand why youre happy! the rule of thumb usually is you have 2 seconds to praise or discourage any action after the action has finished. clicker training can work, but only if your pup is responsive to it... the way you test that is, 1-get about 10 treats (small soft ones are best because they can eat them fast) and put them in your right hand, put the clicker in your left hand.2- get your pups attention 3- start clicking and handing treats fast, everytime you click, you give a treat. it should be a steady fast rate of "click-treat, click-treat, click-treat" untill all the treats are gone. 4- wait a few seconds and click the clicker... does your dog look to you for a treat? if so, youre pet will probably be responsive to clicker training... if the click doesnt get the pups attention, they probably wont work well with clicker training because they dont really associate the click with "good!". thats all i can really give for advice on that, maybe someone else will have something more though!