House training puppy...having an issue

[morning glory]

We have a 10 week old Australian Shepherd pup. He sleeps in the crate for about 6-7 hours a night without peeing and he can do a three hour car ride without needing to stop but in the house he is peeing every 10 minutes. Well...not every ten minutes. We will take him out...he pees we praise. Then five minutes later...or 10 minutes or maybe 12...whatever...he is peeing on the floor. If we catch him its "no puppy" and straight outside...if we don't catch him its just outside and clean up. He will then pee again outside. But there is every chance he will be peeing again in the house within the next half hour. This pup can seriously pee more than any puppy I have ever seen. But since he doesn't pee in his crate or in the car so I can't see it being a medical issue. I think he just loses focus and never finishes. Any suggestions on how to deal with this? I don't expect him to know that he has to go outside not inside yet but how on earth am I supposed to keep up with a puppy who can pee every 10 minutes...I can't take him out every 8 minutes!

[lifeguard]

How long is he out when he is outside? Is it just outside, pee, back inside? Maybe you need to give him a longer stretch outside so he can pee to his bladder's delight for a half hour or so.

[North_Of_60]

I'm using treats for my puppy and I've noticed that if he sees me reaching into my pocket for the treat he'll stop peeing and turn around anticipating his treat.

I wait until he's completely done to move, reach into my pocket or even adjust the leash, otherwise he finishes too early.

[HappyMommy2]

I finally figured out that our puppy couldn't tell us that he wanted to go outside and pee. I bought bells for the door - 3 jingle bells at Michaels - and hung them on a string on the door handle.

EVERY time we went went outside, I hit the bells with my "paw" and repeated a phrase. (use whatever you want).

Pretty soon, when he was by the door, I told him to "hit the bells" and he did, with his nose or paw.

Voila! No more accidents.

Sounds lame or iffy, but it was an amazing cure for us!!!!!

[morning glory]

I've heard of the bells before but I'd fogotten about it. I'm going to give that one a try.

It could be that I am distracting him...or it could be our older dog or the cat...or the wind really. I'll do what I can to limit distractions and I think as he gets older it will be less of an issue.

He does get three half hour walks a day and other pee breaks are sometimes 10 minutes somtimes pee and back inside. I guess when we have the short breaks I should watch closer once we are back in. When I think about it I don't think he ever has an accident after a long walk.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[SoulCakes]

Originally Posted by HappyMommy2

I finally figured out that our puppy couldn't tell us that he wanted to go outside and pee. I bought bells for the door - 3 jingle bells at Michaels - and hung them on a string on the door handle.

EVERY time we went went outside, I hit the bells with my "paw" and repeated a phrase. (use whatever you want).

Pretty soon, when he was by the door, I told him to "hit the bells" and he did, with his nose or paw.

Voila! No more accidents.

Sounds lame or iffy, but it was an amazing cure for us!!!!!

That doesn't sound lame or iffy, it sounds like genius!!!

Morning Glory, how long have you had your pup? Because it sounds like an insecurity issue to me.

Aussies are some of the smartest dogs on the planet, but also one of the most sensitive. This is what worked when we housetrained our Aussie; feel free to tailor to your needs:

For the first few weeks (from about 9wks old to 12wks old), we kept him mostly crated during the day. Our routine was wake up, take him out of crate and straight outside. Wait for pee and sniffing. Take inside, feed, back outside. Play, back outside. Into crate for an hour or so while he naps. Wake up, immediately take outside, wait for pee, play. Repeat as necessary.

The basic idea is that puppies pee a lot! He *can* hold it for a few hours but it's not good for his bladder at this age. Because he won't pee in his crate, you need to use that as a tool for training him that the only acceptable place to use the bathroom is outside. After a few weeks, the habit of going outside will be so ingrained that you can start trusting him to stay in the house. Unfortunately, he already has some bad habits, but nothing that can't be overcome.

Never, ever let him out of your sight without putting him in the crate until he's 100% housetrained! I can't stress that enough.

Anyway, good luck! He just doesn't have the right idea yet, but Aussies are super sharp, and can learn anything. If you throw in some treats after he goes outside, he'll really get the idea.

[North_Of_60]

My oldest two are bell trained. The only variance for us is that I started using a clicker. I used the clicker to teach a target, then used the same action for the target (my finger and the end of a pencil) to teach him to "touch" the bells. It took about three days when he was about 10 weeks old.