# Potty Training Questions?



## mel2mdl (Sep 7, 2008)

So, the vet told me I'm doing this all wrong. :shocked: Need some feedback/advice. I rescued a little Boston Terrier mix (mother full Boston, dad ???) She will be 13 weeks this Friday. I've been trying to crate train her, with mixed results. Here is her normal schedule:

1. Wake up, remove from kennel, go outside to pee.
2. Free time with older dog (living room/kitchen - rest of house blocked off)
3. Breakfast (sometimes before, sometimes after play)
4. Nap time (usually in kennel, sometimes at feet - if we are home!)
5. Repeat peeing/play time.
6. Kennel for another nap - sometimes we go to Grandma's or she sleeps while I work or stays with me or my son while we watch TV. 

Anyway, you get the idea - she gets a potty break about every 2 hours and play time afterwards. In the evening, if she won't potty, she is put back in her kennel. At bedtime, only after she pees, she is allowed to fall asleep on the bed with us, then I put her back in the kennel after I finish reading.

All this fine. But, the mosquitos in my yard are terrible, and they eat me alive. I have a hard time walking her out to the potty area, and try to watch her through the door - I'm guessing this will not work, so got some OFF and a fan for outside! I also have another dog who really enjoys playing with the puppy, so can she have some off leash time after she potties to play? 

She is really good about peeing outside, but the poop is confusing. My vet has little experience or like with raw feeding, though they do not lecture. So, here are my "raw-fed" potty questions!

*1. Do I have to stick to a schedule when feeding? * 
My adult dogs have never been on a set schedule. I don't like the responses to times, not feeding I get when we do schedule - plus one will vomit bile if I am even a few minutes late when he was on a schedule. She is getting fed 2 small meals and one large meal a day - but the times vary.

*2. When and how often will she poop?*
I've read that puppies will always poop 10 to 15 minutes after feeding, but I'm not seeing that at ALL. She won't poop at night, even 3 hours after feeding. Yesterday, she pooped in the afternoon before her lunch. This morning she went before her breakfast. Will she only poop once a day on raw, or after every meal? This is what I miss the most often. I'll let her out in the morning and she will pee. So I let her play with the older dog, and she will chase a ball into the kitchen only be gone a few seconds. When I get up to follow, she's already pooped! (She goes fast!) Her poopies are easy to clean up, and she usually goes on the tile, so I'm probably less vigilant - but I just don't know what to expect with the raw feeding!

I guess that's pretty much it. I know many people on here raw feed, so hoping someone will know these two questions. But, I'm open to any and all suggestions. I've had to potty train all my adult dogs lately and never realized just how much more difficult a puppy would be!


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## Maxy24 (Mar 5, 2011)

I don't feed raw so maybe these aren't the answers you're looking for, but I figured I'd chime in anyways.

A schedule would really help with the pooping, so I would. You don't have to do it for your adults if you don't want to, and once she's completely housebroken you could probably take her off schedule. I don't think it has to be a super strict schedule, but feed within the same hour or two every meal.

Playing with the other dog is a GREAT reward for going potty, so yes, that's definitely okay.

I found when my puppy was young he would poop right after a meal (I think it's actually a reflex), but once they get older and have more bowel control that stops and they get on a different schedule. but he was kibble fed.

If you want to get her on a poop schedule the best thing would probably be to walk her. A dog pretty much always poops when they go for a walk. Pick two times a day that she usually poops (so maybe morning and late afternoon) and make those her poop times. Walk her at these times every day so she poops. It'll get her going on a schedule. The only possible issue with this is some dogs can become walk dependent for pooping. My aunt's dog will not poop unless on a walk. But not every dog will be like this.

You can also start a journal and write down every single time she poops. Also note how long it had been since a meal and if it was an indoor poop what she was doing. ANY physical activity is likely to cause pooping, just like walks do. So playing with other dogs or playing with you is a common time for a puppy to poop, and they don't give much warning because they want to keep playing and so wait until the poop is ready to pop out. Once you notice a pattern using the journal you can pick poop times and essentially make the dog go during those times. No playing, no free time unless the puppy poops during the poop times. stand out there for ten minutes, walk the puppy around in the same area (my puppy was easily distracted so I wouldn't walk him around the whole yard or else he'd be too busy sniffing everything to go) and then if there is no poop he can come in but must be tethered to you or crated so there is no chance of pooping without you seeing it.

I also suggest picking a specific treat JUST for pooping, not for anything else. We used natural balance rolls (now we use them for his reactivity) cut into little chunks. 

You'll want to get on top of this now, Tucker was housebroken really fast for peeing but took forever with pooping because we didn't watch him close enough. Tethering him to you is always the safest bet. It feels mean to limit his freedom so much but the more you limit it now the quicker he can have all the freedom he wants. You don't want this to become a habit because it can become nearly impossible to eliminate entirely if it does.


But it sounds like overall you're doing really well, 13 weeks is young! Just supervise, supervise, supervise!


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