Hello Everyone,

I have to say that this forum has been a great help to me the last few days as I have found myself with an unexpected new addition to our family named Titan who is around 4 1/2 months old. He is the first dog to ever be a part of our family and I understand we have a lot a work ahead of us. So let me fill you in on our situation.

A few days ago we received a late night phone call from a family member asking us for some help. Titans original owner (who shall remain nameless) was abruptly unavailable to care for Titan any longer. The family member that called us informed us of this and asked if we could help out. Considering that we love animals here and have the space and time a dog will need we said of course we would help and ran to Titans rescue.

Upon picking up Titan we found out that he spent most of his days cramped up in a dog carrier (not a crate) that was too small for him (it was probably fine for him when he was younger, but puppy's grow fast) with no attention and no training at all. Although Titan was being feed enough he was completely out of control with his eliminations, jumping, and nipping. On the way home with Titan we obviously picked up the necessities for him (thank god for 24 hour open Walmarts!) so he would be comfortable and safe in our home.

In the last three days that we have had Titan he has already made incredible strides. The first day we had him home he eliminated on the floor many times with no warning he had to go (both poop and pee). He even pee'd in his crate the first 10 seconds that he went in there (it was obvious that Titan wasn't being trained at all). However, putting Titan on a feeding and outside schedule has seemed to stop his inside pooping accidents (and also he has not had any more crate accidents either). We have been giving him lots of praise when he goes to the bathroom outside (which he seems to love) as well as taking him on at least 4 long walks a day to burn off all that husky energy (he is sleeping through the night in his crate beautifully). The jumping and nipping we are still working on but he is getting better. We give him a stern NO when he jumps and ignore him after he tries to nip. He has quickly become a loving part of our family!!!

However, he is still having many (and I mean many) peeing accidents inside still. Lucky for us it has always been on a hard floor and not any of our carpets, but he will still pee on the floor even after being outside. I'm wondering if he is still learning to control his bladder because sometimes he runs to the door and by the time i get to the door to let him out he pees. The fact that he goes to the door (even if its just for a second) tells me he is showing us that he has to go. Its just frustrating cleaning up dog pee 6 plus time a day (like I said this is my first dog so I am not yet use to it....lol)

Well I just wanted to introduce myself and my new buddy Titan to the community. I've been reading so much here that has helped us out these last few days. I've heard that husky's are incredibly smart and loving which I can see Titan is both already. I look forward to meeting you all and learning about and from your experiences.

By the way... If anyone has some good suggestions on how to address his peeing inside when it happens it would be greatly appreciated. When we catch him doing it we put him straight outside, but that seems counter productive to me since he already went to the bathroom. We also give him a stern no when we catch him doing it. Maybe we just need more time with it. It has only been 3 days..
Thanks everyone for your know how!

Respectfully,

Steve

Welcome Steve and thanks for taking Titan on. How often are you taking him outside to potty? I ask because when potty training it's common to have to take them out insanely frequently depending on the dog. I had to house train 2 of my adult rescues. One of them had a really hard time of it and I had to take her out every hour and often spent 20 minutes outside each time. Which often meant that every hour of the day I was outside for 20 minutes and inside for 40 minutes. And I tethered her to me so she could not wander off and potty somewhere else and I was able to notice her potty signs before she actually eliminated. Talk about making it hard to get anything done but eventually she learned.

Welcome! Thanks for taking him in and good for you for doing your research!

I agree with Val about the tethering. It helps a lot, especially with new dogs because you don't necessarily always recognize their signals.

Please keep us updated and post pictures as you can! I adopted Pippa when she was about 6 months old and it was clear that she hadn't spent much time indoors and hadn't had much training. But since August, she's come a very long way. There were days where I wanted to scream, cry, and give up, but it gets better and they are worth every moment of frustration!

Welcome.. I am no help with the potty training.. I adopted my dogs at 9 months and 2 years and they were already potty trained.. I think Val has some good ideas on how to work on the training..


Oh and we do love pictures here...

Welcome!

Welcome Steve! I'm pretty new here myself and I have to say that this site has been a huge help. Everyone has great advice and the support is wonderful.

Welcome! I just wanted to add to make sure to clean up the previous accident with some thing like Natures Miracle or some people use white vinegar. We kept a little journal of water in and out to help us in the beginning to help us time the potty breaks. Even to this day if Lo drinks a bowl of water, you will hear someone say "water in". Lol!

Sounds like you are off to a great start.

Huskyluv wrote:

Welcome Steve and thanks for taking Titan on. How often are you taking him outside to potty? I ask because when potty training it's common to have to take them out insanely frequently depending on the dog. I had to house train 2 of my adult rescues. One of them had a really hard time of it and I had to take her out every hour and often spent 20 minutes outside each time. Which often meant that every hour of the day I was outside for 20 minutes and inside for 40 minutes. And I tethered her to me so she could not wander off and potty somewhere else and I was able to notice her potty signs before she actually eliminated. Talk about making it hard to get anything done but eventually she learned.

I've been letting him outside at 5:45am when I get him out of his crate and take him for his first walk. When we get home about 20 minutes later I've been feeding and watering him (I just made him sound like a plant) and then I let him out on a runner 10-15 minutes after that for about 15 minutes (because every time he drinks he has a water accident if I don't). Then when ever I see him go to the door or I feel like its been a while take him out. Ironically as I'm about to post this I stood up and stepped in a puddle he left for me, and he was just outside 20 minutes ago.

Tomorrow I'm going to try your method of tethering him to me and taking him outside every hour for a potty break. Thank you for your suggestion and I'll certainly let you know how I make out.

bellecma wrote:

Welcome! I just wanted to add to make sure to clean up the previous accident with some thing like Natures Miracle or some people use white vinegar. We kept a little journal of water in and out to help us in the beginning to help us time the potty breaks. Even to this day if Lo drinks a bowl of water, you will hear someone say "water in". Lol!

I've been cleaning his messes up and then spraying the area with Urine-B-Gone with enzymes in it to break it up. He doesn't have one spot he does it it.....just anywhere on the hard wood floor (Thank God!!)

I'll start keeping the journal as well... Great Advice! Thank You! "WATER IN"

My tips because my Balon was a nightmare to housebreak lol, keep a log of how often you take him out! I wrote down every time he went out, and what he did, yep I did! It really helped me to see where we were going wrong. And Balon got trained! Also use vinegar to clean up where he goes, it works wonders and takes away the smell so they don't keep going back to the same place.

He's gorgeous!

I've been keeping track all day, and taking him out at least ones an hour (except when I have to leave, then I crate him). So far today we have had ZERO inside piddles.... He even came inside from some outside alone time, went right back to the door so I let him out again to which he peed outside and then came back in....he is soooo smart! Thank you everyone for your advice and welcoming to the community! Its been alot of work keeping track today, but its so much better than cleaning up accident after accident. He is rolled up at my feet right now taking a nap.

If I knew how to post pictures I have plenty to start sharing with everyone. I've never posted a pic on a forum.

https://www.itsahuskything.com/t121-how-to-upload-photos-or-resize-them-for-the-forum
That might help! Some hosting sites will give you the proper thing to paste without using the floppy disk button method. If that makes any sense..
Just "preview" when you're done to make sure you got it right! Can't wait to see pictures!

My son last night after our last walk of the evening with Titan

We kept a daily log for the first two months that we had Q. Every meal, pee and poop was recorded with the time. It was a huge help, because sometimes you just get so busy you can't remember when the last trip for potty was. There were times when we took him out every half hour. Then when Q started to get bigger and we thought he could hold it longer he would surprise us and have an accident. Our trainer and our Vet kept reassuring us that it was all normal puppy stuff. We also used Natures Miracle to clean all accidents. He has been fully potty trained since about 5-6 months old.

Good luck with Titan, and thank you for giving him such a great home!

djannitto wrote:

We kept a daily log for the first two months that we had Q. Every meal, pee and poop was recorded with the time. It was a huge help, because sometimes you just get so busy you can't remember when the last trip for potty was. There were times when we took him out every half hour. Then when Q started to get bigger and we thought he could hold it longer he would surprise us and have an accident. Our trainer and our Vet kept reassuring us that it was all normal puppy stuff. We also used Natures Miracle to clean all accidents. He has been fully potty trained since about 5-6 months old.

Good luck with Titan, and thank you for giving him such a great home!

Q is Beautiful! Thanks for the tip. Today is going great. I'm keeping a log on my phone of everything on Titan. Its really helping me today with keeping track. Knock on wood but we haven't had any accidents today! Yey!!!

He fell asleep at my feet a bit ago. I couldn't resist but take a snap shot..

Heart.Of.A.Wolf wrote:

My Phoenix was horrid to potty train. She would pee and poop in her crate every night. Even letting her out every 15 minutes, she'd have accidents in the house all day, mostly just pee. It was crazy especially since our first Husky came potty trained, Mady was easy to train, and Kumari came potty trained. So I don't have any real tips. Just take him out as often as possible and I have heard tethering can be very effective.
He is very handsome. Good luck and welcome!

God bless you for keeping up with the nightly poop accidents. I feel really lucky his accidents have been easy to clean up! Day four and he is already a park of our family (except to one of our cats who has been in hiding since Titan came home)

oops...Here is the picture of my son with Titan.... Can you tell they love each other already? :-)

Titan is gorgeous!

He is gorgeous and you are very kind for taking him in like you did. He will get the hang of it all. It sounds like you are trying everything suggested, keep up the good work.

Love love the shot of him and your son, their going to be best buds!

Thank you everyone for you tips and advise!! Yesterday we had our first full day with zero accidents in the house!!! Go TITAN!!! See everyone around the forum

That's fantastic news! Glad to hear what a long way he's come in such a short time. Keep up the good work!

Huskyluv wrote:

That's fantastic news! Glad to hear what a long way he's come in such a short time. Keep up the good work!

Your tip of making sure I'm taking him out at least once an hour I think is the key. I didn't end up tethering him, because he hasn't been venturing far from me in the house anyways. I'm starting to see the sutal signs he's telling me he has to go....btw....he watered outside over 17 times yesterday!!!! and thats just want I witnessed... Thanks again!!!!!!