housebreaking my 5 month old english mastiff he just wont break

[raechiemay]

I would say switching the food is going to help you out a bunch. Make sure you do a gradual change otherwise you may have to deal with diarrhea.

About the chewing, you could try maybe getting him like an antler chew. I hear they last a long time. I haven't taken the plunge yet with that but even at nearly 8 months old my pup is still chewing. Chewing usually tells you they are bored & need more mental stimulation. There's many things you can do with your pup to exercise & wear them out & there are several threads on this forum you could look up & read for ideas. Remember a tired puppy is a good puppy!

Keep us posted on his progress. He'll get the hang of it.

 

[Kate Williams]

I am in the throws of potty training right now. My Chinese Crested never potty trained. She has to be kept on tile at night and forced outside every hour on the hour. She's a full time job. My CC is nine weeks and has no freaking clue what I want of him. We use "Go Potty, Be Quick" they all respond and go on command but it doesn't stop accidents from happening. Last night was his first night that we didn't have to take him out several times. I am home which makes it easier. I agree with the diet suggestion. We bypassed the issues and went grain free, red meat from the start. If you are only feeding once a day maybe break that up to two times. We feed three meals a day large morning feed and two smaller ones. I also control water tightly. 8 hours is a long time to wait. I know I pee more often than once every 8 hours. We also excercise before bed to help wear him out and empty his bladder and bowels. Good Luck, I wouldn't wish my issues with my crested on anyone.

 

[Laurie5]

I have a 17 week old mastiff and she is really good about going to the bathroom outside. I have only used positive reinforcement and took her out every hour during the day the first month I had her. She now sleeps in my bed at night and goes 8 to 9 hours without an accident. during the day I take her out every couple hours and 20 minutes after every meal. She hasn't had an accident in weeks. I also think my other dog was a great potty training mentor for her. Try to be patient with your baby because this will soon pass.

 

[dogman#1]

Like someone else said, I would start from scratch again too. tiny crate, only enoungh room to stand up in and turn around...no more and no less. The pup is in the crate every single second that you cannot physically watch him, if you have to go to the bathroom or answer the phone in the next room he either has to go with you (leash) or he goes back in the crate. the only time you let him out is to go to the bathroom, play/train him, to eat and... that's about it. 8 hours is tooooo long for him to hold it at this age. he needs to eat twice, not once. feed him every single day at the same time, the same amount. dont feed him right before work if you are not going to be home to walk him afterwards. your going to have to work something out because he cant stay in that crate for a full 8hrs either. like others have said if he makes an accident you cant punish him if you didnt personally see him as it is your fault because he was suppose to be in the crate if you werent watching him. If he does make a mistake clean it up but make sure he doesnt see you do it and make sure you use a solvent like natures miracle to get all the smell out. when you walk him dont just stand there move around and get him moving as that will make him want to go. if he doesnt go put him back in that crate and try it again 20 mins later. he will get it but you have to be on point as to not let him have an accident.

 

[Robtouw]

5 months isn't old enough to expect them to "Hold It" 8 hours. His body is still growing, developing and he might not be able to. Crates should be a healthy, comfortable retreat for your pup, not a prision. It should be placed in an area away from the normal traffic areas of your house and your pup should see it as a den. All of my boys were initially crate trained as a part of a strict schedule. Eating and bathroom breaks should be scheduled and keeping them repetitive and on time are key.

I am not trying to judge or be rude, but many times it is your methods that need to be changed to help get things back on track. When you rub your nose in its feces, smack them with items, etc you are telling him that you cannot be trusted and this I promise will interfer with a healthy relationship later.

Look at your feed schedules, set times and be consistant. The more you praise your dog for good behavior the more they want to please, the opposite is true. Make going out a big deal, keep bathroom breaks separate from play outdoors. In the evenings when you are home, start over. Eat, 30 min later out. Take the pup out several times a night and as much as you can during the day. Increase the amount of time between pee outings and really make a big deal when he gets it right! Don't be so hard on him when he doesn't. Take him away from the crate and clean it without him watching. If he isn't getting enough personal attention, he will do things for it, even if its negative attention. So if he messes, don't give it to him, clean it up privately. Sounds stupid but can be true. Repetition, good attention, scheduling, rewards, all help. OEM's are big puppies until about a year old, they mature in size quickly but are slower in behavior to mature and they take a lot of patience! But the reward is great!

 

[Gia-nt]

Oh no, Our Gia poops in dining room- thankful no carpet. I can't help hide my disgust and gagging - who knows maybe she thinks I like her to do that.....she is 11 weeks almost and sleeps through the night no accidents, AMEN

 

[AtomicCowgirl]

The most negative reinforcement I use is if I catch them going, I say "NO! OUTSIDE!" as I fling open the door and push them outside. Whenever they go outside, I treat them as if they've just earned a PhD in pottying... "GOOD potty! GOOD poops! GOOD DOG!" With new or younger dogs I like to do "doggie boot camp." With a slip collar and a lead, whenever I'm at home, I tie them to my belt with about a two or three foot length of lead for them. They have to go wherever I do, have to pay attention to my movements, and they won't go potty in the house with me that close to them. I crate anytime I am gone and during the night and they go right outside as soon as they get out of the crate. I don't free-feed, they get fed twice a day and go immediately out after eating. Some dogs take longer, others get it right away. Doggie boot camp works really well also, IMO, for establishing leadership and getting their close attention to your movements. Its a good foundation for obedience. It takes a lot of work sometimes but the end result is worth it.

 

[cwayaustx]

Like mentioned above crate is important, only enough room to lay in and turn around when unsupervised.

---------- Post added at 11:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:16 PM ----------

If you do exactly as dogman said above you will a crate trained and house broke pup in no time. And if definately feed at least twice a day..

 

[cwayaustx]

If you do exactly as dogman said above you will a crate trained and house broke pup in no time. And if definately feed at least twice a day..

 

[Opiesmom]

Hi there - we have the same issue with our 6 month Neo Mastiff - we got him 2 months ago and he has always had diarrhea - The ppl we got him from had him on Puppy Chow and I changed that right away to better quailty food - except that he still has soft poops and even in his pen (kennel)he had a bad experience - he was in it 24hrs/7 days a week. But now he will actually walk into his pen and he is fine for about 30 mins then he whines and poops EVERYWHERE. Doesn't matter how much room he has in there - and he will then eat his poop! We have tried everything - even pumpkin - to harden up his poop but that has not helped at all.
We had him on "Canadain Naturals - for large breed" and no change, so now that he is done that bag - I bought a bag of "Acana Large Breed" and after reading everyones comments about "CHICKEN" of course this has chicken in it - I JUST opened it - cause tht is what the lady at the pet store told me to get.

We are frustrated with the whole potty training - never had this much trouble with our previous mastiff and are at our wits end.

Any suggestions? HELP

 

[thelady_v2010]

I have had my 5 month old puppy for 1 month. He does really well, but even now I still don't let him oout of my sight. He cannot go in another room and pee, because he stays in the room I am in.

I agree, check his food. It may not be a good food for him. I took my pup off a chicken based food and he is on a seafood based one, and his poops are mch better.

Also work on the feeding schedule. He gets fed 3 times a day. 730, 1230 and 600. He will poop at least 2 more times after his 6 feeding and he poops right away in the morning. Get him on a really strict schedule, so you can figure his poop out, it took us a while to figure him out.

Also, is the kennel too large?

 

[thelady_v2010]

Another thing, mine pees on command now because we took him to the same spot every 2 hours to pee, and every time he peed we said "Go potty". Now, I can take him anywhere and tell him to go potty and he pees, even if it is just a small amount.

 

[Opiesmom]

When I am at home he is not out of my sight - cause hes still young. He is always around me, and we do give him tons of attention and praise him for when he does go outside to go pee and poop - our older smaller dog "takes" him to the run.
As for his food - I am in the process of switching him off of "Canadian Naturals large breed" to "ACANA Large Breed" and after reading evryones comment about the chicken, these are the ingredients: Chicken meal, steel-cut oats, deboned chicken, whole potato, peas, chicken liver, whole egg,
deboned flounder, chicken fat, sun-cured alfalfa, herring oil, pea fiber, whole apples, whole
pears, sweet potato, pumpkin, butternut squash, parsnips, carrots, spinach, cranberries,
blueberries, kelp, chicory root, juniper berries, angelica root, marigold flowers, sweet fennel,
peppermint leaf, lavender

at least this is what the lady at the pet store told me to put him on......What brand do you have your puppy on?
Opie and Porscha are feed first thing in the morning by the kids and let out before they go to school. and then again at supper time. He will also JUST come in from outside and poo or pee on the floor.
As for the kennel - we have two - one that just fits him (Large) and a GIANT one for when he is older - we've tired him in the smaller one of the two and he pooped all over - it was on my walls in the house - and the ppl we got hie from kept him in the kennel all day and all night =- so I am also dealign with some anixety issues.
Then we introduced the giant one and he was fine in there except he still poos and pees and then he will eat it. We've had a mastiff before and was never this hard to train.
So by everyones comments - I guess we need to start back to the basics.

 

[Kujo]

hmm, I'm almost thinking that Opie is pooing in the same spot inside every time because he can smell it, it smells like a spot to go potty. Please don't get offended, I'm not saying you aren't cleaning up, but maybe bleach the area to completely get rid of the smell every time? I only bring this up because I don't think it's been mentioned yet, just a thought.

I know when Kujo had his poo accidents inside, they were in the same spot, once we bleached the area, he had an accident somewhere else. Luckily this didn't last long (I work at home so I was in a good position to monitor him) and he caught on pretty quick that potty area is outside only. Best of luck to you, I agree switching his food to something grain free and/or chicken free will help him out, 3 meals a day is best til they are older. Praise for potty, never punish for it unless you catch them right in the act and then they are immediately sent outside and praised like crazy when they go.

 

[dsmith91163]

My puppy is almost 4 months I have had him since I thought 10 weeks turned out he was only 7 or 8 weeks...he has learned to tap the glass door with his paw to let us know he wants out...he will still have accidents..but only cuz it was our fault or my kids for not paying attention..but they dont happen to offen...he sleeps through the nite most of the time but sometimes he gets up when my husband is up at 5am then he is back in bed with me...I do wish I did create him but i does fine on my bed...what I did is mostly like the way everyone else did with when I caught him I would say NO and I would take him outside and clean it up and then he could come in..when he was a sleep on the floor and he got up we would take him out or after he ate about 20 min we would take him out..at first it was a lot of taking him out...no sitting and relaxing for us ...lol...I can count on 1 hand the accidents he had and it was funny cuz he never had poop accidents it was just pee...plus it helps that he only stays in the area where we are he never roams around the house we even have a cat box with food on top and the is a baby gate across with a opening for the cats to get in but he never bothers it..well good luck ...some dogs are fast learner then other but he will get it soon just be on it..and we feed our puppy TOTW Lamb easy on his tummy ..I did try Chicken kibble no grain and he had water poop...so no more chicken for him

 

[Theminblack]

We've had our new EM pup, Atlas for almost two weeks. He'll be 10 weeks old Tuesday the 16th. Today is our second accident free day. The key for us is consistency. Our youngster is at the point now, that he goes and sits about ten feet from the back door. He won't stay there long, but he'll sit there for a minute before he's up and mobile. He'll sit and if we ask him, he'll go a running to the door, outside and go to the bathroom.

Another big one for us, is when we take him outside to use the bathroom. It's all business, no playing, etc. He does have a crate, but he's not necessarily trained for it. He uses it when we leave, longest he's been in there is an hour. When he has had an accident, we tell him "No." calmly, then escort him outside. If he goes outside, we praise him like crazy. Like he just won the Nobel Prize. We used treats and praise, but the treats seemed to be upsetting his stomach so we stopped after a couple days and just used CRAZY person praise, lol.

He gets all excited. We have a soon to be five year old Bullmastiff who sits by the door to go out as well. I'm sure that's helping. But we trained our Bullmastiff the exact same way. We used more treats than praise with him, though. He was less interested in praise than he was treats and he has a cast-iron stomach.

My best suggestion: Is stick to one method and that's it. Don't make it overly complicated and don't switch methods or add things, no matter if its a week or two weeks, three weeks, etc. Consistency, seems to be the key for us.

How not to train your dog - House Breaking by K9-1.com
[video=youtube;WipWBPPa99Q]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WipWBPPa99Q[/video]

These guys have some decent videos on YouTube, that can be pretty helpful with a number of things.

 

[Robtouw]

It sounds like you need to start over. From day one I tell people the best thing you can do is put your pet on a schedule, stick to it like glue, never deviate and always always make a huge deal of it when they get it right. Assaulting your dog by yelling, whipping, rubbing their nose in their feces does one thing, it breaks the trust bond you have with your pet and is a complete negative. Make a schedule...literally spell it out on paper. For example our schedule looks a little like this: 6 am wake--outdoors for just bathroom no play---- 6:30 breakfast then outdoors to play. 12:lunch then out to bathroom, 12:30 exercise on leash. 5pm out for bathroom. 6: dinner 6:30 out for bathroom 8pm out for bathroom, 8:30 bedtime. 1:30am I give a few dog biscuits & a little water and out for bathroom. I crated my boy for the first 3 months and we stuck to the routine, I never allowed Cruiser to see me clean his mistakes and I cleaned with bleach which gives a strong odor. After 3 months we put some lineolum down in his bedroom overtop the carpet and allowed him the freedom to move about the room, we stuck to the schedule. He did make messes, we cleaned them but after a while they got further and further apart as he stuck to the routine. It was a long, hard road but it paid off. He still goes at the same time every day.

 

[Opiesmom]

No offense taken - I always use lysol wipes - lemon scent to wipe away the smell. So maybe bleach is more powerful - not sure.

 

[thelady_v2010]

Natures Miracle, it has enzymes in it that take away the smell.

 

[taraann81]

I have not read all the previous posts so apologize if this is redundant. start ay the beggining and crate. Crate him in your room so when he starts moving around in it.you.can take him out. Some wont agree, but use a special treat whwn he doea go outside. you.can inadvertantly reverse house train a dog. By not getting them outside often enough as pups to praise proper places for elimination, if you misses these opportunities too often and then take the pup outside after he has an "accident" you can teach a dog that going in the house is a good way to gwt the ownera to take them outside. There thought process is probably "whwn i pee or poop in here in the floor, i get to go outaide and ebjoy all the wonderful sites and smells". Too me the basics of potty traing is, the more often you gwt thwm to eliminate.in the right apot, the quicker they will be house trained. If elimination is occuring in thw house more often than outaide the dog is learning nothing of proper housetraing behaviour.

He ia not being spiteful, he just has not learned what is expected of him yet. Crate him when u r not home, and teether him to you when you are, this way you will have the most opportunities to prevent accidents, and reward proper bwhaviour.


If all else fails, take a thick newspaper, roll it up and hit youself in the head with it