Babysitting a 5 month old puppy with 0 toilet training. Any and all advice welcome!

[rcpolar]

I'm not even sure if this is the place to post, it's a bit of a stab in the dark!

My husband and I are babysitting my BIL's 5 month old kelpie x staffy. The little thing has absolutely NO toilet training- it's to the point where it's like he can't control when he pees, it just happens. He also goes incredibly frequently, with seemingly no schedule or pattern between needing to go. It reminds me of the last time I had a bladder infection the poor thing.

We have 2 two year old border collies and so far nothing we did for them (regular toilet break routine, taking them out after meals, taking them out when an accident happens, etc.) Has had any effect. He also seems to let loose when he is nervous, so telling him to get off the leather couches and other similar things is leading to a lot of constant cleaning.

His regular house is not very dog suitable, and his toilet at home is a concrete patio so I don't think he's even associating grass=toilet. This means we're struggling to find something as a trigger for him to then reward the toilet time in the right environment.

We only have him with us for 2 more nights (1 noght down) but already cleaning accidents off the furniture is sending us mad. If you have any tips or advice I would be so so so appreciative!!

 

[hoops122712]

@rcpolar For dog sitting a dog that young and for a short period of time, your best option is to just take them to potty as often as needed.

At that age I was taking my pup out to potty every 30 minutes. Some puppies need to go out very often at that age. Especially at a new house and with other dogs he may be drinking more than you notice since he is probably playing with the other dogs a lot and getting excited and overheated.

I know you said you have already tried regular toilet breaks, but have you done 30 mins? You may need to take him out that often.

 

[xcountryrunner33]

@rcpolar Puppies are horrid at generalizing so he likely is potty trained at his house but is at a new house and doesn’t understand that he needs to potty outside at your house too.

You won’t potty train him in 2 days but you can certainly try to mitigate accidents and save your furniture. Treat him like a infant puppy. Potty breaks after every nap, before/after anytime he’s been crated, after any intense playtimes, after drinking a lot of water, shortly (15-30 min) after mealtimes and anywhere from every 30min-2hrs otherwise. Start with very often and extend the timeframe from there if he isn’t having accidents.

You can of course give lots of treats and praise when he goes potty outside but again, it’s more so management here than training since you’ve only got 2 days. Sounds like he’s got a submissive urination problem as well. Best I’ve found for that is keeping your voice level, calm and calling them to you with a treat or reward. Again, there’s other ways to train this behavior away but for just 2 days the call and treat method might be the best option.

 

[hoops122712]

@xcountryrunner33 [sup]^[/sup] Yup exactly what they said.