Had this puppy for just under a month, shes almost 13 weeks. She understands that she gets treats & praise for going to the bathroom outside (when she goes she will turn around and look straight at you, tail wagging, ready for her party) but she keeps going inside. Obviously shes still little both in terms of age and also literally in terms of size (4 lbs), but im just worried cause im getting a lot of mixed advice.
I have the crate and playpen set up and shes only allowed in rooms im actively in when shes out of it. I try to take her out every time she starts circling or sniffing with intent. Every time she wakes up or eats, before we put her down for nap time, etc. I try to stick to a schedule but its hard to follow it 100% of the time bc she doesnt always cooperate and i want to make sure shes getting enough rest so shes not biting.
When she pees inside it is SO FAST that by the time ive noticed shes sniffing shes already finished peeing so I haven't been very successful at interrupting her. I try to never react and just clean it calmly but I have family members who keep having bigger reactions no matter how many times I tell them not to. Half the advice i see is like "shes little, it takes time, just keep doing what you're doing" and the other half is like "if she pees inside at all you are fucked for life and you have ruined her forever" (okay maybe im catstrophizing a bit lol). I just feel so stressed that im ruining things or not doing enough for her but I dont know what else to do other than take her out literally like every 30 minutes and thats just not feasible for me.
I should add, I dont mind the accidents really and im not upset with her – shes a baby who is doing her best! But I just worry that im handling things the wrong way or that she won't learn eventually and the family i live with keeps trying to tell me all im doing is teaching her to go inside, but I feel like thats not true? Idk, this is my first puppy. Ive read a lot but idk what the hell im doing 😭😭😭 and it feels like the advice online is usually "do this or youve ruined your dog" OR its "do the complete opposite of the other advice or youve ruined your dog". sometimes we will go all day with no accidents and then we have days like today where shes had like 4 accidents in addition to her usual peeing outside.
Sorry this is a lot of rambling and venting lowkey but tl;dr is what im doing okay or am I just teaching bad habits? Will she learn eventually like this or do I need to change what im doing?
submitted by /u/Crafty-Cup-4774
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