Hello everybody. I have some questions about our toilet training trials. There are two methods I have heard of; one is the "Crate method" where the dog is kept in its travelling box for two to three hours, and then taken outside, or directed to the desirable "relieving place" upon release. This method works on the assumption that the dog will never defecate in its own sleeping area.
When my wife and I were deciding which method was best we cancelled out this one quite early, as our dog, "Patty" (two months at that stage, three and a half months now) often relieved herself in her bed, (she did this even though she had free reign in a much wider area, and access to a litter tray with the litter sheets inside it) that seems to go against the advice from the experts, so we never subjected her to the confinement of her box for long periods of time, if we figured she had no regrets about doing number ones and twos in her box to begin with. This is also a problem as we cannot give her anything soft to sleep on, we have tried numerous cushions and mats and I even gave her an old T-shirt, all of which had to removed and either thrown away or put in the washing machine after the first couple of days. Also, she sometimes sleeps in her litter tray, on the litter sheets, she doesn't mind if they are clean or dirty, it is all the same to her. There was even an incident where she soaked the quilt of my bed; we used to allow her to run around on our bed for a few minutes before we put her in her own area for the night, it was fine for a week, then suddenly, one night, she went on a rampage zeroing in on several spots within a manner of seconds, and before we realized what was happening.
Is this normal?
The other method I heard of for potty training was where the dog is kept in an enclosed area, like a pen or a bathroom, and the floor is covered with sheets. The sheets are then removed each time the dog "eliminates" on them, and are replaced by fresh ones. We figured we couldn't use this method either, because she really likes to dig. So we have opted for praising her when she does the right thing, and growling at her when she doesn't. The trick is catching her in the act I guess.
Please help.
