The Dog Questions You Send
and our humble response woof.
Q. Dear Digital Dog,

Hello,

I have a two month old terrier mix and I am trying to potty train her, but it's not working. When she goes on the carpet, I grab her and put her in the grass, but by then the deed is already done on the carpet, what am I doing wrong and what is the proper way to house train a puppy? Also I have two other dogs, both are terriers, one is a male whom is quite old and a female, which is about four years old. The male seems very irritated by the puppy and constantly snaps at her, but the female seems to be the victim, the puppy harasses and nips at her all the time, she just runs and hide from the puppy, what should I do to get all the dogs to become friends? HELP!!!!!!!!!!!

Tinkles in Toronto

Ans. ~ Hello Tinkles,

First off, your 8 week old pup isn't going to be reliable even if she knows what to do. They just can't reliably hold it. Have you read the articles on digitaldog about cratetraining and housetraining? You need to keep her clean and on a routine. By cratetraining her and taking her out to potty prior to being loose in the house, you can accomplish that.

So definitely check out:

www.digitaldog.com/cratetraining.html www.digitaldog.com/housetraining.html

Ironically, cratetraining this pup will help with your other issue. Most adult dogs are pretty tolerant of pups until they are about 16 weeks old, so the behavior of your male is very disturbing. However, he may just be miffed by the change in his lovely familiar home. By keeping puppy crated, everyone will become familiar with each other without anyone being at risk.

Ideally, pup shouldn't be crated for more than a few (read 2-3) hours at a time except overnight (when she may wake up crying needing to go out in less than 8 hours). While crated she will be able to nap and become familiar with your routine without being in harm's way. Also it will give your other dogs an opportunity to get used to her being around without anyone getting hurt.

Some people have a hesitancy about using a crate because they don't understand it. Educate yourself, if you still have an issue, don't use it, but be aware that it is by far the easiest and most comfortable way to address issues like this (which could otherwise spell a short life for a dog) and to assure a great dog to live with in the future without having to dedicate yourself to housetraining issues for the next several years.

In general, most dogs can't be considered reliably housetrained prior to six months or even a year of age.

Please let digital dog know if this advice helped!

Best,

DigitalDog

Do you have a question for Digital Dog? While we can't guarantee that our advice will work 100% of the time for 100% of the dogs and their people, we do find that the approaches offered have been helpful to us in most situations. Write us at DigitalDog@DigitalDog.com.