How do I potty train a puppy who just cries when I take him outside?

Question

We brought home our 9 week old miniature dachshund yesterday. Having read lots of puppy training information, we decided to crate train.

He has taken to the crate very well and sleeps in there happily. When he wakes he will whine. I take him outside to go to the toilet, but he just cries, louder and louder until I bring him in.

The weather here at the moment is wet and windy, which I don't think is helping. I have tried bringing him back in, calming him down and taking him out again, but no joy so far.

It was getting to the point where he would just run away and hide in his crate when I went near him, presumably to avoid going outside.

I was concerned that I was going to just make him fearful of me, so on the first night put some paper down by the back door. He woke every 2-3 hours whining, but didn't come out of the crate on his own. I assumed he was awake as he needed the toilet as he wouldn't settle again.

Again, I tried taking him outside. However, his crying just got louder and louder and he was shivering and shaking. In the end he did use the newspaper inside, then settled down in his crate again for another 2-3 hours.

I'm not sure what to try next, should I stick with paper whilst he settles down, or am I creating a problem later on?

Answer 1

Just in case anyone comes across this and it helps them, we persevered with outside toilet training, and he is now going outside every time and we've only had a couple of accidents.

At night, we have gone from him waking every 1-3 hours, to once per night, with a quick trip outside, then back in the crate until morning. This has only taken 1 week, but when you aren't getting any sleep, it obviously feels much longer!

It was initially taking a while to settle him after taking him out for a toilet break. Leaving him to cry wasn't really an option because he was waking the children who had school the next day. As the days have gone by, I think he feels more secure that he is safe, and just requires a little reassurance before settling down again.

Answer 2

Good News

I have my newest student who is a 1 and a half-year-old Dachshund. I started training Opie since the time he was 8 weeks of age. I will say this is one of the most challenging dogs I have ever done. However, the success stories are still being written.

I am generally very immune to the crying puppy and am effective in ignoring undesirable behavior and rewarding the desired ones.

For Opie's first night, I placed him in the crate and a blanket over it to give the sense of security. Naturally, he cried, which I more than expected. I did the unthinkable; I caved to the puppy's cries, hopped back out of bed, and got him out. Now, I am smacking my head as I am laying next to a tiny, snuggly puppy.

My alarm set for every 2 hours for weeks for me to get up to take him out of the restroom. In addition to the fact that I was now obligated to also get up every time he stirred and go outside. The average number of trips outdoors was somewhere between 7 to 10, making my nights challenging to say the least.

In the end, with other consistent training methods, Opie was fully housebroken.

The moral of the story

The moral of the story is to take the education you had worked on before getting the puppy and recognize that the puppy's cry is hard to resist.

Stay consistent with either the paper or outside, but choose only one and stick with it, going back and forth will only cause more confusion and frustration.

And, remember that if you place a puppy pad or paper that it is hard to identify using just one area to use the restroom the idea is that it is ok to use the restroom in the house. I would stick with the outside and follow that basic rules because you have caved to the crying once you are going to have to make twice as many trips, just the same as I did.

Try the best you can to ignore the crying just carry him in and out without saying anything when he cries and giving over the top praise when you have success.