Man oh man, what a difference a day makes: Butter's first 2 days at home

elonepb

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Aug 19, 2013
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Butter
Hey all, wanted to give a recap of our first day days with Butter. Sorry if it's a bit long but maybe it will be useful for other owners!

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Day 1:
He is the most loveable boy with a tail that wags constantly. He didn't show any issues at all with being in his new place. He had a couple pee accidents in the house but only because we weren't recognizing his "search for spot" mode.

First feeding. This boy loves food more than anything I've ever seen. Either that or he had to fight very hard with his litter for food because he goes berserk like there is no other food on the planet. We decide to not allow this and require him to be calm and still before he can eat. A process but eventually he stays still for 2 seconds which is a good enough start. Ideally I want him to be completely calm and wait until we tell him he can eat.

He took to his crate wonderfully, with only a small amount of fuss at first, but generally seemed to enjoy the time in there snoozing. The main issue we were having on thr first day is that he doesnt want to potty on the concrete sidewalk in front of our apartment. i would stay there with him for 25 minutes and he would do nothing at all. Bring him inside and immediately he goes pee on the carpet. He only peed once outside and that was at the park a block and a half away on the grass.

We kept his crate in the living room and when it was bed time we waited until he was comfy and then went to our bedroom with an alarm for 2 hours to let him out. Two hours later we find him with poop everywhere, soiled himself and all his toys and blanket in the crate. Flustered, we took him out and again he does no potty at all outside on the sidewalk. Cleaned up the crate and removed all the smells and gave him fresh new blankets.

Back to bed to check on him in 2 hours. Two hours later we come out and find the same thing. Poop everywhere... Not good. I take him out and wait for 25-30 minutes in the cool night for him to do smething on the sidewalk, but he refuses. So i take him inside and he immediately pees INSIDE his crate. We're quite stressed now because if he's so willing to potty in his sleeping quarters, I have no idea how we are going to housebreak him.

Its 4:30am and first change we do is move the crate into our bedroom right by the bed. If he has to go, I'm assuming he'll make some noises or cry a bit and I'm thinking maybe now I can hear him and get him out before he goes. It seems like he got all his potty-needs already done earlier (in his crate grr) because he sleeps until 7am. Good boy.


Day 2:
At 7am we take him to the park and he immediately pees on the ground. Wow, ok so he seems to be fine with peeing outside, he just requires grass right now. Fair enough, it's a process. We compliment him and give him a kibble as positive reinforcement.

Feeding time, same berserk crazy puppy for food, but we continue to wait until he is calm for a few seconds before feeding training. Better than day 1 definitely. After eating we put him in his crate to rest and digest. After 20 minutes or so we carry him to the park and he pees again right away. WHOOZAGOOBOY! No poop though. So I bring him back in the apartment and play for about 20 minutes, then back carried to the park. He poops!

it is clear to us now that we have to use the park to housebreak him. We start telling him to GO POTTY right as he is about to, and then positive reinforce with kibble and love. Caught a few of his "seeking for spot modes" after playing but immediately scooped him up and brought him to park where he pees unless he gets distracted (which happens often). Oh we'll it's a process.

He is really loving his crate now. No fuss, will curl up and go to sleep. We leave him unattended for the first time for about an hour and a half. Come back and he is now awake but no mess. Right to the park!

He had 2 accidents in the house on day 2 but only because I didn't catch his search mode.

Night time the true test. We feed him 4 hours before bed and this seems to be the right timing as we get a poop out of him. He hasn't yet poop and peed together on the same trip, but baby steps right? With the crate by the bed I figure he will let us know when he has to go, but I wake up after 2.5 hours anyway and he's asleep. Take him out anyway to the park and he pees. Back to bed immediately, we dont get into any playing or fun walking, it's all business.

Around 4:30 I wake him up again and take him to the park. POOP AND PEES! We are very excited about this and he now appears to be running over for his treat after he goes. This boy is learning very very fast.

I'm typing this on the morning of Day 3 having gone through a whole night with no crying, accidents, or failure to go potty when brought to the park. The plan is to train him to "go potty" on command at the park and then begin to try to use the sidewalk with the command. Right now he's sleeping in his crate after eating, and his disgestion seems to take 45 min or so, so it's time to get him outside.

I hope this helps anyone who might be stressing about whether their dog will "get it" or new puppy owners. We have the next adventure of going to work tomorrow morning all day and will have a dog walker coming 3 times for the first week to see how he does. Will report back in if anyone is interested!
 
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ModernFemme

Arts'y bulldog farts'y
Community Veteran
Oct 5, 2012
882
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Sir Remington (Remi)
Wow, he's gorgeous. I have to say, I have really come to adore that coloring on a bulldog. House breaking is fun, isn't it? If he continues to go in his crate, which our Remi did, we did a couple of things to solve that problem: We made sure to use a divider so he just had enough room to stand up and turn around and lay down. (we actually used a carboard box with a blanket around it) Any extra space can sometimes be too much temptation. The second issue we had is that the bedding was too plush and would absorb the urine, so Remi had no issue peeing on it. If that happens, use a thinner blanket at first and then upgrade as he gets older. It took Remi until about 6 months to be completely house broken and 1 year before I trust him completely not to go in the house. (He refuses.)

You're doing the right thing by checking on Butter every 2 hours. That was definitely the hardest part for me!! Ha ha haha....

Enjoy.

EDIT: Oh, btw, Remi NEVER let us know when he had to go as a puppy. Most bulldogs don't really bark or anything or make any noise. Other than sniffing around a bit, there was a very short window. Something I wish I had started earlier what really works for us. Bells on the door - train Butters to ring them whenever he needs to go potty. It was a real lifeline for us.
 
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elonepb

elonepb

New member
Aug 19, 2013
31
1
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USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Butter
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Wow, he's gorgeous. I have to say, I have really come to adore that coloring on a bulldog. House breaking is fun, isn't it? If he continues to go in his crate, which our Remi did, we did a couple of things to solve that problem: We made sure to use a divider so he just had enough room to stand up and turn around and lay down. (we actually used a carboard box with a blanket around it) Any extra space can sometimes be too much temptation. The second issue we had is that the bedding was too plush and would absorb the urine, so Remi had no issue peeing on it. If that happens, use a thinner blanket at first and then upgrade as he gets older. It took Remi until about 6 months to be completely house broken and 1 year before I trust him completely not to go in the house. (He refuses.)

You're doing the right thing by checking on Butter every 2 hours. That was definitely the hardest part for me!! Ha ha haha....

Enjoy.

EDIT: Oh, btw, Remi NEVER let us know when he had to go as a puppy. Most bulldogs don't really bark or anything or make any noise. Other than sniffing around a bit, there was a very short window. Something I wish I had started earlier what really works for us. Bells on the door - train Butters to ring them whenever he needs to go potty. It was a real lifeline for us.

Thanks for the compliments about his coloring! It was definitely one of the factors I was looking for, I love the fawn fur.

Yeah we were using a divider the first night and it didn't help. The plush blankets is a good tip, we actually removed those for the final hours of the first night and he did nothing. But last night we gave him all his comfy blankets and he was great. Closely monitored, but great.

Here's more pics!

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ModernFemme

Arts'y bulldog farts'y
Community Veteran
Oct 5, 2012
882
61
Delaware
Bulldog(s) Names
Sir Remington (Remi)
Thanks for the compliments about his coloring! It was definitely one of the factors I was looking for, I love the fawn fur.

Yeah we were using a divider the first night and it didn't help. The plush blankets is a good tip, we actually removed those for the final hours of the first night and he did nothing. But last night we gave him all his comfy blankets and he was great. Closely monitored, but great.

Here's more pics!

What a cutie!! How old??

I can see this isn't your first rodeo. I've had dogs as a kid, but Remi is my very first dog as an adult that I was 100% responsible for. You think I would have went with a wee bit easier breed. Ha! We just like to dive right in and learn as we go. It's been... an adventure.
 

ddnene

EBN's SWEETHEART aka our little GOOB
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Sounds like you are doing a great job w/the potty training!!! Winston was doing great, and then yesterday I was upstairs cleaning up my sons room & he peed on the dog bed :cursing: I guess he's still a work in progress... LOL I had to take all bedding out of the crate too because he kept peeing in the crate which thankfully he has stopped that. Good Luck w/Butter he's adorable!!!
 
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elonepb

elonepb

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Aug 19, 2013
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Butter
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What a cutie!! How old??

I can see this isn't your first rodeo. I've had dogs as a kid, but Remi is my very first dog as an adult that I was 100% responsible for. You think I would have went with a wee bit easier breed. Ha! We just like to dive right in and learn as we go. It's been... an adventure.

He is 11 weeks and he's my first puppy as an adult! I just did so much reading on forums like this to compile all the great lessons people have learned with their Bullys.

The bell ring is very interesting, how do you train that?
 

ModernFemme

Arts'y bulldog farts'y
Community Veteran
Oct 5, 2012
882
61
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Sir Remington (Remi)
He is 11 weeks and he's my first puppy as an adult! I just did so much reading on forums like this to compile all the great lessons people have learned with their Bullys.

The bell ring is very interesting, how do you train that?

Ditto! It's been real.

Basically you start just getting them to interact with the bell. Anytime they touch it with their nose or whatever, give a treat. Start super close to their face... Then start pulling the bell back a bit, letting the dog come to the bell and ringing it. Then you make them ring the bell anytime you take them outside. We followed a video online, but there is some training instructions associated with the product below. The only issue we have is that Remi loves to ring them just to get attention. He likes to cry wolf sometimes :)

We got: http://poochie-pets.net/training/
 

AubreysMom

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Nov 8, 2011
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Aubrey (RIP 5-4-12), Aubie Shug (DOB 3-23-12)
Butter's doing great and so are you! It's all about routine. Aubie rarely had an accident in the house when she was a pup because we got her routine down and took her out regularly, usually for every 30 minutes of play she went out, right after eating, 30 minutes after eating, etc... even if it was a bit too much at times. She caught on so fast. Using the "go potty" command with treats is a great idea. Aubie picked up on it and we still use it when we want her to hurry. Now that she's almost a year and a half old, we can let her out, tell her to go potty, and she goes right away.

I don't know if you'll have this problem or not, but Aubie was horrible about peeing on the bedding in her crate. It didn't matter how often we took her out, etc, she always peed on it and scooted it to the back of her crate. We eventually took all her bedding out and she was much happier. I think she liked the coolness of the plastic bottom rather than the bedding.
 

AubreysMom

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Ditto! It's been real.

Basically you start just getting them to interact with the bell. Anytime they touch it with their nose or whatever, give a treat. Start super close to their face... Then start pulling the bell back a bit, letting the dog come to the bell and ringing it. Then you make them ring the bell anytime you take them outside. We followed a video online, but there is some training instructions associated with the product below. The only issue we have is that Remi loves to ring them just to get attention. He likes to cry wolf sometimes :)

We got: http://poochie-pets.net/training/

We almost went with the bell, but I'm glad we didn't. Aubie also likes to cry wolf. She scratches on the door when she wants out but the problem is that she thinks every door she scratches will open for her if she wants it to! :no: She'll scratch on the bathroom door if she wants to go lay on the tile, the front door if she wants to look outside, etc. We joke that she thinks she has magic paws. :biglaugh:
 

Jennifer Clark

I can handle the whiskey, if you can handle the nu
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Apr 16, 2013
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Sheldon A.K.A Shelly Bean (06-12-19); Duecy (9-13-14); Maddie (4-16-19)
I have thought about the bell thing with Sheldon but what was funny was Hubby started telling Sheldon to go nudge his leash if he needed to go out (meant as a joke) Sheldon does go nudge his leash now and stand at the door when he wants out to go potty

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jenzaar

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Aug 24, 2013
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Winslow
You really seem to have it all together! Awesome! Butter is so cute by the way, and I just love his name :)
im curious to try the bell because Winslow gives no warning. He's not very vocal which doesn't help us to know when he's gotta go, but in no way will I ever complain about that! ;)

Edit: to aubreysmom, I just gotta say I am in LOVE with aubie's face! What a sweetie!
 

KitKat90

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Mar 6, 2013
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Georgia
That sounds just like My Georgia... but she was 8 Months old when we got her. Now that she's a year old all her little Behavior Quirks and Poop Quirks have seemed to disappeared. It seems like Butter is getting it down rather faster then her :) They look almost exactly alike!
 

bluesteelapd

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Sounds like ya'll have done a great job with this boy! I totally enjoyed reading your "dear diary" entries and commend both of you for your patience and being willing to work with Butter to figure out how he needs things done!!!
^5
 

JAKEISGREAT

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Mar 25, 2011
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Great job! Keep it up and can't say I blame him for not wanting to potty on the sidewalk! Trips to the park in the wee hours...could be interesting! Lol!
 

TubbysMom

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Holy moly Butter looks like he could be Tubby's twin! So naturally I think he is just the cutest puppy ever! Lol good work on the potty training Butter seems to be catching on

upyve2ev.jpg

That's Tubbs the day we picked him up. I swear Butter could be his son lol


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