I am having house training problems with my 8-month-old mini Dachshund. I live in an apartment and unfortunately, I am not able to leave any door open to my balcony when I go to work. She is left inside for approximately 8 hours a day. I walk her every morning and evening.
Every time I come home from work she has pooped on the floor. I leave a pee pad out every day and she uses this to pee on 80% of the time, but almost never uses it to poo, even if she has pooped out on our walk!
If I am at home during the weekend with her or in the evenings, she still sometimes has accidents. I locked her outside for 1/2 an hour to "punish" her. Sometimes too in the mornings, I wake to find she has pooped on the floor. I love her to pieces and I believe I do take her out more than she actually needs so I can't understand why she keeps doing this?
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Your puppy cannot go 8 hours without going potty. If you can come home at lunchtime and walk her, it would be best. She is still a baby and cannot hold it that long. You should have thought this through before you got a young dog.
I forgot to address her accidents when you are at home. Because she has to go when you are gone, she has learned it's okay to do that in the house. Instead of punishing her, you must take her out frequently and praise her effusively each time she does the right thing. But if you continue to leave her at home alone for 8 hours, you will never get her housetrained. Dogs don't understand these concepts. They just want to please you and get instant rewards.
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