Rottweiler puppies soiling indoors

by linda
(scotland)

i have 2 20 week old rotweiler pups. They have great natures, but, no matter how many times they are taken out, or how late, they always soil indoors when they are left in the kitchen at night. How do i stop them doing this?

One is male and the other female. Also, are they all really greedy? It does not matter how much they are fed-and they are never given titbits, they jump up, get over excited, and try to steal food if its within reach.

I want to try and fix this problem before they get much bigger. Any help on these 2 topics would be appreciated.





Hi Linda
Housebreaking a puppy is one of the biggest challenges for new owners and it's important to prevent 'accidents' indoors in order not to build up bad habits.

It doesn't sound as though you're using a crate to contain your pups and this is a very important part of housetraining. Puppies don't understand that they're not supposed to pee/poop indoors, even if they are taken out regularly, and every time they do they are reinforcing this unwanted behavior.

By this age your pups should have reasonable bladder/bowel control and it's not that they CAN'T 'hold it', it's that they don't realize they SHOULD. Dogs are den animals and have a strong desire not to mess where they sleep, that's why puppy crate training is so effective. It not only protects your flooring (and sanity!), but it also helps them build better control of their bladder/bowels and learn the right habits by only eliminating where they're supposed to.

A combination of using the crate, regular potty breaks, and close supervision indoors when not crated is the best way to get your puppies to be clean indoors. With consistent, correct training a pup is usually fairly reliable by about 6 months of age. But if you've got some bad habits started, it could take a little longer.

Hope this helps, best of luck with your puppies.