Housebreaking, er, Potty Training

This one makes no sense to me in the dog world. The logic behind house breaking a puppy is that you take the pup to the right spot over and over again and prevent them from having accidents in the house with good supervision and help with a crate or pen. Yikes! This is hard with a 2-3 month old puppy that has absolutely NO time in between pees!

Fortunately with human babes, we diaper them until we as parents are good and ready to take the task on. [Actually, on a side note, that is only the way we do it culturally... in many circles, people toilet train their babies from when they are born, much like a puppy.]

Henry and I have embarked on some potty training this week. I started because I knew we would be at home for a few days (he had a cold) and I suspected he would be game.

We talked about it for a couple months before hand:

"Wow, won't it be great when you go on the potty? Then you wont have to wear a diaper anymore".

"Kids go on the potty"

"You will soon put your poo in the potty"

I also held him on the toilet a few times with his clothes on just so he could feel what it was like.

I then picked a time, stripped off his pants, and held him on the toilet and he went! He was so excited. He couldnt wait to flush the toilet.

For about 3 days, I had him in the house with no diaper on. At 2 and 2 months of age, he seems to have to go about every 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Yes I had a few accidents when I forgot to take him, or I relied on his opinion of if he had to go.

Then on day 4, he didnt want to use the toilet. I said, "ok" and put a diaper on him. 2 days later I tried again and he was an enthusiastic parter again.

I was also excited when he started to pee in his pants and then ran to the potty. Did we get any pee in the toilet? No :) but thats ok.

So day 6 now and I tried to ask him if he has to go.. he said no and then had a huge pee on the floor. Mental note, stop asking him if he has to go for at least a week. It kind of makes him surly anyways.

Next step.... peeing at other people's houses.