help! housetraining my dog is failing

minks · Post by **minks** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 12:02 pm

let me start with :-5

Jr Minks little dog (pomm, yorkie cross) is driving me mad.

When we got her she was trained to do her duty on disposable pee mats.

Well this has only slowed up her development of going outside.

I thought I would have her doing her duty outside by now as our other dog is so good and she may have learned from him but NO! Some days she hits the mat other days she is doing her thing elsewhere.

Jr Minks and I are out of the house so often we can not supervise her proper.

Other times our cat will try to bury the mat and it gets scrunched up and the dog gets confused.

I have read that I should confine her to a small place, well any room in my house would be bad because she would scratch the heck out of the wood doors. I can not put up baby gates anywhere as my home is a very open style and no place for baby gates. I have read I should kennel her but is that fair after about 1 year of having free roam of the house as well as the other 2 pets have free roam?

Help me I am stumped

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 12:10 pm

How old is your dog?

How long have you had her? Did this just start?

Is she fixed? My Lhasa was spayed early and was slightly incontinent after that. My vet said they fixed her too early.

Does she pee when excited or just at any time?

Do you have other new pets at home or ones who don't get along with the dog?

Do you or Jr Minks get mad at her when she has these accidents?

Has she had a checkup? Made sure she didn't have a bladder/urinary tract infection?

I don't think crating or kenneling (crating in a pet carrier, kenneling in a bigger confine) is unfair or bad as long as you make over her and let her know she's not being punished. But first I'd make sure she's not ill.

I know, questions, but knowing that stuff may help. Hopefully Valerie will pop in here too.

theia · Post by **theia** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 12:16 pm

My daughter and son-in-law's new puppy, Millie, pees everytime she comes into my house and greets me, even though she is almost house trained. We think it's excitement (NOT FEAR

)

LadiLuck · Post by **LadiLuck** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 12:22 pm

Hi Minks.

I would go with Red on this one. Make sure she isn't ill. and make sure you let her out frequently. Those puppy pee pads aren't a good idea. I think they only make things worse in the long run.

G-man · Post by **G-man** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 12:25 pm

Yep, there are a number of possible reasons for her recent behavior... it could even be as simple as a change of environment... RG pretty much has the list covered to start from. Figure out why she's doing that and go from there. Are you wanting to have her trained to potty outside? Do you try and verbally encourage her for peeing on the pad when you witness her good behavior?

LadiLuck · Post by **LadiLuck** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 12:27 pm

Oh yeah make sure you give her treats when she pottys outside. =) it will encourage her.

minks · Post by **minks** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 12:32 pm

RedGlitter;921965 wrote: How old is your dog? 1 year old

How long have you had her? Did this just start? We have had her since she was 3 minths old no she has always been random with her potty duties

Is she fixed? My Lhasa was spayed early and was slightly incontinent after that. My vet said they fixed her too early. She is not yet fixed.

Does she pee when excited or just at any time? No she is a mystery pee-er, I never catch her in the act.

Do you have other new pets at home or ones who don't get along with the dog? No new pets, she came to us after we had the other 2 and they all get along famously

Do you or Jr Minks get mad at her when she has these accidents? No we never manage to catch her in the act.

Has she had a checkup? Made sure she didn't have a bladder/urinary tract infection? Oh that I never thought of ok

I don't think crating or kenneling (crating in a pet carrier, kenneling in a bigger confine) is unfair or bad as long as you make over her and let her know she's not being punished. But first I'd make sure she's not ill. Thanks Red will get her in to the vet first then maybe inquire about her being confined.

I know, questions, but knowing that stuff may help. Hopefully Valerie will pop in here too.

Hi Red was hoping to hear from you ok answered your questions with red

minks · Post by **minks** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 12:37 pm

LadiLuck;921983 wrote: Oh yeah make sure you give her treats when she pottys outside. =) it will encourage her.

Thanks Ladiluck, I have put her outside with her pal our other dog and all she does is run around like a crazy beast, she seems to have all this energy and never goes outside, trust me I do watch her and have never seen her do her thing outside

I have raised quite a few dogs in my life and this one is such a mystery to me.

Thanks everybody keep throwing your thoughts out there for me I would like to get this solved, luckily I have hard wood flooring that cleans up easily but I am not so convinced the scent ever goes completely away to a doggies nose

minks · Post by **minks** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 12:39 pm

oh and one last thing, as far as I can tell with her, she is very happy and she eats well and sleeps well.

Also her trouble is not just peeing, she does the random poops too. :-5 Perhaps I have to not leave food out 24 hours a day for starters.

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 12:57 pm

Perhaps I have to not leave food out 24 hours a day for starters.

That might be a good idea, M. A dog generally has to "go" roughly 30 minutes after eating so if she's being free-fed you have little control over the poop issue. And often with a poop comes a puddle, so structuring her feeding times might be of help. And good on getting her to the vet for a checkup. Your vet will probably have some suggestions about this too.

G-man · Post by **G-man** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 1:03 pm

I only "treated" my puppy verbally for doing her business when I witnessed it... most sources I researched said that the act of going is in fact their reward... encourage them by happily exclaiming "good potty!" or something to that effect... it seemed to work for my puppy... she hasn't "missed" once in over four months now. I'm certain that there are different schools of thought on this... and every puppy is different... I won't even get into how difficult it was to train my Jack Russell. :wah:

When is she fed and watered, too? Do you water and feed her on schedule? Another thing... where is the pee pad kept at? I always kept mine at the door as I was training her to go outside on schedule.

minks · Post by **minks** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 1:25 pm

G-man;922028 wrote: I only "treated" my puppy verbally for doing her business when I witnessed it... most sources I researched said that the act of going is in fact their reward... encourage them by happily exclaiming "good potty!" or something to that effect... it seemed to work for my puppy... she hasn't "missed" once in over four months now. I'm certain that there are different schools of thought on this... and every puppy is different... I won't even get into how difficult it was to train my Jack Russell. :wah:

When is she fed and watered, too? Do you water and feed her on schedule? Another thing... where is the pee pad kept at? I always kept mine at the door as I was training her to go outside on schedule.

Oh Gman I don't know weather to admire you or pity you having a Jack Russel hehehe I remember my friends JR and that little demon pulled up all his kitchen lino hehehehehe

Well Gman, my little dog has always had food out for her, so like Red suggested I will change up her schedule and put her and the other dog on to a feeding and elimination schedule with luck I can see her do her duty and can run out and praise her.

G-man · Post by **G-man** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 1:32 pm

Yup... at least you don't have a Jack Russell... there's still hope in getting her potty trained once again. :wah:

valerie · Post by **valerie** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 1:46 pm

This might be a toughie Minks since you are on the right track re:

Pee pads just teach them it's okay to go in the house. I'd start back

at square one, like she was an 8 week old pup you just got, and go from

there, preferably yes, with a kennel, one that's not too large or she'll

just go in one end of it. Vigilance is key! Keep her with you at all times

unless you're absolutely sure she doesn't need to go. (I personally

have never used them but you might try doggie diapers, too)

Make sure she doesn't have to always come right back in after potty

time, either. Let her have a little outside time if you can. Treating her

is fine or you can do the "act like an idiot" squealing good dogs all over

the place!!

The only other thing I can think of to add is, take a bit of soiled pee

pad with you and place it in the outside doggie potty spot.

Oh and yes, get her off the "free feed" ASAP. You can also take her

water up at night.

Good luck!

Chookie · Post by **Chookie** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 3:13 pm

Use the same techniques you used with Jr Minks.............

Seriously. Punishment or reward works every time - so far anyway.

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 5:10 pm

Actually Minks, avoid the punishment part. If you punish the dog for inappropriately going, she may think you're punishing her for going at all and could associate the act with a negative aspect which may make her pee in secret to avoid the punishment. It's been known to happen. It's better to stick with reward when she does it right.

pantsonfire321@aol.com · Sun Jul 20, 2008 12:01 am

I'd go with the crate . We have one but only use for the dog to sleep in at night.

Hey your not alone our Rott is nearly 16 weeks and still having accidents ...i think he's lazy to be honest . They all get there in the end i guess some just take longer than others:-5.

minks · Post by **minks** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:57 pm

Chookie;922142 wrote: Use the same techniques you used with Jr Minks.............

Seriously. Punishment or reward works every time - so far anyway.

hahaha nice to see you back chookie, hey how did you know I put Jr Minks in a kennel ahahahah

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 11:18 pm

minks;921996 wrote: Thanks Ladiluck, I have put her outside with her pal our other dog and all she does is run around like a crazy beast, she seems to have all this energy and never goes outside, trust me I do watch her and have never seen her do her thing outside

I have raised quite a few dogs in my life and this one is such a mystery to me.

Thanks everybody keep throwing your thoughts out there for me I would like to get this solved, luckily I have hard wood flooring that cleans up easily but I am not so convinced the scent ever goes completely away to a doggies nose

Could it be that she needs more outdoor exercise?

Once she gets over the "I'm free" running around she might start thinking of other things.

Chookie · Post by **Chookie** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 3:32 pm

minks;923370 wrote: hahaha nice to see you back chookie, hey how did you know I put Jr Minks in a kennel ahahahah

That's what we did (when there was a we)