Potty training has disappeared.

[kb13733]

My dogs occasionally have accidents when I'm not quick enough to get them outside when they tell me they need to go but since starting school this week, my border collie (and my other two dogs) have seem to forgotten their potty training. Nothing for them has changed. They are still walked throughout the day. Their meals are still at the same times and they still have hours of play-time. But what has changed is when I let my border collie out, he will pee everywhere on the carpet before I have a chance to get the leash on him for his walk. And then when we get outside, he will pee again and poop quite a large amount. And then maybe less than a half hour later he will pee and poop everywhere. And he knows its bad because he tucks his tail in after doing it and hides under the couch. So he KNOWS he needs to go outside. What I don't understand is how after I walk him and he poops and pees outside is that he comes inside almost immediately and does it again. And then after his first accident, almost nearly another half hour later he will poop inside again. And like I said his feeding times have not changed. But this has been everyday this week since I started school on monday. And what is worse, is that my other two dogs follow his example so I've had three dogs have several accidents each day for no clear reason. Regular walks after feeding and every hour are not helping. I'm not sure what I can do for him.

[Pippin's person]

Is the stool well-formed? How old is the dog? Have you tried crating him/them so they don't have the opportunity to go in the house?

 

He goes again because he needs to for some reason--maybe it's the stress of the change in your schedule; even though his schedule hasn't changed; maybe it's health-related; maybe it's something else. The dog probably doesn't *know* that it's bad, but does know that you get really upset when it's there.

 

If it were me and I knew for certain it wasn't health related, I'd crate him unless I was interacting with him.

[kb13733]

That's another thing. He's been crate trained since he was about 4 months old. He is now a year old. And he is in his kennel while my husband and I are both gone. And it is normal feces. So I really am confused on how to get my dogs back on track.

[Pippin's person]

I'd keep him crated or attached to you when you are home so he can't go in the house. For the peeing while you're trying to get a leash on, you probably want to check that it's not a UTI. Does this peeing while you're putting on a leash happen most of the time? 1 year is still pretty much a baby for a border collie, so if you are sure there's nothing health-related, then your best bet is managing his time so that he is unable to eliminate in the house, Definitely frustrating, but if you treat it as if, for whatever reason, he isn't house trained, you can probably fix it. Being frustrated and not changing anything about the current situation will probably just lead to more frustration for you and the dog.

[Bullet87]

On a personal note... I have had similar experiences with my Blue Heeler. I would let the two dogs out in the yard while I get ready in the morning, go to work or wherever we are headed, come back and find poop on the floor. I know it's my Heeler because my BC pup is kenneled while the Heeler is not. Most of the time it happens when we leave on the weekend for an hour or two of grocery shopping. I found out it was because he was used to being on a leash while we lived in an apartment, and switching to a yard and house must have thrown him off. (Weird right?) I had to sit outside while he did his business for awhile to make sure he did his business. Now it is all hunky dory. Not sure if you have switched from a yard to apartment life or the other way around, but it could be something like what happened with my Heeler.

 

Good Luck!