House training

[wendybed]

Hi everyone,

 

Just wanted to get some opinions on house training. Our BC Maisey is 17 weeks today. We got her when she as 6 weeks, 1 day. She "got" the crate immediately and never had accidents (well, on e, but she was so freaked t, I doubt it will ever happen again.). But, she will stop , drop and pee anywhere, even at 17 weeks. Of course, it's not every 20 minutes now, but still.. She is out almost every hour at a minimum. She gets the going outside part. But, she does not totally get the NOT going inside the house part. She is confined to the mudroom (tile, no carpets) for most of her time, but comes out to play and go outside. And I play with her in that room, to. It's a good sized room, but not huge.She gets lots of exercise --at least an hour in the morning with our golden off leash and smaller play sessions during the day). She is rarely all alone). So, she goes out often during the day--even rings the bells

To go outside. But, without warning, she will just pee 3 feet from me. I can rarely have a day with NO accidents. What am I doing wrong? I don't know what else to do. Anyone have insights?

 

Thanks-- wendy

[Gloria Atwater]

I have a couple of questions ...

One, if she's peeing frequently, have you ever had her checked for a urinary tract infection?

Second, are you sure you aren't missing the moments when she's most likely to pee? Remember that puppies will nearly always pee A.) After eating, B.) Upon waking up, and C.) during and immediately after play. Perhaps you are getting her outside a lot, but maybe not always at the right times. Also, do you praise and make a party of it when she *does* pee outside?

Not sure any of this will help, but figured I'd ask.

~ Gloria

[D'Elle]

I second what Gloria said. Definitely have her checked by a vet. And make sure that the once-an-hour times that she is going outside are carefully timed, also as said above.

 

I would also make a point of spending a lot of time with her, watching her, and see if I could catch her as she is just about to pee indoors so that I could scoop her up and take her outside, where I would praise enthusiastically for peeing outside.

[RemsMom]

I agree with the other posts about the vet check. My pup had a UTI and it really made housebreaking difficult. I think she just wasn't sure when she really needed to go. I would take her outside and she would pee a little. I would bring her inside and within 5 minutes I would have a puddle to clean up. Things really improved within 48 hours of having her on medicine.

 

Also, try not to listen to people who claim that their puppy never had an accident or was completely housebroke at eight weeks. Some puppies catch on early and some take a little longer.

 

One thing that worked well for me was to take Nattie out every 40 minutes. If she didn't go I took her out every 10 minutes until she went and then reset the timer for 40 minutes. It was exhausting but it really helped her get the idea of what she was supposed to do (and even better no puddles on the floor).

[CMP]

Yeah, at 17 weeks they should not be going that frequently.

 

So, first thing is to make sure she is not simply marking or over marking. Is your other dog a female? Females will over-mark other females urination spots - sometimes several times. They then usually make a new marking spot. It's an ongoing process that can get ridiculous with two territorial females. I once had two alpha females in my pack (one alpha female is rare, two in one pack is bizarro - they spent most of their time one-upping each other with piss).

 

Dogs will overmark on their own spots.

 

 

Some ideas:

 

(1) To make sure you have a level playing field make sure you are *completely* erradicating any urine scent left in the house. They WILL urinate on their old spots - not because they have to empty their bladder but because some ancient hard coded evolutionary imperative tells them to.

 

(2) Have you made a word for "pee" and "poop" that you use when she goes out? I find that having a command is as good for teaching the "to do" as it is for teaching the "not to do".

 

(3) If she spends more time in the house proper she will start to see it as her den, too - and will be less likely to pee in it. Part of the issue might be territorial marking because the other dog gets free run of the "den" and she does not. A literal "pissy pissing".

 

(4) Have her checked for a UTI

 

(5) Observe her signals carefully while she is outside. All dogs have a "tell" - like a poker tell, which will alert you that they have to go. I can tell you which bit of business most of my dogs need to do by how they ask to go out or how they act when they are out. Watch her carefully for a while and see what she does - see if you can find the one consistent action that is her tell.

 

Finally, at 17 weeks she would not be the oldest puppy to ever not quite be housebroken

[CalamityJess]

Definitely check for a UTI!

 

I tried using a gated room when we first got our puppy, Brody at 8 weeks. It was a complete failure. After a couple weeks of that I switched to strictly crating him when I couldn't have eyes on him for long periods of time such as studying, researching, cleaning, showering etc. In addition I stuck a Christmas decoration on the back door that has bells on it.

 

As soon as Brody came out of the crate, we'd go straight to the door. I'd put his paws up on the bells to make them ring, tell him "good boy!" and open the door. Once outside I'd just say "go pee" and wait. He'd pee quickly get lots of praise, and I'd give another 5 minutes to make sure he was done. As long as he peed/pooped outside, I would let him run free in the house for a while, taking him out every 20 minutes or so, making him paw the bells each time. And back in the crate if I had to be doing something else, wash rinse, repeat.

 

We had some accidents, which is OK! You can't correct peeing in the house if you don't SEE it happen. The thing is (for us at least) to catch it happening, make your disapproval noise (mine is an "eh-eh!"), and get them straight out that door to finish.

 

After a couple weeks, Brody started intermittently ringing the bells on his own one day. The next day he forgot that, but once we reminded him he grabbed onto the idea and hasn't failed since. He just hit 12 weeks on Friday, it was like a switch flipped and he decided he was housetrained. Every puppy is different, some take longer just like kids!