Still Toilet Training!

[Suzy T]

I have two male Lhasa Apso's. They are now 10 months old. Compared to some people my problem isn't that bad but it is still a huge problem to me.

During the day they are perfect and do the toilet outside and hold it in if they have to for an extra hour or two. They are used to their routine and are fine. Then during the night it is hit or miss. Days at a time they are perfect then one night they decide to do a wee at the front door.( to try and stop this I don't give them water after 9pm). Also when I am visiting other homes they sometimes do a wee for no reason, when they were only out in the garden say 30 minutes ago. They don't wee in front of me, they do it slyly and know they have been bad. When I catch them I shout 'No that's bad' then lock them in a room on their own for about 10 mins. It's just so hard because they are just about there but not quite. I feel like they are going to be like this for the rest of their life.

When they were really young I used wee wee pads which were great. It was hard cause I live in a flat, but it seemed they were slowly getting there. Until recently everytime they did the toilet outside I gave them a treat. It's weird cause when I take them out for a walk and we're coming home as soon as we are at the front door one of them might do a poo cause they know not to do it inside.

Has anyone had this same type of experience with there dogs? How did you overcome this?

Thanks
Suzy..

[carriecrowe]

I have a 10 wk old pup. I have a simular problem with Precious. Their is alot of times even if the door is open and she can freely come and go as needed, she will still pee inside the house. I have gotten to where i let her run pretty much all of the day outside, i do not allow water or food after 6pm for the simple fact she stays in the bathroom at night. I also have started to crate her at night because of some other puppy problems we have been having. My husband would rather just give up and kick her outside for good, but if we do that, we have to listen to her litterally whine all night long (and yes i mean litterally all night long). I know it seems like they will be like this forever, but they are still young, Give them more time. As far as pottying on the pourch, Precious does that on days she is just wanting to be stubborn or it is raining out. For that i have set up a 10' chain where i want her to go potty and poo I simply go out chain her up and leave her there for about 30 minutes or so, then bring her back in.. Now that it is nice, i often have her spending all day outside (either on the chain or not) so she can burn her energy.

[Suzy T]

Hey I read your reply. I don't know if you got my message wrong but my dogs are 10 months old. I understand that your dog is still having problems but she is only 10 weeks old. Most dogs aren't totally toilet trained by that time anyway. I wouldn't put Precious outside because she is now used to staying inside the house. Also I found out most pups don't have control of their bladder at 10 weeks. They don't have proper control till about 16 weeks I think.

Luckily my dogs don't poo in the house (anymore!), what I did was take them out for a walk after their dinner. The exercise gets their bowels moving and then I didn't have them pooing in any of my families gardens (cause they have got kids). Just stick with it and try to be patient cause when they she is fully trained it will all be worth it.

[carriecrowe]

I understand the age difference, BUT precious would deliberately come inside and pee in the house.
here's my story:

We keep the doors open during the day and she got to the point that if she was OUTSIDE she would come INSIDE and pee on the floor and hurry up and dart out the door before anyone knew what hit them. Since we couldnt catch her within the instant she peed on the floor, it was already to late to punish her therefore she wasnt getting punished for peeing on the floor.... I have kicked her outside with the other dogs, she would whine to come in then whine to be let out.. If she is in the house after bedtime, she would be in her crate. I wouldnt have it any other way. I understand she is young and all, i understand she is just a puppy. It is 60* outside at night if not warmer than that, so it isnt like she is getting thrown from heat to extreme cold or from a cold house to the extreme heat. She gets played with every day and pretty well gets run of the yard, so it isnt like she is tied up 24/7.

[Suzy T]

Thought I'd let you know that (touch wood) my dogs are fully trained. They have been great lately and I only have to take them out for a pee 4 times a day. Sorry to hear your pup has been up to mischief. The only thing I can think of is watch her constantly. I know it's hard cause when mine were young and I took them to someon'e house I had to watch them constantly. Fair enough they did make mistakes but no matter how much you can watch them they will always manage to have a pee on the sly. Also when she does the toilet outside give her a treat, that went down well with mine. As soon as they did the toilet they ran over for their treat instantly. Now they don't get a treat they just know to go outside. When I memtioned about putting Precious outside I meant she might feel lonely, unfortunately my mum has got mine used to being on the bed so every time I roll over one of them is on the pillow next to me with their nose in my face!! I think I'm used to it now but there will be changes when I move out with my boyfriend next year!!! Good luck with your dog, I'm sure she'll get the hang of it eventually, hopefully not too long though!

[Dax]

I have never had any trouble housebreaking my dogs. Could it be that there is a scent they are attracted to? Are the fixed? Maybe it's not bathroom but marking behavior. Even females will mark especially when there are other dogs around.

At 10 months of age your dogs should be able to hold it all night. I read in your posting that you have maybe started the "HIDE MY DOINGS" because they get yelled at. So instead of indicating their need they go off and hide it. Do you have crates for them or just a room? A crate will limit thier space so they must hold it or lie in it. It's not too late to get one and start again as though it was there first night home.

[Barbie]

Susie, try going out in the yard or at least on the porch at night. Alot of small dogs are afraid of the dard somewhat. (That's why most dogs bark more at night than in the day time) You will not be starting something that will always have to be done all it's life, but will make it secure. As your dog gets used to being more secure because you are out with it, it will get better about going out by itself. Sorry about all the-it's. I wasn't sure if it is a girl or boy.
Good Luck to you and your dog. Just have patience!

[Barbie]

Susie, try going out in the yard or at least on the porch at night. Alot of small dogs are afraid of the dard somewhat. (That's why most dogs bark more at night than in the day time) You will not be starting something that will always have to be done all it's life, but will make it secure. As your dog gets used to being more secure because you are out with it, it will get better about going out by itself. Sorry about all the-it's. I wasn't sure if it is a girl or boy.
Good Luck to you and your dog. Just have patience!

[Elite]

You guys should feel really lucky! There's a jack russel near my house whose a year old and still not trained (they're working pretty hard on it, though)! I'd probably blame it on his breed, but I don't know much about JRTs (cept they're really high energy). My puppy only took about 2 weeks to potty train, and has been perfect since (she's 13.5 weeks), but when we first got her, she also refused to go outside! We also had that problem where she would go outside for a long time, and hold it until she came inside! Eventually she was okay with the patio/deck, and now she finally pees on the grass. But that was a long two weeks of her peeing only in the house!

Just think guys, you're better off compared to some puppy owners, lol!

[NicoleLJ]

Potty problems is the most common problem I have with every foster dog or pup that comes through here. Here is what i do for young or old for as long as it takes.

Make sure the leash and collar is on so that you are in control the whole time. For potty training this week start with picking up and carrying the puppy to the door you will be leaving though each time she is being taken out to go potty. Have a Nice sized ball bell tied to a rope and tied to the door. Take her paw and get her to hit the bell so it makes a sound. Only do this when you are taking her to go potty. In doing this she will later learn to hit the bell to let you know she needs to go outside to relieve herself. Now open the door and take her to the potty pen. Give the command for going potty every 30 seconds for five minutes. If the puppy goes then click the clicker and praise and give her a piece of kibble. If not pick the puppy up and put back in it’s crate for 10 minutes. Then try again. Keep this up till the puppy goes. When the puppy goes they get 1/2 hour of supervised play. Then back outside to the potty pen and so on. Also with my adults and pups I stop giving them water at 7pm. They are fine with it and I have never had a problem with any of the thousands of dogs and pups that come through here. But we are also up around 5:30, 6am and they get to drink as much as they want. If they go through a whole week of this with no accident then increase the play time by 15 minutes. Keep increasing the time every week they succeed. Sometimes they will be stuck on a schedule for several weeks and sometimes they will fly through several. No punishment and lots of praise to help the puppy gain confidence.
Good Luck
Nicole & Sheena