What am I doing wrong?

[Iko]

My nearly two year old female Cairn, Lula, is very spotty when it comes to being housebroken. We live in an apartment building without easy access to the outside or grass, so she has been trained to do bathroom activities on washable potty pads. She will pee on command, on her mat, nearly 100% of the time. But if she isn't told to go pee, she has no problem just going wherever she feels like it, I have to be mindful always of when she last went. And she will not poop on her mats, she just does that wherever/whenever too. I don't know what i've done wrong. I'm consistant, I praise excessively for a job well done, I do scold when she has an 'accident'. Just unless I 'remind' her to go potty she will go whereever she wants. If I catch her going potty not on her mat and I scold her, she runs right to her mat to continue potty, which makes me believe that she knows what she should be doing, shes just choosing not to. The situation is embarassing and makes it difficult for us to take her places. I feel like a total failure, but i've never had a pet be so difficult to housebrake before.

I've considered starting crate training just as if she was a new puppy again, but at 2 years old i'm not sure thats the answer. Would love some suggestions!

[Lynn in TN]

It may just be me but I have never had any luck with mat or paper training, at least not to 100%. It has been my experience that dogs like to go outside. They don't generally like to use there home. I really wish I could help you with this one but I could never teach any of my dogs to use a potty pad. They always seemed to have accidents in other places. I hope someone that has been able to pad train can help you.

[pindrop]

Hi Iko and welcome to both you and Lula. I'm not sure if I can help but if this was my pup, I'd go back to the basics in housetraining. Thankfully your pup is a little older and capable of holding her bladder. Daily walks are an important step in ownership and being that she is older, a good walk in the morning to relieve herself along with a noon time walk and again later in the day should take care of this situation. Neither of these walks have to be overly long but will teach her that the outside is the place to do her business. Having lived in apartment buildings in a large city, with little green areas I can understand the difficulties - but if Lula has learned to do her business on a pee pad, that goes to show that a larger area is not necessarily needed. I hope you can find the time and patience as I'm sure it wouldn't take long for her to realize this is where she needs to go. Good luck!

[tomatosandwich]

I'm going to agree with Pindrop here. I do think you need to go back to the basics. I would definitely crate train and get the dog doing its business outside. It may sound inconvenient, but what you're describing sounds more inconvenient to me in the long run. And like pindrop said, now that she's older with better bladder control, I don't think crate training will be so bad! It's not like a young pup where you'd have to take her out every hour. Are you home with her during the day? Do you have a crate now?

[PeppersMom]

My nearly two year old female Cairn, Lula, is very spotty when it comes to being housebroken. We live in an apartment building without easy access to the outside or grass, so she has been trained to do bathroom activities on washable potty pads. She will pee on command, on her mat, nearly 100% of the time. But if she isn't told to go pee, she has no problem just going wherever she feels like it, I have to be mindful always of when she last went. And she will not poop on her mats, she just does that wherever/whenever too. I don't know what i've done wrong. I'm consistant, I praise excessively for a job well done, I do scold when she has an 'accident'. Just unless I 'remind' her to go potty she will go whereever she wants. If I catch her going potty not on her mat and I scold her, she runs right to her mat to continue potty, which makes me believe that she knows what she should be doing, shes just choosing not to. The situation is embarassing and makes it difficult for us to take her places. I feel like a total failure, but i've never had a pet be so difficult to housebrake before.

I've considered starting crate training just as if she was a new puppy again, but at 2 years old i'm not sure thats the answer. Would love some suggestions!

My Pippin is a year old and does the same thing. I am convinced he just chooses not to ask to go out too. He seems to confine the potty to certain areas, but I went back last winter to remedial training and he is right back to going on the carpet. He is a VERY smart guy, but this seems to be leaving him clueless....

[Ivy & Lucy's Mom]

I don't know if this would work but what about the fake grass for dogs? I bought it for Ivy because we got her in the end of November and the winters can be brutal. I did take her out but sometimes the weather was so bad for her, I had her use the fake grass. She didn't seem to mind. The brand I bought came with a bottle of spray that doesn't smell to people but to animals, it gives an odor to make them want to go on the fake grass. I was always afraid that it might confuse her but I had no problems. Once winter was over, I put it away and this last winter she just went outside since she was fully grown. I had purchased mine on Amazon. Not sure if it would work but I thought I'd throw the idea out anyways.