Tessa and her hygiene

[DemiSheep]

Ok, so Tessa is being a lot bigger of a challenge than Attila ever was with potty training.

Tessa potties in her crate - Attila has never done this, but I know it does happen with different Cairns. Not only that but she has no problem with laying down in her own pee. When she pees in her playpen she has no problem running in her own pee.

Sometimes we'll take her out to go potty and she'll poo and we'll wait a long time for her to pee and finally bring her in and she'll pee immediately in her playpen or crate. This is a frequent occurrence. Tessa just doesn't seem to want to hold her pee much past an hour and a half. She has no problem sleeping through the night without pottying.

Tessa doesn't seem to react to our corrections, we'll catch her starting to pee and no matter what we do, we can't scare her out of her doing her business. With Attila we could scare him as soon as we saw him crouch down, we'll run up to Tessa making all kinds of noise and she'll just stare at us while continuing to do her stuff with a look like "What the heck are you doing, I am taking a wiz right now".

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Hawkeye]

I guess my first thought would be to make sure Tessa does not have a medical problem that would cause this. How old is she now? Sorry I don't have any suggestions for when they don't mind sitting in their mess. I know it takes more time for some to get the hang of it than other. My Bailey was closer to a year before he stopped having accidents in the house...grrrrrrr

Edited May 7, 2012 by Hawkeye

[Hillscreek]

I'm guessing a bit here as Angus hasn't messed his crate so far.

I'm thinking Tessa knows those places she has used and is maybe marking them. So I guess take everything out. Do major major cleaning including the wires in the crate and x-pen with enzyme cleaner. Or some people use vinegar and water mix half and half. Maybe do this every day for a while whether she pees or not. Their noses are so much more sensitive than ours and it takes a while to totally eliminate the scent.

Keep her on a leash and close to you all the time. If she's in her pen let it be where you can watch her all the time. If she starts to go pick her up by the scruff and say No firmly as you take her outside again. This worked with Angus.

Nevertheless he was five plus months before he was reliable. He's eight months now and I still take him out every couple of hours though I know he can go longer.

Find ways to play/train her in the basics sit stay etc and give lots of praise when she does good at anything.

Sometimes it just takes longer - much longer- for one cairn than another as you say.

And same old same old that we all know. Persistence and patience. Like us they are all different. Still it is a shock when we find the second one doesn't do like the first!

So get...... a box of paper towels, gallons of cleaner and for you!

Very best wishes from another puppy owner!

[DemiSheep]

Tessa is one week away from being 4 months old. Thanks for the advice. We have her in a confined area in her crate and have been trying to keep her in her crate more. She is learning a lot from Attila, she has already seen now Attila tells us he needs to go Potty and she is starting to imitate him, but only when we ask her. (Attila comes and sits at our feet and then stares at us, we ask him if he has to go potty and the he goes down in the "down" position. Tessa can already do "sit" and "down" fairly reliably by just watching Attila. We have not worked with Tessa on doing commands much yet. She'll start puppy training soon.

We should definitely clean the crate thoroughly, as it no doubt has pee smell on its wire walls from where she stepped in her pee then climbed up the walls.

She has gotten a lot better about happy pee. She doesn't do it for me 95% of the time when I come get her out of her crate in the morning or any time. For my wife on the other hand she still does happy pee frequently when she gets her out of the crate.

We keep telling Tessa that the sooner she learns this potty training bit that the sooner she'll be able to have fun with Attila any time she wants!

Edited May 7, 2012 by DemiSheep

[Hawkeye]

Yes, 4 months is still very young. I also saw on another thread that she is on antibiotics...this can be a factor. She probably is drinking more, which would cause her frequent peeing. Hang in there and once she's done with her medication you may see a difference. Hillscreek gives some excellent advice in cleaning everything up and keep doing what you're doing.

[DemiSheep]

Well she's been off her medication for 2 or 3 weeks now and she has improved a little over time. The worst part right now is just when I taker her out to poo, no matter how long I wait she won't pee then pee's immediately on being released in her play pen!