helpppppp

[pjoes_girl]

I fear that if i don't get my dog housetrained, my husband is gonna boot the both of us out! No one really wanted this pup but me, and he's just so darned much work, and not housetraining well at all... we've had him for about 4 months now, and he's still going in th house everyday! He pees every half hour i swear...at least he tries to hide now, instead of going right in front of you. I've seen alot of people saying their pups aren't training well either. I just don' tknow what to do. I thought by now i'd be making headway...When we built this house, I didn't get carpet mostly so I could get another dog, but my husband is truly obsessed with the house. I just don't know what to do. He is 7 months old now... Would getting him fixed help? Could it be marking parcially?

[pjoes_girl]

I want to add , I do have MY mind made up that we're gonna get through this training period, it's just with my family all aggrevated at him and me it's getting to me, that's all...

[abe's dad]

Would getting him fixed help? Could it be marking parcially?

are you referring to the pup or your hubby???....he he he

Sorry, not trying to make light of your woes, just lighten your mood a little!

On a serious note, I can't answer your question about fixing the pup, but, my two cents doesn't think that they are connected.

Here is how things worked for us: Abe hated being crated, I mean really, really hated it. He would go in his crate and wallow in it!! Every morning I had to give him a shower! It was a nightmare!

So, at our wits end, my husband decided to block of a section of the house, Abe could move from point A to point B and there were many potty pads around. He was much happier being able to move about. and started making effort to hit the potty pad. Next, we all (including my kids) made a big deal out of every time he successfully hit the pad, even rewarding him, this increased his efforts tremendously! within a short time he was doing a great job, only an occasional miss. As he got older, he did even better, and now, he is two years old, and if he HAS to use the potty pad--he always lets someone know that he was a good boy! and wants a treat! It is quite funny how he will nudge you and look at you like...come see what I did.

I hope that things get easier for you, and that you all can figure out what might help work with your puppy and his personality!!

Good LUCK!!!!

Abes Mom

[AllAboutPetey]

I would also have a heart-to-heart with your family and plead for more patience on their part. It could be that they are making a huge deal with he goes in the house, and for dogs sometimes any attention is worth it - good or bad. We have tried to ignore the inside accidents and praise, praise, praise when our 7 1/2 month old is successful outside. If we actually see him going in the house, it's "NO, Do business OUTSIDE!!" and quickly carry him out. But if we just find the evidence, just ignore him and clean it up without any comments at all. Petey still has an occasional accident in the house, but it is getting better every week, and I know that eventually he'll have it down nearly perfect. Good luck, I know it's frustrating!

[kayharley]

First off I would make sure he doesn't have a urinary tract infection...that would definately make him go more often and not be able to hold it. That was part of Elliotts difficulty in the housetraining department. 10 days on an antibiotic and the training got much better (he was around 7 months also)

I did get him neutered at 6 months but that made no difference. He is now almost 9 months and will still have an accident once in awhile but it's usually my fault.

Please hang in there, get him checked out or just bring a urine sample for a screening. Patience, diligence, don't take your eyes off him and keep a sense of humor (I know, it's hard when you walk around with a bottle of Natures Miracle tied to your belt and a wad of paper towels in your pockets ) It does get better....I guarantee it :

[bradl]

Further to kayharley's excellent point - if you (really, anyone) wants to rule out physical causes for intractable peeing issues you may want to test for kidney and liver function as well as bladder infections. Without another dog in the household to compare to it's hard to gauge whether or a dog is drinking an abnormal amount of water, but polydipsia and polyuria (excessive drinking and peeing) are associated with a number of possible conditions. Your vet may run a urine specific gravity test and possibly recommend a blood panel.

Off-topic tangent: Comprehensive blood panels are expensive but can be VERY valuable for establishing a baseline for healthy dogs so that in the future you can compare current values to past values if you suspect a change in the health of your dog. If you wait until your dog is sick to run bloodwork, you may not know if some slightly out-of-range value is THE problem, or if your dog always has a slightly out-of-range value for that test, etc.

[Guest Guest]

The idea of blocking off an area of the house where he can be until you get him trained sounds good. Once he shows himself to be trustworthy then he can have more freedom.

Another idea would be to have him leashed to you all the time while you're at home so you can see when he has to go and take him out right away. Another idea would be to spend a day outside with the dog and just wait until he goes even if it takes several hours. Then praise and reward.

Something else I would suggest is that when you leave the house with the dog to go outside, say "outside" as you both leave the house (try to exit the door before him when you both leave the house to show you are in control) and when he's doing his business say "potty outside" so he will associate going to the bathroom with the outdoors.

By the way, I don't know if neutering would help with this situation, but it will help to curb territorial marking (I'm not sure if that's what he's already doing), prevent testicular cancer, make the dog less likely to wander looking for females, and make aggression less likely.

[kayharley]

And to add to Brad's remarks....these tests will be invaluable when your dog gets into it's senior years. Many things change as our dogs get older and most are just the normal part of aging but if there's no start to the chart (no intent to rhyme) then your vet can't distinguish normal from abnormal.

[pjoes_girl]

Thank you all for your replies, We usually do keep him on a leash in the house, but after he goes out, for about a half hour I like to give him some freedom. And sometimes we do let him roam a little too long, but every half hour he needs to go again. I know he's still young, and quite short attention span(ish) I don' tknow. I just wish the family liked him more and had more tolerance. They are used to our old dog, she is good in the house and always has been, but she was about 3 when we got her. It could be the negative attention is better than no attention thing too somewhat, but mostly I think he just goes when he feels like it and doesn't seem to understand it's a problem. I'll keep you posted.

[abe's dad]

one other thing that we did..........when we found an accident and take in mind you have to gauge your pets sensitivity and intelligence, we would say something like Oooohhhh abe, thats not good, or i am disappointed abe, and say it very sadly (not loud or rudely) but somehow he picked up on our disappointment and would lay his ears down and act like he understood!

It was quite funny sometimes, you had to hide your face, so he wouldn't catch on!!

Again, this is my personal experience, so you have to pick up on your dogs personality and his intelligence and sensitivity. and I am by NO MEANS any kind of expert, just giving our families experience.

I hope that your family will respond better, and things get better for you all soon!

Best wishes

Abes family

[savannahsmom35]

I too was having a hard time getting Savannah to potty train. I think that all dogs are different but Savannah responds very well to dog treats. I started carrying a treat around in my pocket when we went outside to potty. When we went out, I would tell her to go potty. Right after she finished, I gave her the treat from my pocket and told her what a good girl she was. This has increased our success rate dramatically. She learned that if she goes potty in the house, she doesn't get a treat but outside she does. Also, if she went potty outside, we would stay outside and play awhile. If she didn't go when I took her out, we went back inside and we didn't play. Now all I have to say is, let's go potty and she runs to the back door. The only problem that I am still having is that I have to ask her if she needs to go. She doesn't bark yet to ley me know that she needs to go out. It is like I have to remind her (like a baby!) Maybe it is because she is still so young (she was 4 months old Saturday).

I also would reccomend you say something like "Let's go outside and potty" each time you take them out. They learn to associate phrases with actions.

Things have just started being better in the past 2 or 3 weeks so I know the frustration that you are feeling right now. Hang in there. It will get better. The main thing that I can stress is to be consistant! When you change things too much, I think that they get confused. The paper training thing is a great idea HOWEVER one caution. Do not start this process unless you want to keep it up. We tried the paper training thing for a couple of weeks (while she was still too little to hold it while we were at work). She learned to go on the paper, but when she got old enough, we took the paper away. For awhile afterwards she thought that it was still ok to go on my rugs. i think starting the paper training and then telling her that she had to go outside totally confused her. When she would go on my rug, you could tell that she thought she was doing right. I think that is why we had such a hard time in the beginning. Best of luck. We are rooting for you!

[pjoes_girl]

more nice info, thanks, I think i'll try that dissappointed one and the treats. I was hesitant to try the treats because i figured he'd just pretend to go to get them, smart lil bugger he is. I guess it can't hurt to try though. Thanks again everyone.

[jansop]

Here's our routine:

6:00 am--Up and out to pee/poop, treat

6:30 am--Into kitchen lockdown with some water only, he stays in kitchen with baby gate and potty pad

12:00 noon--home to let Booker out to pee/poop, treat, water..... run around house

12:45--Lockdown in crate in the kitchen with small amount of food in crate, around 1/4 cup

5:30--Out to pee/poop, some water

6:30--Out to pee/poop, some more water

7:30--Lockdown in crate with lg amount of food for 15 mins.

7:45--Out of crate, water

8:30--Out to pee/poop

9:00--Bedtime, sleep all night wake up at 6:00 AM and restart routine

I'm trying to be consistent, so I go by the clock.................jan

[abe's dad]

just a comment on the "pretending to go" comment....

Abe picked up on that early! When anyone is in the kitchen or near it, and he is in the mood for a snack........he manages to squeeze a little drop or two out! IT is quite funny~we decided to reward him with just say.....part of a snack bite, it pleases him, and we stay on target! As he aged he would come find one of us, and stand there and look at us like.......come see what I did! Now (Abe is almost 2) and if we are around he expects a treat, but its no big deal if we miss a few here and there.

Good luck!

[Guest girliejr]

I have to say, I think I had it easy with Jack. He was very easily crate trained and he hardly ever had any accidents. He was fixed at 6 months (I recomend that if you are not going to breed) and he stayed in a crate when I was not at home. He went outside right before he went into the crate and right after I got home. He was rewarded with treats and praise and it didn't take long before he knew that he was supposed to "potty outside". Plus, Jack will do just about anything for a treat!

Good luck with your training. I know puppies can be tough, but worth it!

[Darsey]

Just wanted to add that I had read that you should never clean up their "mess" while they are watching you. It can be interpreted as a way to get attention. Also to add to what brad mentioned when I had Toto neutered they also ran blood tests to check his liver and kidneys for the very reasons mentioned in this topic. Even adding in the price to the neutering it was still overall very reasonably priced and now I know that my little guy is healthy. Just adds to my peace of mind. - Darsey

[Guest mrskti]

Well we are making some progress.....at least ellie is peeing by the door! So she's getting close!!! I think she saw me heading towards the door and figured it was potty time, and i wasn't paying attention, mainly cause she had peed outside like 10 minutes earlier!!! Geeesh!

[pjoes_girl]

WEll, today while i was at work, he got up right in front of my daughter and peed on the couch. Then i got him a doggy bed and he dribbled on it two times...I think he's marking like crazy, but the couch thing was alot of pee i guess...don't know how close they were watching him...

[Guest mrskti]

Well I have learned one thing about potty training....no one is as dilegent about it as I am. All week long we do pretty good, once I have to run an errand or see to something and leave my husband in charge....I come home to pee in the pen. I think i'll stick him in there next time!!!

I just wish the stupid weather would warm up so we can go walking and play out in their new yard more. This cold and rain is getting old.