HOUSE BREAKING - Support Thread (Mind your pee's and poo's!)

katchambers

Hi,

I am starting this thread in the hopes that we can support each other with this (sometimes) stressful and tricky problem.

I am sure 90% of you out there house break your dog in a matter of weeks or months but for our family with our first dog whome we had from a puppy, it took us 11 months to house break her and she is a pedigree Border Collie so I am sure it was us doing it wrong.

Well, we decided to get another dog, but I said to my husband, lets get an older puppy and one that is def house broken as I can't go through all that stress again. Well... we were told she was house broken...but no! :eek: :mad:

She is a female german shepherd and she is 11 months old, and she is acting like a 3month old puppy, sometimes she isn't able to hold it to get from the kitchen to the garden, and sometimes she holds it for hours when we go out! There is no rhyme or reason.

Its really stressful for me because I work from home, so I am the one who has to deal with it all day. I also work upstairs, so for cali (our border collie) she had to learn to jump up at me when I am working to tell me she wants to go outside, but it took sooo long and a thoroughly ruined carpet for her to learn that, and now I have to go through it all again but with an older dog with the bladder or a 3 month old. I am so frustrated and stressed out, I'm hoping others can share their tips and maybe if others have the same problem we can support each other.

PLEASE JOIN THIS THREAD IF YOU HAVE A DOG WHO IS NOT HOUSE BROKEN x x

kat x

janninew

Hi

You say you work from home, is there anyway you can leave your back door open so the dogs can come and go as they please? When i got my second pup he was much easier to train as he followed the older dog outside and copied him! Dogs are naturally clean and she will get there eventually! Also get a vet check if you haven't already done so to make sure she's fit and healthy with no bladder problems which could be causing problems. Alot of people i know assume that because a dog is older it will be houstrained, this is not always the case, if the dogs never been taught it won't know whats expected! I have recently had a dog flap installed (half the size of the door, cos my dogs are big!) and its a lifesaver, the boys never need to come and ask me as they can let themselves out whenever they like!

katchambers

even when the door is open she still does it inside, so I don't think she knows she is supposed to go outside. She doesn't even copy cali!!

I would love to have a doggy flap but we have a patio door, all glass!

thx tho!

We got her checked out at the vets too.

kat x

foreign_correspondent

You need to go back to square one with her - firstly clean all the places she has peed/pood with bio washing powder/liquid solution to remove the scent proteins that make her think it is the right place to go!

You also need to go outside with her every 30 minutes (not just let her out, or send her out - you need to be there) armed with some really tasty, high value treats (whatever your dog likes - if in doubt a thin sliver of cheese or meat pleases most!) - do not play, but just wait quietly, let her have a good sniff round, (may help to have her on a lead) - whenever she pee/poos outside, praise her, straight away and give her a treat, so she knows it was the right thing to do.

You may also want to give your other dog praise and a treat when she pees/poos putside, and the pup may observe that this was the right thing to do and learn from it. My mus dog didnt know 'sit' when we got her - after she had seen my dog 'sit' twice when asked, and get a treat, she soon clicked on... and parked her bum on the floor as soon as I asked her!

If she goes inside do not make a fuss, just clean it up using bio washing powder.

Good luck!

Bumblebee123

You wouldn’t believe this, but I was about to ask a question about this just today. It will be my first ever post!

We have a 18 month old pedigree boxer. She was taken from her mum at 8 weeks, new first owner had her spayed by 5 months, he unfortunately died, she went into kennels for 3 weeks before we took her on at 8 months old.

To begin with, we had an older boxer (she was nearly 6) and she was telling the pup how to behave. Sadly we lost our older dog from a heart attack just a couple of weeks ago, and the pup has gone from bad to worse, we can only assume because the people/animals she loves keep disappearing.

Again, there is no rhyme or reason – if we allow her to sleep on the floor in our bedroom, she can go all night without having an accident. During the day, she can be left for a couple of hours and will have had one or even two accidents!

I’m sorry this is such a long post, but she’s getting me down. I’m very tempted to take her back to the kennels and let them deal with her, because I don’t think she’ll ever learn. My husband is bitterly against taking her out of our house for another set of owners.

Apart from cleaning everywhere with bio washing powder, are there any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance

katchambers

I'm glad I'm not alone!! I think its possible that our pup was house broken but maybe because she was taken away from her family she has regressed, it sounds similar to your problem.

I would love to offer advice but alas do not know what to do. My husband is also against giving her to a rescue place, but I keep thinking she will never be house broken and I simply can't deal with the stress. Plus thats not the only thing that gets me down, she also hates strangers, barks at everyone (without a dog) when we go on walks, goes nuts when anyone comes into the house...its so hard and getting me down

kat x

p.s sorry for the loss of your dog, very, very sad.

katchambers

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

You need to go back to square one with her - firstly clean all the places she has peed/pood with bio washing powder/liquid solution to remove the scent proteins that make her think it is the right place to go!

You also need to go outside with her every 30 minutes (not just let her out, or send her out - you need to be there) armed with some really tasty, high value treats (whatever your dog likes - if in doubt a thin sliver of cheese or meat pleases most!) - do not play, but just wait quietly, let her have a good sniff round, (may help to have her on a lead) - whenever she pee/poos outside, praise her, straight away and give her a treat, so she knows it was the right thing to do.

You may also want to give your other dog praise and a treat when she pees/poos putside, and the pup may observe that this was the right thing to do and learn from it. My mus dog didnt know 'sit' when we got her - after she had seen my dog 'sit' twice when asked, and get a treat, she soon clicked on... and parked her bum on the floor as soon as I asked her!

If she goes inside do not make a fuss, just clean it up using bio washing powder.

Good luck!

That's what we have been doing. We clean up her messes in the house, tell her off for those, we have a good special dog cleaner (ammonia free) that we use and every hour or so I take her outside and praise and give treats whenever she does her business, we also treat our older dog too. The longest we have gone without her doing her business inside is 2 days! Its very frustrating.

kat x

Raksha

First of all, stop telling her off - it doesn't teach her anything except letting humans find one of those things is bad news - this can lead to the dog eating the faeces to get rid of the evidence.

Do you know anything of her background before she came to you? How did the breeder define 'house broken'? For some it means that the pup goes on a piece of paper in the house......... If this is the case, then your pup has been paper trained, not house broken/trained.

As FC said, you need to go back to the beginning and retrain her in your house, as she obviously hasn't transferred the learning she did with her breeder to your house and this is quite normal - a dog has to learn to do something in 10 different places before it can be said to be trained. You can take a 'house trained' dog to a training hall and it will probably loose all house training.

Make sure that going outside is very rewarding for her (is she a 'chow hound' and enjoy her food, or does she prefer fuss and cuddles or a game?) If she's not fussed about food, then there is little point in using it as a reward...... Try not to stress about the accidents inside, keep it no nonsense but don't punish her - pop her outside while you clean up, and have a rant then if you like - Border Collies can be hyper sensitive and she will pick up on your displeasure which will make her even more unsettled and stressed, and a stressed dog learns that weeing and pooing relieves the stress they are feeling to an extent.

You might also find it helpful to attach her lead to your belt, so you are more aware of her movements and can take her outside as soon as she starts to sniff and/or circle. If a lead isn't practical, then rather than leave the back door open (you'll only set her up to fail when the colder weather draws in and you have to have it shut), keep her shut in the same room as you.

HTH

janninew

Bumblebee123 wrote: »

You wouldn’t believe this, but I was about to ask a question about this just today. It will be my first ever post!

We have a 18 month old pedigree boxer. She was taken from her mum at 8 weeks, new first owner had her spayed by 5 months, he unfortunately died, she went into kennels for 3 weeks before we took her on at 8 months old.

To begin with, we had an older boxer (she was nearly 6) and she was telling the pup how to behave. Sadly we lost our older dog from a heart attack just a couple of weeks ago, and the pup has gone from bad to worse, we can only assume because the people/animals she loves keep disappearing.

Again, there is no rhyme or reason – if we allow her to sleep on the floor in our bedroom, she can go all night without having an accident. During the day, she can be left for a couple of hours and will have had one or even two accidents!

I’m sorry this is such a long post, but she’s getting me down. I’m very tempted to take her back to the kennels and let them deal with her, because I don’t think she’ll ever learn. My husband is bitterly against taking her out of our house for another set of owners.

Apart from cleaning everywhere with bio washing powder, are there any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance

Please don't take her back to the kennels, she will get housetrained, it just takes time! She sounds like she's had a terrible start in life and has gone through so many different trauma's - poor girl, its no wonder she's not housetrained! Getting spayed at 5 months is very early and most wouldn't recommend until at least 12 months (or even later!) I know this isn't your fault, but she hadn't had time to mature properly and this will effect her. All it takes is alot of time and patient! Taking her out every half an hour and lots of praise when she does go outside.

Being a boxer owner myself, they love to please and do pick things up very quickly. My boys were very food orientated and i would give them some hot dog every time they went outside, plus a lot of praise in a silly high pitched voice! You have to be on the ball and take her outside constantly. At night time i would restrict how much she has to drink and put her out last thing and soon as she gets up! I know its frustrating, i remember many cold nights waiting for my pup to go!! But you will be rewarded at the end of it all by a fab girl who gives you loads of love!! Another trick i learned is to think of a word that you can use when she does go and she will associate this when having a wee or poo!! I say to my dogs go get 'busy' before bed and they know that this means go have your nightly wee's and poo's! I taught them this from 8 weeks old and it really does work!

Good luck with everything, i hope it works our for you!
Jannine

WeirdoMagnet

As always, Raksha's advice is spot on. :T

The only other thing I would add, is to keep the back door shut, so the dog can make a distinction between inside and out. Being with your dog when it goes is the only time you can praise it for doing so, so you need to make sure you are there when it happens!

Clearing up any accidents with bio washing powder gets rid of the enzymes that might encourage the dog to go in the same place, and is also cheaper than special cleaners - lots more MSE! :money:

We adopted Tilly at 6 months and didn't know how house trained she was, so using the exact same methods described, apart from a couple of overnight accidents at first she was perfect, and still is! :happyhear

Oh, another thought, if you clear up any accidents, put the wet kitchen towel/solids outside where you do want the dog to go. Sorry if TMI, but it works!

Good luck!

Mutter_2

I don't know whether I've been doing it wrong all these years or perhaps the new way is just better.

I never did the constant taking into the garden which I've seen described here by various posters. All that getting up through the night in all weathers. I took them out when it suited me. Selfish B!

I've always used paper on the floor sprinkled with puppy drops (smell to the dog like urine) gradually the size of the paper is reduced and moved nearer to the garden door. Then out of the door and dog is trained. I've used that method with three dogs and each took 3 weeks to be clean in the house.

I don't know if that's about an average time? The thing is, that was the only method I knew of, probably old fashioned now.

Catchambers, be careful never to tell her off for failing. All dogs ever want is to please us. When it happens it's an accident and she probably feels mortified, especially if she knows there's a telling off to come.Best just clear it up without a word.
Is it pees and poos or just wetting? I only ask because the poos would stop and I knew then the pees would follow soon after.

Just looking above at your latest post. "The longest was 2 days" so just when you thought you'd cracked it, did you maybe relax? Only for it to start again.

I don't know what others think but if you like my method, it could totally confuse her to change to it, on the other hand it could relax both of you if the back up paper was left on a hard surface, whilst you get some work done.

If I were to have another dog, I wouldn't reward him half as much as I did with food. Heaps of praise is what I'd do as it got to such a stage, that I'd look at him, tell him he was wonderful and even though he was deaf, he'd run to his treat cupboard and sit there, I always gave in. Just something else for you to think about.
Hope you keep your thread updated, it must be so frustrating for you.

Hi too Bumblebee.