House training question...

WeirdoMagnet

Tortieshell wrote: »

Cats are the easiest pets to house train, its instinct for them to want to bury their poop not eat it! They are also very clean animals, I've had dogs in the past and never been able to train them 100% I prefer the company of kitties now!

How did you try to house train your dogs?

scheming_gypsy

How's the best way to train a stubborn dog?

i've had Wilo a week now and she's poo'ed in the house 3 times. she's also poo'ed in the garden so not totally untrained.
I rehomed her and she was apparently trained but where i rehomed her from she lived in an outside enclosure so no need to go out for a poo.

The first time she did it was on tuesday (i got her last Friday). I went for an interview, set off at 12:30, got back around 5pm and the house reeked. the second time was Wednesday morning, my lodger got up and did his usual thing, got ready for work, went down stairs and had a cig and brew at the back door so the door was open. I got up around 9:30 and she left me a present. The third time was today, i went for an interview, set off at 8:15am and was back by half 10, she'd had a poo outside yesterday evening.

Rio will wait till he can go out but Wilo doesn't and it's always in the same place - in the hallway.

Every morning when i get up i go downstairs, open the back door and leave it open till i need to go out or if i get cold when i'm in so there's no reason to hold on till i'm not there. If i'm in and she needs one she'll go outside and never has one when i'm walking her - not sure if she'll only do it off the lead and as i've only had her a week and don't fancy letting her off just yet.

is she just being stubborn? especially today when i was out for less than 2 hours and the back door was open for 45 minutes before i left the house.

Whenever Rio has eaten he'll go out, if the door isn't open he'll jump up at it and growl till i let him out but she'll go out, wander round and come back in. If i close the door she'll stand there looking at it.


i don't fancy turning her into an outside dog as Rio has always been a house dog and it's not fair to suddenly turf him out as well after 5 years. So any advice welcome,

pboae

How old is Wilo? How much does she get fed and when? How much exercise is she getting?

A week is absolutely nothing in terms of a rehomed dog settling in. So it could just be a temporary glitch due to nerves or because she is getting used to her new surroundings. When dogs feel anxious or vulnerable they tend to try and poo in hidden places so they don't attract the attention of other dogs in the neighbourhood (which is one reason why puppies prefer to toilet in their own gardens and not out on walks).

Being in season can also mess up their digestion and make it very hard for them to hold it for any length of time.

It could also be that because she was an outdoor dog before she doesn't understand the indoor/outdoor distinction yet, that's basically what toilet training teaches them.

Whatever is going on, she is *not* being stubborn, dogs just don't think like that.

Have you actually done any toilet training with her? You need to go back to basics, and you need to get started quickly. Take her outside regularly, and particularly after meals. Manic praise and treats when she does poo outside, and start using a training command when she does (like 'go toilet').

Leaving her to go out on her own isn't going to help, you need to be out there with her to praise her and reinforce it, and also to boost her confidence so that she feels able to go at an appropriate time, rather than waiting till she can't hold it anymore.

Whatever you do, DON'T shout at her or punish her when she goes in the house. There is no faster way to teach a dog to start eating it's own mess to 'hide' the evidence. Cleaning up poo isn't pleasant, but cleaning up after it has been eaten and brought back up is much much worse.

WeirdoMagnet

Like pboae says, your dog isn't being stubborn, she just doesn't know any better. A week isn't very long, and if she's previously lived outside, she's never had to learn to wait to go.

I seem to have posted lots on toilet training threads, so I've copied and adapted a post I made yesterday! You need to take her outside every half hour (more often if necessary), and stay with her. Close the door behind you - that creates a physical barrier between 'inside' and 'outside'. She may not go, that's fine, but when she does, you need to give her lots of praise:T , like weeing/pooing outside is the best thing in the world. :j Also take a really yummy treat with you (like cheese/ham), that you give her once she's done. Same when you go for a walk, praise and treat her for going.

She will soon realise that outside is the place to go. And once she's really reliable, you can introduce a cue word which will be really helpful when you need her to go quickly.

It will take time, and you have to be patient. Never reprimand him for going inside, pop her in another room and clear it up with no fuss, and 'mop up' using a solution of biological washing powder which will digest the enzymes that would ordinarily encourage him to go in the same place again. The other thing to remember is that with her living outside, she has not learnt to h
'hold on' and has learnt to 'wherever and whenever', so it may take a bit longer than a pup who has lived inside from the wrod go, as you are having to retrain her. I would not advocate using paper or puppy pads - this is telling the pup that its ok to go inside, and the you'll have to retrain her to go outside. Better to start as you mean to go on.

HTH,

Georgie

scheming_gypsy

i'll try and cover everything.. i got the first one wrong, it wasn't Tuesday it was Friday night. Got her home, left the back door open as usual and went to the shop half an hour later. Been gone 5 minutes and had a present.

She's 22 months old, gets fed twice a day - morning and evening, walks are 2 a day either 1 mile or 3 miles so anything up to 6 miles a day.

i was hoping it's a settling in thing but it's mainly as it's always in the same place as though she's decided that's where she'll be going.

Also thought it could be because she's in season

Again, also thought it could be because she's been outside before i got her. This morning she must have gone outside when my lodger had his cig

I've tried the basic toilet training but it seems like it's hours after she's eaten when she goes whereas Rio is straight away.

The difficult part is no matter how long she's outside she'll come back to the door and stay there till she's let back in so it's not easy to wait till she has gone.

WeirdoMagnet

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

i was hoping it's a settling in thing but it's mainly as it's always in the same place as though she's decided that's where she'll be going.

Also thought it could be because she's in season

Again, also thought it could be because she's been outside before i got her. This morning she must have gone outside when my lodger had his cig

I've tried the basic toilet training but it seems like it's hours after she's eaten when she goes whereas Rio is straight away.

The difficult part is no matter how long she's outside she'll come back to the door and stay there till she's let back in so it's not easy to wait till she has gone.

It could be a combination of having to settle in, being in season and getting used to a new food that's contributing to the problem.

Even if she runs to the door, you need to get in the middle of the grass, get your waterproofs on if necessary, and encourage her onto that patch! Our pup doesn't like getting her feet wet, so often acts 'disinterested', so I throw a biscuit onto the grass to start off the sniffing process. When we first had Tilly I also put an 'old' poo on the patch where we wanted her to go, to kid her that she'd been there before. Sorry if TMI, but it worked for us!

scheming_gypsy

cheers Georgina, i'll try it because i'm sure again she's stubborn, lol.

she's been pooing once a day but today she had one this morning in the garden and i nipped out at one, got back half an hour ago and she'd left me a log and puddle in the hall

supermezzo

If she was an outside dog, then maybe she isn't used to being left/locked in the house and is simply quite stessed out by it, hence the 'accidents'?
Do you know how she was treated before she came to - It may be that she was left for very long periods on her own and so she can't see the point of waiting?
It may be an idea to go right back to the beginning, tell her that you're going out, say 'goodbye', close the front door, count to 5 then go back in and make a huge fuss like you've been gone for hours (if she's been clean in that 5 secnds or so!). Give her a treat and then try it again a couple of hours later, making sure that you've let her out beforehand.
Hope that helps - and good luck!
And if someone hasn't already mentioned it, make sure you clean wherever she's had a accident in the house with something to eliminate the smell - I found biolgical washing powder worked.

mrsr

I am quite desperate to sort this I have a lovey 3 year old little toy Poodle who is perfect in every way except he cocks his leg every where .They say dogs arnt surposed to soil there own beds ,well not him he will !!!! his leg all over it,he even jumped on the bed and lifted his on my partner he was not amused .The problem is I never manage to actually catch him doing it so I cant tell him off Ive tried going back to basics praising him every time he goes out .He has been castred. Any ideas or advise would be very welcome:T

harryharp

Have you taken him to the vet about this? It may be something physical that's wrong with him that can be treated. That's the first thing I would do, then at least you will be able to rule that out.