Please help me I'm at my wits end. She is walked daily. She goes out first thing in the morning, after she eats, wakes up from a nap, before kennel at night and goes outside. She has her special spots she frequents outside but she also has special spots she frequents inside. I clean the spots with vinegar everytime I see them they are on hardwood so I don't have to worry about carpet. I crate her and at one time a vet told me to crate her at all times unless she's being brought outside to go to the bathroom, I tried for a few days but felt that it was cruel to keep her in the kennel when we were sitting in the same room she looked so sad and cried. We've started leashing her inside with a 10ft leash attached to a human body so she can be watched she won't go in the house if she's attached to someone. But how does this teach her to let us know she needs to go outside? She doesn't have any signals for us to read. She doesn't pace, she doesn't bark, she sniffs all the time so you never know if she's sniffing to sniff or to go potty. I've tried the doorbell thing to no avail. I've gated off rooms to restrict access but with that it conflicted with teaching her to go to the front door when she has to go. Once in a while she'll go to the front door and sit there. If you don't happen to see her there she'll just p/p infront of the door or head off to the front room/dining room where noone is and p/p there. I don't know what I haven't tried or what I'm doing wrong. I think the maxium amount of days without messing in the house was 2 and that's because of the leashing to a human training we are doing now. So I think ok lets see how she does off leash.......she'll sneak off to mess inside. It seems like she hasn't gotten the fact that she can hold her p/p for more than she wants to and she can go whenever she feels like it.
How do you know when you have your dog trained? How do you know when you can let them have the run of the house without worrying about accidents if you have them with you attached at the hip for weeks? How do you get a dog to "tell" you they need to go outside?
I don't want to have an untrained dog for the rest of her life. I want to be able to trust her and let her be the sweet thing she is without messing in my house.
Answer:
Remysmom,
Welcome to here!
First you need to rule out any medical issues, if you haven't already. Dog's with UTI's or bladder stones will behave this way. Or, there maybe another underlying issue causing her discomfort.
Once you rule out the medical side of things... then you can start to evaluate her behavior. Is she messing in the house because she has to go and didn't let you know... or is she doing it to get your attention?
Maybe she needs to be taken out more frequently. I would also try giving her more exercise and play time... could she be bored?
I'm just shooting from the hip here, but these are all possibilities that need to be examined.
Answer:
Hello Remy and welcome to here!!
This breed is NOTORIOUSLY HARD to housebreak. Most toy breeds are, but this one is one of the main offenders, lol.
You may want to go to the vet to rule out UTI or something else.
After that, you should start back to puppy housebreaking 101.
Let the pooch out every 30 minutes.
If the dog has had her entire series of shots (at 11 months I believe she should have) Give her nice BRISK walks. This helps things to "get going"
Have some treats on you in your pocket.
After your dog goes to the bathroom give HEAVY praise and a treat while still outside, RIGHT AFTER the dog goes to the bathroom. This should give your dog the incentive to go potty.
When your dog goes to the bathroom inside, do not yell at her, shove her nose in accidents, crate her for punishment, etc.
(I am not saying you do- just giving the general advice)
If one does this, the dog may become sensitive and be afraid to go to the bathroom in front of you. Then the dog starts to "hide" their accidents, and then you got a whole new set of problems.
I think with consistency you may see the problem slowly go away.
Best of luck to you-
Feel free to post some pictures- I love this breed- SO CUTE!
Answer:
Thanks Lindsay & Mugsy for the input.
Mugsy are you saying this could go on forever?
She is medically fine checked out peachy recently.
I didn't want to make a 3 page long post to get everything out about my little "stinker" so I'll continue now. I have 5 children from ages 18 to 8 and she gets PLENTY of attention. We have a regular walk schedule and she enjoys those. I guess my biggest thing with taking out a dog that is 11 months old every 30 minutes is this.....she has the bladder control and poop control she just doesn't use it during the day. She's fine in her kennel at night and on the occasion that she has to stay in it when noone is home. If I take her out every 30 minutes like she was an 8 week old puppy how does that teach her control? I sure can't take her out every 30 minutes for the rest of her life. I did that when she was an "infant" now she's a toddler and should be able to hold it for longer than 30 minutes right?
When she goes in the house she never gets punished unless I catch her which has only been twice in the recent months. When I caught her in the act I did just what you are supposed to do I made a loud noise by clapping my hands and saying "NO" then took her directly outside but she's so timid that all she did was stand there looking at me with those sad eyes with her tail between her legs. When she goes outside she gets loads of praise. She doesn't take long when she goes outside to go it's usually within 5 minutes but I give her longer than that just incase she wants to "spred her presents" over my lawn.
I'm beginning to think I need to hire a professional to train her and if they can't do it in 2 weeks then I know it's not just me!
Answer:
Hello again-
5 KIDS! BLESS YOU! You must have patience! lol
No remy- it will not go on forever, these dogs are just tougher to housebreak. See if you can get the dog on a more consistent schedule. As you said, with the kids she should get plenty of walks and exercise.
It should get better.
Good luck!
Answer:
Like Mugsy said, she will be hard to housebreak due to her breed. What I would sugest is simply to watch her like a hawk. It sounds like she is getting away with it too often to learn the difference. I would babygate her into the same room as you are in so you are always be able to watch her. When she can't be watched 100% she should be crated. Then you will always catch her in the act and give her a stern "no" and take her out and offer praise as you have been when she does right. Schedule is key with these smaller breeds. I have a 7 pound pap/chi mix and she is housebroken by schedule only. I take her out at the same times everyday and she goes potty. When we first started to establish a schedule I took her out about every 1/2 hour to determine what her needs would be in the schedule (ie; how long after a meal before she goes). She still has accidents occasionally, but generally those occur when I get off schedule. Eventualy she should learn to at least hold it until it's "time" to go, at that point you can trust her to free roam the house a little more. Good luck!