house training help

This sounds frustrating, that's for sure.  You really need to go back to housetraining 101:

Limit the dog's territory, he should not have free run of the house yet, he has not earned it.  Keep him gated in the kitchen or what ever room suits you.  From this room he should be able to access the door you take him to go outside through. 

When you take him outside, always use the same door. 

Take him out to his potty spot often, like a ridiculous amount of times, and stay there with him every time.  When he produces something out there throw a party, doggie treats included.  GOT NUTTY.  If you want to go for a walk with him, it's best to wait until after he's done something in his potty spot. 

If he has an accident inside, do not yell or scream at him.  My noise to get a dog's attention is "eh."  Give a small "eh" when he starts to go inside.  Don't scoop him up in the middle of it and scare the daylights out of him.  Wait til he's done, quietly carry him out to his potty yard, put him down there and tell him he's a good dog. 

Clean and totally deodorize any spots he has peed or pooed on in the house, the Petastic products are good, and spray the area with No Go to discourage him from revisiting the area. 

BE CONSISTENT.  It can take a ridiculous amount of trips out that door to get a dog trained.  Over the course of time, he will get it.  Then, you'll have a house trained dog for many, many years.  Lots of hard work put in now lasts a lifetime. 

thanks for the advice. we do take him out the same door all the time. i guess part of our problem is that we have an open floor plan so the kitchen/dining room/living room are one giant room. we do have gates to put up to keep him out of the bedrooms, and we use them all the time. the problem is it is easy for him to get out of our site by getting behind the furniture and things like that. so i am not sure what to do about that.

yesterday we did start clicking and treating and giving praise when he would go outside. but so far this isnt working really well yet, maybe it hasnt been long enough. for example this morning i took him out and he pottied i clicked and treated and petted him a while and almost as soon as we were back inside he peed and pooped on the floor.

i will start trying to not yell when he is pottying on the floor, maybe getting that attention is part of the problem. usually when he potties on the floor we say "NO!" really loudly. sometimes it stops him and sometimes it doesnt. but even if he stops then he wont go once we take him out.

edit: what is "no go"? and where can i get some? thanks!

An Open floor plan really does make housetraining more difficult, although it is a style of home I personally love.  You may end up having to buy some lengths of the attached gating that one makes a dog play area in the yard with to contain the little feller.  You'll have to get creative.  We had a corner behind a chair that our dog found quite attractive.  We went to Staples and bought a couple packages of the very heavy display boards.  They are large and heavy and sturdy.  We used them as blockades all around things.  We blocked the area behind the chair so she couldn't get back there.  I really believe one of the winning strategies for house training is limiting the dog's access to areas of the home and also total vigilance. 
 
Also, by now, you've got to see some kind of pattern in your dog's peeing/pooping behavior.  At first, it is the owner that is trained, not the dog.  a typical dog day is: 
wake up, go out and pee and poop.  Go in and play, have morning meal, about 1/2 hour later go out and pee and poop again.  Nap Time.  Wake up and go out and pee.  play time.  nap time.  Go out and pee.  Evening meal, 1/2 hour later, pee and poop.   play time.  pee and maybe poop again before bed time.  If you can discern the dog's schedule, you'll be able to get him out ahead of any potty needs.  You'll be beautifully trained and soon so will he.  Also, how often are you feeding?  Leaving a bowl of food out all day will bring on housebreaking problems.  the dog needs definite limited meal times.   
 
What type of dog are we talking about here? 
 
As for the yelling at him when he pee/poo inside, please don't do that.  All that often accomplishes is that you'll soon have a dog that won't poo or pee in front of you, because when he does, he gets yelled at.  An accident in the house, if it is witnessed, gets a gentle "uh" comment to get the dogs attention, and don't try to stop the act, once it's in process there's nothing you can do.  Then, gently carry him out to his potty spot and tell him he's a good boy out there.  Take some of the poo that he's done inside and put it outside.  Also, pat up some of the urine he's deposited inside with a newpaper and put it outside. 
 
No Go is a product that you spray on an area where the dog had an accident, after you have cleaned that area.  It discourage the dog from going there again.  I buy it at Petsmart. 
 
Let us know how you do, we've all been through this before and are sympathetic to how frustrating it can be. 
 

Hi Cyclefriend,

I understand your frustration. Sometimes confining him to one room means two (in our case, confining to the livingroom is the dining room as well).

I suggest you get one of these at Walmart for $50. It may be tacky but will definitely help you get through housetraining, and you can supervise your dog in any room.
 
P.S... when my dog was 4 months I switched her food to Innova and she's been "regular" since then, and stopped peeing for seconds but rather held it for at least an hour. It took about a week to switch her over and the change in her behaviour was dramatic (good).

You can actually build a gate with the white resin lattice and the connector pieces.  I have one that I built 10 years ago and it's wonderful for those odd shaped openings.  The lattice comes in 4x8' pieces.

roxanne_w: which innova product do you have your dog on? and do you know if it helps dry skin? sydney has really dry skin and the food we had him on originally either didnt help or made it worse. the food he is on now seems to be helping the dry skin.

glenmar: good suggestion. i have been thinking about building some rather long/large barriers out of some type of wood so that he is mainly contained in the area where my wife and i are at.

sydney is a siberian husky mix. we feed him 3 times per day (morning, noon, and evening). my wife takes both our dogs out first thing in the morning. we feed them and then 20-30 mins later they go out again. on weekdays they get to play until i am ready for work and then they are in the crates until i come home at lunch. soon as i am home they go out. sydney is fed and then taken out again shortly after eating. then back in the crates until we get home from work. soon as we are home they go out again. while my wife is cooking they get to play and do a little obedience training. they eat at the same time we do and soon as dinner is over they go out again. the rest of the evening is spent playing, sleeping, and training. while sydeny is out of his crate he goes out approximately 2-3 times per hour, sometimes more.

sydeny does give VERY subtle clues as to when he needs to go out. and if you arent looking directly at him all the time you miss the clues. he usually will sniff the floor one time and then pee/poop.

we are trying to click and treat when he potties outside, but this doesnt seem to be working yet. he loves to be outside and there is too much stuff out there that distracts him. for the past 2 nights we have caight him before he started to potty in the house and took him straight out. stayed out there for up to 45 minutes and got nothing. as soon as he was back inside and off the leash he pottied in the house. i have been taking him out again after he potties in the house, but i am starting to think he sees this as a positive thing since he likes to be outside so much. kind of like if i potty in the house then i get to go out.

our other dog was much easier to house train as she hates to be outside (especially if the weather is bad!) and she seemed to feel embarassed if she went in the house.

as soon as he was back inside and off the leash he pottied in the house.

You saying that made me wonder if this dog just doesn't want to potty while on the leash, it does happen.  I had a foster dog that absolutely, positively not go if on the leash, even if you walked him 2 miles.  Do you have a fenced-in yard where he can be off-leash when you take him out to potty?  Just another idea to perhaps help you.  If you don't have a fenced in yard, try using a 50 foot length of very light cord as a leash, so he's like he's on a run with alot more freedom than a leash allows. 

unfortunately our yard isnt fenced yet. we are planning to build a fence this spring. we were using a 16' flexi leash until about 3 weeks ago. we started clicker training and our trainer wanted us to use a regular 6' leash all the time. so we have been. he will go while on the 6' least, or at least he was.

funny thing is that this problem started to go away on Sunday evening. he is still pottying in  the house, but he isnt being as stubborn about pottying outside. i will keep trying the positive techniques that you mentioned before and we may switch back to the flexi for potty trips.

thanks for all the help and suggestions.

Oh, I can sooo relate to not having a fence.  When we moved to NW MI last FEB (someone PLEASE examine my head!) we had to wait for the ground to thaw to put up anything, and wow, what a PAIN.  Wishing you an EARLY thaw!

as we live in sc the ground thawing isnt really the issue. right now we are waiting for a surveyor to come out and mark our property line (wouldnt want to put a fence up in the neighbors yard [] ).

cyclefiend2000- I completely understand where you are coming from and wanted to wish you luck in the house training issue. I was curious as to what part of SC you live being that my husband and I just recently moved down here from NY a few months ago.

we live in northern greenville county (upstate area of sc)