6 1/2 month old still NOT trained, moving to new condo soon, confused what do I do???HELP!

    • Gold Top Dog

    6 1/2 month old still NOT trained, moving to new condo soon, confused what do I do???HELP!

    Hi everyone, Bella now almost 7 mos is STILL not getting it. She still poos in the house after eating if you dont get her out within like 5 -10 min of finishing, and still pees sometimes. She doesnt signal that she wants to go out, yet if you say "Lets go outside, she goes to the door! She knows what to do when inside, but just hasnt gotten NOT to go inside. So between her and our other dog who is now 1 1/2 there a million spots in our apt!

    My question is...

    1. We are moving in 2-3 weeks to a new condo. Brand new flooring etc. Needless to say I want to protect it and TRAIN her. What do I do to ensure that she gets trained in the new house...especially considering its been such a challeng...and considering it is going to be a new place for her.

    2. Shoudl I also retrain my other dog too just in case?

    We currently use crates for when we cant watch them, but as you know they can be sneakly little boogers! Charlie is pretty good...although he randomly peed on the floor the other day...and he is the one that has been housetrained for MONTHS!

    Any ideas?





    • Gold Top Dog
    Hm, so why don't you get her outside within 5-10 minutes of eating? Not trying to be sarcastic, but that is really the key to housetraining: know your dog's schedule and stick to it rigorously. If she, time and time again, has not been taken out to potty after her meals and has just had to go inside - well then, inside must be the right place to go. Dogs don't have to give you a signal to go out, they just need to hold it until they're taken out. And the way they learn this is that you take them outside often enough, and at the right times, so that they have as few "accidents" as possible indoors. The more they get the chance to "practice" pottying indoors, the less they're going to understand that it's inappropriate. Housetraining is pretty much all about you, the human, training your dog to potty in the right place and avoiding opportunities for mistakes. This is how the dog eventually makes the connection that "I go potty outside, so I will wait until I'm outside to potty."
     
    It's common even for fully housetrained dogs to have a lapse in training when you move house. (I'm looking forward to this myself in October, oh joy.) Instead of seeing this as a potential for disaster, I think you can see this as a potential to start over with Bella. Right now she thinks she can potty in your house. So you have the opportunity to teach her, in this condo, you only potty outside. Go back to a Housetraining 101 schedule, probably with both dogs. At all times they are directly interacting with you, crated, or tethered to you. They're taken out immediately after meals, after playing, after sleeping, and after being crated for a while. When they are not crated they're taken out every two hours - if that's not enough, every hour. Stick to it religiously and don't slack on it too early... increase the time between their potty breaks by just 5 minutes at a time, and any time there are accidents shorten the time back again. When you haven't had an accident in a few months you can consider your dogs housetrained.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Well that is just it. She isnt CONSITENT with needing to go 5-10 min after. I take her out many times at that point and she doesnt go. So then after several times of this...I think well perhaps the food isnt going SRAIGHT through her....so then you end up with an accident. Its just frustrating, because she doesnt even ATTEMPT to hold it unless in her crate. Charlie peed in our current house...we havent moved yet.
     
    So what should I do, crate them and then take them out every hour in the new condo...shoudl I allow them to play in the living area as a whole when they are out....as long as I am watching them, or should I confine them to a tiny area? The condo is not that large, so...
    • Gold Top Dog
    It's not that confusing. Just stick to the schedule Jones outlined above:

    1. If you can't watch them, they are in a crate that is too small to pee or poo in. When they are not in the crate, they are tethered to you or under your direct visual control. Always.

    2. They go outside every hour on the hour and after meals. They also go outside if there are signs of pooing or peeing--crouching to poo, sniffing the ground and circling, you know.

    3. Whenever they are caught peeing and pooing outside, big exciting treats rain down from the sky and you lavish praise and have a gigantic party. The value of this cannot be understated.

    4. Whenever they go inside, it's your fault because you didn't follow the plan. No punishment. This is important because dogs don't think like humans. One of two things can happen. One, you can make your dog afraid to go to the bathroom in front of you. This creates no end to the problems!!! You can also make your dog keep doing it by "rewarding" her with your negative attention (dog may not understand that it's a punishment).

    Either way, I have had great success with *ignoring* the dog that poops or pees in the house. Dogs really really hate to be ignored, first of all. It's what they do to one another. And second, if the dog gets a big treat and praise party every single time she goes outside, and then gets ignored when she does it inside, it's a very clear set of signals:

    Outside=Reward. Inside=No Reward.

    That's what you want. Good luck, don't make it harder than it is, it's all about *you* being consistent, they don't have to do anything but make that reward-no reward connection.
    • Gold Top Dog
    everyone has given you great advice. But I will ad another piece. If they dont go immediatly after meals, crate them and take them out in about half an hour. If they dont go then, crate them again and take them out in another half hour.

    When they finally go praise like crazy and let them have the run of the house (with your supervision) Hope that helped!