Dog Community

Am i a bad owner?

Posted : 9/29/2006 7:48:47 AM

I can't potty train my dog for nothing! It's so frustrating!! My 7 month old toy poodle is one of the best things in my life. But she won't stop "going" in the house. She holds it for 5-6 hours at night and she only goes like 2 times during the day when my husband and i are at work. We know this because we have a room gated off for her with her food/water, toys and pee pad. The only time i want her to use the pee pad is while we're gone. And hopefully one day she'll be able to hold it long enough to where we won't have to put a pee pad down at all. Anyway because she kept "going" in the house, my plan was to take her out every 2 hours. And i've been really good at doing that. But I noticed that if i wait the entire 2 hours, she pees on the carpet at about 1.5 hours. it's like she WON'T hold it for 2 hours if she's out of her room. She hasn't used the floor in her room in a long time. . .just the pee pad. But at 7 months i would think that she'd just go to the pee pad and use it if i didn't take her soon enough. But if she can hold it for a couple hours in her room, she should be able to hold it a couple hours outside her room, right? We clean the area with Nature's Miracle and recently we steam cleaned the entire house. Anyway, my next plan that i implemented was to take her out ever 2 hours BUT only let her out of her room for an hour. For example: take her outside at 4:00 and she gets to be outside her room and play till 5:00 then i put her back in her room till 6:00 when i take her out again. Take her out at 6:00 and she plays with us till 7:00 then goes back in her room till i take her out again at 8:00. I thought this was working out fairly well even though i don't think i should have to be doing this at 7, almost 8 months old. But last night. . . . i happened to pass by the bathroom that is adjoining the living room and thought i saw one of her chew sticks. i turned the light on and it was not a stick. . . . it was pooh! And pee beside it. I cleaned it up and closed the door. Later that night she went to the door, looked under it, sniffed (i was watching her) and then she peed on the carpet. I grabbed her of course before she done too much on the carpet but it's almost like she thought she was suppose to go to the bathroom. . . in the bathroom. I don't get it. What do i do? I give her a treat when she pee's outside (and give the command, and tell her she's a good girl afterwards) and i do the same when she pooh's outside. I take her out the same door every time. But she never goes to that door and sniffs. I'm so frustrated. I'd LOVE to be able to not have to worry about her so much. . . . and for her to be able to play outside her room more often. What am i doing wrong?

Frustrated Amy

Elizabeth Onsurez

Posted : 9/29/2006 8:10:48 AM

hi, nooooooo your not a bad owner, but maybe you should take her out every 1.5 hour if she cant seem to hold it.
I have a mini doxie she was like that, got her a little crate, she slept in it all day, when I got home we let her out side, she did her business.
she wont mess her crate with her in it, she`ll get the hint.
good luck

glenmar

Posted : 9/29/2006 8:32:14 AM

What you are doing wrong is giving her too much freedom too soon. I think that the tiny breeds are harder to potty train because they are so small and when they've gotta go, well, they've gotta go.

If she isn't holding it for 2 hours, take her out every 1.5 hours and SLOWLY add 5 minutes at a time to the interval. Keep her LEASHED to you when she is out of her room and keep a towel handy so you can grab her and run her outside. At this age, I'd likely say "eh eh, not there...we go OUTSIDE to go POTTY" and scoop and run. Then when I get her outside I'd be saying THIS is where we go potty.....we POTTY OUTSIDE.

I don't think the pee pads are a problem....she clearly knows to USE those in her room, but it's the rest of the house that she isn't respecting. Limit her access or keep her leashed to you and get her outside more often.

Eric Mies

Posted : 9/29/2006 8:41:00 AM

I would look into crate training. I'm not a fan of pee-pads because trainin them to pee on one area of of the house is just syaing it's ok to do it in the house - most dogs dont get it's ok in one spot and nto the other, some do so it's obviously up to you but it sounds like the pee-pad's aren't working so...

We had a bit of an issue with our 8MO old going #2 in her crate and holding #1 but I feel that was due to a combination of the food she was eating and the way she was raised at the breeders. We recently switched her food to a more natrual one and since it has less "fillers" her out put is much less and no problems. Dogs (or most) naturually should not want to eliminate in there sleeping area or "den".

Anyway, start from scratch - take her out every hour or so and when she does her business praise her to the hevens and give her a treat immediatly. You mgiht want to think about getting a string of bells to hang up by the door - this way you are teaching her a new trick (ringing the bells to go outside) rather then trying to change a bad habbit. Everytime you take her out, use her paw to ring the bells, and say a command like "potty", "do your byusiness" or what ever you want. When you go out side keep saying "go potty" or what ever command and when she does, praise her saying "good potty" or what ever and give her treat. Bring her right back inside. Keep taking her out every hour or so (trick is to take her outside BEFORE she goes on the floor so a good 15 minutes before that time), after she eats, after play sessions, naps, etc. for no less then 15 minutes. Once you get her schedule down, you can adjust how often you take her out to fit. Pretty soon she will ring the bells when she needs to go (when she does, parise her lots and give her a big treat!)

It worked like a charm for us, I was very hesitant when my wife told me about it but I swear by it now. The only down side we have found is if you go to a freinds house or whatever you may need to bring the bells with you. Ours wont bark or anything to let us know she needs to go out, she just sits by the door looking for her bells until she can't hold it anymore. We don't see it as an issue - we just bought an extra set and put it in my car so we always have the spare...

Good luck! It can be very frustrating, believe me I know (read some of my posts) but once you/she get it down, it's very rewarding for both you and her.

Amy Flournoy

Posted : 9/29/2006 12:53:09 PM

I'll admit. . .i've tried leashing her to me and i went about it the WRONG way. The only leash i have is the one i bought for her when she was real little. And it's only 4 or 6 feet long. And i don't think that gives her enough room to play. so, i bought her a retractable leash. That way i can take her outside and it gives her more access to the yard and she's not right under me with nowhere really to play. So i tried using the retractable leash in the house instead of the smaller regular leash. Well, i would tie it around door knobs, close it up in cabinest, put it between seat cushions. . .whatever i could do to keep the leash handle with me and her too. didn't seem to be a big problem. . . .she didn't like it too much and would bite and play with the rope. But it didn't seem to be a big deal. . . but then one morning i looked down because she was whinning. .. and she had the blame rope around her throat and her legs. Not sure HOW she done that but it scared me to death! I almost paniced because i was afraid it was going to choke her. I got it off and she was fine but i haven't done that since. I still use the retractable leash to take her outside but not inside while playing. I guess i need to go see if i can find a longer regular leash to use in the house.

houndlove

Posted : 9/29/2006 2:25:59 PM

When we brought our new unhousetrained (adult) dog home, we used a 6 ft. leash to keep him leashed to us (and he's a much larger dog than yours!). The whole idea is that you don't want them doing anything that you don't know about. Potty training really is about establishing 100% consistancy from the very start, because being inconsistent is what creates big problems later. The idea of tethering is to yes, keep them in a limited area, but more importantly to allow you to catch them in the act and correct their location (escort them outside). If you're tethering in a way that you aren't able to do that, it's not going to work.

Don't ever tether your dog to anything in a situation where you can't moniter it completely. That's a serious strangulation hazard, and it can happen in an instant.

dogslyfe

Posted : 9/29/2006 2:33:54 PM

Also, it's a fair bet that after playing, she's going to need to GO! I wouldn't play with a pup (yes, at her age she's still very much a pup) and then expect them to hold it. Eating, sleeping, playing = potty.

jones

Posted : 9/29/2006 3:18:52 PM

It sounds like she doesn't know where to potty when she's not in the bathroom with the pads. Her housetraining is incomplete - you need to teach her that outside is the right place to go, and this is done by preempting accidents (taking her out more often). At 7 months I think you can now probably actively transition her off the pads (again, something you must teach as she won't just figure out to stop using them)... I also agree with Presley that you might want to try crating to help with the outside-only training - she should be able to hold it for longer stretches by this time, 7-8 hrs if confined (but far less time when unconfined).

spiritdogs

Posted : 9/29/2006 4:01:42 PM

Here's a great reference for you -
"Way to Go - How to Housetrain a Dog of Any Age" by Patricia McConnell.
Dogs don't just "learn to hold it". They need to be taught where the toilet is, by you showing them, using the same words to describe it, and always supervising so they don't have accidents. The book is inexpensive and will answer a lot of your questions. HTH