URRGH!

    • Gold Top Dog

    URRGH!

    Maisie is *almost* houstrained. Only has accidents every month or so. EXCEPT, when we leave her in the bedroom or alone even if we take her out for 30 minutes before. She poops. It's like she's getting back at us for leaving her. Today, I took out the trash and left her in the house for 60 seconds tops and she pooped in front of the door. She does it in a crate, in an ex-pen, in a room, in the bathroom, in the house, ANYWHERE. I'm tired of coming home to little "presents". Help.
    • Gold Top Dog
    She is not housetrained, and she's not spiting you.  Something has gone wrong and she does not understand that the toilet is only outside, and that she needs to hold it indoors.  Grab a copy of "Way to Go - How to Housetrain a Dog of Any Age" www.dogsbestfriendtraining.com.
    Housetraining errors are nearly always the human's fault (sorry) and mostly involve lack of really diligent supervision.  Also, if you have scolded her for mistakes in the past, she may fear eliminating in front of you, and waits for you to be gone to do her biz.
    • Gold Top Dog
    In addition to Spiritdogs post (cause soemtimes you think they are trained but their not there just yet) some go through a small relapse and soem get stubborn when it gets cold outside. Just resort back to the training days to get her back on track, keep a closer eye on her and resume training the orginal way you taught her.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Does anyone else have any ideas? I really don't have the money to buy a book right now.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Do you know her schedule for pottying? How many times a day does she poop normally? Dogs do many unusual things, but, not to put too fine a point on it, they can't poop if they don't have to go. If you don't have a good idea of when she needs to go, because she goes so many times per day, it would be time to look at her diet... Edited because I just saw her age in her sig.... I think by now she should probably only have to poop 2x a day, 3 at the most.
    • Gold Top Dog
    She's still doing it..I must not have housetrained her correctly..[:o]

    Anyone have any tips on "re-housetraining" her?

    [&o]

    Also how do I scold her for using the restroom inside if I catch her? Do I scold her at all?
    • Gold Top Dog
    No, you shouldn't scold her. If scolding has been a part of your housetraining, you may have inadvertently taught her that she's supposed to wait until you're not around to go potty. A puppy doesn't understand "I'm being scolded for pottying In The House," a puppy thinks, "I'm being scolded for going potty! My owner doesn't like that." So they hide or wait for you to leave next time.
     
    Instead of scolding, try to scoop her up and bring her outside when you catch her pottying - or else just ignore and pretend you didn't see it. Switch to praises & treats for doing the right thing. And by now you should have a pretty good handle on her potty schedule.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Interrupt, replace, reward.

    Interrupt the behavior (clap or say "hey" or "outside" when you see them starting to go).
    Replace (take them outside).
    Reward (treat or praise when they do their thing outside).

    Unfortunately, if the "interrupt" ;part is missing, you can't do the replace/reward part so they don't understand what is the RIGHT thing to do.  Once the deed is done, you cannot do anything about it.

    I'd just keep a closer eye on her, keep a regular feeding schedule and remember when poop times are.  I could almost set a clock to my puppies poop times (pee is another story!), I know when they usually need to go so I allow enough time with them outside until they go.  If you can't watch them, crate them (if your dog is crate trained).  If not, keep her tethered to you on a leash so she can't sneak off and poop.  Unfortunately, until you nip this in the bud you've got to keep a better eye on your pup and lavishly praise when she goes outside.

    Both my pups went through this stage of sneaking off and pooping, and it was my fault every time.  Once they had enough positive reinforcement of going outside and being rewarded for it, they finally "got it" and were officially housebroken (for the most part--dogs will still have accidents occasionally no matter what age--accidents happen!).
    • Gold Top Dog
    Never mind.[:)][size="3"][/size]
    • Bronze
    If you're not willing to listen to advice when it's given, then I would suggest not asking.  All anyone is trying to do is help you.  No need to get touchy.
    • Gold Top Dog
    What are you using to clean up the mess?
    No matter how thorough you are, her nose may still be able to smell the traces left behind - are you using a biological cleaner?  (that should do the trick)

    How often is she taken out each day? 
    Have you tried increasing the amount of trips she has outside, does it make any difference?

    What is her reward for pottying outside? 
    Think up a super special wonderful treat that she will now only get for poohing outside.  I like to make liver cake and reserve it for things like this, its so smelly and tasty and disgusting you only need to use a small piece and its like "jackpot" for the dog - which is a good thing because too much liver can be harmful, particularly to small breeds.

    How often is she fed each day? 
    I would not advise free feeding because it means you have no way of monitorng how much and when she eats and accurately guessing when she needs to go.  Presuming thats her in the avatar two small meals a day should suffice.

    How much is she being fed? 
    Sometimes if they are being fed too much, or maybe the wrong type of food they need to poo lots more than usual, so check with the guidelines on the packet and talk to her breeder.

    She is not "getting back at you", really she isn't - that's very human thinking and she is (obviously) not human - don your doggy-goggles.  She either needs to poo but has learned not to do it in front of you (as already suggested) or she is suffering from a common kind of seperation anxiety.  Fear and anxiety lessen the control she has over her bladder and bowels.  If this is the case, she really can't help it and you need to work on her anxiety at being left in order to make this icky issue disappear.  What have you done so far to acclimitise her to solitude gradually?
    • Gold Top Dog
    ORIGINAL: luvinmydoggies

    If you're not willing to listen to advice when it's given, then I would suggest not asking.  All anyone is trying to do is help you.  No need to get touchy.


    What are you talking about..I meant never mind to what I had posted..I had wrote something and then that matter resolved, so I put never mind so people would look over it..[&:] I'm greatful of this forum.
    • Gold Top Dog
    I am happy to report no poop accidents in a week![sm=dance.gif] (This is amazing considering she'd poop in her/my room everyday)  As soon as I fed her at generally the same time each day and encouraged her to poop (she almost does it on command! [:D]) everything went great! She has the occasional pee accident but those are eaisier to manage and it's usually because someone didn't let her out before leaving.

    THANKS![:D][:D][:D]
    • Gold Top Dog
    I'm glad she's doing better. You've gotten a lot of great advice. Just something else to think about in addition to what everyone else said. I had the same problem w/ Trixie. I did this
    [linkhttp://www.wagntrain.com/SeparationAnx.htm]http://www.wagntrain.com/SeparationAnx.htm[/link]
    It takes a lot of time but it is worth it.