I am currently caring for a puppy who has not had any training done with him since he was acquired at eight weeks of age. To put it lightly, they are completely novice dog owners with little clue just how much time, patience and effort and training a puppy will need to behave appropriately in the house.
I am trying to put this right. I have had him for nine days so far and have just under three weeks left before he goes back to his owners. I was hoping to have him at least fairly well toilet trained and be able to advise them on how to keep this up.
To give you a bit more background information, he has got into a six week habit of being able to toilet wherever takes his fancy, having the free run of their large bungalow and not being taken outside or to a toileting area anywhere near often enough.
When I collected him from his owners and brought him to my house, he was urinating AT LEAST every 15 minutes, wherever he happened to be standing at the time, he did not show any signs of needing to go. He was also defecating in the house very regularly. I was taking him outside every 10 minutes (for three days) and giving him huge amounts of praise each time he toileted in the garden. Each time he toileted in the house I picked him up immediately and placed him outside.
After much perseverance I have got the timing down to around every half hour. If I do not take him outside he will simply go with no warning, with no pattern on where he chooses to go although some of the time he will attempt to go on the newspaper near the door he is not very reliable with this.
What is currently challenging me is that overnight he goes in a crate and does not toilet at all, for eight hours or more, which means he doesn't have a problem with holding it. So why, when he is out of the crate does he need to go every half hour?
I feel that because of his poor start he literally considers anywhere other than his bed as a place to toilet.
What else can I do? I don't have the resources or space to build up his roaming space slowly. I don't mind taking him out every half hour or more if he is improving but I have seen no improvement for around six days and if I over-run by a few minutes he will go in the house. I have started to get a bit firmer with him, saying a stern "ah-ah" when I catch him doing it and I then place him in the appropriate toileting area which is the newspaper by the door and of course praise him if he goes there.
I don't know if his character can be contributing in any way, but he is an extremely strong willed puppy. I have worked with hundreds of puppies in my job and NEVER come across a puppy this persistent and stubborn in his general character.
Any advice greatly appreciated! I wondered about trying those puppy training sprays to attract him to the newspaper but don't have the money to waste if they don't work.
Claire
I am trying to put this right. I have had him for nine days so far and have just under three weeks left before he goes back to his owners. I was hoping to have him at least fairly well toilet trained and be able to advise them on how to keep this up.
To give you a bit more background information, he has got into a six week habit of being able to toilet wherever takes his fancy, having the free run of their large bungalow and not being taken outside or to a toileting area anywhere near often enough.
When I collected him from his owners and brought him to my house, he was urinating AT LEAST every 15 minutes, wherever he happened to be standing at the time, he did not show any signs of needing to go. He was also defecating in the house very regularly. I was taking him outside every 10 minutes (for three days) and giving him huge amounts of praise each time he toileted in the garden. Each time he toileted in the house I picked him up immediately and placed him outside.
After much perseverance I have got the timing down to around every half hour. If I do not take him outside he will simply go with no warning, with no pattern on where he chooses to go although some of the time he will attempt to go on the newspaper near the door he is not very reliable with this.
What is currently challenging me is that overnight he goes in a crate and does not toilet at all, for eight hours or more, which means he doesn't have a problem with holding it. So why, when he is out of the crate does he need to go every half hour?
I feel that because of his poor start he literally considers anywhere other than his bed as a place to toilet.
What else can I do? I don't have the resources or space to build up his roaming space slowly. I don't mind taking him out every half hour or more if he is improving but I have seen no improvement for around six days and if I over-run by a few minutes he will go in the house. I have started to get a bit firmer with him, saying a stern "ah-ah" when I catch him doing it and I then place him in the appropriate toileting area which is the newspaper by the door and of course praise him if he goes there.
I don't know if his character can be contributing in any way, but he is an extremely strong willed puppy. I have worked with hundreds of puppies in my job and NEVER come across a puppy this persistent and stubborn in his general character.
Any advice greatly appreciated! I wondered about trying those puppy training sprays to attract him to the newspaper but don't have the money to waste if they don't work.
Claire
Hi I'm a dog behaviourist and have a GSD and a chihuahua.
ReplyDeleteFirstly I sympathise with the problem. My chi wasn't given the option to go outside when I got him so thought his bed was an acceptable toilet for quite a long time. At least this pup isn't peeing in his crate so my first thought is use that during the day when you're unable to watch him like a hawk! You can leave Kongs in there and as long as you're letting him out and playing with him frequently that shouldn't be a problem. Hopefully that would break the habit and you can increase the time he's out of the crate.
An alternative thought was to keep a lead on him and keep him with you whenever he's out of the crate so you know what he's up to.
Perhaps try better rewards when he goes in the right place? Maybe what you're offering isn't high value enough. Have you tried cooked chicken or hot dog?
I'm sure you know but I'll add that it's important to ensure the messes are cleaned up with something suitable and not ammonia-based.
I do however, think it's worth getting a vet to check him and ensure there's nothing medically wrong. He can hold on when he's asleep obviously but that doesn't rule a health issue out all together.
If I can think of anything else I'll let you know. Good luck!
I would suggest a vet check as the first port of call, as he is able to go overnight then there is probably no medical issue but a check is always the safest thing to do. He could have an infection or he could have a condition such as diabetes. Is he drinking a lot? You will then be confident that this is a behavioural issue.
ReplyDeleteAlthough you say you don't have the facilities to expand his roaming space is there any way you could put up baby gates/barriers? You could try utilising the crate during the day. Take him outside to toilet as you have been, give him some free time in the house afterwards and put him back in the crate for a short while before he’s “due” again so he can expand the waiting time 2-5 minutes a time.
I would not use paper or puppy pads as I believe that helps the dog to think it’s ok to toilet in the house so pick those up. I have previously completely housetrained a 2yr old dog in one try, just by removing the newspaper that was down. Also don’t keep the door to the outside open as it can blur the distinction between inside and outside.
If you do think you need indoor facilities for him then get a cat litter tray and put the substrate he is going to be expected to toilet on in that, whether it is a clump of grass cut from your garden or pebbles or soil. Then he will be able to make the connection between toileting and surface. The tray can then be gradually moved to the place you want him to go.
You say he’s still a pup but is able to go all night which is really good for a youngster, the age of the pup will reflect his ability to hold. From you description he sounds to be about 16-18 weeks so I would expect him to be able to hold for around an hour.
Hope this helps
Olwen Turns
MAPDT 1093
INTODogs Member
PDTE A108
Firstly I agree vet check to be on safe side - Slow down water intake using ice cubes in water bowl can do this - the crate is obviously seen as a safe haven so perhaps use this more during the day use a stuffed kong whilst in there take outside immediately!! Praise and offer jackpot reward for outdoor elimination - ensure any indoor elimination is cleaned thoroughly with non ammonia based product - biological washing powder is good. And perhaps use clicker training to encourage other skills for the pup to learn in doors and build up confidence and focus
ReplyDeleteSally Brady
thank you for all of your replies.
ReplyDeleteI could have explained his daily routine better. I work full time so he is in the crate while i am at work but i toilet him twice in my 8 hour day and he spends my lunch hour having playtime in the form of a walk and play in the house. He doesnt toilet in the house during this period.
When i finish work he then has roaming space of the living room (which has a baby gate and newspaper near the door) however when i go in and out of rooms i leave the gate open and he is allowed to follow me (supervised).
There's not a moment of his "out of crate" time where he is not supervised, i always have an eye on him and he just doesnt give any signs whatsoever that he needs to go to the toilet
He plays alot with my other dog, and i know that puppies often need to wee after playtime so perhaps his evenings are just too enriching for him? He doesnt drink excessively but when playing hard he does have a couple of sips around every half hour which might explain the need to urinate, but surely i cant take up his water? should i offer him water every hour instead?
Each time i feel im doing well with his toilet training he'll relapse, so im doing something wrong! I wonder if he will ever make the association that inside is not a toilet.
I'm a pet owner with a female toy poodle who I've had from age 2, and I previously had a male toy poodle who I had as a puppy.
ReplyDeleteMy boy puppy had similar to this problem although not quite as severe. I couldn't for the life of me get him housetrained, and felt such a failure when I mentioned it to other puppy owners who all said theirs had been housetrained long since. We took him out every 1-2 hours but weren't getting anywhere. He would play out in the garden, urinate, come back in and then even urinate immediately once inside. A small breakthrough came when I started taking him out every 20 minutes. This worked to the extend that he became housetrained on hard surfaces only, so was safe in our dining room (with a wood floor) and kitchen. He was still not housetrained on mats or carpets.
A dog trainer eventually suggested that he might be marking, and a bit of light dawned at last. He was also an extremely hyperactive and challenging puppy, and obviously full of hormones in terms of humping and lifting his leg at a very young age. He was castrated as early as possible (at 6 months as he was a small dog) and this finally solved the problem (although he never calmed down and remained very hyperactive!). I wonder if this may be a similar problem with your dog, that he is actually marking rather than just toileting inside. I have had my female dog from the age of two and she wasn't house trained and would only toilet inside her crate at first, but despite this it took a while but nowhere near as long to toilet train her.
Clare
Have you tried using the crate as a house training 'tool' as pup manages all night. Also I find it is better if the dog does not watch you clean it up. The mother dog will have just cleaned up after pups toiletting so that followed by being allowed to toilet anywhere and a strong willed pup does make the job harder. I also rarely use pads or paper to train a pup but vigilance and taking the dog pup out regularly as you have done. When I take a pup out for the purpose of toilet then I do not interact with the pup in any way whatsoever until it has completed its toilet when I then say "Good hurry ups" and make a good fuss of the pup. I know many pups who have taken so long to train using paper/pads as really it tells a pup it is ok to toilet indoors. I too would suggest you learn about clicker training and then once your pup is pleased to work for a click you can use it in the toilet situation. Does the pup drink lots? My Golumm drank so much as a pup that quite often he would be weeing and drinking at the same time, this caused house training to take longer than usual until his bladder grew big enough to manage the intake!
ReplyDeleteKaren Lawe
Hi. I'm a behaviourist and have 5 rescue dogs of my own.
ReplyDeleteOther than previous comments my only suggestions are to make toileting outside the most rewarding thing possible.
Take pup outside t regular intervals and wait until he has done his business. Do not go back inside until he has been! Feed all his meals outdoors as a reward after he has done a pee or poo. So rather than just giving tons of verbal praise you have to make it highly rewarding. Use sausage/chicken/livercake rather than just kibble. The fact that you say he is strong willed suggests you need to match this with a strong reward. Food, being one of the basic needs is usually the biggest reward for any dog.
Also, I'm sure you know this but make sure any accidents are cleaned up with biological washing powder as thisis the only thing that removes all traces of ammonia and prevent certain areas from becoming toilet spots.
Hope that helps
Joanne