How to toilet train your puppy or adult dog.

[Olivers mama]

In July, we adopted our girl from the German Shepherd Rescue. They said she was 2 yrs, but now we know they were wrong. She's still growing!

We made the mistake of enrolling her in a Board & Train facility in an attempt to "jump-start" her basic obedience. She came with her old issues plus 2 new ones: peeing in the house & eating her poop. Another trainer was, IMO, abusive, so we left that trainer, as well.

Her peeing appears to be marking - she would trot gown the hallway & pee in front of both closed bedroom doors. (When she's out, we have to lock up our 4 housecats, as she thinks they're toys. Rescue people said she was good with cats, but they also had her on a fair amount of Benadryl, so we suspect that's why she was so "good" with cats!) Anyway, hubby is gong to install an iron gate to keep her from accesing the hallway.

But, this past Sun, there was a different episode. I'd taken her - with a firm hold on her collar - to greet our oldest cat, Oliver. He's 14 & very mellow, so he's our Experimental Kitty for the dog. This will be a long process, but there's definite improvement between Ziva & Oliver. However, in taking her back to the living room, she immediately started circling - oh oh, she's gonna pee...but I was too late. GSD leave quite a puddle. Then, as I reached for her collar, she mouthed me. (This is the new behavior she learned from the 2nd, abusive trainer.) I've been told her peeing might be from excitement at seeing the cat. I've been told to keep her on a leash & then take her outside immeditaely after the cat lesson.

Is this the right way to handle this? She's too big to have to crate every time I go outside & yet, I'm afraid to leave her on her own because - even if she's just been outside & even if the back slider door is open - she's peed. Help...

Becky

[LiviandBailey]

Hi,
I have a 5 month old JRT. Shes been paper trained and never used to potty inside the house but lately shes been soiling a spare bed I have in my bedroom during the night and one of the sofas. I have been taking her outside to pee but she normally holds it until we get back home. Yesterday I had her out with me all day and she held it until we got back at night. I later took her out to eliminate before she went to bed and she did it successfully. I have just got a crate and will start crate training her. Do i have to take up all the newspaper?? how many hours can she stay in the crate at night??

Thank you!
Olivia

[jellybean]

Thanks, that's just what I was looking for.

[latina]

Hi there, I have tried all of what you have advised but for some unknown reason Zora my 6 month old German Shep Pup will not go outside. She waits to come back in and pee and poo! Its unreal. We take her on walks about 4-5 times a day and she waits to get home and pee in the kitchen. I've stood outside when she's gone(very few times) and praised her even given her chicken, and still no joy she still relapses. I even bought vinegar, cleaned my kitchen floor and carpets where she's marked and still nothing. Please help as my partner is threatning to give her away!

[Mattie]

Just had problems finding this to help someone so am bumping it up, if people needing help can't find the threads they won't know how to train their dogs.

[MagentaSkies41]

Hi, Ive just joined this forum because im now desperate for help! I have a 14 month old Chocolate Labrador puppy, who up until 4 weeks ago was fully house trained. She had moved from her crate to a dog bed and was really happy. Then i went away for 4 nights to for a short visit abroad, and left my dog with the rest of the family.
On my return i was advised that despite no other change to her routine, Bailey had regressed into pooing on the floor each night. No wees just poos!
i have tried everything, from putting her back i her crate as "dogs don't mess where they sleep"!! -er, mine apparently does! Ive tried shouting at her, showing her what she has done ( no rubbing her nose in it , thats vile!) to ignoring her completely. I have tried letting her out at 12.00 pm before i go to bed and setting my alarm for 3.00 am and again at 6.00 am just to break the cycle of her pooing in the night in the house.
Nothing has worked and i am now at my wits end. We are due to go on hioliday this year with her and i do NOT want her pooing in the holiday home. Its hard enough to find decent places that will accept your dog, so i would like to be able to take her back there.
Any constructive help/ideas/re training methods would be gratefully received. Thank you!!!!

[Mattie]

On my return i was advised that despite no other change to her routine, Bailey had regressed into pooing on the floor each night. No wees just poos!
i have tried everything, from putting her back i her crate as "dogs don't mess where they sleep"!! -er, mine apparently does! Ive tried shouting at her, showing her what she has done ( no rubbing her nose in it , thats vile!) to ignoring her completely.

She had a big change in her life, you were not there. Shouting at her will just make her a lot worse, she was already under a lot of stress because you were not there then you started to shout for something which she didn't know what. She is a dog, how is she to understand that when you show her something she shouldn't have done means that? After a few seconds of a dog doing something they have forgotten they have done it so shouting and showing her will mean nothing to her apart from that lovely mum who went away has come back a not nice mum.

Take her back to the beginning and start again to train her, go out with her instead of putting her out so you can see she goes and praise her for going outside and become her lovely mum again.

[MagentaSkies41]

Thank you so much for your quick reply.

We have started this new method already and it SEEMS to be working. Dont want to count my chickens too soon, but her Dad took her out last night for a short walk at 11.00 pm and this morning no poo! We have been going outside with her and waiting until she goes as suggested, so far so good! Fingers crossed!

[hei]

hi I have a bishon frise x cavalier 18 wks old. we have had her now for 4 wks. ive been following your tips for toilet training and generally its going quite well . during the night i was getting up and going outside with her 2 or 3 times she'd have a wee lots of praise a treat and we'd go back to bed. This last week she is doing really well in that she comes to the side of the bed and lets me know she needs to go out. so out we go she has a wee gets lots of praise and a treat and back to bed . this is great but during the day she is not so good... i put her out regularly but she makes no effort to let me know that she needs to go, in fact she has on a few occasions been stood right beside me and has wet on the floor, not a small marking wee but a full puddle. i never shout or scold her for this just put her outside while i clean up (i use white vinegar). She only has the run of the kitchen (with our older retriever) as i tried giving her more space and this made it worse, she was going all over the place !!
what can i do to try to get her to let me know she needs to go ?

the other problem i have with her is that she hates the rain and will not go outside when its raining no matter how long im out there with her she waits till we come in and then goes !

any further suggestions very much appreciated x

[Nettle]

She was standing right beside you to let you know she needed to go out!

Don't wait to be told - you take her out very frequently. It's your responsibility, not hers. She's a baby yet and hasn't got full control of bladder and bowels; like a human tot, by the time she realises she needs to go it has often happened. You commit to taking her out, and she will be clean and dry in no time.

Put a shelter up in your yard so when it rains she can stay dry. It doesn't have to be fancy.

[hei]

thank you nettle

I now consider myself suitably told off !

when I used the term standing right beside me it was more figuratively in that i dont have a very big kitchen and I have always been around when she's done it. Im looking for the cue's sniffing circling but as she is so quick im missing them. take this morning weve both been stood out on the patio where she normally toilets for 15 mins with me doing my usuall "do a wee" but she did nothing and ended up just lying down out there. we come back to the house i open the door and while im taking off my boots she dives in and wets on the floor. What is that about ? im obviously doing something wrong

I am committed, thats why im on here and realise that she is still a baby. I was merely asking if there was some way to help ..... obviously not !

never mind I'll keep persevering

[Mattie]

hi I have a bishon frise x cavalier 18 wks old. we have had her now for 4 wks. ive been following your tips for toilet training and generally its going quite well . during the night i was getting up and going outside with her 2 or 3 times she'd have a wee lots of praise a treat and we'd go back to bed. This last week she is doing really well in that she comes to the side of the bed and lets me know she needs to go out. so out we go she has a wee gets lots of praise and a treat and back to bed . this is great but during the day she is not so good... i put her out regularly but she makes no effort to let me know that she needs to go, in fact she has on a few occasions been stood right beside me and has wet on the floor, not a small marking wee but a full puddle.

She is 18 weeks old, like human babies puppies internal organs take time to mature to the stage were they know they are going to toilet, up to then it is the owner's responsibilty to make sure they don't get the chance to toilet inside. You say you have been following my "Tips" they are not tips, they are how to toilet train your dog or puppy, some people do it differently, again they are not tips but how it is done. They are only the start of toilet training, eventually you will work out how often and when she normally goes, then you can adapt this to taking her out at those times.

It clearly says in the instructions to "Take your dog out" and says "Do not put your dog out", and why, yet you are putting her out so how do you know she has toileted outside? You are doing it right during the night but not during the day, it has to be right both times or she won't understand what you want. You have to be very consistant.

You are doing well not to shout or scold her, Well Done, you are doing well with the cleaning up by putting her out so she doesn't see what you are doing. With some dogs it doesn't matter but it does to others so putting them out when you clean up is right.

At 18 weeks old you should be taking her out every 30 to 45 minutes to give her a chance to toilet and don't forget the double wee, when she has gone walk round a bit to give her a chance for the second wee.

Eventually she will start to let you know she wants to go out to toilet, even then she won't be fully toilet trained, you will need to keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't wait too long, by this time you will have a good idea of how long she can go between toileting.

A lot of humans hate rain as well I put a waterproof coat on mine if they don't like rain, and have an umbrella if i am taking them out.

Sometimes we may write as if we are telling you off or attacking you, we are not, we do have to be very clear with what we write so that owners don't misunderstand what we are saying. I have seen dogs get really confused and worse because the information given wasn't clear. All we want to do is help, if by writing clearly it sounds like it is telling you off or attacked, sorry, we don't do that on here, we want owners to come back for more information and to update us.

[Nettle]

I was absolutely not telling you off - I was explaining what you should be doing and why

[hei]

thanks nettle

I have to say that maybe I did take your original post not quite in the spirit it was intended, and really do appreciate your comments.

I think that maybe I was not so clear on my original post as I do always go outside with her and should not have said " put her out". Today has been a good day though as I have been going out more frequently....( I was leaving her longer than you recommend as she is able to hold it at night so I was following this sort of time during the day ). Its a big learning curve for both of us but I hope that things are improving.

will def be looking into a coat for her and a very large umbrella for me !

thanks for taking the time to reply

[Mattie]

I am so pleased it has been better today, the more you learn the more you will want to learn, that learning curve never seems to change.