Dog is too distracted to potty!

[bcarr519]

Hello everyone! My husband and I recently adopted an English Pointer/Beagle mix from a local rescue. The first 3 days that we had her she did very well with no accidents in the house. Saturday and Sunday she pooped in the house and today she peed in the house. She peed after my son and I left to go to the store; we were only gone for about 30 minutes. The problem is that before we left I had her outside for at least 10 minutes because I knew she hadn't gone in at least 4 hours. However, she is constantly distracted by everything (or nothing) and will not go outside now. It's driving me insane. How can I get her to pay attention to doing her business? She gets distracted by kids, dogs, birds, smells, and every noise possible. I also don't understand how this was not a problem for the first 3 days, and now it's been a problem for the last 3 days. Any pointers would be appreciated. Also, I prefer not to have to crate train this dog. She does not do anything to destroy the house while we are gone, and she's definitely potty-trained, but she's just distracted. I need to learn how to get her attention! Thanks in advance!

[Fundog]

It's kind of hard for me to potty with distractions too: if a friend in the next stall is trying to chat with me; out in the woods and I *think* I might hear a truck coming up the dirt road; when the wind is blowing the grass and tickling my nether-regions; if I know someone else is waiting to use the bathroom after me; if I hear the kids squabbling.... you get the idea.

But I'm not the only one: my English Setter gets distracted too. In fact, she forgets what she really set out to do, and starts barking... at which point we call her inside, but she didn't get to potty, so we have to take her out again for another try in a little bit (anywhere from five to 30 minutes later). Fortunately for us, Dottie is very well housetrained, and so even though she needed to go, and didn't, and then must wait for a bit, she does not have any accidents in the house. Instead she will just do a little dance and remind us that she needs to go back out and try again. And that's what you must do: keep taking her out every few minutes to try again. Perhaps keeping her on a leash, even in your own fenced yard, will help her to remember what she is out there for.

Do be sure to actually accompany her outside, and not just open the door to let her out. Start carrying a treat out there with you, so you can reward her the second she potties outside. That will help to reinforce to her that pottying outside is good, while pottying in the house is boring.

[bcarr519]

Luckily I have to keep her on a leash because we live in a townhouse, so no fenced back yard. The last time I took her out I brought a treat and she peed. I immediately praised her and once she finished I gave her the treat on the spot. This time when I took her out there was kind of a lot going on, then the neighbor brought their dog out and that was just a disaster. At any rate, I did get to talk to her for a couple minutes and she said that her dog also had problems going outside for the first few days. We decided together that it might be that almost everyone here has a dog. I suppose that would be very distracting to smell all of those new dogs!

[Suzette]

Fundog, you're a hoot girl! I love the way your helpful information comes in such an entertaining package!

[Fundog]

Oh yes, definitely! Not to mention a bit unnerving, when you're the new dog on the block-- a dog has to let her guard down to go potty, so she really needs to feel comfortable enough to relax. She'll get it-- it just takes time.

[Fundog]

Fundog, you're a hoot girl! I love the way your helpful information comes in such an entertaining package!

LOL, I thought you might get a laugh out of that.

[Nettle]

Fundog, you're a hoot girl! I love the way your helpful information comes in such an entertaining package!

LOL, I thought you might get a laugh out of that.

Me too and so true!


Bcarr, if I had a shilling for each time I've stood around trying to be calm and low-energy while a dog fiddled about, nearly found the right place hang on no over here might be better yes, this'll do OH NO here comes another dog/person/whatever we all go through this and it does get better.

But there is still someone on my to-kill list because he would come and talk over the fence when I stayed with my family and was trying to get the dogs emptied out before the journey back every-damned-time.

So take heart - you're in good company.

[bcarr519]

Lol, you guys are funny. I'm glad I can come here for support and not have someone look at me like I'm stupid!

Anyway, today I took her out and she looked like she was about to, but no - a rock! So what I started doing is when she has to go out but doesn't go potty, I take her to the basement (she stands on the landing and waits) for about 2 minutes and then I immediately take her outside again. She seems to be catching on because the second time she went in about 2 minutes. When she does go she gets lots of praise and a little treat. I don't really see how I can discipline her for getting distracted because she's two different breeds of hunting dogs, so to me it seems like she would be easily distracted. I told hubby that we're going to have to set a time limit, i.e. she gets 5 minutes to go and then treat/praise or basement for 2 minutes. I definitely don't want potty to be a 20 minute ordeal once winter hits, it gets really cold here sometimes.

Oh, I also try to keep her distracted from everything else by keeping her moving and when she looks like she wants to charge away I turn around and walk the other direction. The only thing I let her do extensively is sniff.

[Sarah83]

I have an extremely anxious, jumpy dog and I have no garden. Getting him to take a dump can be an absolute nightmare. Just as he assumes the position a car door will slam or we'll hear somebody out on one of the balconies or a leaf will fall off the tree or something. That's it, he won't go. 10 minutes later, he assumes the position, something else happens, he stops and does his "omg, a monster, I heard it!" routine.

I've found heading in for a minute or so and then heading back out helps too. In fact it's getting to the point where if I go to take him in and he's not been but needs to he'll put on the brakes, we'll head back to his preferred toilet spot and he'll go.

[bcarr519]

OK, after today, this dog has officially gone more in the house than outside. She is completely potty trained, but will not go outside. Tonight I spent 20 minutes walking her and she would not go because of a stupid soccer ball sitting on the neighbor's porch - which I let her go sniff. I'm at my wits end. I'm about a couple days away from returning her to the rescue.

[bcarr519]

Well, just found a spot in my son's room. The part that infuriates me the most is that we spend so much time walking this dog to no avail. Crate training it is.

[Erica]

If she's not going completely outside, she's not completely potty trained. Look at the potty training thread, keep her in sight at ALL times, and follow the advice in the pinned potty training thread. She might have been potty trained at another house, but sometimes dogs feel there are different sets of rules for different places.

Edit: here's the toilet training thread.

[chay]

OK, after today, this dog has officially gone more in the house than outside. She is completely potty trained, but will not go outside. Tonight I spent 20 minutes walking her and she would not go because of a stupid soccer ball sitting on the neighbor's porch - which I let her go sniff. I'm at my wits end. I'm about a couple days away from returning her to the rescue.

you don't mention if you have tried any of the advice in this thread yet? after the 20 minute walk outside, did you go inside, then come out again for a couple of minutes as suggested?

as mentioned, if your dog isn't getting it, she isn't "completely" potty trained. go back to basics (in the thread linked by erica) and start again.

be aware this will take longer than a couple of days to see results. am i right in reading your OP you have only had for (now a little over) 6 days??? this is NO time at all. i had to do the same thing (back to basics) with with my 3yo pom/chi for a little over a month before she was really reliable with it. i hope you give her enough time and patience to work through this with her.

[jacksdad]

Well, just found a spot in my son's room. The part that infuriates me the most is that we spend so much time walking this dog to no avail. Crate training it is.

crate training is helpful for teaching a dog to hold it, but what it doesn't do is teach where to go. also, if not let out for regular breaks, the dog WILL learn to go in it's crate. over use of the crate can create for long periods of time creates it's own issues. so please, only use the crate IF your dog is comfortable in a crate already AND only for shot periods of time you KNOW your dog can hold it but you can't watch your dog.

part of potty training is being proactive, regular breaks regardless of if your dog needs to go or not, then as your dog learn you stretch the time out. check out the potty training thread for details.

we get the frustration...but please don't look for short cuts, only training will get you through this.

[bcarr519]

Ok, now that I'm less frustrated today I'm feeling better about the situation. We are definitely doing the potty training that was linked on here. Also, a friend of mine gave me some advice about crating, but I'd rather try jut potty training first. She told me that I should consider keeping Jellie on a leash so that I know where she is at all times; she won't go in the house in front of us. But I feel bad doing that, is it mean to keep her on a leash all the time? Also, hubby and I decided to have one of us at home wih her 24/7 until she gets it down pretty well. Luckily we work opposite shifts so that we can have a parent with our son at all times rather than a babysitter, so this should work out ok!

While we're on the topic, does anyone know a good urine remover for carpet? We just move and literally have brand new carpet. Now it smells like pee.