unwilling to 'go' in the garden
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unwilling to 'go' in the garden
We have a little jack russell cross *****, she is a rescue dog and has been with us for six weeks. The vet reckons she is under a year. Our problem is she is unwilling to go to the loo in the back garden. she will only go whilst on a walk or across the road at a field. we have tried a hormone scented stick, bribes etc, but to no avail. This is very inconvenient late at night. she will just sit down and look at the ground. We have tried allowing her bladder to fill up so she is desperate, but she manages to keep it held for up to and over 12 hours. I am personally not happy to make her hold it for so long, it seems too cruel. Anyone have any advice on what her problem may be and any solutions?
Shes still new to you and probably a little insecure.
Id leave pushing her to go in your garden for now (trust me, in a year you will be asking for remedys for brown patches on the grass and wondering where your lawn went!).....
Instead, when you go for a walk, reward her REALLY well for goign to the toilet wherever that happens to be (although good if it could be on the same type of substrate as your garden), really praise her well AS she is toiletting, GOOD girl, treats, party the lot.... get her used to toiletting being a really GREAT thing to do.
Shes much more likely to be happy going anywhere if she thinks its a rewarding thing to do, and once shes cottoned on that you reward her for it, put a cue word to it (and dont pick Weewees like i did or you sound a fool stood in the garden at 6am sweetlyl asking 'weewees!'....).
Then when you get to the stage where you can say the cue word and she goes on a walk, THEN try to up it to in the garden.
There could be something else at play here, but. terriers are SO stubborn i think if its this, she could make herself ill before you 'win'..... it COULD be that shes learned that going to the toilet means end of walk/no walk, go inside. If thats the case she will withhold the wee/poo until shes been on a walk.
I DONT recommend you withold walks until she wees in the garden though, shes likely to hold it in to the point she makes herself ill or wets herself in the house before you 'win' the battle. Do it the other way ive outlined and in the end when you have toiletting on command you stand a chance of asking her to wee in the garden and THEN take her for a walk (however if you gyp her off and do that and then dont go on the walk at least 95% of the time, dont be surprised if she goes right back to square one).
Hth
Em
Id leave pushing her to go in your garden for now (trust me, in a year you will be asking for remedys for brown patches on the grass and wondering where your lawn went!).....
Instead, when you go for a walk, reward her REALLY well for goign to the toilet wherever that happens to be (although good if it could be on the same type of substrate as your garden), really praise her well AS she is toiletting, GOOD girl, treats, party the lot.... get her used to toiletting being a really GREAT thing to do.
Shes much more likely to be happy going anywhere if she thinks its a rewarding thing to do, and once shes cottoned on that you reward her for it, put a cue word to it (and dont pick Weewees like i did or you sound a fool stood in the garden at 6am sweetlyl asking 'weewees!'....).
Then when you get to the stage where you can say the cue word and she goes on a walk, THEN try to up it to in the garden.
There could be something else at play here, but. terriers are SO stubborn i think if its this, she could make herself ill before you 'win'..... it COULD be that shes learned that going to the toilet means end of walk/no walk, go inside. If thats the case she will withhold the wee/poo until shes been on a walk.
I DONT recommend you withold walks until she wees in the garden though, shes likely to hold it in to the point she makes herself ill or wets herself in the house before you 'win' the battle. Do it the other way ive outlined and in the end when you have toiletting on command you stand a chance of asking her to wee in the garden and THEN take her for a walk (however if you gyp her off and do that and then dont go on the walk at least 95% of the time, dont be surprised if she goes right back to square one).
Hth
Em
Thanks for your reply 
. She does already go on command when out walking, so she knows what we are asking of her. We will just have to persevere, and I agree she can be quite stubborne, so I will not have her 'bursting' just to have her go in the garden. The only reason I want her to go in the garden is for my personal safety late at night. She is not even a 'foodie' dog who will accept a treat as a reward. I think patience is probably the best solution. Thanks again!!
. She does already go on command when out walking, so she knows what we are asking of her. We will just have to persevere, and I agree she can be quite stubborne, so I will not have her 'bursting' just to have her go in the garden. The only reason I want her to go in the garden is for my personal safety late at night. She is not even a 'foodie' dog who will accept a treat as a reward. I think patience is probably the best solution. Thanks again!!