Weird potty problems - need help

[MOUSY]

Hello everyone,
i have a new member on my family she is a 3 month old collie cross. She a real sweetheart and is great when it comes to peeing in the appropriate areas . . . . When i'm home. When i leave to go to work (i work nights) i leave her with my roommate for the evening and she seems to not want to listen to her so well when it comes to going outside and she always insists on peeing on the floor when i am not at home, she also seems to become really sad and sleep on my bed the entire time im gone rather than being social! I am working with her daily to house train her and we seem to be making alot of progress when we work togther i just cant seem to figure out why she will not behave the same when i am not around! Please help!

 

[Maura]

I would put her in a crate in the bedroom when I'm gone. If you know she will have to go sometime while you are gone, I would figure out her schedule and have the roommate take her from the crate, put on the leash, and bring her outside. After ten minutes if the puppy hasn't gone, she gets put back in the crate for five minutes then try again.

Your puppy is probably sending cues, but the roommate isn't picking up on them. You can tie a bell on the door and teach the puppy to ring it, but for the time being just work on getting her outside on time.

 

[lizzybeth727]

When i leave to go to work (i work nights) i leave her with my roommate for the evening and she seems to not want to listen to her so well when it comes to going outside and she always insists on peeing on the floor when i am not at home...

She's three months old. She's only been pottying for 12 weeks. Give her a break.

She's not "not listening" to your roommate, she simply doesn't understand what is expected of her right now. She probably acts differently with you because she is starting to understand you and your body language, but if she doesn't spend as much time with your roommate it will take her longer to figure it out with her. There are probably other subtle differences between you and your roommate that are confusing her as well; like, she knows it's time to potty if you're standing outside 10 feet in front of the back door, but your roommate doesn't stand there, she stands 10 feet to the left of the back door.... it's a completely different cue.

Dogs also don't "insist" on pottying on the floor, they simply potty when and where they need to. She had to pee, so she did, that's all. In her mind, the floor is a perfectly acceptable place to pee... which makes sense, since that's probably what she did the first half or more of her life so far.

If she potties on the floor, it simply means that someone didn't take her out when they should have.

 

[MOUSY]

thank you, that makes alot of sense and i guess i just need patience. I have another problem which as just started up with her, I get her all excited to go out and she runs to the back door so then i open it and head out so she will follow (she always follows me outside) and she looks at me runs away down the hall and goes pee in the hall then she runs out the back door to go play. Or sometimes i have to go inside and pick her up to take her out! i understand accidents happen but it almost seems like she does it in the house on purpose! thanks

Mousy

 

[Maura]

Train her to go to a specific door and sit there. Do the training between potty times so you have time to work with her. Go to the door, lure her into a sit about two or three feet from the doorknob, treat and praise in a normal tone of voice, not that high pitched baby one. Repeat several times, putting another second between the sit and the treat so that you can gradually work up to a five second sit before the treat. At that point, Sit, one second, hand on door for four seconds, praise and treat. Work her up to more and more seconds with your hand on the door. Step it up to opening the door with her maintaining the sit. You say "out" and step outside, she will follow you.

You see where this is heading. At some point she will make the association of grass or dirt with potty and she will go to the door on her own. When she is doing this, hang a bell on the door and ring the bell when you open the door. At some point, she will ring the bell.

I don't understand the door and hallway thing. Do you keep a door shut between the hallway where the outside door is and the room she is in? Teach her to sit at whatever door (think about her being an adult). She is peeing in front of the door because she understands the connection. Until she is trained to sit nicely at the door and wait, pick her up and take her outside. I've had to do this with adult dogs that are not potty trained, it's your best insurance. You DO NOT want her learning to pee in front of the door.

 

[lizzybeth727]

I have another problem which as just started up with her, I get her all excited to go out and she runs to the back door so then i open it and head out so she will follow (she always follows me outside) and she looks at me runs away down the hall and goes pee in the hall then she runs out the back door to go play. Or sometimes i have to go inside and pick her up to take her out! i understand accidents happen but it almost seems like she does it in the house on purpose!

It sounds like she hasn't made the connection between going outside and pottying. She clearly knows that going outside leads to play time, so she might be pottying before she goes outside so that she can focus on play once she gets out there! LOL.

I usually suggest to keep puppies on leash when potty training. That way you can grab them quickly if they start to have an accident; or in your case, you can hold her leash when you're ready to take her outside so that she won't run down the hall and pee. Then when you get outside, keep her on the leash, walk her out to the spot where you want her to potty, and then just stand there. She will eventually get bored standing in the same spot (since she's on leash), and figure out that she needs to potty. When she potties, reward her heavily for going in the right place, and then let her off leash to play. This not only uses the play as the reward for pottying, but also teaches her to potty quickly so that she can go play - and so that you don't have to stand around forever waiting on her to go.

I also think that at this age, carrying her outside is not at all a bad idea. If she REALLY has to go - like first thing in the morning or after she's been in the crate a while - puppies often won't be able to hold it until you get them outside and they may have an accident on the way. Keep in mind that every time she potties in the house she's forming a habit - and habits are hard to break - so you want to do whatever you have to do to prevent her from pottying in the house. When she's older - 6 months or so - she'll have better bladder control and it won't be such an issue as it is now.

 

[MOUSY]

Thank you for the tips I'm going to try some
of those helpful hints and see where it goes!! I'll keep you all posted! Thanks

Mousy

 

[kenbig]

How To Train Your Dog To Stop Pooping,Peeing Inside,Cracking,Chewing,Jumping,Barking

Hi, It is very good to hear that your 3 months sweet puppy understands your
Cues when you are home. That means that you been able to train her to a certain stag but you still have much to do.I think the reason she does not listen
to your room mate is simply because she may not be that close with her mostly when you are training her on those basic Cues, so, involve your room mate when
ever you are training her so she can be familiar with your mate as much as she is close to you. I believe you have good training guides that can enable you complete her training, but if you need more detailed training techniques that Guarantees result within few weeks. click on the link Bellow you will get it.
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Good luck

 

[MOUSY]

Okay so she is now going out when i say outside and she seems to not be scared of the door! She has now decided that she will go pee in the house without any warnings! She will be playing then the next second she wil be doin her business right on the floor! I try and keep an eye on her at all times! Is this normal? She seems to only doo it on the days that i have to work nights! Shes fine on my days off! Its almost as if she is getting mad and trying to disclipine me! Is this possible? What do i do?

 

[ihartgonzo]

Don't attach human emotions to your puppy... dogs do what is rewarding to them, they don't hold grudges or seek vengeance. Usually. You're probably just busier, stressed or more preoccupied on days that you work and you don't realize it.

Keep close tabs on when your puppy drinks water, when she eats, and how long thereafter she goes potty. Tether her to you if you aren't watching her every move and take her outside MORE than you need to. My rule of thumb for puppies is... after they drink, after they eat, after they nap, and after they play; they need to go out! And if not for any of those reasons, every hour! Reward her like crazy for going potty outside. Tell her "good potty" and give her lots of high value treats. Every time she goes inside, calmly/emotionlessly pick her up and put her outside, then tell her to potty. But really she shouldn't have any opportunities to go potty inside. The less she's allowed to, the less of a habit it is, the more of a habit it is to go outside.

Also... make sure you're thoroughly cleaning her spots up with an enzyme neutralizer like Nature's Miracle.

 

[Doberluv]

Cross posted. Mordy's great post from another place.

at the risk of being redundant, here is my personal method. using it i have trained two puppies to be almost 100% reliable within only about 10 days, and everyone who received these instructions from me and has stuck to them has had great success within one to two weeks.

it's all about supervision, a strict routine, consistency and lots of praise.

you get yourself a crate, a piece of paper and a pen.

anytime anything goes into your dog (food, water, treats) you note down the time, and anytime something "comes out" (regardless if t is an accident or in a "proper" place), you write down the time too.

when you bring your pup home, make it a point to take it outside every hour on the hour, and additionally each time after (a) a meal, (b) a play session and (c) a nap. each time on the way out, you give the same cue: "do you have to go outside?" or "need to go potty?" etc.

you make sure to keep the same routine every single day, from waking up in the morning, to each meal, nap times and potty breaks. the more disciplined you can be with this, the faster you will be successful. don't let up and don't skip a potty trip, even if it might be without results. do not play during potty trips, but remind the pup what the task at hand is - "get busy" or "go pee/poop" are good cues for example. bring along a very high-value treat, but keep it out of sight until the pup has finished. praise enthusiastically after the "business" is finished, and give a treat. don't do this while the pup is still peeing or pooping, or you might distract it.

after keeping notes for a few days, you will clearly see your puppy's schedule and slowly be able to eliminate some of the "extra" potty trips at times where you see they are unsuccessful.

while inside, always supervise your puppy. if you must, put a leash on and tie it to a belt loop of your pants. make it a rule that indoors your puppy is either under close supervision, or in its crate. no exceptions, ever - until you know your pup is reliably doing business outside. even if you have to go to the bathroom and don't take the pup with you, pop it in the crate for the 5 minutes you can't supervise. get a phone call that you know will take your attention away from the pup for a while - "hi, can you hold on for a sec?" and in the crate it goes.

the less accidents you let happen (yup, it's all on your head, little puppies don't do wrong, they just don't know better! ), the faster your dog will be reliable indoors.

i highly recommend to crate train, even if you plan on letting the dog sleep on your bed (or some other designated spot) later on. being familiar with spending time in a crate and behaving properly is one of the best things you can teach a dog, especially if you plan on taking him/her lots of places, get involved in dog sports and so on.
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