Will she EVER be housebroken??

[Southpaw]

Lucy is 6 months old and I swear she has made no progress with housebreaking in the 4 months I've had her. The only difference is I know she can hold her pee for at least 2 hours, so she never pees in the house because about every 2 1/2 hours I take her out (more often if she looks like she's gonna go.) But I think that's ME making progress, I know how often she needs to go out, but she couldn't care less if she peed outside or not.

Her pooping is another story...she does it at such random times during the day and everyday it's different, I can't seem to figure her out. One day she poops at noon, the next she doesn't poop in the afternoon at all, and instead waits until 8pm. So, we have a lot of problems with her pooping in the house.

It's getting very frustrating. We have tried the bell thing--but after about a month she still isn't grasping the idea of it. When I take her to the door to go outside, she DOES ring the bell...so, I think she knows that to get outside, she needs to ring it. But she doesn't know that she needs to go potty outside, so she's not ringing it during the day to let me know I need to let her out. She doesn't care if she goes in the house. She gets treats and verbal praise for going potty outside, and obviously nothing happens when she goes inside...but that doesn't seem to matter to her.

I know it basically comes down to us watching her when she's in the house. But it is hard...there are times where I walk away for just a minute and then I come back and find poop. I had been crating her when I ate dinner and things like that because I can't watch her then...but my mom thinks that's cruel and there have been times where my mom has let Lucy out even though I told her not to.

I don't know what to do, I need suggestions because it's driving me insane. I feel like it's ridiculous that after 4 months, she STILL doesn't care and doesn't make an attempt at trying to get outside.

 

[Angel Chicken]

Remember, Patience is a virtue!!

One thing I know helped with house breaking Kona is this...

When she would poop in the house, we would take her poo and put it outside. That way she goes to where her "smell" is and would know to poop there.

Another thing, try talking to your mom about leaving her in her crate. Tell her it is vital in order to get her trained properly.

I hope I have helped, though it isn't by much.

 

[Mordy]

The crate and patience are definitely your best friends.

Crating (or rather, confining the dog while he or she is still unreliable) is a wonderful tool, since it prevents accidents from happening, and each accident is a setback in your house training.

Does Lucy have a pretty set routine every day? E.g. meals at the sane time, walks, playtime and periods of rest at the same time? Structuring her day as much as possible will definitely help.

Another thing I'd like to touch on is whether you just take her outside to potty (do you go with her and stay with her until she's done?) or whether you actually take her for walks? Brisk walking stimulates the intestinal tract, so a dog is more likely to poop even if he/she might not have to go yet otherwise.

 

[Southpaw]

Crating (or rather, confining the dog while he or she is still unreliable) is a wonderful tool, since it prevents accidents from happening, and each accident is a setback in your house training.

This is exactly what I tell my mom. That it will actually help to crate her because it prevents accidents, not that I'm trying to be mean and evil. Doesn't seem like I'm getting through to her though, even though she's had a few other people tell her that that's how they trained their dogs.

Does Lucy have a pretty set routine every day? E.g. meals at the sane time, walks, playtime and periods of rest at the same time? Structuring her day as much as possible will definitely help.

The only thing that's not really structured is when she eats. I thought about trying it, but we sort of free-feed Molly, so Lucy would just go and eat her food then. But, I hear/see her eat, so when she's done eating I take her outside in case she has to poop. Other than that, things usually happen at the same time everday.

Another thing I'd like to touch on is whether you just take her outside to potty (do you go with her and stay with her until she's done?) or whether you actually take her for walks? Brisk walking stimulates the intestinal tract, so a dog is more likely to poop even if he/she might not have to go yet otherwise.

I just go outside with her and stay until she's done. That's a good point though about the walking...didn't think of that.

Thank you both for the help. She had no accidents today but that's because we spent most of the day outside...I'll take it though!

 

[ihartgonzo]

I'm sorry, that is no fun. =(

Schedules, and the crate, are definitely key in potty-training. If you free-feed Molly, why not stop? It's healthier in the long run, both physically and mentally, for the dogs to recieve specific amounts of food at specific times in the day. Is there any reason not to? Molly should get one or two meals per day, and Lucy should get two or three.

Lucy is 6 months old, so you need to remember that a 6 month old doesn't poop shortly after eating like an 8 week-old. For a mature dog to digest kibble, it takes 12+ hours! Start monitoring when she will need to go. She should probably be tethered to you at this point. A few weeks of complete strictness could easily set her up for a lifetime of being reliably potty-trained! Your whole family has to be consistent, though. Make sure the carpets of clean and free of odors that might trigger accidents, and just be sure you take her out as often as possible... with the problems you have, you need to kind of be over-kill with it, like taking her out every 30 minutes. Are you praising her when she goes potty outside? She needs to get a lot of praise, "good potty" or whatever you say, and treats! She should get the idea that going potty outside = fun, going potty inside = no fun.

 

[Southpaw]

I guess I'd need to see some benefits of giving them scheduled meals. Well, I know one for Lucy is the whole housebreaking thing...but after doing it this way for Molly for 9 years, I guess I don't really know why we'd change it. I hope I'm not seeming closeminded about the idea...I just don't think my mom would go for it, especially since Molly is doing just fine with how it is, y'know? And also...I should probably clarify that we don't keep the food bowls full. There is a set amount that gets put in them every morning.

Lucy is 6 months old, so you need to remember that a 6 month old doesn't poop shortly after eating like an 8 week-old.

Actually she sometimes does poop immediately after eating. When she's done eating I watch her for a little bit, and then we go outside. If we're out there for say 10 minutes and she just sits there or decides to take a nap lol, then we go back inside and I keep watching her. She does throw me off sometimes...like I remember one time where I took her outside at say 11:30, she peed, we came back in and a couple hours later she pooped...the reason I wasn't expecting it though was because she hadn't had any food since at least 10:00. *Usually*, she poops within 30 minutes of eating, or she eats and however much she just ate doesn't make her poop, but the next time she eats, she will. But there are times where she poops and it's rather unexpected, lol.

When she goes outside I give her a treat and lots of praise ("good girl, Lucy! Good potty!"). But she just doesn't seem to care that when she goes inside, she gets nothing.

I'll just keep working on it. Today was her 2nd accident free day, so at least it's a start. And tomorrow she goes to the vet at 8am to get spayed and they're keeping her overnight, so we won't have to worry about any accidents tomorrow either lol. If I can just prevent her from having accidents that's great, but I won't truly get excited until she rings that darn bell because she has to go out, that she knows she's not supposed to in the house.

 

[ihartgonzo]

I guess I'd need to see some benefits of giving them scheduled meals. Well, I know one for Lucy is the whole housebreaking thing...but after doing it this way for Molly for 9 years, I guess I don't really know why we'd change it. I hope I'm not seeming closeminded about the idea...I just don't think my mom would go for it, especially since Molly is doing just fine with how it is, y'know? And also...I should probably clarify that we don't keep the food bowls full. There is a set amount that gets put in them every morning.

Maybe Molly is doing fine with free-feeding, but Lucy obviously isn't. I think you should just ask your Mom to try it for a few weeks, it cannot hurt, it isn't especially difficult. At Obedience, we tell all owners to set specific feeding times for so so many benefits... potty training, monitoring how much the dogs are eating, respect of you as a leader, a better appetite, better digestion, etc.

Also, what is the point of even measuring out food when both dogs have access to each others kibble? Molly could be eating puppy food, and vice versa... Molly could be eating most of the food, or Lucy could!

Hrm. It takes Fozzie usually around 3 hours to digest raw, at less than 6 months, and raw takes at least half the time that kibble does but I guess every puppy is different. A schedule would definitely help you out with knowing better when she will probably need to go outside. For now, if I were you, I'd totally baby her, tether her to you or keep her babygated in the room you're in, and take her out very very frequently until she's more reliable!

 

[tinksmama]

How long does digestion take? or more to the point, sometimes Tink has to stop eating and run to the door to go out, is it the last meal she ate a few hours ago,making room for more? just curious..she's 5 1/2 months-

 

[ihartgonzo]

"How long does digestion take? or more to the point, sometimes Tink has to stop eating and run to the door to go out, is it the last meal she ate a few hours ago,making room for more? just curious..she's 5 1/2 months-"

Yes, she definitely does not digest dog food that quickly. She was probably needing to go already, and having a full tummy increased that. It varies based on the dog & the food. For Fozzie, it probably takes about 5 hours, but he will need to go potty because of a previous meal within one-two hours after eating.

 

[Mordy]

The gastric emptying time in dogs is on average 8-10 hours - this is the time it takes before the food leaves the stomach and moves on to the small intestine. The fact that they can still throw up partially undigested food from their stomachs during that time frame supports this.

I'd estimate the total amount of time it takes for the food from the mouth until waste products are excreted at around 18-20 hours. A really simple way to find out is to feed your dog a whole raw carrot. The dog will not be able to chew it into small enough pieces to be completely digested. Note down the time your dog ate the carrot and then watch for the pieces in the poop.

 

[Southpaw]

I appreciate all the suggestions.

I'm veryyy happy that today I noticed some progress, and it was VERY GOOD progress at that! When I was eating breakfast I saw Lucy go and stand by the back door, which is something she just doesn't do. She didn't ring the bell, but she barked at the door lol, and there was absolutely nothing outside so I don't really think she was barking at something...my hope is that that was her way of letting me know she was there, lol. BUt anyway...I opened the door, walked outside with her, and she immediately went in the grass and peed.

But if that's not awesome enough--she did it AGAIN! This time she didn't make any noise at the door but I saw her, so let her out--by herself. Once again, she went and peed.

So, that is a huge step in the right direction...it's the first time she's "let me know" she had to go out, it's as if she's now starting to grasp that potty outside=good and inside=bad. It just made it even more wonderful that she did it twice!