Hello!
New to blogging. Please bear with me.
My Pap, Madison, is 11 months old. Anyway, we are having a hard time house breaking her. We got her last October and we immediately began crate training her. We now use a puppy play pen for her when we are not home and at night. She will not go in her pen (except for the occasional accident-which is usually our fault because she is left in there too long). She goes constantly in the house. She will not give us any sort of warning that she needs to go out. We feel we have been consistent with her as far as taking her out regularly, using the same door to take her out, etc. I’m constantly finding little pee markings in the house and poop here and there. We do let her run freely in the house while we are home. One friend suggested training her to use a bell to tell us she has to go out. We tried this and she rings the bell, but so does the cat. The cat figured out that when I say “Let’s go Potty” to Maddy, she can sneak out into the backyard (which she loves). Any suggestions or ideas that anyone has tried would be greatly appreciated! I’m desperate. I’ll try just about anything at this point!
Teresa
This is a common complaint. This also starts in puppyhood. However my first Papillon was a 2 year old who never lived in a house until I brought him home. He was the best trained dog I ever owned. Often since Papillon puppies or toy sized puppies pee just a little bit people will let it go. By doing this they are teaching their dog that the house is their own personal urinal. By the time they are adults the floors of the home have the smell of urine and this causes the dog to return to these areas.
Clean your carpets well with a product that helps with pet smells. Use a bleach or Odoban mixture with your mop on vinyl or tile. Or Vinegar can also be used.
Your dog has also proven she doesn’t want to poo where she sleeps. Therefore it means you are giving her to large of an area to roam your house and more importantly if you are finding ‘it’ around the house you are not watching her every moment she is free. If your dog is lose and you are involved on the phone, the internet, entertaining, engrossed in TV your not giving your dog one on one attention. Put her up! If you want her with you than put her on a buckle collar and leash then attach it to your waist or belt loop. That way when she starts to go potty… YOU know it and can get her outside. If you catch her in the act show her the spot and verbally scold her. Do not scold her just because you walked into the room and found a pee spot. Her attention span is not that long and she will have no idea what she is in trouble for. Never rub their nose in “it”. That just teaches them they don’t like poo on their nose.
Reward is important. Don’t just throw her in the backyard to go do her business. You go with her. Praise her for pottying in the right place, keep her on track. No play until she has done her deed. Then after wards take her into the house for one on one. If she refuses to go outside, then she gets a free ticket to reside in her x-pen and you try again in a bit to take her outside. No poo & pee outside means no free territory in the house! Also if your free feeding her stop. Feed once or maybe twice a day, if she doesn’t eat pick it up. Free feeding leaves stool in the gut at all times, meaning they are going to go more often. If she misses a couple of meals she will be hungry and learn to eat when food is offered.
I would suggest taking her to an accredited pet obedience school for some personal training and face to face advice. I am not a petsmart fan with often times teachers who may have never titled their dogs in obedience or have real lack of experience and the students navigating store isles and pulling dogs around on slippery tile floors.