hey mamas, well i was so proud of myself for finding the "perfect" dog and going through a shelter and doing everything "right". we wondered who would abandon our wonderful eva, when she is so sweet and loving and obedient. well that lasted about two weeks. seriously. she was a perfect dog for about two weeks .now she pees on our carpet daily. several times she has pooped in my son's room. seriously. i got up with him last night and he stepped in it (she is in a crate at night, don't ask me how i didn't know it was there before bedtime) i laid in bed about two hours after that so upset. and i realized, i get home around 5 ish, and last night she went outside to play for an hour or two, then after dinner i brought her back in, maybe for an hour, tops? and i took her out before bedtime, and she pee'd. at WHAT POINT did she go in the house? she peed in the hallway last night, too, her favorite spot.
my husband works nights and weekends and so is home every day with her, and she doesn't do this during the day. i have rehashed my evening, as i said, and i have NO idea when she could have even done it, much less why she'd need to. i am convinced she is doing this as some sort of passive aggressive thing. my husband is clearly the alpha and that's fine...my son is clearly her playmate/littermate, although unless she is jealous of him or something i don't know why she'd continually poo in his room (and i might note that as far as i know his door stays shut, so i'm not even sure when she could have gotten in there) i am certain i have placed myself above her on the pecking order, we get along fine, but - unless the pooping is happening when my husband is home and we're just not realizing it - i just can't get my mind around her reasoning.
i have researched a bit and we're going to get a timer set to go off every hour, to take her out. i am also getting out the baby gate from when my son was little and blocking off everything except the livingroom and kitchen. that will help i think...but i really think there is something else going on. OH and i forgot to mention i plan to try to clean the carpets thoroughly. although i am very skeptical about getting the smell out enough so that a dog can't smell it. but we're going to try. anyone else have any tips for housebreaking an adult dog? i have to say too that when we take her out she almost always goes. she was at the vet last week and does not have any infections or illnesses...
Hang in there! She can be the perfect dog, even if you have to watch her a little more closely for a while. The crate is a great tool, use it if you cannot watch her while you are home too.
Try the enzime cleaners at pet stores, they really work!
M.
If she hasn't lived in a house before she is still learning. In a shelter they sometimes have to go in the same small area where they eat, drink and sleep, which given a choice is not something they normally do so it sometimes takes a little while to retrain them. Glad you got her checked by the vet already too! The crate at night or when no one is home is a great idea too to help remind her not to go there.
Watch for subtle signs that she may need to go when she is in the house- sniffing, whining, near the door more, circling etc. Also I agree take her out every one to two hours and always about 10-15 mins after she eats, drinks or plays. If she just wants to play outside take her out on a leash to the same area every time or if she doesn't go (but you know she should) take her out for 2 minutes, back in for 1-2 minutes and then back out again with no playtime until she goes. After she goes playtime and treats are great.
Remember when she does go outside lots of praise, playtime and/or treats depending on what she likes. Don't do anything if she goes in the house and you find it, just clean it up. A pet cleaner works best to make sure the smell and everything is else is gone. If she is going in one area most of the time, she can probably still smell it and will go there again since it smells right. I love nature's miracle, but there are several other cleaners out there.
The first two weeks she was probably adjusting to her new, wonderful life. She will learn, it just make take a couple of weeks of learning that the house is not is the potty. I know many people use a bell by the door that the dog learns to ring when want to go out. Good luck and hope she learns quickly!
Crate train her. Google it. It worked for both of our adult dogs that we adopted from a shelter. You have to teach her to respect your space by starting with her space (a crate) and working outward. Good luck.
Our dog was 6 months old when we got her. She had never been inside of a house before. She does not bark when she needs to go outside or show any sign that she needs to go. We ended up having to crate train her. Now in crate training you must take her out every hour on a leash. Then if she goes to the bathroom then be sure to praise her give her a treat if you wish. Let her in the house but keep an eye on her. Then when your timer goes off again take her back outside on her leash if she does not go to the bathroom this time then put her in her crate for the next hour. Now this does sound mean but it worked for us as well as something that sounds strange, but we got some ribbon and some large bells not cow bells but jingle bells and put them on the ribbon and tied them to the two doors that we use to go outside, our front door and our sliding glass door. Our front door is in our family room and our sliding glass door is in our kitchen. Our dog picked up quickly that she has to ring the bells to be let outside. The only room that I have problems with her is our basement it is concrete and it is almost imediatly that she goes to the bathroom when she is down there. We had to do this for about a month. Our dog is a hunting dog and came from a farmer. We are trying to make her into an inside outside dog. When we are gone for more than 8 hours then I lock her outside in her pen other wise she gets locked in her crate in the house. I am a stay at home mom and she maybe gets locked outside once or twice a month.
It is hard work and good luck.
Although when I trained my dog he was a puppy and I'm sure this may be different, we were taught at training class that you need to pick a word for phrase for your dog so that they will know what going outside to the bathroom means, and you have to use that phrase everytime. We picked 'go potty outside'. Put your dog on a leash when you want him to go outside to the bathroom. Say the phrase as you are preparing your dog to go outside, and continually say it, then when the dog goes, praise him 'good potty outside' and shower him with love. If he goes inside, just continually say "no, no, no, potty outside'. We said outside alot, so he would catch on to what outside was. It does take a lot of your time at first, but I can count on one hand how many times our dog peed in the house before he was fully trained. I'm sure your dog is just trying to 'feel his way around' and see what he can get away with. Good luck to you.
Do it the same way you would housetrain a puppy. If you cannot keep an eye on her & be in the same room with her--crate her. Watch her. If you see her start to squat, run her outside. Tell her potty goes outside. Be very strict with this though--if you can NOT keep an eye on her, crate her. She will not go in her crate. You need to catch her in the act and correct it immediately to reaffirm where she is supposed to go. Reward good behavior--praise her and give her affection when she goes outside. Good luck!
Well something that was not mentioned in other posts can be that just because she does go outside does not mean she is finished going! It can be a territory thing or just plain and simple she smells other animals in the house you can't.
I never did like the crate training just because I've had some dogs who didn't care and would go anyways. my suggestion is to leave her outside for a longer period of time so she can go multiple times. I have to do that with all three of my dogs. One a dog usually does not completely empty their bladder in one spot and two some dogs will not get all bowel movements out at one time. our alpha male will pee multiple times and poop multiple times in order to mark our yard as his.
so it could be that she isn't getting enough time to do her business at her own pace. I would suggest if it is possible to either put her on a chain or in a fenced part of the yard for when nobody is home.
I don't have anything to add in terms of potty training. But I highly recommend "Nature's Miracle" for cleaning up any accidents in the house. You can find it at any pet store. If you don't get the smell out of the carpet/floor, then they will continue to go in that spot. And they have a better sense of smell, so you have to use the special cleaner to get it clean enough so they don't smell it anymore.
Sweet, loving and obedient may mean that she's submissive which is a symptom of an emotional problem for dogs and an indication that she would be difficult if not impossible to house train. Does she roll onto her back when she sees you paying attention to her? That was the more obvious symptom that clued our vet in to calling her behavior submissive. This dog also seemed too willing to please. She seemed to accept all of us as being alpha. She easily cowered. She wasn't obedience trained and she would cower rather than come running when we called her.
My mother took her and she worked out well in her home. She didn't even have accidents and always peed and pooped outside. The main difference was in the activity level in the house. I had a school age daughter who was rambunctious and unpredictable. The dog was home alone in a crate during the day.
Your dog doesn't sound submissive but the words sweet, loving and obedient rang a bell for me.
As for the urine stains. I had my carpet professionally cleaned multiple times and treated with an enzyme. Our next dog peed and pooped in that same spot. Even tho he was house trained in the previous home he goes to and uses this spot often. Sometimes immediately after being outside and peeing there. He comes in to poop here.
We had a doggie door in the previous house and none here. It's not possible to put one in. Our dog may be reacting to not being able to go in and out on his own as well as the smell that only he can smell left from the previous dog. Other than the inside pooping issues he's a really loveable dog who does will with grandchildren.
Your husband probably sleeps during the day and she may be doing her business in an out of way spot(s) or those that you find and don't know when or how they got there may have been deposited during the day.
Your dog may be smelling something that is on the floor below the carpet that you don't now about. He may also have issues, not as serious as submissive issues, from his previous home that he's acting out in yours.
I think your plan to take him out every couple of yours, as you would with a puppy might help. However, it sounds like she is house trained since she does go when she's outside. And crating her when no one's about will help. Other than that, I don't have any suggestions. Our dog is quite old and I'm not trying again with another dog.
I would maybe look into getting a trainer to help you...it can be hard with a puppy, let alone an adult! We had a lot of luck with crate training, but if someone is home with her during the day it seems kind of cruel to put her in the crate when someone is there. As far as her pooping in your son's room, that's awful, especially that you stepped in it!!, but I'm sure she's only doing it b/c that is her favorite spot. Who knows why, but my dog had a poop spot for a long time! He's 5 now and it hasn't happened in years, but it did happen for a few years, very ocassionally.
