My Puppy Is Disgusting

[Aggie_Ama]

Jens is the worst puppy ever, he is now four months but not showing improvement. I love him to bits but I think my husband is at his wits end. He is practically impossible to potty train.

1. In the morning he won't wake but he will whine with the alarm. When I take him out he reeks of urine. I don't know if the alarm is making him pee or he is just peeing on himself. He is kenneled at night.
2. He will be outside for 30 minutes then poop or pee on the floor. We have tried praising him outside but he will just want to play.
3. We kennel Heidi (10 years) and him while we are at work in a laundry room. It is small but big for Schnauzers. We come home, Heidi is in her bed because Jens has peed and pooped all over the room. The fact that he can't hold it isn't the bad part, he seems to play in it!

What should we try? What worked on Heidi isn't working with Jens.

[Rebekah H]

If you have any luck with any suggestions that are offered, please let me know. I have a five month old Basset Hound, MudFlap, who is the sweetest little girl ever, but quite possibly the dumbest, hardest to train dog I've ever had. She pees on everything, poops after I've had her out for a while, and doesn't seem to be able to learn "stay" to save her life. She's super lucky she's so dang adorable. LOL

[jessmarimba]

I know nothing about training dogs. But I've managed to get one cat to learn things like "sit" and "lay" while the other one will claw my fingers off if I'm holding a treat to teach her anything.

My coworker's dog has managed to (finally!) learn his bathroom habits but peed on the floor for MONTHS at our office...and knows absolutely no commands. I'd guess some just need more patience, and some might never learn.

[marni]

talk with your vet and make sure there are no medical issues. He/she might also have some good ideas about training or perhaps can supply the name of a behavioral trainer.

I have a little rescue corgie who has the memory span of a gold fish and cannot learn sit, stay, or no bark, While she does ocassionally miss the brass and pee on the edge of the porch, at least she is basically toilet trained.

Marni

[badger]

My heart goes out to you. I fostered 2 puppies and one adult who weren't house broken and I know how exhausting and frustrating it is to always be cleaning up after them. The only difference is that I knew they were temporary, whereas with you it's for the long haul.

I'm sure there are other TE ladies with loads of puppy experience who can impart more wisdom. I hope things go well for you.

[Trek-chick]

My Lab only had one accident in the house as a pup and it was my fault. I took her out ALL the time. At least every few hours and after eating, drinking, playing and through the night I would wake up and make her go out.

Another option may be to let the puppy be around another dog and watch that dog do it's business outside. I think dogs learn best from other dogs anyway.

[rubysoho]

I have had great luck with routine. I have raised two puppies with each only having 1 or 2 accidents in the house, ever. Essentially I have set times for food and water and I don't vary from that. First thing in the AM - out for a walk. Eat, drink as much water as pup wants. Out for another walk before I go to work. Crate while I am at work. Come home at lunch. Immediately take outside for poop/pee. Puppy eats (I feed three times a day when they are under 6 months of age) and offer water again. Walk and back into crate before I head to work. Come home, walk pup immediately. Dinner is always offered around 6pm along with as much water as pup wants. No food or water after 8 or 9pm. Walking immediately after dinner and again thirty minutes later. I take them out every hour when I am home. If they can't make the hour I go out every half hour. Basically I want to get the pup outside before they have a chance to go in the house. If pup is super small (like my second pup) I will get up in the middle of the night to offer a quick pee/poo but I *do not* play with pup at this time.

It is all about getting the pup outdoors before the urge strikes them. Play time excites them and with that comes the urge to potty. Same with food, new people, etc...

I like crate training for multiple reasons. First, a well crate trained dog is going to be less stressed if ever there is an emergency situation that requires crating. Or if ever needed to be crated at a vet, etc... Second, the smaller space (pup/dog should be able to get up, turn around, stand without crouching - but not enough space for playin) discourages the pup/dog from pottying. However it is important to be able to get them out of the crate enough before an accident because you don't want them getting used to being in their own pee/poo. Since your pup is playing in it, you might already have this problem. But if you aren't opposed to crate training then it is worth a shot.

Anyway, good luck! It is super frustrating and very taxing on a relationship so hopefully the pup will grow out of this soon.

[Biciclista]

my best buddy is a dog trainer. this is what she said:
1. he is a he, male puppies are completely different when house breaking. Generally they can't hold it as long as females.
2. He is FOUR months old. At this age I am taking my puppy out every 2 hours MAXIMUM.
3. I do not expect an potty "alert" from a dog this age, that's MY job.
4. He can NOT go all night without having to go out.
5. Is he being taken out on lead? Don't even get me started there. If he doesn't do business you take him back in the house and crate him for 5 minutes, then you go back out on lead, repeat repeat repeat until you have success.
6. Get professional help on how to house break a dog.
7. This is not the dogs fault. He's been screwing up for months now because they set him up to fail.
8. I'm stopping now because I'm feeling really sorry for the dog.....

Puppies are not for the faint of heart, they are like having a 2 year kid....forever.

[PamNY]

+1 on everything Mimi said.

The puppy is NOT disgusting -- he is untrained. A medical checkup is the first order of business here, to rule out physical causes.

Second, you must take seriously how long he is capable of holding urine at his age. Nothing you do will change the physical reality of his body.

Good luck -- I know it's frustrating. But it's not the dog's fault.

[grey]

I've housebroken a few, seeing as I get strays and castoffs all the time. Housebreak them, teach them some basic manners (my dogs help with all of this), then find them homes. It is NO FUN. But great once they get it!

Anyway. Your pup is four months, he may not be able to hold it very long yet. He may need to go out every hour for a while, once you see that's ok, then start extending the time by 30 minutes. Zoe, our 18 month old, was really slow in this regard. We got to 4 hours and that was the limit for a while. She wasn't allowed back in until business was done (winter helps with this, a short haired dog will want back in!). My husband is a night owl, he'd take her out at midnight, then I'd get up at 5 am to get her outside again. This also helps with the crate never getting soiled.

I *think* the hard part for you is, you both work outside the home. I work from home, most of the time, so my dogs have the easy life. For the first week I have a new dog around, especially a pup, I have them leashed to me, or in the same room with me. ANY sign of an incident about to occur, and they get told "no, not here" - scooped up and taken outside and told "ok, go potty" in an upbeat voice. I never yell, or spank.

We also cut off water access after 10pm. It's not a problem anymore, so free access is always there again now, it was just during potty training.

When we left home, and Zoe was at an age where we no longer felt the need to crate her, she would be left in the kitchen/dining area with our oldest, Stu, who really hates it when a mess is made on the floor. We would leave a limited amount of water out then also. Again, now there's a huge bowl that's always available. Once they "get it" it's smooth sailing from there.

[pumpkinpony]

my best buddy is a dog trainer. this is what she said:

5. Is he being taken out on lead? Don't even get me started there. If he doesn't do business you take him back in the house and crate him for 5 minutes, then you go back out on lead, repeat repeat repeat until you have success.
Puppies are not for the faint of heart, they are like having a 2 year kid....forever.

Good advice. If he doesn't go while he's outside, crate him as soon as you come in. In addition, a technique I've seen used that works well is 'tethering' the dog to you at all times. Don't give him free run of the house.

Here's one website for some basic training techniques, and one of them talks about the tethering.
http://www.shirleychong.com/index.html

[smilingcat]

Everything mimi said, and don't give up. My partner has had dogs in the past and they took a very long time to learn. Longest was 6 month. He was a slow learner in everything.

My discussion with her regarding your dog:

Take him out ON A LEASH every two hours or so.

Thing to realize is that HE IS GETTING DISTRACTED WITH PLAY and forgets why he is out there. If he gets distracted with play, bring him back in crate him for 5 minutes then take him out again. Repeat until he does his business.

And lastly, you may just have a slow learner. Just like people some catches on really fast, some take time.

[Trek-chick]

....another thing I forgot to mention. It seemed to me that taking the dog on a leashed walk, around the block, helped a lot.

They smell all the wonderful things dogs can smell and even my female dog, to this day, needs to lay down her scent. I have even seen her lift her leg to pee on a tree trunk. LOL

It definitely helped with doing #2 also--something about walking got her bowels to let loose. This also seemed to help with our Airedale, who was extremely picky about where and when she went to the bathroom

Patience is needed at this stage in a puppy's life.

[badger]

puppies really aren't for the faint of heart, for sure. This is why I adopted an older dog and will adopt another one when the time is right. Plus, their energy exhausts me!


Aggie (oops, wrong person!), I really do hope that you can get help for your little guy. If you're not happy, he's not happy, and then it's a vicious cycle.

[Rebekah H]

MudFlap is a super sweetpea. I did my research before getting a Basset and everything I read said that they are really hard to housebreak. That, combined with the fact that hounds take longer to mature means that I know that I have to be verrrry patient with her and know that house training will come on her schedule, ultimately. She's so awesome otherwise, she doesn't get into things she's not supposed to, she sleeps through the night, and she doesn't bark unless she's playing. Love. Her.