House Breaking

Good for Baby Bella and her faithful friends.

Good grief, if Bailey does not learn to potty outside soon I am going to lose my mind!

Took him out at lunch today. He peed. We go back inside. He poops.



Why??????

He doesn't always do this. But sometimes he does. So I don't know what I am doing wrong.

I am at my wits end. It isn't a little puppy pile anymore. It's a 30 lb dog pile. And it STINKS.

We watch him, we take him out frequently. But sometimes he just runs poops before we can even get up to stop him.

And on another note....


We are moving soon and he and Zoe will be home alone for about 8-9 hours without access to the outside to potty. I can't leave him crated for this long so they will have full range of the basement (it's not finished). I plan on getting a carpet remenant to put down and some cozy doggie beds. They'll have their toys and lots of room to play. I planned on giving them food and water in the morning, letting them out to pee and poo and then withholding food and water while we're gone, giving it back to them at dinner time. That way, they aren't eating and drinking all day and having to pee and poop all the time.

Is this unreasonable?

What do other people who have more than one dog do all day while they are at work?

I just know Bailey is going to poop and pee all over the place the first couple times, maybe weeks. That's why I am utilitzing the basement. Easy clean up.

But this is driving me insane!

He's 15 weeks old...shouldn't that be old enough to only have occasional accidents?

Some dogs take longer to get house broken, Bella, so be patient.
The basement idea sounds very nice for them, however, you need to
leave water out for them to drink. 8 to 9 hours without water is not good,
especially when they play or run around in the basement.

You can buy one of these water dispensers, they're nice to have when
you're gone all day long.

Question: Do you walk the dogs together in the morning? If yes, what
do you do when Zoe does her business? Do you praise her, so Bailey can
see and learn?

I really think, it's just the old boy/girl thing - girl dogs are just smarter and
get house broken faster

They almost always go out together but I don't praise Zoe any more. Maybe I should start praising her too?

Hm. That's an idea.

Man oh man oh man oh man.

He hasn't peed in the house for about a week now. But almost every day now, he has pooped.

What am I doing wrong?

Last night, in the middle of the night, he pooped in our bedroom. He's been sleeping on our bed with us for about a month now, with ZERO accidents at night. And suddenly, now our bedroom becomes his toilet too.

To top it off, at 3am I am up cleaning up doggie do-prints. Nothing like stepping in crap and running through the house.

I find that when i break into a house, it's best not to have any pets along with me, it's just too much distraction.

I really think you need to hire a dog walker/trainer. 8-9 hours is a long time for a young dog to be cooped up, and he will never learn the outdoors is where the poop belongs without supervision.

I agree with CJ about the water, they could end up with bladder problems.

I had to come back and update you all on this.

I FINALLY figured out what was going on with Bailey. Literally only 4 months ago. He was diagnosed with Separation Anxiety. No crate for him. It was making him worse. So we got him on meds and we doggie proofed the kitchen and blocked them in there and I kid you not, there's been maybe 3 accidents since then. It's a miracle! Poor dog...he was probably feeling all twisted in knots all the time and everyone yelling at him made things worse.

He will still occasionally pee/poop in the house if there are people over and he feels like he is not being paid attention to. It's like he thinks 'oh i have to pee....but where is mom? What do I do? What do I do?' and he panics and pees. Or if he needs to go out and whines for a minute but you don't let him out right away he panics and sprinkles. Not pee, really, just a little sprinkle trail.

But since getting him on the meds the difference is amazing. We were never able to come straight at him and pet his head. Or pet his back if he couldn't see us. But now we can! And I can almost get his nails clipped without a fight.

Seriously, he is a completely different dog!! My life is so much easier now without the pee and poop, and SO MUCH CLEANER!

That's interesting, Bella.
We got a young dog from the local animal shelter last August and she's (Lilly) only semi housebroken too. Lilly was never properly trained. We walk her a lot and in between she goes for a quick potty stop outside, but in addition to all that Lilly still urinates in the house too. Not every day, but enough to have ruined the carpet. Maybe she suffers from separation anxiety as well. I have to check that out..

How did the vet diagnose the separation anxiety, Bella?

They do it based on symptoms.

destructive behavior
chewing, scratching around doors and windows in attempt to "escape"
house soiling
distress vocalization
reduced activity level
depression
loss of appetite
ritualized pacing
aggression when the owner leaves (mouthing, growling, nipping, or body blocking)
excessive grooming
diarrhea/ vomiting
panting / salivation
over-attachment when the owner is home including excessive following behavior, anxious behaviors associated with signals that the owner is preparing to depart, and exuberant greetings.

Sounds like Wally.

Thank you, Bella!

Lilly has none of these symptoms, so it's just a matter of training her and
be more patient and hopeful.

The only way we were able to get our dog, Bandit, (adopted) from peeing in the house while we were gone, chewing, scratching, was to bring the cats in the bedroom with him, close the door. It helped, he likes his cats. Never could put him in a crate, he once about ripped his nose trying to get out.

Maybe Boomer will give you the scrip Bailey is on. And leave Wally out of the crate next time you leave.

We don't crate, Pemerson, and we don't have a cat either. Maybe we should
get a cat, but with my luck they'd both pee on the carpet.

Some of that sounds like all corgis - and some not.
Interesting, Bella.

you cant do that! he will wander off.

and I KNOW he does not have any tags.

yeah, but if you leave some power tools and pieces of wood laying around, he'll start poking around at them, and it's easy enough to throw a net over him.

ya just gotta watch he doesn't get too tangled up, or he starts howling.