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Thu 20 Jul, 2006 10:26 am
Ok...I'm about to go insane here. I have a 6 mo. old Australian Shepherd...supposed to be one of the smartest dogs you can buy right now. Either mine is broken or I really don't know what the hell I'm doing. I have never in my life seen a dog that Just-Doesn't-Get-It like this dog does. I have tried everything to get this dog to go to the bathroom outside on his own.
Here are some of the training techniques I have used to get this dog to potty outside:
1. I go out almost every hour or two to let him out and I tell him to "Go Potty." Nine times out of ten this works. Then when he finishes I tell him, "Good Boy!" and give him a treat.
2. When I catch him in the act of pottying on the carpet I yell, "NO!" and clap my hands together to startle him, then I take him outside. If I don't catch him in the act then I just clean it up.
Those are the two major things I do to try and get him to understand that his potty is outside. Some of the things he is doing that is driving me crazy are:
1. The door will be wide open to the backyard and I will be standing right at the door and he will poop or pee on the mat INSIDE the kitchen right by the door to the outside, even though when I take him out to go potty he always does it on the grass. For some reason when he has the complete freedom to do it on his own and I am not commanding him to potty he can't do it outside.
2. He will not let us know when he has to go. The most he does is walk over to the door and stare at it. That means I have to be watching him 24/7 where ever he goes to make sure he doesn't do it on the carpet.
PLEASE HELP ME!!!!
It seems that you have inadvertently trained him to wait for you to take him outside to do his business. Do you actually carry him out?
Get a cage just big enough for him to lie down in. He won't poop or pee in his personal space. He'll let you know when he wants out of there, then take him outside. Pretty soon he'll figure it out.
How often is he going in the house? Every day? 3 times a day? Once a week?
What exactly are you doing when he does it (always watching tv, cooking, standing at door)? He isn't hiding it from you so you are doing the right thing when he does accident but obviously we need to figure out what's causing this block between jhis peeing in house and out of house.
Does he make it though the night? This is important because if not, then his bladder and bowels might not be 100% formed yet which would cause him to not be able to hold it yet. Some dogs are still having this problem at 6 months. It might also be medical if he can't hold it through the night. Are you crating him at night? If so, and he makes it, you know he can. So the problem is behavior.
Do you take him to the same spot every time? Sometimes, that helps a dog recognize why they are out there. "Oh yeah, I gotta poop!"
As for letting you know, my dog does pretty much the same thing. Stare at the door or me. You just need to get to know the subtle signals. It takes a long time. My dog only whines when she really has to go bad.
Do you have a means to put him out there alone (while you watch from a window or something) - like a long leash or something? Just put him out there after meals, every 2 hours or so and let him sniff around. He might have it in his head that you have to be there or he can't go. Dogs get weird ideas sometimes.
That cage advice by the way is from a professional dog trainer. Many dogs will develop an affection for their cage and prefer to sleep in it, sometimes for the rest of their lives.
My dog knows "Go to your bed" means go to your crate and she does without trouble.
"Go to bed" means go upstairs and get on MY bed.
Bella Dea wrote:How often is he going in the house? Every day? 3 times a day? Once a week?
What exactly are you doing when he does it (always watching tv, cooking, standing at door)? He isn't hiding it from you so you are doing the right thing when he does accident but obviously we need to figure out what's causing this block between jhis peeing in house and out of house.
Does he make it though the night? This is important because if not, then his bladder and bowels might not be 100% formed yet which would cause him to not be able to hold it yet. Some dogs are still having this problem at 6 months. It might also be medical if he can't hold it through the night. Are you crating him at night? If so, and he makes it, you know he can. So the problem is behavior.
Do you take him to the same spot every time? Sometimes, that helps a dog recognize why they are out there. "Oh yeah, I gotta poop!"
As for letting you know, my dog does pretty much the same thing. Stare at the door or me. You just need to get to know the subtle signals. It takes a long time. My dog only whines when she really has to go bad.
Do you have a means to put him out there alone (while you watch from a window or something) - like a long leash or something? Just put him out there after meals, every 2 hours or so and let him sniff around. He might have it in his head that you have to be there or he can't go. Dogs get weird ideas sometimes.
We were crating him at night and he was able to hold it. We would have to get up several times during the night to take him out but now he is over that. We aren't crating him right now because he out grew it and we aren't able to afford a new one right now. He is able to hold it all night now and will jump on the bed when he needs us to get up. Sometime hes already gone in the house sometimes he hasn't. It's gotten down to about once a day to once everyother day he will go in the house. We just moved into a new place and so far he has peed once inside but it was in the kitchen. Usually I will be watching tv or cooking when I catch him peeing inside. I talked to a proffessional trainer who comes to your house to check out the living situation so I might need to go to him next.
Bella Dea wrote:How often is he going in the house? Every day? 3 times a day? Once a week?
What exactly are you doing when he does it (always watching tv, cooking, standing at door)? He isn't hiding it from you so you are doing the right thing when he does accident but obviously we need to figure out what's causing this block between jhis peeing in house and out of house.
Does he make it though the night? This is important because if not, then his bladder and bowels might not be 100% formed yet which would cause him to not be able to hold it yet. Some dogs are still having this problem at 6 months. It might also be medical if he can't hold it through the night. Are you crating him at night? If so, and he makes it, you know he can. So the problem is behavior.
Do you take him to the same spot every time? Sometimes, that helps a dog recognize why they are out there. "Oh yeah, I gotta poop!"
As for letting you know, my dog does pretty much the same thing. Stare at the door or me. You just need to get to know the subtle signals. It takes a long time. My dog only whines when she really has to go bad.
Do you have a means to put him out there alone (while you watch from a window or something) - like a long leash or something? Just put him out there after meals, every 2 hours or so and let him sniff around. He might have it in his head that you have to be there or he can't go. Dogs get weird ideas sometimes.
We were crating him at night and he was able to hold it. We would have to get up several times during the night to take him out but now he is over that. We aren't crating him right now because he out grew it and we aren't able to afford a new one right now. He is able to hold it all night now and will jump on the bed when he needs us to get up. Sometime hes already gone in the house sometimes he hasn't. It's gotten down to about once a day to once everyother day he will go in the house. We just moved into a new place and so far he has peed once inside but it was in the kitchen. Usually I will be watching tv or cooking when I catch him peeing inside. I talked to a proffessional trainer who comes to your house to check out the living situation so I might need to go to him next.
kitkat_bar wrote: We just moved into a new place and so far he has peed once inside but it was in the kitchen. Usually I will be watching tv or cooking when I catch him peeing inside. I talked to a proffessional trainer who comes to your house to check out the living situation so I might need to go to him next.
AH HA! Here is your answer. You moved him. Dogs can pee, poop, eat things do whatever, when you uproot them. He might have just begun to get used to his new home when you moved him again.
My advice before spending the money on a trainer is to start potty training from the beginning. He needs to relearn that THIS house is not ok to pee in.
Ebay might have some used crates to purchase at a lower cost to you.
Good luck
I'm sorry, but it's not really potty training, right? It's called house breaking/training.
That's it, littlek. The puppy is confused.
New house, yep. Try spending the weekend walking out with him to the spot you want him to use. Tell him to go potty. Praise him. Take him back in and give him a treat. Put him on a leash to take him to his spot if he won't follow you.
He is a smart breed. That's what we had on the ranch growing up. Love to work cattle and eager to please. Use that to your advantage and be patient.
One last bit of advice. When yu buy a crate, don't get the cage kind. Boys pee right through it. We learned that the hard way with our current pup.
One other thing, don't rush him. Sometimes it takes time between both orders of business....
I used a leash on my lab....took her outside every couple of hours..on the leash. She'd do her first order of business and start to head back in, I'd walk her...even if it was in a circle...she'd finish her business, and the praise would begin.
It seemed that the walking helped.....the leash, and much patiences...
I just tell my lab cross to go pee and she heads for the door, goes outside and pees. If I tell her to do it. She does the other. If she doesn't have to go, she will just look at me and go lie down. Then again, I spent some time with her after getting her from the pound 8 years ago when she was about 1½ years of age. She knows a couple hundred voice commands and several hand signals. The grandkids can take food right out of her mouth etc.
In other words, with patience any animal can be taught to do exactly what you want them to do.
I agree that the move may have been part of the problem. It could be anxiety. You have received several good tips.
littlek wrote:I'm sorry, but it's not really potty training, right? It's called house breaking/training.
Oh so is that why he isn't using the toilet?? Man...I really have it all wrong!
Squinney- I can understand why he is going in a new place, but what is his excuse for living at the old place for 4 months?
He's still a puppy, Kit Kat.
It could take 2 years before he's fully mature, and reliably trained.
I'd definitely consider getting him a crate that fits before spending money on a trainer. This is something you can do yourself, especially with such a smart breed.
How much exercise is he getting on a daily basis? He needs a fair bit of activity/dog work to keep him busy and focussed on what he needs to do. He's not a good breed to allow boredom with.
ehBeth wrote:He's still a puppy, Kit Kat.
It could take 2 years before he's fully mature, and reliably trained.
I'd definitely consider getting him a crate that fits before spending money on a trainer. This is something you can do yourself, especially with such a smart breed.
How much exercise is he getting on a daily basis? He needs a fair bit of activity/dog work to keep him busy and focussed on what he needs to do. He's not a good breed to allow boredom with.
We take him to the dog park practically everyday for an hour or so. The real problem I think with him not going outside is that he for some reason is EXTREAMLY dependent and has some sort of seperation anxiety. He seems to only want to go when I am right there at the door otherwise he will go near where I am sitting. He doesn't seem to want any kind of independence at all and will follow me wherever I go.
What I am thinking about doing is starting him off at the door to the out side and say "go potty" and progressivly start farther and farther away from the door so that he knows no matter where I am in the house, if he has to go I will still be there when he gets back.
Don't let your dog see you clean up after him. When Puppies are still being weened, the mother consumes their feces or pushes them away so as to clean the area. At this time there is no training for the pups and the mother lets them go as they please -- so when they see you clean up after them, you put yourself in the same role, and put them in one where it doesn't matter where they go.
Maybe putting some puppy mats by the door and moving them outside after a few days would work.
Bell training works well for smart, stubborn dogs. Hang a bell near the door. bring the dog over, ring it and give him a treat. Repeat this a few times. Do this a few times by lifting his paw to ring the bell.
Then do the same thing and take him outside, tell him to go and give another treat. Repeat over the course of the day.
If he ever rings the bell, immediately go outside for potty time.
Eventually he will catch on and ring the bell when he has to go.
I hope some of this helped.
Anubisesss wrote:Don't let your dog see you clean up after him. When Puppies are still being weened, the mother consumes their feces or pushes them away so as to clean the area. At this time there is no training for the pups and the mother lets them go as they please -- so when they see you clean up after them, you put yourself in the same role, and put them in one where it doesn't matter where they go.
Maybe putting some puppy mats by the door and moving them outside after a few days would work.
Bell training works well for smart, stubborn dogs. Hang a bell near the door. bring the dog over, ring it and give him a treat. Repeat this a few times. Do this a few times by lifting his paw to ring the bell.
Then do the same thing and take him outside, tell him to go and give another treat. Repeat over the course of the day.
If he ever rings the bell, immediately go outside for potty time.
Eventually he will catch on and ring the bell when he has to go.
I hope some of this helped.
Ooooo...this is a really cool and great idea. Fortunatly though we installed a doggie door and that seems to be working tremendously. I was afraid at first he would be scared of the door but he caught on quite quickly. He's been potty free in the house for a week now. We can leave and trust him to go out side to potty. He doesn't need me to be there with him anymore and I can hear him going through the door while I am upstairs. The next thing I need to do is get him to stop eating cat poop and stop going through the trash.
You can buy pills or liquid (can't remember which) to stop the dogs from eating the poop.
And the trash...all I can say is put it somewhere he can't get it. Or get a lid he can't get off.
I am very glad to hear that you and your pup are doing so well! Remember to be the boss and you should have a happy, healthy puppy as well as a sane home!
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