Potty training adult rescue dog

[ERIC CROSBY]

We have a 4 year old Pomeranian rescue dog who will go in and out of the doggie door when ordered but not when she needs to potty. Also she will pee outside then poop inside soon after. We have tried to give her treats when she poos outside, but we haven't gotten her connected with the idea of doing business outside on her own.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi Eric,

Welcome to the forums!

With these rescued dogs, potty training may feel like watching paint dry because they have deeply inculcated habits and we don't know their past histories so things tend to progress slowly. We can though take some steps to expedite the process. 

Last Pom I worked on for potty training, it took about 3 months to see some success to undo all the learned habits. Poms, being spitz-like dogs, also have an independent streak (not to be confused with being stubborn) and this can put a bit of a dent in the process compared to other more biddable dogs. 

So here are some observations based on the following information provided:

"We have a 4 year old Pomeranian rescue dog who will go in and out of the doggie door when ordered but not when she needs to potty. Also she will pee outside then poop inside soon after. We have tried to give her treats when she poos outside, but we haven't gotten her connected with the idea of doing business outside on her own."

While doggy doors offer the advantage of having dogs take their elimination habits into their own hands, taking away the human from the “go out” equation, they have several disadvantages. Luckily, one of them (the fear of going through it) seems to not apply to your Pom, which is a big plus. 

The disadvantages of using a doggy door when potty training include two main issues:

1. Not always being able to go out with the dog when they potty
2. Not following a potty schedule
3. The dog getting distracted

Let's take a closer look into these:

1) With a doggy door, a dog decides to go in and out as she pleases, so we likely aren't always able to go out with them. This puts a dent into potty training, considering that we don't know if the dog is "empty" before coming back inside. 

I see that you have tried giving her treats when she is outside, but with a doggy door most likely she goes out on her own many times and doesn't receive consistent positive feedback. The feedback needs to be really, really consistent for things to kick in, especially in a breed like a Pom.

2) One of the most effective strategies of potty training is keeping the dog on a feeding and pottying schedule. With adult dogs, two scheduled meals a day (evenly spread apart such as breakfast at 8AM and dinner at 9 AM) help pave the path towards scheduled potty trips.

Most adult dogs poop anywhere between 2-4 times a day so we may want to give them several opportunities to poop and keep track of when they go.

Writing down these times can help so that we can take our dogs out around that time or even a few minutes earlier.  When they successfully pee and poop outside, we can praise them and give a treat, and afterwards being "empty" grants them more freedom around the house, at least until we expect their next potty trip. As we get closer to their next potty trip though, we need to increase our vigilance. 

A doggy door prevents us from strictly following a potty schedule. 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/housetraining-schedule/

3) When a dog goes outside on their own, it's easy for them to get distracted. There are many things to sniff, enticing sights and sounds and room to romp. It's easy for them to forget about going potty when out and unfortunately, remember only once back inside, which leads to indoor accidents.

A doggy door therefore prevents us from taking the dog on leash outside directly to their potty area. Once they go potty, then we can praise/reward with a treat and then further reward by letting them off leash to explore/stretch their legs. 

So the bottom line is that, you really need to fully potty train a dog before expecting a doggie door to be used reliably. I wouldn't suggest using a doggy door until the dog is 100 percent potty trained with a history of no indoor accidents for at least 6 to 8 weeks straight.

Here are some helpful reads:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/7-secret-potty-training-strategies/

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/potty-on-command/

Hope this helps,

Let me know if you have any questions/concerns,

Happy training!

Best,

Adrienne