House trained rescue dog won’t use the potty in the backyard

[BRIAN KEANE]

Hi everyone!

we have a new rescue from the streets of Mexico. He’s wonderful with the kids and super smart! One weird thing is that he will only poop on walks. We have a huge yard with lots of wild life and scents (we even kept his poop from a walk and planted it in the yard) but he refuses to poop in the yard. He’s obviously needing to go and scratching to be let out the front door, but I am not always able to take him on a walk when he needs to potty so we need to help him go in the backyard.

Any tips on how we can help him?

Rachel

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi Brian, welcome to the forums!

How lovely that you rescued a street dog from Mexico, what a lucky fellow! I am glad to hear that he's great around the kids and super smart. 

The behavior of pooping only on walks isn't that unusual in a street dog. If we think about, these dogs are used to having access to lots of space and may wander from one area to another.

I have studied the behavior of some street dogs on some remote islands in Italy, and they often don't poop around the town (where they are fed and sleep), but go to more remote areas where other dogs poop. Their territories are quire large!

It may take some persuasion to get these dogs used to using a yard to poop if they have a history of wandering a lot for most of their lives, but we can surely take some steps to make the process a little easier. 

It's important to use some strategies that are effective, but without using the 'tough luck" approach, where the dog is kept in the yard until he poops, which can cause significant discomfort, especially if a dog is really determined to hold it for as long as he can. 

Here are some tips/ideas that come to mind:

-Check Your Dog's Substrate Preference

Many dogs develop a substrate preference (a preferred surface on which to eliminate) and seek this substrate out when they need to poop. So when your dog poops on walks, pay attention where your dog poops. Is your dog going mostly on grass, gravel, leaves, sand, cement? If you notice a pattern, try to see if you can recreate this surface in the yard. 

-Place Poop in the Yard

I see that you have already tried to place his poop in the yard, and it appears to have not worked well. What if we place though some poop from other dogs. This may be gross, but if you have a friend with a dog who is healthy and regularly dewormed, it may be worth a try. 

As you may already know, dogs use their pee and poop as business cards to advertise their age, sex, diet and territories, so it may happen that upon detect a foreign dog's poop, your dog may find a little more incentive to poop in the yard. 

-Change the Routine 

Some dogs can sometimes get stuck on a routine. For example, if you walk your dog every day at 8AM and 4PM and your dog poops at those times in the same exact spot, this can soon become an ingrained habit. So this tip is if your dog is always pooping approximately at the same times each days and in the same place.

It may therefore help to shift things around and start changing the routine and places your dog is walked. For example, rather than walking your dog at 4 PM  (if that's the time he usually poops on walks), try moving it closer to 4:30 and then walk your dog in a different area from where he poops. 

The goals of this are twofold: letting him learn to poop in different areas, or even better, letting him hold it until he can no longer take it and then letting him go to the yard. 

In the first case, letting him poop in a different area can help him generalize his behavior so that he starts learning to poop in different places, which is a step forward compared to a dog who sticks to the same area.  If he poops in a new place, it's worth it to praise and reward him for a treat. 

If he doesn't poop on the walk to different place, hopefully, by the time you head home, the need to poop has grown impellent enough that he'll poop on the way back closer to home, or even better, in the yard.  If he does, praise and reward with a treat you have kept in your pocket. 

Play Fetch in the Yard 

Walking and running stimulates a dog's colon which helps trigger a dog to poop. My female Rottweiler was very sensitive to this. Every time I walked her, she would poop up to three times on a walks, but if the weather was bad and she stayed at home, she would poop only once.

Getting your dog to play fetch can sometimes provide enough exercise to stimulate the dog to poop.  If you notice him at some point, wandering away from the game, let him be, as that may be a sign he needs to poop! Be ready to praise lavishly and reward with some treats from your pocket (always keep them handy!). 

-Long Walks in the Yard 

Try to walk your dog repeatedly on leash in the yard back and forth allowing him to sniff around. Aim to stay out for 10 minutes and then take your dog back inside. Watch him very carefully when indoors as he may have an accident in the house. 

Then take him out again, rinsing and repeated as often as necessary. If your dog eventually goes, praise, reward again and then unleash him to go explore in the yard, or take him on walk-anything he loves to leave a long-lasting impression. 

-Train a Go Potty Cue 

Here is how to train it: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/advanced-potty-training/potty-on-command/

Use it on walks for the time being just so that your dog knows what it means and makes the association between the word, going potty and the praise and rewards. Do this all the time and aim for getting your dog to poop in different areas on walks.

Then play with your dog in the yard, walk him nearby the house back and forth, then in the yard and start saying the "go potty cue" in hopes of him understanding what is being asked.

If he goes then take him on a walk so that he knows great things happen after he poops and doesn't fall into the mindset of "the longer I keep it, the longer the walk."

This may take a while to master, especially in a street dog who was used to just go where and when he wanted, so be patient. 

I hope this helps,

Happy Training!

Best,

Adrienne 

 

[BRIAN KEANE]

wow thanks so much for this!!

We will try all of these things for sure.  He's definitely getting way more comfortable in the yard and shows no hesitation or fear about being in certain parts like he used to.  In the meantime we have established trust and happy memories in the yard as well as a good association with the leash.  Just getting through that first week of culture shock was huge!  I will add the "got potty" word when he poops on his walks and see where it goes.  Right now his poop schedule is pretty different each day already - different patches of greenery by a sidewalk (his preferred terrain 🙂 ) each day at different times on our schedule walks.

Thanks again and we will be in touch more if other stray-specific issues come up.  

[Adrienne Farricelli]

You're very welcome,

You're doing a wonderful job considering how comfortable he's getting in the yard already. Keep up the great work!

Keep us posted on how things go!