Re-potty Training Inside

[VivekaFerrell]

Hello,  I am trying to get my fur baby to go potty on one of those automated pads that sweep away the business after the dog is finished but with no success.  I have a Yorkshire Terrier and she has resorted back to doing her business anywhere she wants in the house.  When she does go into the bathroom she only uses the old (new) potty pads.  However, those spill on to the floor.  The new pads are cleaner and slightly raised off the floor so there is no leakage.  So far I have only been successful in getting her to stand on the new pad but she will not do her business there.  Should I put her back in her crate after all this time out to get her to do her business on the new pad or what?  Do you have any tips on how to get her to transition to the new pad?  I am tired of cleaning up behind her and she is so small that I don’t find her business until it has dried sometimes.  Not to mention the house is beginning to have a unpleasant smell.  Yuck!  Any advice?

Viveka Ferrell

[Adrienne]

 

Hello, welcome to the forums,

While these self-cleaning pad machines seem like a brilliant invention, they were more crafted with humans in mind than dogs. With the focus more on creating a convenient way for us humans to discard messes, dogs were therefore left a little bit on the back burner so to say.

 

As if using regular pee pads wasn't difficult enough, now puppies and dogs must deal with some new challenges. For example, one common problem with these self-cleaning doggy toilets is that dogs may be reluctant to step on them. We see in dogs a reluctance to step on foreign things quite normally, such as when dogs skip walking over drainage grates on roads or when they are reluctant to step on the scale at the vet's office. 

 

To further complicate things, some dogs become frightened from its motion. They see it moving or hear it and they must perceive it as some odd monster who eats their stools! Once dogs get into this avoidance mindset, it becomes difficult to change their mind. 

 

Here's the thing: when dogs need to go potty, they need to feel safe. Fear of a noise out in the yard or seeing something scary is often one of the main reasons why dogs start peeing/pooping in the house rather than going outside. This just to say that dogs feel vulnerable when they do their business, and if something bothers them, it can put a dent in their potty training, hence why it is always recommended to choose quiet locations. 

 

So if the machine may have startled your dog, you can try to work on creating positive associations, but if she seems decided to not want to use it, this can take some time, and she may convince herself again at a later time that the machine is not trustworthy and come to not want to use it again. So here's a little behavior modification program that may help ease her suspicion/fear about this new "machine."

 

How to Create Positive Associations

 

To create positive associations, you would place a small treat nearby it (at a distance she is comfortable) and praise her for eating it. Then you would say "yes!" and toss her a treat anytime she looks at the machine, then when she walks towards it, then when she sniffs it and then when she places her paw on it. Then move on to rewarding her for walking on it and then even sitting on it.  This is all done using a training method known as shaping, basically you would do similar exercises as I do in this video below with the ramp only that you are using the potty machine. In the video, I use a clicker, but if your dog is fearful, skip the clicker and stick to a verbal marker instead. 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-your-dog-to-use-a-ramp/

 

Creating a Den-Like Area

 

Once she seems more comfortable with the machine, you can try erecting an exercise pen around it so that you can confine her there anytime you think she needs to go potty, overnight, and when you cannot supervise her. Place the machine in one side, and on the opposite side, place her bed, water bowl, food bowl, sleeping place (like a mat or open crate with the door secured with some cord so to stay open) and toys. This is to stimulate a dog's instinct to not want to soil where they sleep, eat, drink and play so she should automatically be drawn to using it. 

 

If your dog was used to using pee pads, you can place one on top of the machine's pad just for sake of familiarity. 

When she's in this enclosed area, pay attention to your dog. When you see her using it, make sure to praise her and toss her a treat so to create motivation to use it. Continue doing this so to establish a new routine. Then, start removing the pad, starting from one side uncovering the original machine's pad and then remove it entirely.

 

It may help to place on the pad some of your dog's previous mess so it smells like her urine. After you clean her pee mess from somewhere in the home with a paper towel, smear a bit on the pad so that it smells like bathroom to her.  However, make sure that any time she has a mess in the home, you remove the scent with an enzyme-based cleaner (like Nature's Miracle).

 

If your dog instead doesn't appear fearful of it, then it's more of a matter of getting her to prefer to use this new substrate versus other random areas of the home. Therefore skip the positive associations section and move on straight to creating a den-like area.

 

Make sure to set your pup up for success. The more she uses the potty "machine," the more she'll get into the habit of using it. Whereas, the more she uses other areas of your home for going potty, the more she'll stick to those areas, so the ultimate goal is to increase the chances for her to go where we want her to go. This is because going potty is reinforcing to dogs (they feel relief from going) and therefore they associate the place they go with that reinforcement. 

 

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Best,

Adrienne 

[VivekaFerrell]

Thank you.  I will post my results.  

[Adrienne]

You're very welcome! 

Keep us posted on how it goes or if you need any help. 

Best,

Adrienne