Not peeing outside

[MarcoSena]

Hi,

 

My puppy is 3 months old  and I can't get him to potty outside. He always does his stuff inside the house, or in our backyard. 

I go for longs walks with him, always more than >20 mins and he doesn't pee or do anything else outside. He sniffs a lot and only wants to eat stones and other stuff that he finds on the floor. After minutes back inside, he pees or scratches the backyard door whining to go do his stuff there. 

I always clean everything well inside and use enzyme scent killer cleaning products. I've tried to go outside when I know that he is almost about to pee or poo, but nothing. Even tried once to stay with him almost a whole morning outside and he did nothing. 

I don't know what else to do. I've had several dogs in the past, but never had a dog that didn't want to pee in every lamppost outside...

Any tips? 

 

Thanks.

Marco 

[Adrienne]

Hi Marco,

Welcome to the forums,

Going potty in the backyard is good! Your puppy is very young and accidents in the home are not unusual, however, we want to try our best to minimize them as much as we can. If your puppy doesn't go potty on walks that tells us that he is able to "hold it" for some time, which is good, although we want him to to go in the right places. 

Since you mention your puppy goes potty in the backyard, I am assuming that by not going outside you mean going potty on walks? A puppy being reluctant to potty on walks can be that way due to various reasons such as:

-The puppy being distracted by other things on walks (such as wanting to eat stones and other stuff as you mention)

-The puppy being anxious on walks (dogs tend to potty when/where they feel safe)

-The puppy not recognizing a designated area for going potty (pups like to often go potty in familiar places that already have their scent)

-The puppy not being used to going potty while on leash (many dogs are just more comfortable off leash as they can freely sniff and circle)

-The puppy being afraid of going potty in front of the owners (often occurs when they were startled or punished for going potty in the home by owners or previous breeders)

The peeing on the lamppost you describe in your previous dogs sounds more like urine marking, which usually starts after the age of sexual maturity, which is around 6 to 12 months of age. If you are looking for more exact statistics consider that a study on urine marking in dogs revealed that urine marking started as follows: 10% started urine marking at 3 months of age, 20% started by 6 months, 40% started by 12 months, 70% by 1 year and a half, and 90% by 2 years.

Urine marking is the deliberate act of urinating for other purposes other than physiologically emptying the bladder. When male dogs urinate, they often lift their rear leg on vertical items and dribble just a few drops of urine. The purposes for marking may be various, but the most common is to leave a "business card" or better, "pee-mail" for other dogs to smell. The urine is therefore left for the other dogs to inspect. The other dogs perceive a lot of information from these drippings, such as the dog's sex, age, rank, sexual availability and more. Female dogs in heat may urine mark more frequently prior to their heat and while in heat, so to inform nearby males about their sexual status. Intact males dogs may also mark more when there are female dogs in heat nearby to communicate their presence. 

It sounds like though your puppy is also having accidents in the house. To help your puppy learn to potty more in the backyard I would suggest the following:

-Praising and rewarding when he uses the backyard. We want to communicate to your puppy that this is the best place to go potty so to make it his preferred area to potty. 

-If your puppy doesn't go in the back yard or on walks, watch him like a hawk for the next few minutes. The good thing here is the predictability. You stated "After minutes back inside, he pees or scratches the backyard door whining to go do his stuff there." This gives you power. So right after the walk, maybe keep him still on leash or just nearby the unlocked door so that you can quickly escort him outside and praise and reward him for going there. 

-Keep your puppy on a feeding schedule (this makes for more predictable outings).

-If your puppy is nervous going potty in front of you, try to take him out and not look at him directly, maybe spy on him as you hide behind a bush, but be ready to praise and reward with a tasty treat for going. 

More troubleshooting ideas can be found here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/puppy-peeing-after-coming-inside/

I hope this helps,

Let me know if you have further questions and keep me posted on his progress. I am always here to do any further troubleshooting if the problem persists. 

Best,

Adrienne 

 

 

[MarcoSena]

Hi Adrienne,

 

Thank you for replying.  Yes, sorry, by outside I mean in walks. Because I don't want him to just do it on the backyard. For example this week I'm having some reconstruction work being done in the backyard and it's currently inaccessible. Today I've only had accidents in the house, because I go with him on walks and he gets distracted by everyone that passes by (rare this days, due to the lockdown), or by sniffing everything on the floor and (more worrying) eating stones (i live in a semi-rural area, there's a lot little rocks and stones everywhere) and then pees shortly after getting inside.

He's been on a feeding schedule since he's with us and I've been following the troubleshooting ideas on the link you sent above, but without any success so far.  He's not afraid of doing it in front of me, as he normally does it with me in the backyard. I always praise and reward this in the backyard, I can't do it on walks as he never does potty on walks.

 

Best,

Marco

 

 

[Adrienne]

OK, so for pups reluctant to going potty on walks, we need to boil down to what the exact issue is so to tackle it correctly. You have already excluded one, which is not being afraid of pottying in front of you since he goes with ease with you in the backyard. That leaves us with a few other possibilities. So I'll try to cover all basis. Here are few tips that come to mind:

-Try to walk your puppy the first thing in the morning if your puppy is crated at night. Mornings after crating we are sure the puppy needs to go badly, so we have a higher chance for success in getting them to potty on walks. 

-Walk until your puppy goes. I know how exhausting this can be. I have been through this and it can be very frustrating. I had to once walk a dog for one hour and a half straight to get him to potty on leash as this dog was being trained to be a service dog and I had to train him to go potty on leash and then on command. Now, your puppy is very young, so a walk this long can be too tiring and he'll certainly need to go potty sooner, so just stick to a little walk and then just stand or find a place to sit down and let him be. Choose the spot wisely: look for a quiet spot where there are not many rocks or stones or other tempting stuff or distractions.

-Try bringing inside a ziplock bag a cloth you have used to soak up a little bit of his urine from a previous mess he had in the home. Place the cloth on the ground and see if sniffing it can help encourage him to recognize the area as his new bathroom. Alternatively, place some of his previous stools in a bag and place them there and see if works. I know this sounds yucky, but it can help some dogs who need to recognize a new area as their new "bathroom."

-If your puppy is scared of things on walks that may inhibit him from going potty. Many puppies find the outdoor world scary. This is because they are small and feel vulnerable possibly they instinctively don't want to leave traces around. Try chilling in front of the house rather than walking away from the house and then slowly work on increasing distance as your puppy gets more comfortable in going potty outside of the home/backyard.

-Avoid areas where other dogs go potty. Your puppy is young so ask your vet when it's safe for him to frequent areas where there are other dogs or where other dogs potty. This is because young puppies who haven't completed their shots are vulnerable to infectious diseases such as parvo which can be transmitted by exposure to other dog feces. On top of this, some puppies may be reluctant to potty where older dogs have gone potty. 

-Don't go back inside until he goes potty. By taking him back inside after walking, your puppy may be learning to hold it so to go inside. We need to break this cycle. Be patient, he is just a puppy, he can't hold it forever. It gets better if we can get over this initial hurdle. So try to stick to your plan.

-Keep the leash loose so that your puppy has space to wander a bit away from you and feels a bit more free as some dogs feel restrained by a leash. Even better, invest in a longer leash (like a 10 or 20 foot long line) and let it drag behind him so he doesn't even realize it is on.

-Bring a tug toy or a flirt pole on walks to keep him busy. Activity such as play distracts puppies from other things on walks and movement makes puppies more likely to potty. Letting the puppy chase you around a bit can also help things moving. 

-Take your puppy on a walk after his meals as puppies have a gastrocolic reflex that makes them more likely to potty after eating. 

- Praise lavishly and reward with a tasty treat once your puppy goes potty on a walk.

-Take your puppy to the same area he has used every time as that will help establish it as his new potty area. 

-While you're at it, aim to train your puppy to go potty on command:

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

-For the rock eating, aim to train your puppy the leave it and drop it command they are found here: 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/take-leave-it/

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/drop-it/

If you ever have to absolutely go back inside before your puppy has gone potty on the walk, keep him on leash (you can attach the leash to your belt or loop it around your waist) and stick by the door so that you can watch him and quickly take him out at the first sign of him trying to go potty. Once he relaxes, he may think to potty so be super ready to go out fast. 

I hope this helps!

Keep me posted on how things go. 

Best, 

Adrienne 

[MarcoSena]

Thank you for the help. Will try these tips.

I think the exact issue (s) is a mixture of getting distracted by everything and being anxious. He is a very anxious pup and very attention seeking. He was taken away from his mother and brothers very young (before 2 months) and has been with us ever since.  If we leave him alone, even if it is just for a few minutes, he whines and pee's all over the house (even if he had just done a lot on the backyard). The pandemic hasn't help, as we are in lock down and at least on of us (me or my wife) always at home working, so he has never been truly alone at home for long periods of time. So in summary, there's a lot we need to work with him, the potty outside is just one of the issues that we were putting more focus in lately. 

I'll keep going trough your tips and see if the situation improves.

 

BR,

Marco

[Adrienne]

You are very welcome! Hopefully he'll start going potty more and more on walks once over the initial hurdle. The more he goes outside, the better, as dogs are creatures of habit. Sticking closer to home may help if he is anxious. 

I have a guide below on how to help clingy pups become more independent, but you are right that the pandemic doesn't make things easier.  It would be important therefore working on getting him gradually used to being left alone so he's not caught unprepared that day your work schedules may be back  to norm once the pandemic is over. 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/exercises-to-prevent-separation-anxiety-in-puppies/

Here is a guide to help a dog get more comfortable and less anxious in going outside:

shttps://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/fear-going-outside/

And this is to raise confidence:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/exercises-build-confidence-insecure-dogs/

Tackling these issues early is important.