Potty Trouble Indoors Despite Access to Outdoors

[mepagnucco]

Hey All! New member here and I really need some help. I have two dogs that are about a year and a half (got one of them as a 6 week old and the other we got last year from the SPCA). We also just got a dog that is between the ages of 2 and 4 a few days ago (he was found by someone that couldn't keep him and no one claimed him from the shelter). Obviously since he's new, it's understandable that he may have some issues although he seems to be adjusting really well and we were told that he had no potty trouble at the other person's house.

 

We have a sliding door to the patio and have a small area outdoors of imitation grass for the dogs to go to the bathroom in, plus potty pads on the patio because one of the dogs is prissy and doesn't like getting his feet wet from the grass (any suggestions for this would be helpful too LOL). We used to leave the sliding door open for them when we were home and we just got a dog door (I took the flap off for now because it was freaking them out). Despite the fact that we would leave the door open and now have this dog door access, they still continue to potty in the house daily! They will go outside sometimes or on the pads but other times they go in the house, and I cannot for the life of me figure out the reasoning behind it. I have tried giving them treats when they go outside (which they learned to take advantage of by acting like they needed to go out frequently and then not doing anything or peeing like one drop lol). What do I do to get them completely potty trained (brownie points for no need to use pads ;))? Please help and thanks in advance!!

[JMFS]

Hi and welcome. :)

 

We have one who will go in the house if we don't let her out and make sure she goes when she's out. She will go out and, like yours, sniff around a little, then come right back in if we don't accompany her. That would be Abbi, the dachshund. Our other weiner dog, Brownie, used to walk around the corner, wait a couple seconds, them come running back to the door. That was before I came on board and I remember my husband lamenting over how smart Brownie was, the little trickster! Gertie and Momo had very few accidents during training; however, I attribute that to my hyper vigilance in taking them outside, and my extreme aversion to having to clean up poop and / or pee. 30 minutes after they eat is my "rule." 20 minutes is about how long most articles say it takes the average pooch to process food and need to eliminate. Gertie seems to be about 45 minutes, and Abbi about 30. Momo is spot on with the 20, but he's outdoors so he just goes when he needs to. I take them out about 30 minutes after eating and then every hour after that. I also feed them all around the same time each day and night, which helps with timing potty breaks.

 

We lay out puppy pads as a last ditch effort to save our floors from Abbi. She, irritatingly, goes about 2" away from the pads. Experts tell us dogs aren't vindictive, but I have evidence to the contrary! Abbi's favorite spot to go is on Gertie's blanket - and Abbi is thoroughly unimpressed with Gertie.

 

So, my two coppers is to take the pups out regularly and praise the heck out of them After they've done their business (you don't want to surprise them and stop them mid-elimination). I learned from one of Adrienne's potty guides that it's possible to get them to differentiate between number 1 and number 2, and how to do that. She has this one for the grass issue: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/puppy-refusing-potty-grass/ one for specific breeds (but it can be applied to any dog and has good tips): https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/potty-training-tips-difficult-breeds/ and then the basic How-To https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/7-secret-potty-training-strategies/ Sometimes, even when they're trained, pooches have to be taken back to the beginning so they relearn the steps, and hopefully, unlearn bad habits.

[mepagnucco]

Thanks Jennifer! That is some good advice and I appreciate the links! LOL, I definitely understand Abbi's frustrations! :p