Potty training

kansasbrittany

kansasbrittany

Banned
I'm sure this has been covered before, but I can't seem to find an old thread containing anything pertaining to this topic.

I have a GSP male that is just over 6 months old. I've had several other dogs and potty training has always been relatively easy. Not with this guy. Tate dog will go outside for 30 minutes, come back in and take a dump on the floor. Sometimes he just up and urinates on my couch, floor, one day he even did it on my wife's leg while she was cooking. I hate to put him outside.....I'd really like to keep him in the house, but this sort of behavior cannot be tolerated in our new house.

Funny thing is, he's taken very little time and effort to figure out pointing, honoring, and retrieving. He seems very intelligent, so I must have done something wrong.

If anyone has any good potty training tips, I would appreciate them. He has been rewarded for doing the right thing since we got him at 6 weeks old. He was doing pretty well for awhile, but has begun to digress.

Thanks!
 
I think it is called discipline. The way I have and others have done it for years, is rub their nose in it and roughly toss them outside. As you chew its butt for being a bad dog. Let it know you are really mad at him and don't be gentle at all. Just don't hit or kick him that is the kiss of death. A few times of the nose, rough, chewing treatment, should make him ask for outside.........Bob
 
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potty training

I have a puppy as well and what I did was every time that I caught her going to the bathroom I would grab her and yell no right in her face and then rush her outside into the backyard. Does she have unlimited access to water in the house? I feed and water her on a schedule so I know approximatley when she needs to go... (about 20m after she drinks) I let her out then watch her through the door and once she went to the bathroom I would call her to the door and praise her, lots of hugs and kisses. She still has the occasional accident but its when we are not here.. (shes a puppy she cant hold it forever)
 
If you got the pup at 6 weeks and he is still not potty trained at 6 months there is definately something wrong. If he's still going #1 and #2 in the house it rules out a urinary infection and sounds to me like it's a training problem. Does he have free run of the house most of the day? If so, I would crate him for extended periods and then when you let him out take him directly outside and stay with him until he goes. Then really use a lot of praise. If he does do a job in the house catch him immediately, rub his nose in it while scolding him and throwing him outside. Make sure he gets out shortly after eating and drinking. And be consistent with the training.

That's about all the advice I have. Hopefully others will offer some more. Have you considered talking to a professional trainer to get some advice? Maybe he needs the "Dog Whisperer". :)
 
I've done exactly what the first couple of responses suggest. This isn't the first dog my wife and I have potty trained, but it is the first dog we've had this much trouble with. I get the impression that some of you think this is my first try and I haven't given a valiant or consistent effort to correcting this problem.....I can assure you, we have. My wife stays at home and she is very patient w/ him.

Dakotazeb,

Your post may be very helpful and I appreciate it. He does have free run of the house all day. He also has full time access to water b/c we have other animals in the house and we leave water out all day. I will try to crate him more during the day and see what happens. Again, thanks for the tip!

The dog has had more positive reinforcement than you could imagine. Literally every time he did as he should've, one of us was on our knees praising and loving him. I've never been any kind of nice about the "accidents". He's had his nose in more urine and feces than I care to admit. We've done the basics that we know of, we need more tidbits like the nugget that Dakotazeb shared.

Thanks again to all who've responded!
 
I will try to crate him more during the day and see what happens.
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I offer that suggestion due to my recent experience. I've never had much trouble house training a dog. That is until a year ago when I got my new female Brittany pup. I thought that dog would never learn. I got her at 8 weeks of age and it most have taken me until she was 4-5 months old before I was confident she was fully house trained. Now the fact that it was in the dead of winter and we had a lot of snow and cold weather didn't help the situation. But there was one thing that my wife and I realized was different. I had recently retired and was home most of the time. With my prior dogs both my wife and I were working. Thus the dog was in a crate in the house when we were at work. We always came home for lunch at noon so the dog was let out to relieve themself, then kenneled until we got home in the evening. We really feel this was one of the reasons we had so much trouble with this last pup. The pup wouldn't mess in the crate and learned to hold it until we got home. When I was around all the time that wasn't the case. Hope this helps.
 
kansasbrittany said:
like to keep him in the house, but this sort of behavior cannot be tolerated in our new house.

Thanks!
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New house? I thought you were moving to SW Kansas, or have you already?:)

My late Drahthaar had a few potty training issues, but then he finally got it. My new to me five year old GSP challenged me a few times, but now is fine. Good luck with your pup. I sure like having my dog inside with me.
 
i'm no pro at this, but i'll share my two cents since i've been working on our 5.5 month old pup. take it for what you will, i'm new here, and fairly inexperienced, but i can share with what has worked for me. I work from home too, so to me, a schedule and structure was key. along with lots of crate time. I control food and water intake so I can gauge times she has to go like someone else said. when i'm not supervising her, she has no house access (this will open up as she's older and I'm more comfortable she won't get into any trouble). even then, it's limited so I can keep an eye on her and make sure she's not under the dining table doing her business where I can't see her. I may be a bit much of a control freak, but it's been working so far. Basically, over time I've come to know WHEN she'll poop. it's no surprise since we have a schedule.

I haven't bothered with the rubbing nose in the mess. didn't work with my dog when I was younger, and figured it wouldn't work now either. maybe it's too peace and love for some folks these days, but i just haven't bothered to scold her. I'm not against scolding, but I want her to go when I want her to go, not when I'm not around. when she did squat, a quick 'no' or a noise to get her attention was all that was needed to get her to pucker up, along with picking her up right away to take her outside. IF I know she should be 'going' (like right after a meal) and isn't while we're outside, then right back into her crate for 10-15 minutes. after that, right back outside to try again. i take her to her spot, and give it 2-5 minutes. if she doesn't go then... then back into the crate for a 10-15 minutes. repeat. She's pretty much figured out that this isn't 'play' time, but bathroom time. do it now, or don't do it at all.

Also, I have her crate sectioned off pretty small so it's just big enough for her. Not room to #1/#2 on one side, and sleep on the other. hope this helps. good luck.
 
Also, I have her crate sectioned off pretty small so it's just big enough for her. Not room to #1/#2 on one side, and sleep on the other. hope this helps. good luck.
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This is good practice. If you are talking about crating the dog more often, this is a necessity. This has worked on both of my dogs. A good swat on the ass when they urniate in the house has worked well to. It seems like you may have skipped the house breaking process. It usually takes me about a month of the dog learning "break', and maybe another month of putting everything together and going to the door and whining when they want let out.
 
Dcup said:
It seems like you may have skipped the house breaking process. QUOTE]

AGAIN, THIS IS NOT THE FIRST ANIMAL WE'VE HOUSE TRAINED. IT IS THE FIRST ONE WE'VE HAD THIS MUCH TROUBLE WITH.

We started w/ the house breaking process immediately. We may have done something wrong in the process, but that comment really gets under my skin. We've spent loads of time trying to correct this problem. It's not like we brought this dog in from a pen and expected him to know exactly what to do w/o any work on our part. He did pretty well for awhile then started having problems. The praise apparently wasn't enough for him.

Stern, if anything I've been too stern w/ him.

So, if anyone can offer advice that doesn't imply that we've given little or no effort, please share it. Discipline.....I knew that w/o anyone having to tell me. We've had many dogs. THIS IS THE FIRST ONE WE HAVE HAD TROUBLE WITH FOR THIS LONG.

After reading the post about more crate time, my wife and I remembered that we'd done this w/ our last dog and her training went faster than any of the others'. We're using the crate suggestion and we'll see how it works. Again, thanks to those of you that are trying to help.

Please don't turn this board into the kind of board that people are afraid to post to. I was asking for advice, not criticism.
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c_d said:
i'm no pro at this, but i'll share my two cents since i've been working on our 5.5 month old pup. take it for what you will, i'm new here, and fairly inexperienced, but i can share with what has worked for me. I work from home too, so to me, a schedule and structure was key. along with lots of crate time. I control food and water intake so I can gauge times she has to go like someone else said. when i'm not supervising her, she has no house access (this will open up as she's older and I'm more comfortable she won't get into any trouble). even then, it's limited so I can keep an eye on her and make sure she's not under the dining table doing her business where I can't see her. I may be a bit much of a control freak, but it's been working so far. Basically, over time I've come to know WHEN she'll poop. it's no surprise since we have a schedule.

I haven't bothered with the rubbing nose in the mess. didn't work with my dog when I was younger, and figured it wouldn't work now either. maybe it's too peace and love for some folks these days, but i just haven't bothered to scold her. I'm not against scolding, but I want her to go when I want her to go, not when I'm not around. when she did squat, a quick 'no' or a noise to get her attention was all that was needed to get her to pucker up, along with picking her up right away to take her outside. IF I know she should be 'going' (like right after a meal) and isn't while we're outside, then right back into her crate for 10-15 minutes. after that, right back outside to try again. i take her to her spot, and give it 2-5 minutes. if she doesn't go then... then back into the crate for a 10-15 minutes. repeat. She's pretty much figured out that this isn't 'play' time, but bathroom time. do it now, or don't do it at all.

Also, I have her crate sectioned off pretty small so it's just big enough for her. Not room to #1/#2 on one side, and sleep on the other. hope this helps. good luck.
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Excellent suggestions Sir. He likes to spend his outside time playing first, then he'll do his business at his convenience. Your method should help put a stop to that. Thank you!
 
kansasbrittany said:
Someday my friend.....someday. My current job is going to keep me tied to this area for awhile.
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My goal is to finish up things on the house and sell it this spring, then get the heck out of Dodge. You could have my job, except I am un-employable. My wife has said since 1979 that I need to get a "real" job.
 
M. R. Byrd said:
My goal is to finish up things on the house and sell it this spring, then get the heck out of Dodge. You could have my job, except I am un-employable. My wife has said since 1979 that I need to get a "real" job.
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Maynard, that's what I need...an un-employable job. I would have a good excuse to sit around and drink coffee all day. Does it pay well? Where will you go and what happens to the Ponderosa if you leave Dodge?
 
Bilbo Baggins said:
Maynard, that's what I need...an un-employable job. I would have a good excuse to sit around and drink coffee all day. Does it pay well? Where will you go and what happens to the Ponderosa if you leave Dodge?
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I will remodel the ranch headquarters or build a small cabin there and buy a vacation home in KC. The Ponderosa is a world away from Dodge, shoot, it is a world away from everything. It is changing some though. I used to be able to go weeks without seeing another human, except maybe the mailman, but now with all the oil and gas activity it is tougher. Some say I am anti-social, I say that I am shy. Just know I really enjoy spending time in the hills.

Come to think of it, I don't remember the last time I saw anyone, just me roaming the snow covered hills.

Whoa, I just hijacked a potty training thread.
 
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The same thing happened to me with my Lab, I got her last May and was out of school for summer so i could work with her all day and be at her beckon call, so no accidents really occurred. She was kennelled when i went to work and I thought that she had it down. But then when school rolled back around she started peeing all over the place even when she was out and about for extended periods of time, what has worked for me and my wife is just as others have said, control the water and food intake.
 
Use Crate for House Breaking

kansasbrittany said:
I'm sure this has been covered before, but I can't seem to find an old thread containing anything pertaining to this topic.

I have a GSP male that is just over 6 months old. I've had several other dogs and potty training has always been relatively easy. Not with this guy. Tate dog will go outside for 30 minutes, come back in and take a dump on the floor. Sometimes he just up and urinates on my couch, floor, one day he even did it on my wife's leg while she was cooking. I hate to put him outside.....I'd really like to keep him in the house, but this sort of behavior cannot be tolerated in our new house.

Funny thing is, he's taken very little time and effort to figure out pointing, honoring, and retrieving. He seems very intelligent, so I must have done something wrong.

If anyone has any good potty training tips, I would appreciate them. He has been rewarded for doing the right thing since we got him at 6 weeks old. He was doing pretty well for awhile, but has begun to digress.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Use the crate. Crate the dog while it is in the house. Take it from the crate directly outside. If it urinates or poops, tell it "good dog" and pet it while it is in the act. If it does neither, put it back in the crate immediately and repeat later. Once the dog has gone a few times with you praising it, when you take the dog out for relief again, say "good dog" before it goes. The dog will catch on that outside is the only place to go. Of course, if the dog starts to go inside, intervene immediately with a strong reprimand and a trip outside. After the dog is trained, no need to crate the dog unless you want to.
 
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one more quick thing that just popped into my head. CLEANUP. I may be stating the obvious, but proper cleanup is crucial. If the little one smells a bathroom in the house, then it's all bets off. I picked up this stuff called Nature's Miracle form petco, petsmart or whatever. whipe up the mess with some towels, then spray the area down with this stuff. totally kills the scent. it has a stain remover in it too which works well. again, may be stating the obvious, but could be another reason junior thinks it's ok to go in the house.
 
No, you weren't simply stating the obvious. What is obvious is that I've over looked a few things. I certainly appreciate your suggestions! We obviously clean up the messes, but we're using Lysol or something of that nature. The crate thing is working well so far. It's only been a couple of days, but so far he's been "accident" free.

This forum is a great resource:thumbsup:
 
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