Why can I not housebreak my puggle?

LauraMax

LauraMax

Cathlete
UGH this dog is making me absolutely insane! I've gone around & around w/her trying to get her housebroken. I'll go outside w/her every hour or so, praise her & give her treats when she does her business, do this for about 6 weeks until she's got it. She'll be good for a month or 2 & then start regressing.

I always take her out as soon as I get home, & up until this week she'd do her business immediately, even when we were in training mode. Now she'll hem & haw, play around, sit next to me on the back steps LAUGHING at me & not do a thing! I give up after about 15 minutes & go back inside & upstairs to get out of work/gym/whatever clothes, & she'll pee or poo on the floor while I'm preoccupied.

Is this some kind of dominance issue? Because she is like the most submissive dog I've ever met. Is it maybe b/c I had to work a lot of hours this week & she's expressing her displeasure? Do I need to crate her every second I can't watch her? The stupid animal is over a year old, I shouldn't have to be doing the constant crating at this point, plus she howls like crazy.

Maybe she's just brain damaged and/or freakin stupid. I sure hope I'm not gonna be in housebreaking mode w/her for the next 20 years. x(

Any advice?
 
Is she crated during the day while your at work? Some dogs are easier to train than others. Keep at it! Are you disipling her when she goes in the house?

Training is a pain but consistancy is key. I am trying to train a 3 year old 110lb dog to bark at the back door instead of scratching. He refuses to bark for me and will bark within seconds for my husband. Truly frusterating! And who knows if he will ever get that concept?
 
Yes, she's crated when I'm not at home. I've never disciplined her when she went in the house b/c I was told by a trainer that (unless you actually catch them in the act) it doesn't teach them that it's bad to go in the house, it just teaches them that it's bad to GO.

I started this week though, she got a smack on the behind this morning b/c I was ummm, pretty mad, and also b/c nothing else has worked. I didn't see her for the rest of the morning, she hid in her crate.
 
There are so many different views and opinions on trainging but if you are giving her praise outside in the area she is suppose to go that's great.

So if you catch her in a mid poop in the living room and you give her crap isn't that the same that she will think she shouldn't go at all?

You are a smart woman, go with your instincts, and be consistant. Is there any emotional trauma that she recently went through that would set her back like this. You mentioned that you were working lots lately. Maybe some one on one non potty training time is needed or a special toy or treat?

Hang in there!
 
I've read some small dogs are never truly house broken because their bladder can't hold it for very long.

Have you considered litter box training? Google it, or get on a dog forum that can help guide you. It seems simple to do.

I have large dogs now, but I plan to add a small fur child in the future. I'm going to litter box train because all my friends with small dogs still find little places in the house to pee.
 
I think the puggle is smarter than I am. x( She would never go in the house in front of my face, & believe me, she knows she's doing something wrong! And I know too, b/c of that look of shame on her face when I walk in the room. You know the look: head hanging, sneaking looks at me out of the corner of her eye (b/c if she doesn't make eye contact w/me then I can't really see her LOL).

It's definitely not her size. The pug is smaller & he's just fine. She's about 30 lbs, maybe a little bigger. I tried the litter box, that was after her last regression. She just ignored it.

I think this time I'm gonna try doggie diapers. I think I'm gonna make her follow me everywhere & never let her out of my sight, & put the diapers on her so whether she wants to or not it's IMPOSSIBLE for her to go in the house!

UGH! She is so rotten & expensive! She's lucky she's so sweet & adorable. :+
 
First, when you go outside, do not pay attention to her at all or play unless and until she does her business. It sounds like you are just sitting there waiting on her and she is trying to play with you but just stand up and ignore her. Only play after poop :)

Is there a way to leave her outside while you change clothes and all that after work? Even if you can cork screw her to the ground on a small lead, just for a few minutes while you do those things inside? If you can, I'd sit with her for 10 - 15 minutes and if she doesn't go, tie her out until she does. She simply doesn't come in until she goes.

I know the theories that you can't discipline, but I don't agree. If a dog is in the process of makking a mistake, definitely stop her. Yell, pikc her right up byt hte scruff, clap your hands loudly. Stop her. My female dog was picked up by the scruff mid-squat and she *never* did it again. If you don't catch her in the act, I say to still discipline her. I think a low deep drone voice (the "man voice") works the best, particularly since you normally dont use that voice. Give her a deep, long "nooooooooooooooooooooo." and throw her outside.

They do revolt when you tick them off but she isn't the boss ;)
 
Animal Planet had an episode of "It's me or the dog" (dog behavioral issues treated by a British behavioral specialist) on a dog who did her business in the house, and wouldn't go outside.

The solution was to teather the dog to the owner (they wore a leash, one end on the dog's collar, the other hooked on the owner's belt loop), and the owner went about her household cleaning, with the dog always within a few feet. Then, when the dog showed signs of getting ready to do her business (circling and area, sniffing the floor, pawing at the floor), the owner was to take her outside immediately, wait until she did her business, associate a word/phrase with the business (like "go pee pee"), then reward her with praise ("good girl") and a tasty bit of chicken when she was done. Of course, this takes being around (are you willing to take a week off of work to train her?)
 
I read a book about housebreaking when I was having a problem with my 5 1/2 month old puppy. We got her when she was 4 months old. We were told she was house-trained at the time. NOT! The book I read endorsed getting after them after an accident. The author explained that the dog does know "who did that?" They're pretty sure it wasn't you. I would call my dog over, and she definitly did know who did it! I never spanked her, or yelled, just guilted her. I told her how bad that was. Every time I took her outside and did her business, I praised her. It took several months but she soon became 100% trustworthy.

Good luck!

Annie
 
Here's a suggestion that came from the dog training class I'm in this week. When you get home take her out. Don't play with her until after she goes potty. If she hasn't gone in a few minutes, come back inside, but put her back in the crate. This would give you some time to go change clothes. Come back and take her out again. She may just be too excited to see you that she can't think about pottying, especially if it's been a long day. 10-15 minutes back in the crate gives her time to calm down. So when you take her back out she can concentrate on relieving herself. The trainer also suggest using a word or phrase when you take her out such as "Go Potty" "Go Relief" "Do your business" or any other term you are comfortable with. Once they make the connection being the phrase and the act, they know what you want when you take them outside. As you already know when she does go potty outside give her lots of praise. Good Luck

Jean
 
Very good suggestions here. The only thing I can add is this -it worked well for my dogs. I hung a bell on the front door (the door we used to go out to go potty.) Everytime we went out, I took their paws and rang the bell. Before long, they went to the door to ring the bell to let me know that needed to potty. Like mentioned by the poster above, I would say silly things like, "Oh, you went pee pee in the grass! Pee pee in the grass!! GOOD DOG!" Or, borrowing a phrase from my friend, "potty crap" for the other business. So, while they were still learning the bell trick, I would ask "Do you need to go pee pee in the grass?" Or "Do you need to go potty crap?" This is actually pretty entertaining to write :) They learned what those words meant and got excited when they needed to go. I always said it with an excited voice. If they didn't need to go, then they would ignore me. Soon,though, they just rang the bell. I still praised them outside for as long as I had them. And did use the trick of ignoring them until they went. Then we always had a big praise party :) Good luck.
 
Shana just brought up an old memory. I trained my female boxer to ring a bell at the door. It WORKS! However, I gave treats as a reward. I kept a reward jar next to the door. My girl was ringing the bell for treats! I felt like I was her butler as many times as she would ring that darn bell:) "You rang madam?"
I had to tell her, "no, you have to go potty". Well, boxers are smart. My girl would go outside and fake pee, then come in for the treat. Oh my. I eventually stopped the bell and learned how to read her expressions that told me that she needed to go potty.
 
When she goes outside and does not go potty, she gets tethered to you or put in a crate or xpen. Try again in 10 minutes. Do not give her the opportunity to potty in the house.

Each time she goes in the house, she is rewarded no matter what you do. She's already relieves herself, that's a reward :)

Colleen
 
Fit44 - how funny! Dogs are so smart :) The picture of yours ringing the bell and you as the butler is hilarious! I did take little treats for mine outside for after they went potty. They had to produce before they got the treat though :) I was like a drill sergeant - standing over, watching!! They were German Shepherds - as little pups, I would carry one under each arm to go out. I got them at 5 weeks old, lived in an upstairs apt, so up and down we went many times a day. Brings back lots of happy memories :)
 
I just adopted a 9 month old Cocker Spaniel/Poodle mix last night, and she was having the same issues (not wanting to pee/poop when we were outside, then peeing in my parents' house when we visited), so I'm paying attention to every detail in this thread! She's also still wary of the crate (it took me a long time to get her in there last night and then she whined for about 20 min when I put her in), so it makes it that much harder to put her back in her crate if she hasn't done her business outside.

I start my training classes tomorrow (it's my first dog; let's just say I was eager to learn as much as I could :)), so I'm excited to learn all kinds of techniques!
 
I just wanted to add my two cents....

I have two dogs that we adopted from animal control so we had no clue if either one were potty trained. However, they were so we started using the phrase "Go potty" and they will go. Someone on here mentioned not playing with them until the dog goes, however we do the opposite. We throw the ball or frisbee a few times for our dogs to get their insides moving (at least that is what we assume) and they will usually stop playing after a few minutes to "Go potty." Then we lavish them with praise. We keep them on a tight schedule and if we know we will be gone for an extended amount of time, we make sure they use the bathroom before we let them back in the house. My newest doggie has used the bathroom in her crate twice in the last two weeks. However in her defense, we were gone for almost 8 hours and she isn't used to being in there that long (4-5 hours max usually.) So know we just throw the ball for her and she stops and goes to the bathroom. Bottom line, every dog is different so it might help to try a few of the different suggestions and see which one works for your puppy. But hang in there, dogs can be frustrating but when they finally learn you feel so good!

Jen
 
Hi There, hope it's okay if I ask this in your thread, but I'm getting a puppy at the end of July. He'll be my first puppy. We have a 10 year old Lab, but he was my husband's before we met.

Can you guys recommend certain books or maybe names of training methods (if such things exist) on how to train a puppy? He'll be 8-9 weeks when we get him. I have to say I'm a little nervous (ok a lot a nervous :) ) because I really want to train this one well. My Lab kind of runs the show here!

Just by reading this thread I realize I know NOTHING!!!!! I don't even know where to begin with how to train!! Thanks for your help!

--Jennifer :)
 
If you are going to introduce a new member into the pack, I recommend Cesar Milan's book. I wish I had read his books 8 years ago. I've made so many mistakes just by treating my boxers as though they are human.
No matter how hard we try to make them human, they are not. They don't want to be human either! They like being a dog, just as we like being human:)

My husband and I read his books twice!
Cesar's Way
Be the Pack Leader.
 
I solved the crate problem--apparently it was too small, so I exchanged it and now she's happy in it. But she still won't go pee when I take her outside :(. I decided to take her in when she still wasn't going and then she peed as soon as she got in *sigh*.
 
>If you are going to introduce a new member into the pack, I
>recommend Cesar Milan's book. I wish I had read his books 8
>years ago. I've made so many mistakes just by treating my
>boxers as though they are human.
>No matter how hard we try to make them human, they are not.
>They don't want to be human either! They like being a dog,
>just as we like being human:)
>
>My husband and I read his books twice!
>Cesar's Way
>Be the Pack Leader.


Also get Jean Donaldson's book "Culture Clash". She talks a lot about working with your dogs natural instincts in training/behavior modification.
 
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