Housetraining

[wendybed]

Hi,

 

My adorable BC Maisey is about 8 months now. She is fabulous and full of energy and personality and sometimes mischief! Love her! However, even at 8 months, she is still not reliably house trained. A couple of times a week, she will randomly pee in the house, even after she has been out. I take her out every 2-3 hours. She always pees when she goes outside (I tell her "go potty").

 

2 weeks ago, she snuck into the basement (she rarely goes downstairs) and pooped there. Since she was 6 weeks old, she has hardly ever pooped indoors. That, she prefers to do outside, she poops about 5 times a day! However, she really has no preference for where she pees and will go anywhere. She has been crate trained and holds it all night since about 7 weeks old! She will never go in her crate. But, it could be an hour or two after she goes out and

and she may just pee indors! Right in front of Mel. Not sure what else to do at this point, I clean with enzyme cleaner (but it is never the same spot), I crate her when i can't watch her or gate her in the mudroom with our golden. And she does not have a UTi. This is no t even every day, but maybe a few times a week. Suggestions?thanks--wendy

[htmlgirl]

There was another discussion about this very recently here http://www.bordercollie.org/boards/index.php?showtopic=37774

 

We had similar problems with pee accidents until around 6 months with our Penny.

 

Just some thoughts, I would try taking her out more often and see if that makes the difference. We were taking Penny out every hour until she stopped having accidents, and I think even around 8 months, we were taking her out every 1.5 to maybe 2 hours. This was only during the day when she wasn't crated, she was also fine overnight and in her crate.

 

It took Penny a long time to learn to ask to go outside, and it really helped once she did. Maybe try training Maisey to ring a bell on the door when she has to go? I tried it and didn't have much success, but I've heard a lot of dogs do great with this.

 

One thought for the pooping downstairs, what is your weather like right now? The trainers at our doggie school have mentioned it can be common for a dog to be reluctant to go outside in really cold weather and they may have an accident. Just a thought! We've had really cold temps this winter so far (days where it's below -20 Celsius) and I've had to put booties on Penny when I take her out or she has a hard time pooping while trying to hold her poor cold paws up in the air.

[wendybed]

Thanks. I forgot to mention that Maisey DoeS ring bells to go outside. Has since about 10 weeks old. And, we make it all businesss because sometimes she does it when she is bored and just wants to go out and just rings constantly, I am in Boston, but this dog is LOvInG this weather (50 inches of snow and very cold)!

[GentleLake]

How often you take a pup out and when you take her aren't necessarily the same thing. Remember that puppies will often have to soon after waking up from a nap, after playing, or after eating or drinking. It might help to see if you can identify any patterns like this.

 

8 months is too young to expect all dogs to be reliably house trained. Some, will be, but for others it can take until they're a year or so old.

 

And what'll probably happen is that you'll be frustrated about the accidents and all of a sudden one day realize that there haven't been any more. That happens to a lot of people. LOL

[Gloria Atwater]

Agree with Gentlelake. It may be a timing rather than a frequency thing. If she's been playing, sleeping, eating or just laying around, she may suddenly have to pee and she's not sure about asking out. Just make sure any time she's up on her feet in the house, you watch her and the instant she starts coursing around looking for something, take her out. It may be she just needs more repetition at it.

Good luck! I have a 4 month old I'm working with right now.

~ Gloria