What am I doing wrong?

I am struggling this morning, so am looking for some advice as to where I'm going wrong

Misty seemed house-trained when we got her but now wont stop peeing on the living room carpert. She had an accident there the day we got her, which got cleaned up. Then she kept having them all in the same area, so we totally soaked a huge patch of the carpet in cleaner, just in case we'd missed anything. I then bought an ultra violet light to hunt out any other stains, and cleaned up about 6 other spots, which I'm not sure if they were new or left-overs from Murphy's house-trainingicon_nwunsure Well I came downstairs this morning, to find 2 urine patches in different places in my living room, these are the first accidents in 5 days. I dont know where I'm going wrong.

Now I've moved the baby gate to the kitchen, and both of them will stay there while we're out, and through the night. Murphy used to sleep with us but Misty really snores badly, no-one could sleep. We always watch her if she goes out the back, and praise her like mad when she pees. She doesn't get out of our sight, but pees without and circling or sniffing.

The strange thing is, I had a day where I had to go to Cumnock to work, so was out for 7 and a half hours, my father-in-law was ill, so they were both in all that time without any accidents! Are we expecting too much from her? It seems like we've had her forever but in reality it been 3 weeks.

I feel so down about it this morning, will I forever be cleaning up urine from my carpet?

Morning,

i'm certainly no expert, but have had 2 pups over the last eighteen months. I think you have done the right thing in restricting their area to the kitchen. I still do with our dogs to this day, they have their beds in the kitchen at night and there leaves no worry about them getting things they shouldn't.

Do you go to bed early/late? can you get up and let them out during the night? if not then possibly a puppy pad on the floor in case they are busting? We did this with ours and it worked out just fine.

The main thing though is Misty is stil a tiny baby, her bladder will still be small and less able to hold on till morning. Bailey is 9 months now and is great, but it took a lot of patience and time. now, her or lily with scrabble at the door if they need a wee and i'm not up yet!

I'm sure you wont be cleaning carpets forever, but keep them in the kitchen when you are not around, it'll make it easier for them and you. good luck x

Remember it takes almost three years to potty train a human so don't be getting too down Clean the area with *biological washing powder* let it soak in and don't forget the underlay!!! This is nearly always what actually holds the smell. Sprinkle all her meals over the the area she likes to go on for a couple of weeks. IF you catch her going say AHAH or TOO BAD and bring her to the spot she is meant to go on - praise her and reward her with 3 treats of high value like chicken or live. Don't give her free access to that area as if she goes when you have your back turned it's too late to teach her where to go.

Just to clarify, Misty is a rescue bitch, who is 2-3 years old

We go to bed between 10pm & 11pm, and get up at 7am, as soon as the alarm goes off we get up to take them out, all I stop to do is put my housecoat on. We make sure they both pee, spometimes poo too, before taking them back in and upstairs with us while we get dressed and stuff. Then I take them outfor their morning walk, then breakfast.

As for sprinkling her food about, I have been feeding her on the spot she kept going back to, to start with, but this morning it was at opposite ends of the room. I definately saturated the carpet, it took forever to dry

Couldn't work out from your post what you had been cleaning carpet with, I echo what cavcros says, it HAS to be BIOLOGICAL washing powder, one of the few things that remove the scent of urine, it worked for us.

You'll get there! :flwr:

This is a common if frustrating problem with any dog going into a new home! :flwr:

First you need to have her vet checked to make sure there isn't a medical problem.

If there isn't (and even if there is), yes, I think you are expecting far too much from her. A change in circumstances for a dog can cause weeks and weeks and weeks of accidents inside. She has gone through three home changes in a short period and for many dogs that means needing to be *completely* re-housetrained each time. At the very least, you need to be expecting constant to occasional accidents and she must be managed like a puppy until you are absolutely sure she is housetrained to *each separate room*, a process that is going to take many weeks of close supervision and positive reinforcement. Many dogs don't see any house as 'indoors' and therefore a place not to relieve themselves. Many will only see a house where they have been specifically trained, in this way.

So the issue is not really whether she is returning to the same spot and whether you have cleaned it thoroughly enough (an thecarpet may now be beyond gettinbg clean enough anyway); it is a larger one of her needing far more overall control and management and to be taken out by a person each time for toiletting and rewarded for many weeks. Basically it's the old problem we all encounter at some point with a puppy or adult -- you are giving her way too much freedom and expecting her to already know the ropes before she actually does; ie she has no idea your sitting room is off limits for toiletting and has found spots she likes to go and if no one is there to stop her -- eg if no one is actively housetraining her and limiting where she goes, taking her out etc -- then she has no idea at all that she isn't supposed to go there.

You are going to have to keep her out of that room for a good few weeks now and only allow her in under arm's reach supervision. Also I would not leave her at any time, under any circumstances, to roam around the house out of sight. The likelihood is she will simply find -- or has already found -- other places to go in addition to where she is currently going.

Basically, I would view her as an unhousetrained dog (as that is what she is right now) and work from scratch, as with a puppy, to get her on the right track.

murphy's mum said:

Just to clarify, Misty is a rescue bitch, who is 2-3 years old

We go to bed between 10pm & 11pm, and get up at 7am, as soon as the alarm goes off we get up to take them out, all I stop to do is put my housecoat on. We make sure they both pee, spometimes poo too, before taking them back in and upstairs with us while we get dressed and stuff. Then I take them outfor their morning walk, then breakfast.

As for sprinkling her food about, I have been feeding her on the spot she kept going back to, to start with, but this morning it was at opposite ends of the room. I definately saturated the carpet, it took forever to dry

Click to expand...

Hi, we also have a rescue ex-puppymill breeder, and have had her here for about 2 months now. She is 7 or 8 years old, and we have a doggie door which she often follows Dottie out, and will usually use when she has to go. She has also had some recent accidents, and so we have gone back to walking her out every hour during the day to her grassy potty spot, give command to "go potty" then praise praise praise and treat. She is so eager to please, and I try not to let her out of my sight when indoors. When I do see her "assuming the position" or starting to go inside, I say No!, then pick her up with her little tail and bumm tucked under and carry her out to the grass where I happily encourage her to continue. Then she gets her praise and treat.

Claire and Dottie sleep together in a comfortable crate with soft blankets during the night and we let them out first thing in the morning. I don't think free range Claire would work at all here for training, and she loves the crate.

Good luck, and have patience and persevere. I always remember what she has come from, where she was warehoused for 7 years and made to go where she stood, with no walks. One thing for sure about these dogs, and I think dogs in general, is that they really ultimately want to please us, and they will soon learn what correct action delivers praise!

Back to basics it is then

We've now restricted them both to the kitchen, instead of the whole of the downstairs, when not supervised. And basically start from scratch again, I guess it's easy to forget what she may have come from, she's settled in so quick.

We had been using Simple Soloutions Urine Remover to soak the carpet right through, and then spraying a deterant, but it looks like we'll try the Bio washing powder now

Just thought you'd like to know our experience, just to show you that you're not alone!
We've had Amber (almost 8months old) since October and she has potty trained fairly well in that time. We have pee pads for her and have taught her to ring the bells at the back door to go outside. (She does this with wild abandon, by the way! ) Anyhow, she has gone SEVERAL weeks with no accidents, and now has had 5 potty accidents in the last two days! Ugh! And no change in her routine that would prompt that kind of response.
We just keep doing as the others have suggested... letting her know the right spot to go on and praise like mad when she does well! We use a biological cleaner, as well, and I think that makes a huge difference. I really thought we had this training down pat, but I guess we're not done yet.

Take care!

Melissa

Sorry, I've only just caught up with this post .

We really know very little about Misty's background, although it is unlikely that she spent much time as a house dog before she came to the Spaniel Trust, having definitely been a breeding bitch.

Misty did have the odd accident when she was with us, but of course we did have 6 dogs of our own at the time too - one of which was on diuretics, so we were up and down opening the back door to let them out very often and of course Misty just followed into the garden and copied the others.

The lady who handed her over did say that Mist used to 'wet her bed', but she never did that with us, so I assume that was nerves on Misty's part from her old 'home'.

Hope things are improving and that your hard work is bringing rewards - also send snuggles to the little girl; we were only talking about her yesterday .

The only thing I would add is maybe pick up the rug temporarily while you're retraining her? I had to do that as Ollie chose my huge rug in the family room as his preferred spot. Once he was consistent, I put it back down.

Just to report, thats been 18 days accident free:rah:

Murphy and her share a bed in the kitchen now when we can supervise them, and she's been a star. She hasn't learned to pee on command yet, but she'll get there.

Fran, she hasen't wet her bed here either, her bed partner would have something to say about it I think:lol:

:rah: Thats great news :rah: