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Regressed in Our Potty Training

CharlieTriBoy

Active member
Hello,

I have an 8-month-old Tri-colored male named Charlie. I feel like we have rather regressed in our potty training. He was doing so well for a while, and then I started trusting him and giving him pretty much run of the house. I always and still do, keep a close eye on him and keep a log of when he pees and poops outside. Lately, he has been surprising me when I walk into another room and find that he has pooped or even, squats and pees while he’s looking right at me! Charlie is a pretty quiet dog, so he wouldn’t bark at the door or doesn’t let me know that he has to go out, that’s why I keep the log. At 8-months-old I feel that during the day I am letting him out every hour. Shouldn’t he be holding it longer than that? He does “most” of the night (I get up once at night to let him out), but I feel that if I don’t let him out every hour he’s going to pee someplace while I’m not looking or maybe even doing it while looking right at me. What should I be doing?

Thank you.

Shell – Charlie’s Mom
 
Unfortunately, I can't help you, as I've been there, done that. We had zero experience with a house dog and were in our 70s when we got Bentley so we did everything wrong, I'm pretty sure. He's now just over 3 years and all the bad stuff is over. He's pretty much on a first thing in the morning, about noon, late afternoon and bedtime routine now. He's had run of the house since he was less than a year old and had knee surgery--with the shield thing around his neck we couldn't fit him through the door of his crate. One of the last times he had an "accident" was the day of our daughter's funeral when our living room was filled with extended family. I had just said that Bentley was pretty much potty trained when he squatted and peed right on the carpet, then pooped. I must say it added a little levity to the sad day and I think he was sensing the emotions in the room.
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It took me one year to train Bosco. He also does not bark or indicate that he needs to go out. Like Charlie, he would just stop and pee or poop at random intervals.

You need to go back to square one. If you cannot watch Charlie like a hawk, he needs to be in an area that is closed off. I had an xpen. When not in the xpen, he needs to be watched, should you note him beginning to poop or pee, immediately pick him up and take him outside, and praise him. He will eventually get the message. I know it stinks to have to watch him all the time when outside the pen, but its the only way I know to break the habit. Honestly, I never had a dog that took so long to train, and its probably the only "complaint" I have about him. Around age 1, he finally understood and has been accident free from then. He's 2.5 years now.

Also, he is old enough to make it through the night, so you should not need to get up and take him out. I crate my dogs at night, so that was never an issue for me.

Keeping the log is great. Just praise, praise, praise, everytime he does his business outside. i gave treats for the longest time.

Last thought- be sure your carpet/floor area is cleaned with one of those enzyme solutions that removes the smell, otherwise, he will continue to go back to that spot.

Good luck.

Joan
 
The problem is that he got too much freedom before he was ready for it. I got BellaMia at 12 weeks. She was able to sleep in her crate, for the whole night from the first day. As for housetraining, we kept her in our TV room that has access to our yard. It took about a month for her to alert us she needed to go out. BUT we didn't give her freedom to the whole house until we were sure she had control. In small increments, we gave her access to other areas of the house. This past Christmas, we just gave her full freedom.......its been over a year since she has had any accidents. That being said, we still crate her when we go out and at bedtime. Taking no chances.

It really takes a lot of time, patience and praise. Charlie should, at 8 months, be able to sleep through the night. If he is crated at night, in all probability, he won't go in his bed. You should also be able to read his signals. BellaMia doesn't bark either. She stands by the door to go out, and if we don't get up immediately, she comes and stares in your face! But I can usually tell by her demeanor whether she need to go potty or just wants to be outside.

Good luck and let us know how he's doing.
 
Good idea about starting from square one. And your right, he did get too much freedom before he was ready. I do crate Charlie while we're gone and at night in our bedroom. He bangs on his crate door at night when he has to go out. Maybe I need to cut off the water a couple of hours before bed. That might help with that.

Thanks so much for your input.

Shelley
 
Thank you for your reply. I haven't had a dog in about 10 years and have forgotten about all this puppy stuff and how to do it.

I am sorry about the loss of your daughter.

They sure are sweet and sensitive little dogs, aren't they?
 
Good idea about starting from square one. And your right, he did get too much freedom before he was ready. I do crate Charlie while we're gone and at night in our bedroom. He bangs on his crate door at night when he has to go out. Maybe I need to cut off the water a couple of hours before bed. That might help with that.

Thanks so much for your input.

Shelley

Don't cut off water! Just make sure you take him out right before bedtime. If he is banging in his crate, you need to ignore it and he will learn to accept it. Right now he has you trained and it needs to be the other way around. :)
 
Hi Shelley: Welcome! You've had lots of good advice. I'd just add: an 8 month old is many months beyond the point where he should ever need to go at night during your sleeping time --regardless of whether he drinks water -- unless he is actually ill. I think the case is more that you have trained a habit. He knows that he can wake up, paw the crate, and get attention right away -- an excursion out with you. Very few dogs need to be let out in the middle of the night beyond 12 weeks old.

So two things -- it might be worth having him checked for a urinary tract infection, which could be contributing to the problem. If he has a UTI, it can progress to a kidney infection so it is worth just getting the all-clear (hopefully) on that. Then, I'd go cold turkey on NOT letting him out at night. Ignore the pawing at the crate. Get earplugs if you need to. Or move the crate somewhere else so you won't hear him. The daytime issue is definitely one of too much freedom too soon (generally most dogs are not fully reliable until age 1 and even then they can sometimes have accidents, usually when we don't read their signal to go out or were left too long inside. BTW almost none of my dogs clearly indicates when they want to go out! We just give them all regular toilet breaks outside -- every few hours. But they can hold themselves for longer than that if necessary).

You will need to start from the beginning but the good news is that because he already has the basics, he should relearn quickly. Do not let him have the run of the house. Not generally wise anyway -- dogs can get into many things that could be dangerous or which they can damage when out of sight. Keep him always within view during housetraining -- early on, he should always be at arm's reach distance. He needs to be moved rapidly towards longer periods than being let out every hour --that's only training him to hold himself for an hour.
 
Don't cut off water! Just make sure you take him out right before bedtime. If he is banging in his crate, you need to ignore it and he will learn to accept it. Right now he has you trained and it needs to be the other way around. :)

I think you're right - - he has me trained!
 
Hi Shelley: Welcome! You've had lots of good advice. I'd just add: an 8 month old is many months beyond the point where he should ever need to go at night during your sleeping time --regardless of whether he drinks water -- unless he is actually ill. I think the case is more that you have trained a habit. He knows that he can wake up, paw the crate, and get attention right away -- an excursion out with you. Very few dogs need to be let out in the middle of the night beyond 12 weeks old.

So two things -- it might be worth having him checked for a urinary tract infection, which could be contributing to the problem. If he has a UTI, it can progress to a kidney infection so it is worth just getting the all-clear (hopefully) on that. Then, I'd go cold turkey on NOT letting him out at night. Ignore the pawing at the crate. Get earplugs if you need to. Or move the crate somewhere else so you won't hear him. The daytime issue is definitely one of too much freedom too soon (generally most dogs are not fully reliable until age 1 and even then they can sometimes have accidents, usually when we don't read their signal to go out or were left too long inside. BTW almost none of my dogs clearly indicates when they want to go out! We just give them all regular toilet breaks outside -- every few hours. But they can hold themselves for longer than that if necessary).

You will need to start from the beginning but the good news is that because he already has the basics, he should relearn quickly. Do not let him have the run of the house. Not generally wise anyway -- dogs can get into many things that could be dangerous or which they can damage when out of sight. Keep him always within view during housetraining -- early on, he should always be at arm's reach distance. He needs to be moved rapidly towards longer periods than being let out every hour --that's only training him to hold himself for an hour.

Great advice. I'll start ignoring him tonight. I think I will need to put earplugs in though, he can get a little loud with that banging, little stinker. I'll have him checked out at the Vet. I think it's more of me getting up taking him out thinking that he needs to potty. The other night it was 3:00 in the morning and we went out and then he just starts snooping around... crazy me. Thanks again!
 
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