My puppy is weird... Need some potty training help.
So I've been bragging to everyone about how my puppy is the best-est puppy ever, because he's so good. He's quiet, he doesn't try to eat all my belongings, and when I don't pay attention to him, he'll just go lay down somewhere. But the truth is... I don't understand him! I've been reading about dogs for years and years, thinking that by the time came, I'd be well prepared. But this guy... is like no puppy I've read about.
I don't know why, but he doesn't let me know when he has to go potty! The first morning he was here, I thought he would wake up and start fussing so I'd know he had to go to the bathroom. Every other dog I've known has always done that. Whine, shift around in the crate, or even bark. But nope, he didn't make much of any noise, past chewing on his toy. The breeder told me to get some belly bands (like doggy diapers), and by the time I got up, he had already peed in there. I used to have him leashed to me, but he's been so good about not chewing on stuff, that I just let him loose in my room (it's not very big at all) and keep an eye on him all the time. But all he does, is just lay around, and sometimes he'll play with his toys. I keep trying to catch him sniffing around, or anything that looks like he has to go pee, but nothing! He is 9 months old, so I know he can hold it longer than younger puppies, but still, he's gotta go sometime, right? Even when I take him outside, because it's been a few hours, he'll walk around, and sniff and sniff and sniff for maybe 5-10 minutes before he finally pees. And he has water there all the time, so it's not like he doesn't have anything to pee out.
And that's just peeing. He's even worse with pooping. The first night he came home, he never pooped. Even after all those hours in the plane, nothing. Well ok, fine. The next day, he did poop, twice, since he gets 2 meals a day. But again, he sniffs around forever, before he decides to finally go. This morning, I fed him, took him out about half an hour later, even though he made absolutely no signs of needing to go, and once again, after sniffing around, he finally pooped. Tonight after I came home, I gave him his dinner, and waited... For a whole hour. Thinking, at SOME point, he's gotta have to go. No. I took him outside anyway, he sniffed around forever. Still didn't go in the end. That was an hour ago. And he's just been laying around, napping. I left the crate door open last night since he's been so good, and he hasn't tried to chew up anything he's not suppose to. But I'm not sure if I should do that tonight, since he hasn't pooped, and I don't want him to poop in my room while I'm sleeping...
His breeder told me that she usually feeds them outside, and let them run around, and they go poop. And she suggested that I just keep him in an x-pen outside after I feed him. But my yard is mostly the pool. The only areas with dirt is off to the side where I wouldn't be able to see if unless i go outside, so I don't really want to do that. I also don't want him to eat any bugs or anything that's in the yard. Plus the x-pen I ordered isn't here yet anyway. So I'm really not sure what to do. :\
I should also mention... It's really weird, but when I try to take him outside, he'll walk out the door, and then he'll plant his feet and refuse to move. But then if I pick him up, and move him past the area outside the door, he'll walk around. And sniff. And sometimes he'll just stand really still. Once in a while he'll sit down. All this, while I'm trying to encourage him to go pee, or go potty. And sometimes when we walk all around the yard and finally make it back to the door to go inside, he'll try to pull me towards the door, like he really wants to go in. And tonight he did this, even though he never went to the bathroom.
I really don't understand this puppy! I would ask the breeder, but our schedules have been really mismatched this past few days that I haven't been able to call her. I'm gonna take him to the vet on Tuesday, just to make sure he's ok. But I'm hoping he gets better about this before then. So please if anyone has any suggestions, I would appreciate any help I can get. Thank you!!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jane on
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In a brand new environment I wouldn't expect him to give you much for signals yet. I'd just take him out on a regular schedule for a while. Did the breeder keep him inside the house?
Sometimes a short walk can help "get things moving" so to speak, if he doesn't seem to want to poop standing in one spot.
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Permalink Reply by Shou on
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Thanks for your comment, Jane. I'm really hoping he'll start giving me some signals soon. I tried to take him out every few hours when I can, but sometimes he just sniffs around and doesn't go. I don't know how long I'm suppose to make him stay out there if he doesn't actually have to go? I believe the breeder had them inside, but she'd let them out in the morning and after she got home. I tried the walk thing too, but he'll only pee, not poop. And then after a while he'll walk back towards the door to be let inside. Haha.
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Permalink Reply by Karen Dadisman on
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Did you say 9 months old, not 9 weeks? At 9 months, he's able to go a long time without having to go potty. I'd just keep him on a schedule of every couple of hours until you figure out when he needs to pee. I'd get rid of the belly band also. That's like keeping a baby in diapers after he's potty trained. Maybe he doesn't know how to tell you he needs to go outside. Rocky was like this and we trained him to use bells to tell us.
Hang some big jingle bells on a string from the door handle. Before you take him out, gently take his head in your hands and hit the bells with his nose and say "let's go out!". Take him out and when he potties do your happy dance and shower him with treats. Once Rocky had a way to tell us he needed to go out, potty training was a done deal.
Take him for some walks outside your yard also so he is getting some exercise and learning about new sights and smells. Sounds like he might not have be exposed to much interesting as a babe.
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Thanks for your comment, Karen. Yup, he's 9 months. I did get rid of the belly band like you said. But now he's started doing this thing where when he gets petted by one of my housemates, he'll pee. Inside, outside, doesn't matter. He doesn't seem excited, or scared. But as soon as they reach down to pet him, if he has to pee, he just... pees right there.
I want to be able to teach him to ring bells to go outside, but since I can never tell when he has to go or not, I'm not sure how to teach him that bells mean "potty time" and not like "go outside time".
I do try to take him out for walks outside the yard sometimes. But he only pees, never poops when we walk around the neighborhood.
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Markley on
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Try to think of this from his point of view:
He has no idea that going outside is where he is expected to go. Dogs have a natural sense to keep their "den" clean, but not until they are older. You need to keep him where you can see him at all times- correct firmly and quickly the second you see him starting to go, surprise him enough that he stops. Immediately take him outside, and stay out there until he goes potty one way or the other. When he does, make your neighbors think you're crazy because your jumping around and telling him what a "GOOD DOG YOU ARE!". It helps to to teach him a word associated with pottying outside. I tell them to "go potty". They know that that is what they are expected to do, and where.
Once you make him realize that he is to potty outside, then he will start to give you clues that he has to go out, and will tell you in one way or another. He doesn't give you clues now, because he has no idea that he isn't supposed to be pottying in the house.
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Thanks for your comment, Jennifer. I'm trying to keep an eye on him. But the problem with corgis being so short... sometimes I don't notice until he's done. Haha... He was really good about it for a while. But a couple days ago he started peeing when he gets petted by my housemates. He doesn't seem to be visibly that excited, or scared by them. But when they reach down to pet him, he... pees. Inside, outside, doesn't matter. It's not every time that he does, but I guess when he does need to go... I'm trying to teach him to "go potty" but yeah, sometimes it's hard to tell. Haha. Especially in the grass. How do you know if they've gone to the bathroom??
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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on
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A walk often is the best way to get the elimination started. You can make your future life easier by immediately saying a command such as "go potty" when he squats to pee or poop every single time and then praise after. If I don't have time for a walk or the weather is awful, I now can say the phrase and they all know they are supposed to hurry up and go. At this point you should take him out regularly (maybe every 2 hours) and praise for him going. He is in a strange land without knowledge of the language and customs right now so it may take a little while to get what you are expecting. If you are consistent he should catch on.
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Permalink Reply by Yuki & Ellie on
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As others have said, at 9 months old he can hold it for a long time. At that age, Ellie was outside to potty maybe 4 times per day and that's it. And of those 4 trips, only 3 were to go poop. It's possible that he just doesn't have to go when you take him out. It could also be that he's unsure of his new environment. Give him a week or two to get settled in before you get too concerned. :)
I would also like to let you know that Ellie is a little booger when it comes to a potty signal, too. Her "signal" is to just sit in front of the back door. It's possible that you'll have to train him to give you a really clear signal (ringing bells hung by the door, scratching at a certain spot, etc.) One thing you can do to help, though, is to make a really big deal when he does potty outside. Get excited, offer a treat or two and make it clear that he just did something awesome!
One trick that I use to get Ellie to poop is to take her for a very short walk. More often then not, she'll poop if I just walk her to the front of the house and then around 20 feet down the sidewalk (away from the house, so she thinks we're going on a big walk.)
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Hmm I don't think he even has to go this often. He goes once or twice a day at most. I hope he'll settle in and figure it out soon...
I want to try the bells thing, but I don't want him to think that bells mean just "outside" instead of "potty". And I do try to make a big deal about him going potty, and I'll try to tell him "good boy" and stuff when he's going, but once he's done, he's off. He wants to keep exploring. Haha.
I haven't really had much success with having him poop anywhere away from the house. But sometimes I'll lead him over to the spot where he's pooped a couple times, and he'll just walk right over it, even though I know he hasn't gone to poop in a while...
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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At 9 months, you should try walking him instead of waiting for him to go in his yard. If the area he goes in is small and he also likes to play around there, he may intentionally NOT be going there to avoid soiling his own area.
At 9 months he can hold it most of the day. If he's fed twice a day he'll probably only poop twice a day, though many Corgis space it out and go 2 times or so during a walk. Jack hit a point where I'd wait forever for him to potty until I finally realized his digestive system had matured and he no longer had the young pup's need to go 4 or 5 times a day. He no longer needed the bedtime poop (only pee) and my life got much less frustrating when I realized that.
As Bev says, a walk will get them moving. If he's not a real dominant pup, he might be confused about the "proper" place to potty and there is no one to show him. When we brought home Maddie as an adult she would pee where Jack did but seemed very concerned to poop and would hold it for most of a walk even when we knew she had to go. She smelled where other dogs had gone, figured it was their territory, and without her pack to back her up she was reluctant to leave evidence that she was there (at least that's how we interpreted it).
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Thank you for your comment, Beth. I've tried back yard, front yard, and walk. Sometimes he'll go. Sometimes he won't. He sometimes play in the back yard, but not really in the front yard (unless just sniffing around counts as playing...) On the walks, he'll only pee, but he never poops.
Hmmm it makes me a little worried, but I hope that's the case with him... He never seems to have to go. And he never pees in my room, except the one time my housemate tried to carry him out of his crate, and he peed. Haha... But then if I take him outside, he doesn't really seem to have to go either, even when I know he hasn't gone in quite a while. He also just started doing this thing where he'll pee when my housemates pet him. Doesn't matter if we're inside or outside, but if he has to pee, and they reach down to pet him, he pees right where he is. Even though before that, there was absolutely no sign that he needed to pee. :\
That's an interesting idea... We have had some dogs here before. But even if I take him to the area where he's pooped before, sometimes he'll walk right over it. Even though I know he hasn't pooped in a while. So I don't think that's quite the thing...
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Permalink Reply by Emily & Scout on
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Scout still doesn't really have a "potty" signal. All her signals are the same with slightly varying intensities:
1: Staring
2: Staring and occasionally making a quiet noise
3: Staring, putting her feet up on the chair I'm in
4: Jumping in my lap and being a pestShe'll do this if she needs food, water, attention, or a trip outside, or anything else I'm not giving her at the moment. But when I first got her, it was NO signal and luckily she had been housebroken before and all it took was me taking her out. She somehow developed her own signal that we both know.
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