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 Shou on
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Thank you for your comment, Emily. I hope we'll learn to work something out. He just... lays around. Haha. The breeder told me that he would bark, if she didn't get to letting him out first, but ever since he's been here, he's been very quiet... Hopefully once he settles in more, he'll learn to tell me what he needs.
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Permalink Reply by Chris, Kadi & Brodie on
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Everyone here is giving you great advice. Brodie is just now (as an adult of unknown age, but with us for two months) starting to actually tell me when he needs to go out. His way of doing that is going to the door, though, so I have to be watching him. He doesn't bark or make any noise. Prior to that, his answer was just to hold it until I took him out. And he still is erratic in how often he poops. Sometimes it's 4 times in one day, others it's only once. Same amount of food every day though. Kadi came to us trained to go on papers and we are transitioning her into holding it until we take her out. Since we boarded the dogs over the weekend, she's backslid and gone on the carpet without any attempt at notifying us she needed to go out. I didn't fuss at her, just cleaned it up and made the mental note we need to keep a closer eye on her. She's 10 months old now. Years ago when I got my Dalmatian (Sam) he was 9 months old. Much bigger dog, of course, but in all the years I had him, he not only didn't go in the house, he wouldn't even go on a leash! Had to be free outside to go. I couldn't board him, because he would have gone toxic before he would have gone in a run! He also never told me he needed to go out. He just patiently waited for me to let him out, then he did his business and returned. Dogs are all different and it's our job to figure out what works to some extent, and to communicate to them what we expect.
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Thank you for your comment, Chris. I'll try to keep a closer eye on him... He never pees or poops in my room, except once on accident when my housemate tried to take him out of the crate. Guess he really had to go... But he doesn't seem to try to tell me he has to go either. Once in a while, he'll sit at my door and whine. Once, I think it was cuz he had to go (so I woke up and took him out), but sometimes I think he just wants to go out and play with my housemate's chihuahua... Haha.
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Permalink Reply by Anna Morelli on
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What you have is a very submissive puppy. You say he piis when people pet him. Keep in mind that he's not doing that because he needs to eliminate. He is not "going potty" he is acting submissively to the person petting him. This is a normal behavior in very young puppies and carries on in older submissive pups. THE WORSE THING YOU CAN DO is scold a puppy in this situation, or try to stop it. If you do, it will only get worse. You can manage it by taking the dog outside to greet a new person, so it happens outside, or by having people coming in ignore the dog altogether for awhile and then keeping any interaction low key. The real solution is to build more and more self confidence by exposing him gradually to more and more different people, situations and environments. Avoid stores until this phase has passed, in fairness to the store keepers....
If you see him piing when not being petted, then you can stop him with a "no, no, no...." but don't go overboard with a submissive pup, he should not need much to get the message. For the rest, I think you need to give up some of your expectations and timetables. Put him on a schedule that makes sense to you and follow standard potty training routines. In time he'll learn what you expect from him and you'll learn to read him. For now, keep an eye on him and crate him at night. Belly bands on a puppy???? What else will they think of next? Glad you got rid of those.
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I'm not really sure he's that submissive though... Because I've brought him out before and he lets strangers pet him without peeing. Yet with 3 of my housemates, he sometimes pees. Not always, just sometimes. Usually we don't even notice until we realized that he's frozen for a few seconds. Lol. They don't even greet him very excitedly or anything. Just a calm "hi" and reach down to pet him. Hopefully he'll slowly get past that. Today was good. He didn't pee anywhere he wasn't suppose to. But he's started mouthing when he gets excited, or trying to chew on things he's not suppose to... Usually a firm "no" will get him to stop, but he's slowly learning to be stubborn. Haha. If it's not one thing or anything I guess.
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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It will take a bit for him and you to figure everything out and you...I would try a couple rope or cloth pull toys to play with him also. When he mouths does he just hold your hand in his mouth? Sage loves to put her mouth around my hand but doesn't bite and as long as she doesn't bite I let her...it's part of her personality ...I think. I would just take him out every 2 hours when you can and say "potty" when he goes and praise him:)
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I'll try a rope toy. He has this raccoon "pelt" with squeakers that we sometimes play tug on. But he loses interest kinda quickly. :\ And with the mouthing, he does bite. Usually not hard. But if I'm doing something he doesn't like, he will bite, and a couple times it has been hard enough to be painful. I try to tell him "no", but sometimes he doesn't listen when he's excited, or he really doesn't like what I'm doing. Haha... Well the thing is, I know he doesn't need to go every 2 hours. He is getting better though. When he actually goes while we're outside, I praise him like crazy, so hopefully he's starting to understand.
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Shou, it is submissive urination. The dog perceives your 3 housemates to be dominant to him ( higher in rank ) and shows deference (respect) that way. He may not perceive strangers the same way, or some yes some no. It is a common and unfortunate mistake to view this behavior as a housebreaking problem. It should not be confused, or treated as other types of so called "accidents".
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I've watched him and I'll have to agree, you are right. I don't yell at him when he does that. But do you know how I could get him to not pee when he interacts with my housemates? They do help me take him out when I'm not home, so I feel bad that they always have to clean up after him. Ahaha...
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Unfortunately there is no fool proof way, but there are things that can help and things that can make it worse. Since the behavior is tied to the pup's perception of dominance, it occurs in response to a variety of cues given off by a particular person. These cues can be posture (standing over is more dominant than kneeling) size of the person, attitude (some people are more dominant, or assertive than others and even people perceive this) tone of voice ( high or low pitch, volume, slow or fast speech ) and body odor, which is influenced by a person's hormones ( children have very little, women more, men most, generally speaking ). So you see, it it fairly complex. The trick is to try and build the pup's self confidence and observe what gets you what and then try to modify, or tone down what you do. There is no magic wand, but understanding the behavior, which is a survival strategy in puppies, will help the person not be upset about it and that, in itself, will be of help. If any of your housemates cannot buy into this and is upset by having to deal with it, then figure out another way to meet the pup's needs until the puppy has outgrown this behavior. After all, it's your puppy. Too many cooks spoil the broth.
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Luckily for me, all my housemates love dogs and are very understanding. It's interesting that he never had this kind of problem with me at all. But I've been trying to work with them on how they approach and interact with him. He's getting better. Slowly. But better. Haha. Thanks for your advice! :]
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Permalink Reply by Kathryn Harbour on
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Ellie is almost 2 and still does not give me any prompts as to when she wants to go outside. I will take her if she acts restless, but other than that, no whines, no barks, not even any response when I ask if she wants to go outside--she just looks at me.
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