Learning bad habits from cousin Caicos

Today I came home to frustrating news. After a long day of work I came home to find a throw rug hanging outside with a bottle of Pee Pee Be Gone next to it. I knew immediately Nemo must have had an accident.

As it turned out, it was not an accident. It was intentional. Nemo has been ringing a bell to go potty for a couple of weeks and he hadn't had an accident since. Even before that, every accident he had was right next to the door.

My husband tells me that Nemo gave almost no warning, didn't ring the bell, and just squatted on a carpet in the middle of the room. It seems that this new behavior has been brought on by Nemo spending time with my brother's dog.

Caicos, to no fault of her own, has received almost no training and regularly pees in the house (especially at my mom's house). Both dogs were at my mom's house today. Caicos peed and then so did Nemo. Apparently, Nemo liked the trick so much he brought it home.

No accidents in weeks and then twice in one day! Ugh I guess we are back to square one and treating him like a baby again. It's very frustrating to put in so much time and effort training him and to have him revert because he is around a poorly trained dog.

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Comment by Sarah Weippert on September 5, 2013 at 11:31pm: Just a quick update. I posted on Friday and Nemo was back to ringing his bell to go potty on Sunday. We haven't had any more accidents and he seems to be back to business as usual. Damn dog. I love him but man does he try my patience, especially when he cocks his head and says "of course I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to."

Comment by Zigward & Kimberly on August 31, 2013 at 11:57am: Boo :( I know that feeling. Ziggy was never much of a barker until we moved in with people who also have dogs... Now he sure is haha. Definitely not the worst barker, but it's a new habit learned from other people's dogs, that I coulda been fine and dandy living without :P We're working on it though, and he's leashed around the times I know to expect barking :P

I would just like to put in that it's pretty common that even after puppies are potty trained that they revert/rebel when they get a little older ("teen phase"?) and need a freshen up course in potty training... Just letting you know that way if it does indeed happen, you can know it's normal, and just to start from square one (again) lol... I've seen it happen many times with other MyCorgi members :)

Comment by Sarah Weippert on August 31, 2013 at 8:17am: Yep that is pretty much our plan of action. Nemo will be closely watched until we are sure he is back on track at home and he has lost all roaming privileges while at my mom's house. It's just tough because my in-laws want us to go to NY with them in September and Nemo won't be able to come. I have been hesitant because that would mean leaving him at my Mom's and I know she won't maintain the structure I have built. My parent's think I'm a little obsessive. Everyone was trying to convince me that three days at my mom's wouldn't ruin my training efforts, but after this set back I'm not convinced.

Comment by Julia on August 31, 2013 at 2:34am: On the other hand, my 12-week old corgi came home to an adult dog and a doggy door. I swear she learned to potty outside by copying the older dog. I certainly didn't put a lot of effort into it. There's good influence, and bad influence out there. Perhaps Caicos needs to be an "outside" friend. Or treat both dogs like babies when they're together. Caicos probably won't understand it, but at least Nemo won't be seeing his bad boy cousin getting away with it ;)