Atlas still not 100% houstrained, please help
Atlas is now a little over two.
He is still eliminating occasionally in the house and we aren't really certain why.
He's crated during the workday and at night (if he is out all night, he will pee on the floor). I watch his water intake, because he will finish the bowl almost everytime if left unsupervised.
He understands that outside = potty. He even has a command if he is being stubborn and doesn't want to be in the cold snow or wet ground. I will point and say "Go potty," and he will walk back off the deck into the yard and do his business.
I take him out on a very regular schedule after work, usually every 1.5 hours or so.
He still occasionally will poop and pee on the carpet. We've steam cleaned the carpets and even threw out and area rug. We hoped that cleaning the area would help keep him from associating the room with pooping and peeing.
Here is a common scenario:
Get home from work, let Atlas out of his crate, take him immedietaly outside. He poops and pees (I heap him with praise), I take him back inside. Within a half our or so I find a few pieces of poop and a urine stain on the rug.
Our second, younger, dog has absolutely no problems with housetraining.
He also seems to really only be elminating in the family room. He also seems to only do it when he's not being watched directly. He doesn't do it in the kitchen (which also happens to be the room that contains his create), and very rarely does it in our bedrooms.
I just don't understand this behavior. He gets a ridiculous amount of exercise and he's very well trained in all other aspects.
Has anyone else had to deal with an adult that just can't seem to get housebroken?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on
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Have you ruled out a medical issue? The excessive water drinking could mean several different things.
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Permalink Reply by Ross on
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I don't think it's medical. He's just obsessive about things. He lets me know when he's thirsty, and I have to distract him to make him realize he doesn't need to finish the bowl.
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That's not a bad idea! He does get fed in the kitchen and I don't think he has ever eliminated in there.
Has anyone here tried bell training?
I feel part of the issue may be that he just has no way of telling me that he needs to go outside.
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Permalink Reply by Kari & Quin on
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i have been working on training my puppy to ring a bell (she is 13 weeks) i first taught her to target a ball on the end of a stick every time they touch the ball click with the clicker and give a treat once they have that i hung a bell next to the door and put the target ball next to it then moved it so she touched the bell and then click and treat, then change to going out side when they ring instead of treat, go out, come in, ring the bell, and do that for a while. She got it pretty fast.
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Permalink Reply by Sarah C. on
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have you considered not controlling water for a week or so and seeing how that goes? It could be he's urinating excessively because he's drinking excessively because he doesn't know when he'll get water next. If you give him water all the time maybe he won't gorge himself and will start drinking and urinating more regularly and it'll be easier for him to hold his urine.
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Yes. I regulate his water intake per a dog trainer's suggestion. Up until about a year ago he had his water bowl down all the time. He pees in the houes significantly less since I started controlling his water intake, but is still, obviously, having accidents occasionally.
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Permalink Reply by Alice on
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Finnigan has had trouble in this department as well but I am not sure that his issue isn't neurological or at least part of the issue. He peed all the time when he was little. He knew it was good to go outside and as soon as we'd set him down in the rocks he would pee and if he had to go #2 he would, but he would still pee inside. His were not just puddles of pee, they were lines of pee zigzagging across the carpet or little drops of pee here and there as if he had a leak. He'd even pee on us sometimes while we were carrying him outside or pee on his bed while laying down.
Crating him helped a lot. I think being in that calm, safe place helped him hold it. He never peed in his crate. He slowly got better at holding it and had fewer accidents but still sometimes if he is playing ball in the house and get's very excited he will dribble and instantly sit down, lick himself and put his ears back and look at us like we're going to yell at him. The fact that he looks to shocked and ashamed indicates to me that he has no control over it. Is Atlas anything like this?
Despite the slow progress, Finn is now a year and 4 months and he may dribble a little bit a couple times a week (always at night) but he will hold it at least 6 hours in the house if left out of his crate while we are not home. He only pooped in the house once since he was 8 weeks old so that was never an issue. He has a problem telling us he has to go too. He won't bark or whine. I finally caught on that when he stands on his hind legs with his front paws on the couch and looks from me to the door and persists, that means he has to go out. Maybe Atlas has subtle body language that you're missing.
I would limit where he can go in the house until he shows improvement. Buy baby gates and block off all rooms but the one he's in and gradually give him access as he goes longer and longer without accidents. Take him out frequently like you have been and space it out more and more as he progresses. You can try potty training with a leash. Put him on a leash and tie it to your waist so when you move, he moves. Many people have had success with this method since they do not want to pee in front of you plus if they do go into the potty stance, you are right there to catch it and correct him. Bell training has worked for many people so it would be worth a try as well.
I would still suggest ruling out a medical cause. When Finn was a couple months old the vet said he didn't think it was a problem, he just needed to strengthen his bladder but he did say if it persisted into adult hood they would deem this unusual and look for a medical cause.
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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There is no reason a healthy two-year-old dog should need to go out every hour-and-a-half to eliminate. Mine go 9 hours if we are at work and 4 hours if we are home between potty breaks.
First of all, a male is unlikely to empty his bladder on one potty break. When you take him out to potty, do you bring him right back in?
Here is what we do with ours: Up in the morning, my husband feeds them and then takes them out for 10 minutes or so. Our girl usually pees once and poops once, but our boy will pee two or three times and poop once or twice. Then back inside, we go off to work, come home and take them for a long-ish walk immediately afterwords. Our female pees once or rarely twice, but our male pees countless times and poops two or three times on the walk. If we just took him in after his first potty, he would undoubtedly need to go again.
What I would suggest is first to rule out any physical problems. If it were me I would want a complete blood panel with kidney function included, plus a stool sample. In the meantime, I would change up the routine. His after work potty break should be long enough to make sure you truly have an empty dog, which likely means a long walk. Then he should be gated away from the room where he has accidents. Take him out once again after 3 to 4 hours, and then one last pee break right before bed.
Use an enzyme cleaner on the carpets to make sure all odors are out. After a couple weeks accident free, then I would start letting him back in the family room only on a leash that I held the end of until he proves himself trustworthy.
Anyway, that's what I would do. If no physical problem is found, then it's just that he never really learned that he should never eliminate inside and thinks that outside is better but inside is not so bad. Retraining means never giving him the opportunity to eliminate inside while at the same time changing him to a more typical adult dog elimination schedule.
But first I would rule out the physical. Kidney problems, diabetes, doggie IBS, could all be an issue.
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