Dog - housetraining question

Peggy Olson · May 2012

We adopted J from the local humane society in early February. She is a young adult (age guessed from 3-5 by vet and HS volunteers) Jack Russell/Pomeranian/?? mix.

She is the sweetest dog in the world but we're having trouble housetraining. I have never had a small dog before, so maybe I'm doing something wrong and overestimating how long she can "hold it."

When crated - she pees in her crate. Every single time, without fail. If not crated and we're sleeping, not paying attention to her, not home, she pees and poops on our living room rug. We threw out the rug because it had gotten so bad that the rug and our hardwoods underneath are ruined.

We tried tethering her to us when we first got her, but she doesn't seem to give any cues about needing to go outside. We can start doing this again when we are home.

We've used gallons of Nature's Miracle, but that doesn't deter her at all. We even replaced the rug and she now is going on the new rug.

I am gone for 8 hours during the day and DH is gone longer.

Is 8 hours too long for her to "hold it?" No UTI, etc. as per the vet. WWYD?

ETA: Do I just accept that she is a small dog and will pee in the house and try to train her to use pee pads in her crate when she needs to go?

sandollar1010 · May 2012

I don't think 8 hours is too old for an adult dog, but I think you need to treat her as if she is a puppy and really start from scratch on house training.

bruins8624 · May 2012

I agree with treating her as though she is a puppy.Here are some tips I learned with training my beagle I got from a shelter.

A dog should not pee where they sleep so make sure you feed your dog in her crate and leave a kong in the crate when you are gone. Be sure to take her outside once she gets out of the crate.

I was away from my puppy for 8 hrs at a time as well. Put your puppy on a strict schedule as well. We feed our puppy twice a day at the same time. This gets her regular.

One last tip, if you have any friends that have dogs introduce her to them. I noticed my dog was instantly crate trained after spending a day with my best friends dog. I know it sounds crazy but it worked for me.

Goodjob with adopting from Humane society!

Peggy Olson · May 2012

bruins8624:
I agree with treating her as though she is a puppy.Here are some tips I learned with training my beagle I got from a shelter.
A dog should not pee where they sleep so make sure you feed your dog in her crate and leave a kong in the crate when you are gone. Be sure to take her outside once she gets out of the crate.
I was away from my puppy for 8 hrs at a time as well. Put your puppy on a strict schedule as well. We feed our puppy twice a day at the same time. This gets her regular.
One last tip, if you have any friends that have dogs introduce her to them. I noticed my dog was instantly crate trained after spending a day with my best friends dog. I know it sounds crazy but it worked for me.
Goodjob with adopting from Humane society!

Thank you! We have another dog who is 100% housetrained and has not gone in the house in literally years. Unfortunately she doesn't follow his lead..

I never thought to treat her like a puppy and start from scratch. That's a great idea about feeding her in the crate, etc.

We are awful at keeping a good feeding schedule so we will definitely put more effort into it. We feed them right before we eat, but that varies by hours. I need to feed them immediately when I get home from work since that's consistent.

Caz1221 · May 2012

Peggy Olson:

ETA: Do I just accept that she is a small dog and will pee in the house and try to train her to use pee pads in her crate when she needs to go?

As a small dog owner, I have to answer this question with an emphatic NO! I have 2 pugs (17 and 19 lbs., ages 5 and 6), and they are 100% housebroken. I generally recommend staying away from pee pads because it just confuses the dog, making her think it's ok to potty inside. I don't know any dogs that have been truly, successfully pee-pad trained (they "miss" the pad or just get confused and potty somewhere else in the house). If for some reason you were going to use pee pads, I certainly would not put them in her crate because that would force her to potty where she sleeps (and the more she does that, the harder it gets to break the habit).

I completely agree with PPs about treating her as a puppy. Take her out very often, and praise like crazy when she potties outside. If she doesn't go, crate her for 20 minutes, then take her out again. Repeat until she goes, and then reward with play time. Tether her to you or crate her when you are inside.

Finally, even though an adult dog should be able to hold it for 8 hours, I rarely make my two pugs do that (except overnight). They have a walker who comes every weekday afternoon so they usually only have to hold it for 4-6 hours at a time. Can you get a walker to take her out mid-day?

MarieSD · May 2012

Peggy Olson:

When crated - she pees in her crate. Every single time, without fail. If not crated and we're sleeping, not paying attention to her, not home, she pees and poops on our living room rug.
We tried tethering her to us when we first got her, but she doesn't seem to give any cues about needing to go outside. We can start doing this again when we are home.
ETA: Do I just accept that she is a small dog and will pee in the house and try to train her to use pee pads in her crate when she needs to go?

I just adopted a small adult dog and am house-training as well, and I agree with PP -- she should be able to hold it 8+ hours. Mine does.

A couple things to think about -- is the crate too big for her? You want the crate small and cozy so that she feels like it's her little spot. She shouldn't want to go to the bathroom, knowing she's going to be sitting/laying in it the rest of the time she's in there. The crate I bought came with a divider in case it's for a puppy (i.e., if she was only 5 lbs as a puppy, she'd only need half the size of the crate, which is intended for a 20-lb dog ... then remove the divider after she grows.)

Some people I spoke to said my dog was getting confused with carpet/rugs. The fabric of it made her think it was an OK place to go to the bathroom. My carpeted bedroom, the living room rug, even bathmats -- she would pee on those, while she never has had an accident on tile. I thought this might be similar since you mention her peeing on your rugs. Is there a blanket/fabric in her crate? That might also explain why she's going in there. I pulled up all the rugs and bath mats for now and watch her like a hawk in carpeted rooms. She doesn't even have a chance to get confused. I'll put them back down when I know she's gotten the fact that she can only go outside.

With my dog, I have to watch her every minute she's not in her crate. You mention if you're not paying attention or not home or sleeping -- my dog doesn't have those opportunities. If we're not home or we're sleeping, she's in her crate (in the bedroom with us while we're sleeping, so she can still be close to us). If I'm home and she's out, I'm watching her. It's exhausting, but it's only temporary, until she gets it. I block off so she can only be in the room I'm in and call her to me if she's out of my sight line.

Also --- I take her outside often. Always first thing in the morning when she wakes up and when I get home from work -- that's typically when she goes. But I take her outside a few times at night too, especially at first, just in case. So she has more of a chance to go outside. I'm outside with her, telling her a key word "go potty." She picked that up VERY fast. Anytime she actually did go to the bathroom outside, I praised her while she was doing it, cooing "Good girl! Go potty! Good girl! Go potty!" Moronic, I know, but she quickly connected that going to the bathroom outside was good, and that "Go potty" had something to do with it.

My trainer also recommended to only let her have water at certain times -- don't just leave the dishes on the floor. She said most dogs have to potty 15-45 minutes after they drink water. So, when my dog was having the most accidents, I didn't just leave the water dish down so she could have water whenever (and I wouldn't know it). I even set a timer after she drank water and took her outside 15 minutes later and encouraged her to go. Crazy and time consuming, but I think it's working.

Sorry for the novel. HTH.

RedheadBaker · May 2012

Peggy Olson:
bruins8624:
I agree with treating her as though she is a puppy.Here are some tips I learned with training my beagle I got from a shelter.
A dog should not pee where they sleep so make sure you feed your dog in her crate and leave a kong in the crate when you are gone. Be sure to take her outside once she gets out of the crate.
I was away from my puppy for 8 hrs at a time as well. Put your puppy on a strict schedule as well. We feed our puppy twice a day at the same time. This gets her regular.
One last tip, if you have any friends that have dogs introduce her to them. I noticed my dog was instantly crate trained after spending a day with my best friends dog. I know it sounds crazy but it worked for me.
Goodjob with adopting from Humane society!
Thank you! We have another dog who is 100% housetrained and has not gone in the house in literally years. Unfortunately she doesn't follow his lead..

Dogs don't learn by imitation.

Crate-training is the best method for housetraining. There are some tips in our FAQs (which talks about puppies, but everything is applicable to adult dogs, too) (you also mentioned you already have another dog, so I think crate-training is even more important - I wouldn't be comfortable leaving two dogs who are essentially strangers alone together, until I know they are comfortable with each other):

https://sites.google.com/site/petsboardfaqs/home/training-and-behavior/how-to-crate-train

When you're home and she's out of the crate, tether her to you with a leash so she can't sneak off and pee or poop out of sight.

Ksahlberg · May 2012

Routine is key.

Take her out first thing in the AM, as soon as you get home. Feed her. Then take her out after dinner and before you go to bed.

I have a little dog and we're both gone at least 8 hours during the day. We've come to the realization that she cannot hold it that long. She needs to pee at least every 4-6 hours. She is successfully pee pad trained. We keep her blocked off in the kitchen with baby gates while we are at work with 1 pee pad and she will consistently pee once while we are away. She never has accidents in the house and sleeps in her crate.

I agree with everyone else as to treat her like a pup. Take her out very often while you are home every few minutes until she goes and reward/praise her. Just be consistent.

Good luck

Peggy Olson · May 2012

I wanted to follow up and let you know we have been accident free since is post! She's doing wonderful with crate training and a set schedule defnitely helps! Thanks again!

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