Toilet Training Tips needed!

Custard Cream

Custard Cream

Well-Known Member
Joined
29 April 2011
Messages
2,506
Visit site
We have an 11 1/2 week old Italian Spinone puppy and she is proving difficult to toilet train. It doesn't help that our other spin, who is 4, was very easy to train and only had 1 accident in all her life.

We have recently moved house, so understand that everything is very different and it will set her back, however, we are struggling with the fact that she doesn't ever 'ask' to go out at all.

We are vigilant and take her out after every sleep, every meal, every playtime and she gets lots of playtime in the garden outside too. However, she will often play outside, then come in and poo or wee in the house!

This morning she woke at 5 and we went out for a wee, straight back to bed after. Then up at 7.30, out for a wee, in for breakfast and at some point between being outside and in for food she'd gone down the hall and poo'd.

Now, we've been outside playing, we've had a wee outside and we've come into the workshop. She has our other spin for company, her own doggy bed which she loves and in the ten mins we've been in here she's had a poo, so quietly that we didn't notice until the smell started!

She never whines or squeaks to let us know she needs to go out and often will squat right in front of us. We never get mad, never scold her and always take her out straight away, but what else can we do?
 
Are you crate training her? When H was a pup I as told that unless I was actually watching him so I could see when he was thinking about going, then to leave him in his crate. It sounds like your pup hasn't associated inside with being clean yet
 
We did have her in her crate when she was very little and she would go in there for sleeps. I wonder if we should go back to that. She's only in her crate at night times and when we go out for short periods.
 
I think I would but I am not going to profess to being an expert! H was also easy to toilet train but he was our first too so could also have been beginners luck!! ;)
 
What are you using to clean up? Someone did once tell me that some cleaning fluids and disinfectants smell like urine etc to dogs, so try using just soapy water. I have a 12 week GSD who is the best I've ever had for toilet training - even has a wee before getting in the car. But in years gone past I had a puppy that didn't get the idea until he was six months. I'd spend hours in the garden waiting for him to "go" so that I could praise him. But I would eventually decide he didn't need to go, bring him in, only to find an "accident" 5 minutes later. I stopped using disinfectants and he eventually got the message. But that may have just been co-incidence. I used Vanish foam spray for "accidents" when my current pup arrived. No other suggestions except grin and bare it - hope he gets the message soon.
 
I wouldn't allow her free unsupervised access to any indoor areas just yet until you get it cracked and when you can't keep an eye on her I would pop her into the crate.

Mine is 2.5 years old and he still overnights in a crate or gets put in there when we have visitors or I can't watch him.

At her age, even an exclamation or a tut or reaction to a poo or a pee at the wrong time could be perceived as stress and could make her more inclined to 'hide' toileting from you.

But she's still very young, have patience. I got mine at 14 weeks and he still would have little accidents up until about 7-8 months old if he was really busting.
 
You need to understand that they get used to a substrate - hard floor is similar to outside concrete, carpet is similar to grass etc. So that is the reason for the old way of using newspaper and it did work - they get used to the idea of newspaper as their toilet substrate and then you move it out of doors and reduce its size until they HAVE to use another surface. Do you know what sort of flooring she was used to as a puppy? That will give you a clue as to what she regards as toilet, and then you have to keep her off that sort of surface as much as you can, so she has no choice but to go elsewhere and builds that into her reference as toilet.
A crate overnight is invaluable - very few dogs will toilet on their own bed, so restrict her to an area covered by her own bed overnight and when you are out. Then as soon as you let her out, take her to the surface you have chosed for her - grass, tarmac, concrete?
My JRT still has to sleep in a crate, at 16 years old, because I could never get her clean overnight without it - and still can't if she sleeps outside her crate.
 
i know how frustrating it can be, i've got a now 5 year old JRT:eek: who i'm really struggling with, he will only pee on one place by the back door, sadly though this is on wood floorling in the lounge! i use the puppy pads just below the dog flap in the door and he happily goes on these. i can get him clean and going outside for day and days then all of a sudden he starts back on going inside and if there is no puppy pad on the floor, he does it on the flooring :( i've tried all the usual making a fuss of him when he goes outside etc etc and try not to make a fuss when he has gone inside, but i'm not sure what else to do ??????

any offers of help welcome, sorry to hijack your thread op but thought it might help with your pup, Jack was clean as a whistle to start with untill he was around 1 year old ????
 
Are you cleaning it properly? Have you had him checked out at the vet for a UTI?

Can you confine him/keep him away from the area when he cannot be supervised? Then when you are supervising him you can spot the signs that he needs to go and put him outside.

At his age through, it will be a deepy ingrained habit.
 
I think it's a habit now, he's also such a nervy dog so wondered if that had anything to do with it? I use an enzyme cleaner, it's meant to take the smell away, I use soap and water first though then dry area and spray with the enzyme cleaner. The frustrating thing is he can go days without a problem, but if it's cold or wet overnight he then wets on the pads, I've a little Lakeland bitch who's 2 and she's fine, he even follows her out through the dog flap ! Soooo frustrating :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top