Hi all,

I hope you can give me some advice from experience.

I have a 7yr JRT who was, according to original owner, removed from mother too young & came from a bad situation. We have since inherited him. Now, to be fair he's a sweetie. He Is v, v affectionate and mostly good tempered. He does have some resource guarding and hoarding issues, but we can work on those. My biggest pro bnlem is his preference - not just habit, but his preferred - place to pee/poo is *in* his bed.

Now, we have a JRT bitch too, and he will per in both beds so she can't use them (or she can but she will be stinky). Crate training doesn't work since he has absolutely no problem peeing or pooing in his bed, or near/on his food bowl. I'm at my wits end. He has full time access to outdoors and often goes out when I tell him "go for pees". He understands the command and he acts on it. But when I'm not there, even tho he has the option to go out, he will pee on his bed.

Maybe this is not something that can be fixed. But I'd like to try, if there's any hope.

Cheers

I would think it is something about the substrate (the absorbent cushion-like quality) of the bed which is making him want to pee there. I would put something similar outside  - or just sacrifice one of the beds and put it outside to become a pee place.

Meanwhile instead of giving them comfy absorbent beds inside, give something a bit less cushion like - perhaps just a piece of vet bed or one of those raised beds with a nylon surface... something as different as possible to the 'bed' he thinks is a toilet.

Providing a dog access to outside isn't enough for toilet training purposes. You have to go out there with them, and wait for them to toilet out there. In these more difficult cases, it helps to give a treat after they toilet in the correct place so they have some incentive to want to go out there....

Thank you. Yes, I've been told it's a substrate preference. I have lately removed all soft furnishings from his bedroom and put in a raised nylon bed. Ive just set up a camera to see if I can guage what goes on when im not there.

Poor female JRT living without her soft bed for now!

I've been toilet training him (with treats, praise, cuddles etc.) for a year now. He understands what he needs to do, but if he can, he will revert to his old ways.

One of the things I find with leaving the back door open is that we are less inclined to then actively let our dogs out for toilet breaks.  We also don't know exactly when they've gone.

So, I would get that door closed, and get him on a schedule just as you would do a puppy, every couple of hours or more frequently if you need to, and I'd do that on top of what 1234 has suggested.

Substrate preference is definitely a thing and it's a thing I had to deal with when I had my labrador too (vinyl flooring in her case).  Managing access was the key to it with her too, as well as frequent toilet breaks, and I did win in the end and she could have free access to it without messing.  It can a while though!

Thanks everyone. I saw on the camera last night that he was up at 2 am and 3 am, took a look outside and  decided the weather wasn't worth it. Can't blame him. So tonight im gonna set an alarm for 2 and 3 and again at 5 to bring him out for one. fingers crossed.

I had a problem with my male dog peeing on his bedding in the back of the car. He was adult and fully housetrained in the house. He hasn't had a bed in the house since he was a puppy as he prefers to sleep on the carpet. As many people advised I was washing the car bedding with biological washing powder (bold). There was an item on my vet's facebook page about dogs some dogs disliking the smell of some washing powders and marking to replace with their own scent. I changed the washing powder and the problem immediately went away.