Our pup is nearly 7 months old now and still not totally housetrained. Night is not a problem - she sleeps in our kitchen which is small and I do put newspaper down which occasionally she wee's on, but mostly she holds on until the morning. I let her outside and take her for walks etc. and she'll wee and poo and I praise her. When we are home she'll sometimes dash upstairs and wee on the landing, or in one of the childrens bedrooms or will just pee & poo where she is. She never asks to go out!

I now have a situation where I've got laryngitis and no voice at all - I've had it for 3 weeks and may well have it for another month, and it's making it even more difficult.

Any suggestions?
Thanks
Jo

Hello Jo,

Some dogs are slower to housetrain than others, but by 7 months I would have thought your pup should be well on the way to being clean. BUT don't worry!!!!!!!!

What do you clean the pee/poo with? many of the household cleaners contain ammonia which smells like pee and will encourage your dog to return to that spot and pee/poo there again. I would suggest a proper doggie cleaner, such as "Simple Solution". I can't remember the company that makes it, but it is the BEST!!! This will clean the spot and leave no trace of pee/poo for your dog to sniff out.

Something else I would suggest, is restricting her access to the house while you cannot watch her. Our puppies are always restricted to the kitchen and garden unless they can be watched every second, until they are at least 9 months old and then they are only allowed in rooms where someone will be around to keep an eye out.

I always suggest to my clients (for both training and behaviour) that they don't use newspaper if at all possible, as this encourages pee/poo indoors and won't help with the training.

Hope this helps

MandaXX

Thanks for your suggestions. I have been using bleach or disinfectant to clean up after her. One of the floors is laminate so I mop that, and scrub the carpet in the other areas. I have used Vanish mousse in a couple of places and sometimes things like flash liquid (for mopping). I'll try and use a doggy cleaner instead and see if that helps.

As far as restricting access, it's really difficult. I've got safety gates up but she can jump straight over them. I can restrict access during the school day but after 3pm I have my children home and they are not so good at closing doors behind them etc. It is something that perhaps we'll have to make more effort with. Now for example as I type this, my sons are upstairs and the puppy is with them - I'm in the hall and my hubby and baby are in a room behind me and all the doors are open.

Jo

Are you at home with pup all day ?
If so I would note the times that pup is going to the tiolet and see if there seems to be any pattern . Also keep a close on her and get to know her actions . We could always tell when Gus wanted a poo as he would do a "circling " action - so when we saw this we would say "TOILET" and put him outside . Then, when he had been we would praise him to high heaven and give a treat . Being a greedy little b****R he soon got the message :)
He is also pretty regular which Ithink helps great deal
Lel

I am in and out through the day - taking kids to and from school and activities and baby to toddler groups, shopping etc. I am here enough to often catch it but not all the time and she'll think nothing of squatting right in front of me or she'll do things like do it in the playroom whilst I'm making tea in the kitchen. I can't say a word like Toilet to her at the moment because of the laryngitis - I can't say anything, and it's quite likely that I'm going to have this problem of not having a voice for another month. I do give her lots of pats and praise when she gets it right but she's not a greedy dog and if I give her a treat she'll often take it and then just drop it on the floor.

We've started giving her a rice and chicken dry food diet (as recommended by the vet) because she's completely hyperactive. Giving her lots of praise just seems to encourage her to get hyper and I'm not sure that she associates the praise with having done a wee or poo 'correctly'.

Thanks

Jo
What breed is your pup by the way ?
Lel

How about keeping the pup on a leash, this way where u go the pup goes too. When u r unable to watch the pup confine her. This way if she goes to have an accident in front of u u can shout no which should stop her and run her straight outside and tell her to go potty. When she goes potty a lot of praise and leave her out door while u go clean up her mess in the house don't allow her to see u cleaning it up. It seemed to work better with my 5 when they never seen me cleaning it up. :)

Good luck

ttfn :)

I don't think I'd be able to get anything done if I have her on a leash the whole time - I'll give it a go when my older children are back in school next week though. I can't shout no - I don't have any voice at all (acute laryngitis) and I haven't had a voice for the past 4 weeks - it could be another 4 weeks before it comes back <groan>.
JO

she's a cross - mother was a border collie, and we think father must have been a cross. It's very difficult to see what she is

Hi
Try biological washing powder on the spots it really does work . I think you need to go back to basic toilet training - he/she has obviously lost or not quite understood the house training . If reward with praise causes the dog to get hyper may be a good idea to try food praise instead , cheese is a good one!
Also crates are a god send our pup is 10 weeks and like you we have a full house and a pup who decided toilet was with the kids .
If he gets to over excited we place him in his crate for a little while . We alsouse a lead to take him out to the toilet , at crucial times , on waking , after food and after play , after 1 hr .

Thanks for the tips - she does love cheese so that may be something that will really work - other doggy treats don't have much if any appeal at all for her unless she is already hungry. I think I will go back to the beginning with her - it does seem as though she doesn't really understand.
Thanks