Callia is nearly 5 months old and up until we moved 5 weeks ago, was as good as gold about coming in from the garden.

As part of her toilet training I have always gone out with her to make sure that she goes, teach commands etc and treat after the deed has been done. She is now fully house trained and will bark at the door when she wants to go out and is really 100% clean indoors.

I feel now that the time is right for her to go out for the odd wee or poo in the garden on her own. This is where the problem lies. I put her out, she barks, noses around, wanders and does nothing, even when desperate. I leave her  10 minutes and then go out, tell her to go and be busy, and then 5 times out of 10 she will do what she has to do. Sometimes she will just sit on the door and scratch and bark. I ignore the behaviour to start with and then after 5 minutes will tell her to go and do her business. She isn't relying on the treat anymore as I have started to faze the treats out, only giving after a poo instead of every wee. But she will not do her business unless one of us is out there with her.

Other problem is, I take her or let her out and then she decides that she isn't coming in, I call her and then when she ignore me, I come in and close the door. Leave her 5 minutes and then open the door and call whilst rattling the biscuit box, this is the latest thing that gets her in. But I need to be able to get her in on command. I must admit that the training has been a bit hit and miss lately because of other tragic things that have happened but I seem to have mind block as to where to go from here.

Anybody got any good sensible advice as to how I go about getting her in on command and trying to convince her that going to the toilet on her own is a good thing. 

I have now started putting her on a long line, practicing recall, which is perfect on the line, the minute I let her off she becomes oblivious and deaf. and of course, will not do any business if I go indoors.

I know that I am being inconsistent at the moment and the mind isn't totally focused, please help me to focus and remind of what should be coming naturally to ME, not a 5 month old pup who seems to be totally confused as to what is expected of her.

She can be very stubborn but on the other side, very eager to please. I should know how to train my breed, I have ample experience and am now questioning myself and just need some redirection.

She's a child, remember. It's a phase. When it starts going wrong, take a step back. (This is so easy to say!!!! I remember walking round and round our tiny back garden for nearly an hour trying not to sound really hacked off with a dog who I knew had to have a wee before we went to bed but she darn well wouldn't co-operate).

As you walk around try to keep calm and think happy thoughts. It's minor in the overall history of the universe ...

Sorry, not a lot of help. But it's good to get things inperspective. We've all been there with every pup.
:)

No advice for you HP - sorry, but I'm a bit of a puppy novice myself.

Just so pleased to see you back on here - I hope you are feeling a little better. 

Take care
Vicki x

Hi

Im certainly no exepert but it seems that she thrives on the boundaries that you give by being with her and by having her on a long line. I would think the  next step is to give her the confidence to do things by herself. Quite how this is done im not sure but as the summer is coming (apparently) perhaps you could leave the back door open for her to come and go as she pleases.

I found that mine started to go out on his own when I was milling around doing some gardening. He learned to come and go as he pleased quite naturally because whilst I was outside I wasnt actually WITH him, if you know what I mean. I agree though that she is still young and im sure that over the next few months she will probably just take to being outside on her own naturally.

Caroline

Hi,

Random thoughts that might help:

We re-trained rescue dog by going outside with him when he had his late night wee but once he'd got the idea of what was required (like Callia has) we gradually started going less and less of the way onto the lawn with him.  Gradually I worked my way back to just standing in the yard, then on the back door step and eventually I could just send him out but this only came over time.

The other thing was, when you aren't in a hurry or having to get to work etc, how about calling her in and then letting her out again?  Doing it a few times, maybe going back out with her after she has come in and playing a game in garden.  It sounds like it might be the same problem that people sometimes have putting their dog on the lead at the end of a walk - coming inside means the end of fun.

Until you have time to do this, if you know you are going to be in a hurry because you have to be somewhere, the only way to be sure of getting her in is to have her on a lead or line.

For dogs who know when they are wearing a line and when they aren't, one option is to have the line on but trailing on the ground, then gradually shortening the line until you can hopefully dispense with it altogether.  This doesn't always work though - my friend's dog always knew whether she could mike off or not!

Hi,

This is how I trained recall with all my dogs (when I first started it was just a game, then I realised I was training for recall :) )

Pick a fine day when you have loads of time.  Let pup out into garden and leave door open, pup will start to wander in and out because of garden noises/children in garden.  Using part of the food ration, call pup (sound exited ;) ) and reward with 'treat' and let pup go back out.  If pup ignores, put that treat in a separate bag/ fridge to be part of tomorow's ration ;) repeat until you lose your voice or run out of treats :D   Do every day or as often as poss.

This way recall becomes a game, I find that pups really love this game and will start to run in anticipating a treat, but they then get a fussing but no treat :)  Treats only when called ;)  Sometimes a pup gets stubborn when he's well fed and there's no incentive to gain a treat, hence the removal of that portion the pup hasn't worked for, this doesn't usually last for long as pup realises it's fun to return :)