A few months ago we got a 6 month old French Bulldog bitch who we discovered didn't seem to be house trained. As time went on we seemed to be making progress as she would go outside with our other two dogs and do her business in the garden.
However, she will still rather go to the toilet in the hallway and kitchen than make the effort to go outside. If it's raining we stand no chance!

We put her out every hour or two but she just runs back inside. Minutes later we find a puddle or worse still the odd poo.That then encourages our male pup to wee on top! On her walks she would rather wait til we get back home.

Luckily we have stone floor tiles so cleaning up is not too much of a problem, but very shortly she will be staying with our daughter during her first season as we also have a male Frenchie the same age. My daughter only has carpets and it will be a major problem at her house.

What on earth can we do the change this behaviour? Her season hasn't started yet but it could be anytime very soon, and I just don't know what to do.

> We put her out every hour or two but she just runs back inside.

Take her out more often and stay out there with her.  Don't go back inside until she's performed.  Take her to the same place every time (that way it smells of wee and is more likely to stimulate her to go) and as soon as she has finished give lots of praise and a treat - either food or play.

Treat her as though she were a tiny puppy - don't allow her to make mistakes :)

Were you the one with a cat flap?  This won't be helping so restrict her access until you can go out with her.  If she hasn't got the hang of weeing outside then you need to teach her and you can only do this if you supervise every outing.

In the meantime clean very thoroughly inside so she isn't attracted to repeat wee in the same spot

I'd also add keep her away from her favourite peeing spots indoors when your not supervising her 100%.  also it might be a better idea for your daughter to look after the boy rather than the bitch.

Personally I would always prefer to have the bitch with me so I could be absolutely certain about her being away from any male and supervised sufficiently to ensure no Romeos had access to the garden etc.

Thanks for your tips everyone. I wish I could give the male to my daughter instead of her, but he's way too boisterous for my little grandson, where as she is soft and gentle - a real sweetheart.

We're in the process of replacing the cat flap as they charge through it and have broken it off its hinges. Currently we just have a large hole so no way of stopping her running back in! When the new one arrives we'll lock it while she's outside. Mind you lately she has a wee outside and then comes in and does another one!

The vet has given her a clean bill of health so it just seems to be a really bad habit. I watch her like a hawk but she always manages to do it the second I'm not looking. I very rarely catch her in the act!

I always praise her when she pees outside, but it sounds like I need to give a few treats as well.

Any more tips from anyone will be very gratefully received.

Have you given toileting a 'name' so that she knows what you want her to do ?
My dog knows what 'wee-wee' means.

Do you toilet her at regular times so she knows when she will be going ?

Block that hole with something so that she can't get in.
Consider toileting her alone so that she isn't distracted by your other dogs.

And regarding the rain, try to anticipate the weather and get her out when it isn't raining or only raining lightly.
The other night it was hammering down at bedtime so I thought I had no chance, but I put her coat on before going out and we got there eventually.

> Currently we just have a large hole so no way of stopping her running back in!

Go out with her on a lead. then she cant run back in. Training doesnt happen on its own. You need to make an effort to change the behaviour. It is no good just saying I cant because of the cat door.

To get her reliably house trained will be hard work! you will need to go out with her every 30 minutes or so and stay out with her on lead so she is not running and playing with her mate. Preferably shut him inside so he doesn't distract her. Once she has performed you can then lety her play in the garden for a bit. When she is back inside either keep her tethered to you so you can see exactly what she is doing, or crate her when you can't give her your attention. Let her out of the crate every 30 minutes and take her straight to the garden on the lead. If she is reluctant to go after a few minutes outside then put her back in the crate. She is only allowed access to the house once she has performed outside. And then only let her have free access for a short while when you can watch her. She has had months of weeing where she wants so you will need to keep at the strict supervision for a while until she has really got the idea.

Your daughter will need to do the same thing so the dog learns that she is only to go i the garden. One good thing is the change of environment means she has no history of weeing in your daughters house so it should mean she gets the idea muich more quickly about where to wee there. However even if she is good there doesn't mean she is cured. She is likely to revert back to old habbits as soon as she returns home.

Gosh that really does sound as if I 've got my work cut out on this one!

Would you believe what just happened? Went to steam clean the floors as usual - but decided to add urine and odour control liquid to the water in the machine, thinking it would coat the whole floor with the stuff - and just two feet behind me was a new puddle on the still very wet floor!

Can't win!

Yes it does take a LOT of time. I bought an 8 month old bitch who basically had spent her entire life in a cage, so she wasn't housetrained. It's taken years to get her reasonably reliable, but even now, aged almost 8, she isn't 100 % and never will be -but as long as she is let out regularly, she's fine. She can't ever be left as long as dogs that were housetrained as young pups. Like others have said, you have to pretend you have an 8 week old pup. Out after every meal, every play session, every nap, and several times in between as well. My bitch sleeps on our bed at night and she has never done anything at night.

>Gosh that really does sound as if I 've got my work cut out on this one!

But it is only normal house training procedure. 

You can't just shut a dog outside and expect it to know what you want.  Your dog peeing in the house isn't naughty.  Why should she know that it isn't what you want?

Most dog people actually set the alarm to go outside during the night if they have a puppy.  You do have to put the work in to get the behaviour that you are wanting.  A dog doesn't pee in the house to annoy you.  It pees because it wants to go.  By the same token, if you don't go outside with the dog and it actually performs, it does so because it needed a pee, not because it knows what you are looking for.

I think the same rules apply here as to very young pups. They need to go out straight after eating, playing and sleeping, and that means straight after - not minutes after. It'll work, you just need to be there. Dogs who need a wee will start to wander but you need to anticipate that. It needs to be on your terms not hers. Good luck!.

I have a medium/large breed rescue dog, who has clearly spent most of her life in kennels, and thus needs me to go out with her and INSIST on having a pee, or she just holds it in (and puddles without warning). I need to stand there and command her to Go Pee until she does. Slightly different to training a puppy, but I'm still having to do it after 3 years. It's what needs to be done with her, and I'd do the same with any dog if that's what it takes.

Restriction may be necessary.  When I got my 6yr old lab I discovered pretty much immediately that she wasn't housetrained and I don't think ever had been.  I suspect it is a very large part of why she was rehomed.  It took a LONG time - almost three years - to get her housetrained.  Months of letting her out in the night, letting her out many times in the day, staying with her etc, all compounded by the fact that she is monumentally thick (no, that's not an exaggeration!) so any training takes much, much longer with her than my other dogs.

What did it in the end was a combination of restriction overnight (blocking all access to my vinyl flooring as that's what she would go on) and making absolutely sure she did everything when I let her out.  That was particularly important on the last loo break of the day, as overnight was the worst time for messing indoors.  Habit was a big factor which is why it took so damn long - she was capable of holding it, but wouldn't, because she'd always gone indoors so it was an option, as far as she was concerned.  That's where the restriction came in - remove the option and it didn't happen.

She has a 'go on' cue which means 'get on with it and go to the toilet' - this was essential as she is so, so easily distracted so I had to keep redirecting her to go.

Also, the thing that really started things going in the right direction just before I put restrictions in place was clicker training: I started to click her whenever she did either, whether we were at home or on a walk.  As long as she was outside, she got clicked.  It made her more aware of what she was doing and it really helped her turn the proverbial corner.  Now, she is totally clean :-)