As all on here are so helpful i have a question my now 6 month old bichon whom i got to go toilet outside regular and hasnt had an accident indoors now for well over a mnth has now decided ro start peeing all over and to top that on my sofas today!!! Im very frustrated why is he doing this do they go backwards before forward or is it a dominance issue HELP!!!!

It is absolutely not dominance - dogs cannot be dominant over people and vice versa, end of.  It is not possible :-)

Has anything happened out of the ordinary today?  Has he been a bit longer between toilet breaks, or gotten overexcited about anything more so than usual?  Any change in his weeing habits generally?

Nothing i can think of no its very odd for him as he isnt even going to the door like he was he even pooped next to my dinner chair this afternoon not like him at all barking alot to like hes trying to establish this pack leader i was informed about at sexual maturity age??

[url=]. http://www.apdt.com/petowners/choose/dominancemyths.aspx  [/url]

You might find that useful :)

Often at this age it's more about your expectations than his maturity.  You will probably have relaxed a bit - thinking he is fully housetrained when he simply isn't.  It's true that his bladder capacity has increased and his communication skills are sharper than they were but he probably doesn't yet understand that toileting indoors isn't acceptable.  Go back to basics and make sure YOU take him outside and stay with him whilst he performs.  Remember too that boys will generally need to pee two or three times before they are empty so be prepared to hang around outside a while.

Disregard the pack leader nonsense - he is a dog and has no desire to take over the world.  Even if he was a super dog with special powers I suspect he's bright enough to know he won't win you over by pooing in front of you!!

Sexual maturity comes to dogs at slightly different times but at 6 months he may be discovering the joys of 'marking'.  Deal with this as a toiletting issue, make sure he's empty before you come back inside, and tell him exactly where you do want him to go and reward that behaviour.  When you are walking don't allow him to mark any surface he likes: walk him briskly past gateways, car tyres, dustbins etc and allow him to stop in more acceptable places.  Stopping them from marking isn't unkind as there is a real difference between a proper wee and tiny tinkle for marking.

He's an adolescent dog and now is exactly when you should expect him to test your rules and boundaries and go a bit deaf to all the things you thought he had already learned.  Don't worry it's a relatively short phase but a good time for you to refocus his training and make sure he really understands your instructions and your routines.

Could he be reaching puberty (is he cocking his leg yet) if so it is marking as opposed to peeing and is a training issue.

He will need to be supervised/watched like a hawk and if he lifts a leg near furniture then he needs to be sternly told no and marched outside.

Otherwise see other posts. ;)

Fully agree with dogs a babe -he is most likely marking. As a toybreed he will mature much quicker than big breeds, and even some bigger breeds can be quick. I could not believe my eyes when I saw my 13 week old Malinois pup cock his leg over our wobble board the other day. I had found pee on it once before and wrongly assumed it was my entire male Papillon.(I would not normally expect a male Mali to cock his leg until AT LEAST 6 months, often closer to a year.) So it is still a training issue, just a slightly different one. And yes, dominance and pack leader nonsense spouted may make good TV, but it is no more real than Dr Who. :)

No not lifting leg yet although looks like he is trying to and he did squat near a lampost yesterday after a good sniff so dont think it will be long :0

>but it is no more real than Dr Who

but....but....but.....

Now then Lucy I hate to tell you BUT............... ;) ;)

> No not lifting leg yet although looks like he is trying to and he did squat near a lampost yesterday after a good sniff so dont think it will be long :0

Tinkle Tinkle little pup -
The wee comes down when the leg goes up.

Tracey - just a kindly reminder :-)

You have been advised (over and over)  that you are wrong in your ideas about dominance.  I remember well that you called your pup aggressive.  Which again was nonsense.  I think you need to take on board the advice given to you by some experienced people.

I agree "go back to basics" and treat like a pup for now.  Take him outside, stay with him, and please have your treats ready when he goes outside.  :-)  It is so very important that you show him how delighted you are when he gets it right.  I can't stress this enough.

Yes Tracey might sound slightly harsh but you really need to listen to advice given.

I do know how to toilet train i have done it before i just wanted some
Friendly advice as i always owned bitches and never had an issue with peeing on furniture that was all i see that people don't think its a dominance thing so there really is no need for the stroppy way you post comes across people come on here for friendly help and sometimes it seems as though they are patronised not everyone knows everything

I do know how to toilet train i have done it before i just wanted some
Friendly advice as i always owned bitches and never had an issue with peeing on furniture that was all i see that people don't think its a dominance thing so there really is no need for the stroppy way you post comes across people come on here for friendly help and sometimes it seems as though they are patronised not everyone knows everything

I do know they are very hard to toilet train. A colleague of mine got one from an unsavoury source and ended up rehiring due to this problem, it was too much with lots of kids and working.. I believed he is I know though.
A friend of mine works and helps out with Bichon rescue and when asking her advice before said that they are very difficult and expect this to take at least until they are 7 months old. Maybe contact the breed club, breeder or breed rescue for some practical tips if this really appears to be a problem not going away on top of implementing what others have said above.

> I do know how to toilet train i have done it before

But not with a Bichon?
I have no experience with Bichons myself, but people have told me, as people on here are also trying to tell you, that they are notoriously difficult to housetrain. Nothing to do with dominance - nothing to do with how you have succeeded with your previous dogs - But all to do with the Bichon breed itself.

In fairness to the OP she has clearly had a difficult time with this pup and has already expressed a great deal of insecurity about how to deal with him in general, but she is trying. Her last dog was, it sounds, a very well behaved staffie bitch and I think a change of breed can be a bit of a shock.

I also think that the whole dominance thing is still bandied around so much that it can be confusing for many ordinary dog owners who are trying to explain a behaviour they cannot understand. I'm sure we all know of trainers who continue to frame canine behaviour with this term. I think when you are totally at sea it is inevitable that you keep asking could it be this or could it be that, not knowing quite who to believe, especially when views are so polarized.

MsT- only tacking on to your post, not directed at you specifically:)

SO frustrating though when, after rearing many toy pups...and offering a SUREFIRE remedy for this situation....my suggestion for a fast track housetrained puppy is A Playpen in the middle of the family room...escorted toilet breaks and calm periods of cuddles ...it is not being adhered to. Why ask?

It's not rocket science.

I would NEVER allow an un housetrained male puppy access to places ....where he will FAIL.

tracey,

As others have said, it is not a dominance thing. In a nutshell, dogs are not wolves. If he is marking it is most likely driven by fear or anxiety and I wonder if something startled him, or there was a noise he had not heard before, or have you had visitors in or near the home? We have had lots of very rainy, windy thundery weather/changes in air pressure. We already know he is a rather anxious, hyper chap.

You also say he defecated around the same time and that sounds more like anxiety. He would probably associate the sofa with security and safety and it probably (forgive me) smells more strongly of you and the family so he wnats to mix his smell with yours to make a sort of smell security barrier. 

It could also be that at 6 months he is at an age that his little brain may have become overwhelmed by lots of new information that he is suddenly noticing and learned behaviour like asking to go out to the loo etc.. is temporarily lost, even a mixture of both this and anxiety. You also know that Bichons are unusually hard to housetrain.

Watch him carefully and ensure you scrupulously clean any areas he has had an accident in/on to avoid residual smells triggering a repeat performance. Take him right back to puppy basics and keep letting him out to piddle and poo and mildly praise him when he does, don't praise to much.

Let us know how you get on.

toolz,

Yes, I do agree, a great way to handle it. Failing that she could also tie him on a lead to her waist, so she gets some warning when he might need to go and can get him out should he start. Only problem there is if he is still playbiting and the possibility of treading on him.

Just think that when you are very, very experienced in all things puppy rearing/dogs ( as are you and many members here) it is hard to remember what much less knowledge, allied to trying to decipher confusing, contradictory messages feels like. I would imagine we are not the only people who give her advice. All you need is a few assertive, strong-minded friends/neighbours/family to say is 'I know what that dog needs' etc.. only that advice counters what she gets here. I still meet people who are firm believers in rubbing your dog's nose in wee/poo and they maintain it has always worked for them. Equally, I still hear lots of people say your dog is sticking two fingers up at you etc and they say it with absolute conviction and unshakeable belief that they are right.

I think it's more a case of ...when someone seeks an answer....they should consider the source.

And as is often said here, we are not the only people reading this.

I once had 2 sisters attend my training class with a naughty TT puppy. Every time I suggested  or commented to the sister handling ...she would scuttle off to ask the others opinion.

At one point I offered a tiny piece of sausage as a lure to the handler to assist with something....but the sister overruled this saying dogs mustn't have treats between meals.

This sisters qualifications...experience....NONE! Never owned a dog in her life....ever!

Gotta laugh.

Just to say toys are soo different to bigger dogs in the housetraining area. It has been a big shock to discover that although I have trained my bigger dogs over the years, not many in comparison to some of you, but never the less no problem and the all learned to go on command. Will my little toy breed ? will she heck has taken years to be properly trained and  occasionally will still creep off to a corner if the weather isn't to her liking or she is away from a door.
I thought I knew what I was doing but clearly not for my little minx !!:)

Oh yes furrifriends, ditto! My Papillons often refuse point blank to go outside if it is raining. Some even hide under a cupboard -they just KNOW when it is wet outside even if it was dry last time they went! They never become as reliably house trained as the big dogs.

>Oh yes furrifriends, ditto! My Papillons often refuse point blank to go outside if it is raining

what do you do then? my inclination would be to pick them up and put them out and then I would stay out with them until i saw them perform. But I have never had toy dogs although one of my breeds is small and cold sensitive. Those soon learn that if they want to get back inside they have to go.

I make them go out but you cannot make anyone pee -certainly not bitches. Some of them will just stand still and not move no matter how long you'd leave them, whether you are with them or not. On occasions like that we have to resort to newspapers as otherwise they just end up peeing wherever indoors. Vicious circle really -but wellknown in the breed.

Yep that sounds like my Mia goldimali !  we have more or less cracked it but she is 5 years !

One rainy winter...garden chair and umbrella.
A battle of wills with a six month toy breed bitch who thought I was mad and if I'd only hurry up and take her inside...she would pee!
Finally it clicked and she is utterly reliable.

Spent hours and hours and hours with a beagle outside in the rain through winter and summer in dark and light nights and she still won't go pee outside if it is raining.  She might, if we go for a walk but to go out in the garden no chance.  Even as a puppy she would hold herself for so long I was worried she would make herself ill.  She is 4 now and still won't reliably pee outside.  I don't think she ever will.

I have even been known to carry her down the garden just to stop her hiding under the table or sitting shivering by the door.  She just runs right back!

>and if I'd only hurry up and take her inside...she would pee!

LOL I recognise so well, and really admire your tenacity.  And it is this that comes from real dog knowledge. 

Impressive!! Must admit when the weather is that bad I end up deciding I'd rather clean up a puddle than get any wetter!!! But my lot are pretty good now - the youngest needs supervising outside if it is wet, but she's good about going if she needs to when you take her out - I just have to keep a spare brain cell to remember when she last went!

This is why I put my toy dogs coat on to go out and wee when it's raining, even in the summer. She doesn't mind going out with her coat on.

> Spent hours and hours and hours with a beagle outside in the rain through winter and summer in dark and light nights and she still won't go pee outside if it is raining.  She might, if we go for a walk but to go out in the garden no chance.  Even as a puppy she would hold herself for so long I was worried she would make herself ill.  She is 4 now and still won't reliably pee outside.  I don't think she ever will.
>
> I have even been known to carry her down the garden just to stop her hiding under the table or sitting shivering by the door.  She just runs right back!

I had a Lab bitch who would never ever (in 14 years) pee in the garden - she had to be taken "offsite" and would then quickly do what was needed.  We moved house several times during her lifetime, she would pee in the garden on the first day but after that never.  Even the day she died I had to carry her away from the house and garden.