I have a 5 and a half month old shih tzu pup and he has been doing his business outside from the day I got him.

After 4 weeks he started going to the door of the room he was in to show he wanted to go out so for the last 2 months he has been perfect....Until now! over the last week he has peed on my mums new living room carpet (whilst sat down so we couldnt even tell he was about to go), the kitchen floor, even his own bed and has even done a number 2 on the living room rug and another part of the kitchen floor.

Theres been no reason why he wasnt able to go outside, its like he cant be bothered!

Could there be any reason as to why hes going backwards?!?

Any advice will be great, at the moment my mums looking to get rid of him if it carries on (shes house proud) and obviously I dont want that! Ive wanted 1 for the last 10 years (since i was 10) and i couldnt bare to see him go!!

Please help if you can!!

Many thanks!!!

hi

first of all, i would try and get your mum to be a bit more patient before thinking of getting rid of him, after all he is only a baby still. even though he was housetrained, they can go backwards. my cocker spaniel was not fully housetrained until he was about a year old, he would still have the odd accident. my american cocker is nearly 14months old and she still messes sometimes overnight on the odd occasion. i understand your saying that he does it while you are there, my american cocker also wees right in front of me sometimes, even on my bed!, although there doesnt seem to be any reason for it.  Sometimes i think that she does it for attention.  keep persevering with him, but please remember they all pick it up at different speeds, my labrador took 2 weeks to housetrain, he was fully housetrained by 12 weeks old, he barked at the back door when he wanted to go out, and he has never ever messed in the house since that age, he wont even be sick in the house, he barks to go in the garden, then throws up!!
he will get there in the end!

becky

To be honest, if your mum wants to get rid of him, I'm not sure your family should have got a dog in the first place!

Getting a dog is a decision the whole family has to be involved in, even if it mainly belongs to one person - for reasons just like the situation which you've now found yourself in.  Every member of the family should want the dog and should be supportive of the idea of getting a dog.

Having said all that - you've got the dog now and obviously you're really attached to him, so moving on:

It's normal for toilet training to get better and then worse again, better and then worse again - it's 2 steps forwards, 1 step back half the time.  Go back to basics and you should see some improvement again.

Take him out after eating, after drinking, after playing, every hour in between that and before sleep and after waking up.  Every time he toilets outside, give him a tasty food treat.  When he toilets inside, ignore it and clean it up with biological washing liquid (so he can't smell it and won't think it's a toilet place). 

If you're worried about your mum's reactions, keep him away from areas with carpet etc on - it could be that he wants to wee on absorbent things, because he thinks they're a toilet place.

Thanks for your replies.

The whole family did/do want him and he gets all the fuss and attention from everyone. My  mum loves having him and has wanted a shih tzu for as long as i have but i think shes just annoyed that during the time we spent training him she spent most of her days off concentrating on just that and now she feels it was a waste, obviously not knowing he could go backwards at any stage, thats the 1 thing we didnt know even after all the research we did before getting him.

Hes always let out when hes eaten, been asleep or been playing, 9 times out of 10 hes playing outside anyway, and he always gets a treat- he knows this as well as he runs to the cupboard when hes done!

You say that everyone wanted him - but dog's aren't disposable and they're not perfect either - if someone gets a dog, they should stick with it through thick and thin as much as they can, I believe - not start thinking about getting rid of it just because it's not toilet trained at 4 months!!

Your puppy hasn't forgotten everything he's learned - it's latent in his mind at the moment, and all it needs is a refresher course of back to basics.  A bit of patience, persistence and consistency will pay off and each time he goes backwards it will be for less time and less of a relapse than the previous time until he's totally trained.

Unfortunately, dogs have a habit of not being overly bovvered if we spend our days off work training them. And this doesn't just apply to house training either so it's probably a good idea for your mum (and the rest of the family) to get used to the idea that training takes time and effort and isn't always rewarded by instant results! In the long run it is very rewarding but you must always be prepared for things to go backwards before they go permanently forwards!

Hi,

Aswell as to second what other people have said - I would suggest that it may be worth taking him to the vets to check him over to make sure he hasn't got a urine infection or something, if he went on the floor while sitting down, it sounds like he wasn't aware that he was about to wee.

Try not to let your Mum be impatient with him by shouting at him or anything as this could only serve to make him anxious and could make the problem worse.  If he wees inside make sure it is properly cleaned up, just because we can't smell it doesn't mean a dog can't.  Ignore the accident - unless you see him going in which case take him outside even if he is in the middle of weeing and let him finish outside and lots and lots of praise when he does.  Ask your Mum how quickly you were potty trained and how many accidents you had :-) I bet your pup is doing a lot better!

Karen

Our oldest dog was perfect to housetrain done in 2weeks if that and 3weeks down the road we took her to the out laws and she promptly peed on the rug which was fine until the out law got the hairdryer out to dry it off before it stained!!!

Its one of them things you have to keep being vigilant long after you 'think' they are totally housetrained as theres always lapses.

Don't take to heart your mums comments as I'm sure she doesn't mean it. They can be funny things dogs , but of course they are animals and so prone to behave like it sometimes, including using our carpets as a toilet. Suggest you just try and keep an extra close eye on her until she reverts back to her previous behaviour.

As for your mum, maybe a bunch of flowers from the dog, or, if that doesn't work, threaten her with the old folks home :-), cos we all know dogs are better than humans....!

well Bedruthen has kinda beat me to it lol
But I just had to say before condemming your poor Mom..there are always 2 sides to a story and we have heard but one! ;)
when I was little my mother used to say to me after days of me turning the house into a bombsite "If these toys arnt picked up theyre going in the bin!!"
Was she Cruella de ville?did she ever put them in the bin?....Na huh!! ;)

I have to say generally all things of responsability fall to the Matriach of the house (remembering the dentist appiontments,the cleaning etc etc) it can all get exasperating if everyone in the house isnt pulling their wheight.
Is everyone..everyone! pulling their wheight with this?
You mention she's the one doing training on her days off and thats why she's dissapointed pup has gone back a stage......what are you and dad doing...
   me and my OH took a Joint decision to take on our rescue Sibe, but guess who's picking up the poo and chopping the liver and emptying the anal glands!!! no joint effort there! OH is off like a shot ;)
   Take a deep breath,make mum a nice big mug of tea, or an even nicer glass of red ;) and make sure everyone's pulling their wheight on this.
Good luck,keep calm, keep positive its worth it in the end :D
Why can I never spell 'wheight'!!????

Well the only person who isnt making any effort to help is my brother and he never wanted a dog in the first place but hes hardly ever home so we just didnt bother asking, he plays with him a lot though. It was a joint decision with the rest of us even though he was my 20th birthday and christmas present - I know, a dog is for life not just for christmas! It was easier to get him then as they wouldve spent that much at christmas anyway and he was all i wanted for so long! We have all taken the time to train him and still do but it was the fact that at the time mum had 2 weeks off work and then 2 days a week where as i only had 1 so in the evenings when i got home i took over as for my dad he was home half days and the dog was always asleep!

ONETWOTHREE (Likes to think they know it all from the sounds of things)
As for a dog not being disposable we're not stupid we do know thank you very much! And we do stick with him! An if you read it properly you would see I said he HAS BEEN TOILET TRAINED SINCE 4 WEEKS AFTER I GOT HIM MEANING 3 MONTHS, HES NOW 5 AND A HALF NOT 4!!!

KARENCLYNES
Thanks, we have made an appointment with the vets just to make sure. I've tried to stop her getting impatient with him and keep reminding her he is still a pup and after talking about it last night and explaining how we didnt know the training could go a bit backwards she understands more now.
Hes always done it in front of 1 of us apart from once, so we always pick him up and take him outside.

BEDRUTHEN
Thanks, I've clicked now that she doesnt mean it (the the moment!) as yesterday she had him back to the basics and giving him lot of cuddles and attention and we both did last night (like every other), shes a big softy really! At the moment were keeping him in the conservatory where he sleeps and the kitchen so he still has loads of room to play and hes away from any carpets, seems he prefers the kitchen anyway he always falls asleep on the floor!

5 and a half months, 4 months, 6 months - it doesn't matter - my statement stands.  A pup is a pup and they mature at different rates, it's all relative and makes no difference.

Please don't patronise me - you claim that your whole family "knows" that a dog is not disposable, yet in your original post you said "my mum's looking to get rid of him if it carries on". 

You can back-pedal all you like and try to undermine that original statement, but it IS what YOU said.

I believe there have been threads on here about the idea of getting a pup at Xmas time and most people were against that, even if it were a clearly thought-out purchase.

I don't like to think I know it all, in fact there are areas I know v little about, such as breeding - because I don't.  But you posted on here, presumably because you wanted help.  If some of the responses aren't exactly what you want to hear, well that's what happens when you ask a range of different people a question.  I HAVE given you useful advice if you read my posts above.

hmmm...lets take a look at something shall we

Disposable:
describes an item that is intended to be thrown away after use

I dont think you will find we were planning on throwing him away or destroying him!!

I think you will find if you use your common sense getting rid of him would mean to sell him or take him back to the breeder.

He was a xmas and birthday present which was actually bought in october thanks!!!!:rolleyes: Do you really think i care that people on here think its a bad idea?!?! No because i will do what i like, not what other people tell me!

Ok you ACT as if you know it all, and Yes i came for advice not for someone like you to have a go at me! And if that wasnt you having a go i dont think you realise how things sound!

Useful advice? Of course thats why its been no use to me!

>No because i will do what i like, not what other people tell me!

Well, with the greatest respect, amy, if that's what you plan to do with any advice offered it'd probably be a deal easier not to ask for it in the first place! At the very least it'd save time throwing a strop later!

well no because people here arent telling me what to do are they, i am getting advice on what i can do.

Sorry but "to get rid of" means "to free yourself from something undesirable", since you're into dictionary definitions.

I find it hard to believe your entire family found a puppy to be so "desirable" and got one, yet that after a few months and some toilet training problems he can now be thought of as "undesirable".

Dogs are living creatures, they are not something you can return to the shop.  There are implications to taking a dog back to a breeder.  The breeder will find it harder to sell an older pup.  It is not an ideal situation.  To sell him yourself would mean that inevitably a less than ideal home would be found, which is the reason why individuals are highly advised to contact breed rescue when they want to rehome an animal, not to sell it on themselves. 

Whichever way you look at it, it would be not ideal for a pup a few months old to find himself in rescue at that age :(  And the pup would bear the brunt of the upheaval and rehoming, at only several months old and why?  Because he wasn't toilet trained.

You would find it hard to believe the number of "several month old" pups which rescue organisations get through the doors.  Why is that?  The novelty factor of a very small puppy wears off and the hard work sets in and people can't hack it.  They didn't do their research before getting a puppy, the breeder didn't vet them well enough to determine if they were in it 100% for the long term, and the poor puppy suffers as a result - what did he do to deserve that?  In this case, he would have pooped on the carpet :(

I'm not "having a go at you", in fact I was all ready to support you and be up in arms against your mother.  However, you seem to be defending your mother and her thoughts about rehoming him for not being toilet trained, and it's this which I find incomprehensible, and yes, I am "having a go" at you about that, as I think most people would.

I'm sorry if you think my advice has been no use to you.  I won't bother to offer you any more.

The only thing i have said in her defence was that she did take a lot of time doing all the training and she feels like its been thrown back in her face because we didnt know the training could go backwards.

You make it sound like he hasnt been toilet trained at all!

The last thing i want to do is rehome him which is why im finding ways to resolve it.

We knew from the start it would be hard work which is why we did some research first but as ive already said despite all the research we did we never knew the training could go backwards

Has anything happened outside that might have scared him? A car backfiring or something when he was outside?

I dont think there has been, hes perfect when I walk him and when hes playing outside which is why it seems when hes in the house with us he cant be bothered to go outside its like he thinks hes going to miss something if he does.

He is starting to get better again so hopefully soon he can come back in the living room and will go to the door or sniff around when he wants to go out like he used to