Hi, I hope someone can help me because I'm desperate! Rosie my cavalier King Charles is 21 weeks now and although I know she's still a baby she's been completely housetrained for several weeks now. If I go out I leave a newspaper by the back door and the same at night,which she uses for both wees and poos and is praised for.I always give her lots of praise when she goes in the garden or when we have our walks too and she's given a treat but just suddenly this week for no obvious reason she's decided to poo in the hall,just in front of the kitchen door. I've tried everything to stop her,cleaning it with odour eliminator,shouting at her,ignoring it,putting her outside after I've shown her what she's done but nothing works.I even spread her blanket in the area and she pooed on that! This is happening when I'm with her in the house and she'll do it a couple of minutes after coming in from the garden! Please help! I've run out of ideas!

Chuck out the paper by using it you are training her to toilet indoors, not used paper since I last had a litter & that was only in the whelping box under the vet bed

Shouting will make her worse she won't understand the words just your aggressive(to her)body language, if she goes outside you must go with her until she has been-not nice if it's cold &/or wet but that the joy of puppy ownership

Ahh, I have 2 5 month old cavies, mine are tri colour... what are yours?

Mine are toilet trained (just about), however, sometimes they do have accidents.  When I leave them, one of them tends ot poo.  I think it is an anxiety thing.  You really musn't shout at Rosie, as she wont know why you are shouting at her.  This could lead to anxiety and make the problem worse.  You can only reinforce it if you catch her.

Cavies are notorious for hating bad weather.  One day, mine just refused to go outside at all and went in the kitchen... naughty!  However, you could just hope that she grows out of it?  I guess the paper thing will encourage her to go inside, so remove it all together.

I have trained my to to almost go on command.  When they were young, I used to say "be quick" as they were going.  They now associate this with toilet time and know why I've taken them outside.  Really handy for cold mornings!  You could try reinforcing this when she does go?  This may make her go on command and solve your problem.  You just need to make sure that she has had a poo before she comes in.  She should learn that outside is the place to do it!

My two seem to have about 5 poos a day, so maybe try taking her out a little more often.  Joys of puppyhood huh?!

I hope you get to the bottom of it!

What about FIREWORKS? My old Cavalier has refused to go out all day today because of it even when none have been going off. A few times we've managed to persuade him to get outside but he wouldn't toilet. He's not done anything indoors but then again he has been house trained for over 11 years. :)

Apart from what others have said, showing your pup what's she's done is no use either as she will not understand what you're on about. If anything telling her off is likely to have encouraged her to find more and more places to toilet in, where hopefully you won't see it, as she will think it is the act of going to toilet that is wrong, not that it is done in the wrong place -after all you HAVE taught her to go indoors.

Not to go off on a tangent at all... but my two are a bit scared to go out tonight with all the bangs.  They are only lickle though.  It didn't help that just as douggie was weeing, a big firework went right overhead.  We had a wee trail right through house!!!

Thanks for your advice.The paper has always been by the backdoor for just overnight and if I'm out for more than about an hour but she hardly uses it when I'm out and 'goes' when I let her out.She does know that outside is the right place to go and I do stand outside and say 'be quick' so she understands that.The thing is her going in the hall which she hasn't done before.She's not put off going out when the weather's bad and isn't at all bothered by fireworks because if they go off while she's outside I just ignore them with her or if it's a particularly loud one make an 'ooo' noise like it's a good thing! I really wanted advice about detering her from 'pooing 'in the hall.If I take the paper up at night is it good for her to hang on till morning?I don't want cause her any discomfort or medical problems.

She does no that outside is the right place to go and I do stand outside and say 'be quick' so she understands that

If she's still toiletting indoors she clearly doesn't understand does she, otherwise she wouldn't be going indoors at all

By leaving the paper down you are confusing her & TBH she would be better without it as you are giving her mixed messages The paper saying go to the toilet here indoors then you tell her off when she does just that(albeit not on the paper):rolleyes:

Moonmaiden, is there any need to be so flippant to the quetsion? The poor girl has asked for some advice !!

I would certainly suggest keeping pup in the kitchen whilst still young. It takes so much time to housetrain and sometimes they do go backwards.
My Cav used to have the odd accident whilst training and you just need to carry on as you have been, by placing pup outside.

Sure the weather does'nt help both pup and you, but you'll get there.

Stick with it hun.........

I am not being flippant, leaving paper down is encouraging the dohg to use it & that toiletting indoors is ok, but when the dog does this it is then told off-what is flippant in that ?:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

The dog isn't house trained & is being given mixed messages by the owner, the dog will not understand it can only go indoors if it uses the paper & not if it goes anywhere else, this is a 21 week old dog not a 5 year old child for goodness sake

I find that pups often have a 'reversal' for a few days or even weeks after they have been almost completely clean. I don't know why it happens but in my experience it is a temporary thing and sorts itself out.

BTW I paper train, in conjunction with taking the puppy outside frequently, and I've never had a problem with the method. While I agree that paper training completely and then training to the outside would be confusing, I don't understand the vehemence of thiose who say you must not use paper at all.

It was the phrase 'she clearly does'nt understand' which I read to be rather flippant. Like I said, she has asked for advice (isn't this why this site exists.....to help and advise).

IMO...............If i am allowed one Moonmaiden   :rolleyes:

she clearly doesn't understand if the dog is still toiletting indoors it doesn't understand that it shouldn't QED not a "flippant"response just a factual one

I've just experienced 5 nights in succession when my 20 month old BC male pooed on the kitchen floor during the night and to add to my delight, I was woken by his sister barking loudly to ensure that I came down to clean it up immediately!!!

I have been taking the dogs out later at night and encouraging them to eliminate their bowels prior to going to bed but for 5 nights this didn't seem to make a scrap of difference...He still pooed on the kitchen floor in the middle of the night.

I've ignored it, cleaned it up thoroughly using BOLD washing liquid, to clean the soiled areas of the floor to stop the area smelling like a 'doggie toilet' Thankfully the behaviour has stopped as quickly as it started...

The only 'reason' we can give (there are no fireworks in the middle of the night) is that the aged toy poodle we are looking after had an 'accident' on the kitchen floor prior to my dog's regression with housetraining but why this should result in Veda using the area as a toilet too, we have no idea...

So my suggestion, for what it's worth... Keep your pup away from the area where she is pooing, ignore the fact that she has pooed in the wrong place but continue to train her to use the correct place, make sure the area is cleaned sufficiently to get rid of the 'toilet area' smell for a nose that is as sensitive as a dog's nose (they smell much better than we do!!!) and finally, don't be disheartened...I'm sure she will eventually stop pooing in the wrong place if you continue to show her the right place and encourage her to defaecate on command. :)

Yes - clean the area with Bold or similar, NOT ever disinfectant as that may encourage inappropriate messing.

I have found that paper training can be very hit and miss and depend on when dogs are exercised and if owners are at home. ... my first male dog would use paper for months and months - although he was perfectly happy doint it outside, he would sometimes use it inside if he was maybe slightly full or whatever. My fault entirely as I'd basically trained him to it. I removed the paper, kept him from that spot, and was very proactive for aobut the next fe months and it solved the problelm :)

Personally I'd always avoid paper training now, and if peeps do do it, they must be aware they may (perhaps!) confuse the dog.

Remember, this dog is only very young, and I agree too that youngsters can "regress" a bit at times.

Good luck
Lindsay
x

Thanks for the advice,mixed though it is and sorry if I caused any trouble between bluebell and moonmaiden!I think it just shows that people have very strong feelings about house training!I'm going to try taking up the paper if no-one thinks it'll harm her but ,to be honest,the paper isn't the issue,as was pointed out.Rosie is quite happy to use the paper at night and in emergencies and understands that the place where she's praised and rewarded is the garden and she goes there on command.It's just that she'll have weed in the garden and been out there mooching around after her reward and then come in and poo.This isn't every time she poos though because she still does it in the garden as well! As was pointed out she's obviously not understanding as well as I thought she was so I'll just be patient and hope it sorts itself out! I've been cleaning the carpet with Vanish OxyAction Carpet cleaner as it says it eliminates all pet odour!

Just to say that a little wipe with some white spirit after cleaning with bio detergent helps to get rid of the odour. I'm sure she'll catch on.

Thanks Lori.That's the sort of tip I was looking for! I just wondered if it would take the colour out of the carpet? I'm not sure everyone understood my query properly because I tried to say that Rosie is very good going in the garden and always wees there and upto last week pooed as well so I just wanted advice as to how to get her to stop going in that particular spot in the hall.I have done all the staying out with her till she goes etc thats how I got her trained in the first place! can I just also say i didn't leave any newspaper down in the kitchen where she sleeps last night and I expected to come down to a real mess this morning and bless her she hadn't done anything at all! So thanks for that advice. And she's a Blenheim cavalier and absolutely gorgeous!

It's never removed the colour from my carpet but worth testing somewhere in the corner first. I've had to learn due to living with the King of Squits. He's gets them less now that he's grown up but if a dog has diarrhea they can't really help that; and of course why go on the tile floor when there's some nice, porous carpet to use.

Thanks Lori,it's a nightmare isn't it! Rosie was great yesterday because I bought a pet training spray from Wilkinsons that stops them from chewing furniture so i thought it would work on the carpet,which it did!It smells foul and makes her sneeze.Then she was in with my daughter this afternoon and just after she'd been out in the garden she wnt again on the one little spot the spray must have missed in the doorway.Guess what!I just let her out before I started to write this,sprayed again and she's just pooed again!!! I give up!

Thankfully Milo's only accidents were when he was very young and daddy was watching him. Since he was 14 weeks he's only had accidents when he was locked in the house alone with the squits. He makes up for good toilet behaviour with periodic deafness to recalls from other dogs though. We all have our crosses; you'll work it out with Rosie.

Just a thought, is she shy about being watched (even though I was with my puppy I have always looked away while he does his business)? You could set up a privacy shield for her in the garden. I've also heard that sprinkling some tiny bits of food around in a circular pattern behind the shield will encourage the sniffing behaviour for finding the right place to go. Or seed the area with a pile from her house mistakes. Take her out after a meal to her own private loo and let her rip.

Hi, I usually advise my puppy buyers, not to put newspapers down, but to take the pup out into the garden as soon as they get home and I also give them a list of commands that I have been using on the pups.   Most good breeders will already have had the pups out into their gardens and start giving pups titbits and lots of praise when they do  the loo outside, I know I do, I use "be clean" for poo's and I give 2 small titbits if they do that outside, and "do a pee" and one titbit for this.  Did your breeder not advise you of this when you bought the pup, you really are encouriging the pup to toilet indoors and its getting mixed messages from you, the poor wee thing doesn't understand whether its to go indoors or out. So you really need to start all over again as if it was 8wks old and remember plenty of praise and never scold a puppy for any mistakes,  the pup does not know its done wrong, just clean it up and ignore the pup. Are you going outside with the puppy and giving the commands, or are you letting pup into the garden on its own. I always stand outside (and usually freeze) to make sure the pup does what it has to. If you use a crate when you go out, you will probably find the pup clean for you coming back.  How many times a day are you taking her out for small walks, does she not toilet then, or, are you confining her to your garden?

You've not got a mat where she decided to poo have you? I ask because my fcr was used to newspaper at the breeder's when I got him, and when we were part way to house training he decided to start using the couple of mats I had down on my laminate floors - presumably to him they seemed like similar 'targets' to newspaper. I took up the mats for a couple of months, carried on housetraining and all was well.

She'll grow out of it.

I would agree with spiritulist, she will grow out of it but there are things you can do to help.  At 21 weeks I imagine you are on two possibly three meals a day and these meals are obviously going to get bigger to compensate for the reduction in frequency.  As a rule my puppies would poo anywhere between 5 to 30 mins after having a meal and I got very good at watching for signs of imminent poo behaviour.  If they were not showing any signs in 30 mins they got taken into the garden and the waiting game began.

The biggest culprit for random pooing is free feeding.  If the food is left down all day the need to poo can happen anytime.  There is also the firework hazard as previousley mentioned.  Your little girl can hear the bangs from a long way off as well as the ones that happen close by.

That said you pup is still very young and you may find yourself going back to the drawing board with training quite a bit as she matures.  Just got to stick with it.

I have exactly the same problem with my 10yr old girl. It only started last year and only happens around bonfire night. Each year she seems to be getting more and more frightened by fireworks. I don't tell her off, just clean it up and say nothing. Although I do make sure she has a poo when I take her out before bedtime and this does help stop it. Only one accident this year so far, had several last year so I must be doing something right with her! She is also trained not to go on pavements and she will usually only toilet on grass, often dragging me to the nearest patch if she is desperate, but this time of year she often misses the grass too!

Just wanted to show that at any age, accidents indoors can still happen.

Hey, no problems here......just expressing my thoughts.

Hope you get back on track with her training soon.

My 7 month old golden is house trained but this week he had a couple of 'accidents' during the night and we've put this down to fireworks - even though he doesn't seem the slightest bit botherd about them :rolleyes:

and again this morning

I'd never recommend using newspaper or pads because it really does send confused messages to a dog since they are expected to know the difference between an acceptable indoor poo and an unacceptable one. What they need to know, is that outside is the only acceptable place to wee and poo! There may be occasions when even the most well trained dog gets caught short - usually it's the human's fault! - and in those circumstances I've found that dogs will usually avoid carpet and get themselves as close as possible to the door they'd have preferred to be let out of.