Dog no longer housebroken??

[MtyMax]

Medical? Brain Fart?

So, my 1.5 yr old rescue has had 2 accidents in the house. What gives?:no:

I have had this dog for approx. 12 weeks with no problems other than a random case of explosive poo. Recently she has peed 2x in the house. The first time she simply wasn’t let out in time (long story), and she had to hold it 9hrs which is probably a bit long for her. The 2nd time though, she was left alone for only 2 hrs and peed outside immediately before she was left. WTH?

My thoughts…

#1 Could it be medical? UTI? These accidents were 3 days apart so I would think she would have more accidents. She does not appear to be in discomfort although she has always spent a lot of time licking her hoo-ha:D Lovely I know!

#2 She has gone to her doggie daycare several times in the last 2 weeks where she is in a large room with outside access. The dogs can either pee inside or out as there are always attendants to clean up after them. Could she have “forgotten” that we dont’ pee in the house?

I hate it, but she will be going back to her crate whenever she is alone. The good thing is that she is only alone for a maximum of 4 hour time slots.

So, what is causing these accidents? How do I housetrain her? She never goes to the door when she needs out, but she is let out every few hours (except at night) so she never needs to really let me know when its time. Can I train her to ring a bell or something?

[Blinkers_On]

I dunno. My Xolo foster had one accident when she first came. Then she had several, now she has had none. I kind of wonder if it has to do with my missing her “signs” or just thinking she is house broken and trusting her as much as I trust my other dog’s badders. THEN getting a “wake up call” and being super conciuos again.
BUT perhaps there is an element of SA.
???

I tried leaving the pee’er out of her crate as she has destroyed every crate she’s been in. And she piddled up a storm. She is crated and I have come up with a way to keep little nekkid houdini in the crate. My house and pee… nope!!

I did do the ring the bell thing with my last pup. I had to remove it. He’d ring it and I’d go running. He’d do it all day. I was his monkey. No more bell!!

[Nezzy]

my male AHT was given to rescue b/c he was “not potty trained” but the foster is a friend and he never had accidents with her. And he was very good for us. but he got a few UTI’s and the vet had to get Urine with a needle to know he had struvite crystals. The urine sample did not show any. Please have her checked before you assume the worst. and 9 hours is a bit long IMO. I crate my dogs when i leave the house, for their own safety as well as my peace of mind.

[alto]

She does not appear to be in discomfort although she has always spent a lot of time licking her hoo-ha

this is definitely a sign of possible issues - either vaginal infection or urinary, so I’d schedule a vet visit.

[tradewind]

Could be a UTI for sure or a few other things…Take thee to a vet…

[NRB]

check the medical issues out to be sure.

I personally don’t consider a dog reliablly house trained until they haven’t had an accident int he house for 6 months… yup half a year.

I bell trained my dog, when she abused the bell (rang to go out to smell the fresh air, look for her nemisis the cat etc) I’d still take her out on a leash and gave her a min to pee, then when she didn’t I said “oops” and took her inside and crated her for 20 min. Took her out to pee, no pee, then crate again for 20 min, and so on and on. Once she peed or pooped I’d give her a cookie and let her loose inside the house again. That stopped the bell abuse. For a while. then she started up again and now is fine (2yrs now)

To be clear I do not use the crate as a punishment area. She loves her crate, I leave the door open and she goes in and out at will all day long. Right now she’s in it, curled up and napping. I just used the crate as a means to confine her to an area that she will not pee in. So I do close the door on her for the 20 min confinement times, and on rare occassions I will crate her while I am out of the house for a short time.

Also I leash the dog for all potty trips. That way I know that the deed is done, and I can bag the poop and get it in the trash can. We live in the city, and the potty area is unfenced… My previous dogs lived in the country and we’d open the back door adn they would go out unattended… sometimes they wouldn’t potty outside and we’d enver know it, let them in and then one would potty inside the house later…

Sorry… to bell train you need preferablly a clicker, yummy treats in pea sized amounts, a bell on a rope.

Teach the dog that the clicker means food is coming. Clcik and treat. OR if you prefer to not use a clicker say the word “YES!” and treat. Do this a few times until you see that your dog gets it that the sound means food is coming. Then place your hand palm out in front of the dogs nose and wait for it to touch it. And I do mean WAIT… justlet the dog figure it out on it’s own. When it touches your hand Click and treat. repeat a few times until you think that dog gets it. Next add the verbal cue “touch” at the momment that your dog touches your palm. You are now pairing the word with the behaviour, giving it a cue. repeat til you think that your dog understands touch means touch the palm for a click and treat. Then place the bell on a rope on the door knob. Place your hand behind the bell and say “touch” click and treat when the dog touches your hand. it will cause the bell to ring. Woot! repeat a few times. From now on when you elave the house to potty ask the dog to touch the bell, reward with either a treat or personally I reward the dog by opening the door and going outside. When they potty I treat.

took us a few minutes to learn the touch the bell behavior… took 3 days for the dog to reliablly get the bell ring means go outside idea… then took a few more days to learn the ringing the bell is for potty ONLY.

I do know some people who just hung a bell ont he door and let the dog figure it out on his own that if he rings the bell the people will let him outside… my first 2 dogs never picked up on that at all… so by the time the 3rd one came around I trained “touch” first.

[Philibuster]

First rule out a medical problem with a trip to the vet with some fresh urine If it’s nothing physical, then you’ll have to retrain and start from scratch.
Or it could be that she is drinking too much water. Before you leave her alone, take her water away (hour to 1/2 hour before) and let her out immediately prior to leaving.

[Roxyllsk]

Have her checked first by the vet first - it may be as simple as crystals or UTI as others have said. Usually when they are reliably housebroken, and aside from upset tummy / diarrhea issues or changes in routine, it’s some kind of medical issue.

Is she on a pretty regular schedule to go out ? My guys seem to do best when on a schedule. Also, if she gets really wound up before she goes for a walk, sometimes they have issues ‘holding it’ until they get outside.

My younger dog (as in 9 years old, as oppossed to the 16 year old man) would leak and when I took him to the vet he had really odd urine pH. He went on a round of antibiotics, and now gets extra vitamin C in his food to correct the pH problem. He’s fine now.

[MtyMax]

We have an appointment with the vet tomorrow afternoon. In the meantime, I am going to try and collect a urine sample…this could get fun!

until the vet can determine if this is a medical issue, the crate is going to be in use. Poor pup, she had a complete temper tantrum and shredded her toy when I closed the crate door this morning. She is crate trained, but I think after not using the crate for anything other than meal time, this may be a bit tough.

Any chance she is trying to assert herself? There have been a few other behaviors indicating that she is getting a little too comfortable now that she has settled into our routine.

[Kryswyn]

She could be marking, but if she is spayed, there’s spay incontenience that’s easily treated.

You can reinforce your superiority by making her wait for you to go in and out of the door ahead of her. Of course, no sleeping on the bed or on furniture.

Good luck with her!

[Big_Grey_hunter]

[QUOTE=Kryswyn;5836256]
She could be marking, but if she is spayed, there’s spay incontenience that’s easily treated.

You can reinforce your superiority by making her wait for you to go in and out of the door ahead of her. Of course, no sleeping on the bed or on furniture.

Good luck with her![/QUOTE]

What does sleeping on furniture have to do with ‘superiority’?

[philosoraptor]

I took on an adult std poodle about 4 years ago. She was not so housebroken when she arrived. The first ~6 months she still made mistakes from time to time. She’s much much better now. But accidents did happen more than once before I figured things out.

I suppose the vet visit can’t hurt. But only 2 mistakes from a rescue dog who was not well housebroken when you got her isn’t that rare.

You can go back to crate training. Maybe when she felt forced to pee inside the first time, the inhibition to peeing inside lowered (incident #2). If you work late and have to leave her alone another 9+ hour day, can you ask a family member or friend to let her out? (set her up for success)

Walk her on pretty regular intervals and do your best to stick with the pattern. That seemed to help my crazy poodle at least.

One method some people suggest is tethering: the dog is on a long leash attached to you wherever you go in the house. This is especially helpful to dogs who quietly go off into a corner to pee and you only find the accident much later. By keeping them close to you and highly supervised, they can’t find a corner alone … and you may notice the have-to-pee behavior sooner.

I’d say don’t read too much into it. It’s not a commentary on how much she loves or respects you. Sometimes pee isn’t a statement… sometimes pee is just pee.

[MtyMax]

Urine sample obtained!! :lol:

I guess my concern comes from the the fact that her second accident occured 1-2 hours after she had just been left out to pee.

She has to sit and wait before going in and out of any doorways. We do a little bit of obedience work (Sit, Down, Stand, Sit-Stay, Down-Stay, come) everyday. She is not allowed on any furniture other than her beds. I will say though…my husband is a sucker:D and is not assertive enough with her. He may ask her to sit 5 times before she actually does it…drives me nuts!

She is beginning to push the boundaries and even snatched a pair of tongs off the stove that I was using to turn meatballs. It is very possible that the 1st accident could have lowered her inhibitions in the house, or she is just testing us. We’ll address that after the vet sees her.

One more random issue which probably deserves its own thread…

Usually first thing in the morning, but not everyday, Katie’s jaws kind of clack together almost like you would if you were super cold and shaking. She has no problems eating or yawning…so what on earth?? The last thing I need is a dog that needs some sort of jaw surgery:eek:

[onelanerode]

If the incontinence doesn’t end up having a physical cause, I would cut down on the amount of space inside that she gets to roam freely. You can also let her spend some time on a leash with you in the house so she has to go where you go. Limiting her ability to make decisions will help prevent her from making decisions you don’t like.

The jaw clacking – does she do it just once? Or does she do it like a teeth-chattering/shivering? My little terrier/lab mix does the teeth chattering when he is either very excited (meeting a friendly new dog) or very anxious (meeting a not-so-friendly new dog, car rides). Ask your vet about it …

[wendy]

jaw-clacking is a sign of excitement/ nervousness.

I guess my concern comes from the the fact that her second accident occured 1-2 hours after she had just been left out to pee.

She has to sit and wait before going in and out of any doorways. We do a little bit of obedience work (Sit, Down, Stand, Sit-Stay, Down-Stay, come) everyday. She is not allowed on any furniture other than her beds. I will say though…my husband is a sucker and is not assertive enough with her. He may ask her to sit 5 times before she actually does it…drives me nuts!

She is beginning to push the boundaries and even snatched a pair of tongs off the stove that I was using to turn meatballs. It is very possible that the 1st accident could have lowered her inhibitions in the house

what exactly are you concerned about???
many dogs go through snotty “teenage” periods between age 6 months and 2 years or so, where they go through stages where they act like they can’t hear you, can’t remember what they previously seemed to have mastered, deliberately test you to see if you really did mean this rule to be a rule, etc., but housebreaking issues, no. Dogs don’t generally pee in the house after being housebroken unless there is something physically wrong- UTI is a common reason, and often dogs with UTI’s need to pee often, so peeing after 2 hours would be consistent with a UTI.
And the idea that dogs will “challenge” you for “dominance” is complete bunk, dogs don’t do that. Keeping them off furniture and making them do odd doorway behaviors are just “voodoo dominance rituals” that, to the dog, are just more meaningless human rules- if you don’t have some personal reason why you want the dog to do these things there’s no need to insist upon them. Your dog’s behavior won’t spontaneously degenerate in other areas.
and your dog isn’t sitting in response to your husband not because he’s not being “assertive” but because he’s a bad dog trainer- he’s accidentally taught the dog that the cue for “sit” is five “sits”, and you’d be surprised (or not?) at how many people manage to train their dogs to completely ignore anything they say (the people you hear shrieking COME COME COME COME day after day while the dog ignores them is a common sign of this). Training ineptness, not lack of assertiveness.

[MtyMax]

My concern is for the dog’s well being. If there is a medical issue we will be taking care of it. My other concern is for my carpet;)

Interesting about the jaw clacking. Maybe she is excited for her cuddle time first thing in the morning?

And Yes, hubby isn’t the best dog trainer. As long as she listens to ME as soon as I give a command, I’m fine with him being a little “slack”. Little does he know, there is a beginner dog obedience class in his future!

[NRB]

Woot, this. so nice to hear a sane person talk about dogs.

[QUOTE=wendy;5837044]

And the idea that dogs will “challenge” you for “dominance” is complete bunk, dogs don’t do that. Keeping them off furniture and making them do odd doorway behaviors are just “voodoo dominance rituals” that, to the dog, are just more meaningless human rules- if you don’t have some personal reason why you want the dog to do these things there’s no need to insist upon them. Your dog’s behavior won’t spontaneously degenerate in other areas… Training ineptness, not lack of assertiveness.[/QUOTE]