Harrowing House-breaking Horrors!

Hey y'all... We're starting to have a minor issue with Arthur, that only just started recently. Within the first couple days of us having him, we had him house-broken. He never went in the house unless we were gone for an extended period of time, and then he went on the puppy pad. He was very good at not going on the carpet (a couple of boo-boos, but nothing major). Now, all of a sudden, he refuses to go outside. I take him outside every hour and all he does is sit on the stoop. I'll coax him into the yard and we'll stand out there with him, telling him to "go potty" for 15 minutes. The other dogs will go and he'll be sniffing around like he wants to. Then he just sits. We let him back inside, and not 2 seconds later he goes on the carpet. The back yard is clean and free of old waste and such, which I know can be a problem. Whenever he does go outside, HUGE amounts of praise! Goes inside, he gets scolded.

I'm not sure why he's taken 2 steps back all of a sudden. Any ideas/advice would be great. I understand that house breaking is a process, and can be frustrating, but he's getting to the point now where he shouldn't have as many accidents as he does. :(

Been a while since I had to "poddy train" a pup -
my "Rescues" have been mostly pre-trained. :)

A suggestion >

Next time you think he's "ready" to *go* -
Leash him up, grab a Good Book and a Comfortable Chair...
And set up camp near the preferred spot!

And then just *wait him out*! :p

You might get several chapters read;
but sooner or later, he's *GOT to GO*! ;)

/s/ Phred

Exactly what Cinder said. I did that with one of my dogs when we got her quite some time ago. She's a rottweiler too!

I sat out there forEVER!!! waiting for her to go. I took her to the same spot and gave her much appraisal after she did her business out there. Then I took her off leash after a while of doing this with her, she'd go do her business in that one spot then come running to me, expecting a treat. (that was part of the appraisal.) It used to take her thirty minutes, then it gradually went down. To this day, she still only does her business in that one spot.

Might work. There's only one drawback to my sitting out there for who knows how long...... I live in Arizona. :rolleyes: You may not realise what this means so.... Lately, it's been hitting 100 out here. There's not a lot of shade out there. Ooh!! I just had an epiphony! That might be part of the problem... Arthur is a weanie.... The other dogs are used to it, I guess, but Arthur does the "hot foot" thing whenever he goes out there. Lord knows I can't handle the heat (hence the minor issue of my sitting out there for half an hour, an hour at a time) maybe he can't either. OOh! I just had another epiphony! I have a large umbrella.... maybe I can jam it in the ground and create a shaded spot... LoL SOrry... thinking out loud as things come to me.

I'll figure something out, and camp out outside until he's ready to go. Thanks for the advice! I hope it helps! I'll let you know how it goes.

This dog doesn't like the heat either. Maybe put some cool socks on the poor doggie. What the #^% do I know?

Good luck!

Take puppy out, and wait up to 5-10 minutes. When you bring him back in- crate him for 5 minutes. Then back out you go. Repeat cycle until he goes. Keep him on a leash while outside, so he knows it's not a play time adventure.

This accomplishes two things: 1. He doesn't get a chance to soil inside on the carpet, 2. You get to cool down before heading back out. ;)

We're not crate training him. My other dogs can't be crated, and when he goes in a crate knowing the other dogs are out he goes beserk. :( I've been taking him out every hour, and about 10 mins after he eats. I've also taken to getting up in the middle of the night to take him out. He's been better today, but still not quite where he was.

I'm just hoping he's going thru a phase, like Charlie did for a while. I know a lot of puppies go thru the "I don't wanna, so I'm not gonna" phase. :rolleyes: