Housebreaking issue // GREAT UPDATE! Post #12

Jersey is 5.5 months old now. And she doesn't poop outside. The only poop she has outside is the first one in the morning, and all others she does in the house and never outside. We try walking her around, keeping her on a leash, taking her off... nothing changes the fact that she won't poop OUTSIDE. She sees nothing at all wrong with doing it indoors, and it's like completely forgets the next time she has to go.

All she does when we bring her out is eat snow. Sometimes she won't even pee (but at least she doesn't do it inside anymore).

Do you guys have any suggestions? The only one I can think of is crating her more often to lessen the amount of accidents, but my family doesn't and won't agree with it.

you should persist in taking her outside after meals and watch her for signs that she needs to 'go'.reward her whenever she 'goes' outside and if she 'goes' inside,banish her for a short period in another room away from the family,if it is convenient.if you keep it up she should get the message fairly quickly.i've never tried crate training so i cant give u any advice there.

I've housetrained many puppies, so I know the basics. However, no matter how much scolding (firm "no"'s) and such, it just doesn't register with her that it is WRONG to go inside.

You are focusing on the wrong thing.

You must teach the dog that it is RIGHT to go outside. You will never accomplish anything by punishing her for eliminating indoors except to cause her to do two things, which she is probably already doing:

1) hide to eliminate, and
2) refuse to eliminate in your presence

This puppy should be HUGELY rewarded for every one of her early morning bowel movements, and yes, she should be confined and closely supervised so someone can whisk her outside when it is time for her to go.

Most dogs have bowel movements at fairly predictable times, so choose that time to take her on a brisk active 30-45 minute walk. If she does not eliminate during this time, crate her for an hour, and go again.

You must use your primate brain to put the dog in the position of defecating outdoors, and when she does, you must HANDSOMELY reward her. At the same time, you must prevent her opportunities for defecation indoors. Stop the punishing, scolding, and etc, it won't get you anywhere.

Thanks for the info. But yes, I am and always have been rewarding her greatly for going outside. I still even reward my two even though they are completely housetrained. I thought it was obvious that I am rewarding her, lol.

I'd be interested to see of some more responses. When snow is here Sage never goes, we have been outside for a hour and he never even tried.

Do you punish her when she eliminates in the house though? And what do you do when she poops outside in the morning?

Honestly, I'd just tether her for now. The basics apply - reward for defecating outside and ignore bad behavior inside and supervise 24/7.

Doesn't matter if the family doesn't want to crate her. If nobody can watch her, she needs to be in the crate. If your family doesn't like that, well, you can tether Jersey to them. Either way, Jersey is either tethered to somebody or in her crate. That way, she'll have no opportunity to go in the house.

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Originally Posted by Giselle

Do you punish her when she eliminates in the house though? And what do you do when she poops outside in the morning?

Honestly, I'd just tether her for now. The basics apply - reward for defecating outside and ignore bad behavior inside and supervise 24/7.

Doesn't matter if the family doesn't want to crate her. If nobody can watch her, she needs to be in the crate. If your family doesn't like that, well, you can tether Jersey to them. Either way, Jersey is either tethered to somebody or in her crate. That way, she'll have no opportunity to go in the house.

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You just hit the nail right on the head. I just realized and noticed how unsupervised she is when I am not home and my family is supposed to be watching her. I am in school, and have a part time job. So I can't be here to housetrain her all of the time. I depend on my family as well.

I've noticed that whenever Jersey poops in the house, it has been when no one is watching her or she is in another room alone. There's the problem RIGHT THERE. Ugh. Sometimes my family really gets on my nerves.. they need to remember that she is a puppy, and puppies need discipline. Would they let an infant wander around the house by themselves? I think not.

Thanks for all the info you guys!

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Originally Posted by BC_MoM

Jersey is 5.5 months old now. And she doesn't poop outside. The only poop she has outside is the first one in the morning, and all others she does in the house and never outside. We try walking her around, keeping her on a leash, taking her off... nothing changes the fact that she won't poop OUTSIDE. She sees nothing at all wrong with doing it indoors, and it's like completely forgets the next time she has to go.

All she does when we bring her out is eat snow. Sometimes she won't even pee (but at least she doesn't do it inside anymore).

Do you guys have any suggestions? The only one I can think of is crating her more often to lessen the amount of accidents, but my family doesn't and won't agree with it.

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Your frustration with this issue is strongly evident in your post. Frustrated people give off very negative vibes to dogs. It is clear also that you are attempting to indicate to her that it is wrong to defecate in your house. This implies negative reinforcement or punishment. You make no mention of any reward or praise in your post, so I would have no way of knowing you are doing this.

Reward the dog with food and praise for all outdoor elimination
STAY outside until the dog eliminates. A brisk walk can help expedite this natural occurence. REWARD the dog with food and praise for all outdoor elimination.

CONFINE and/or SUPERVISE the dog indoors to prevent indoor opportunities for elimination. DO NOT punish or scold the dog in any way for any accidents discovered after the fact. You may try to interrupt the dog with a hand clap IF you discover her actually IN the act of eliminating. If you are successful in interrupting her, you must immediately walk her, and strongly reward her if she finished up outside.

Good luck in getting this issue worked out with your pup and your family.

:D

Sorry Jess I have no other advice except for what has already been given... but I must say... I thought I was the only one having issues with my dogs only wanting to eat snow instead of going potty since it snowed last weekend!! :o

Charlie LOVES the stuff! I think he's walking around to find a nice spot to poo... but nope, he's just going around eating snow... :(

Oh and also, I have a command associated with the actual act of going to the bathroom... "going potty" is different from "going outside", generally "going outside" means its for play and "going potty" means just that - they are not outside to play, but to relieve themselves. Once they are out there, if they start to get side-tracked (eating snow...) I just have to say, "Jamie, go potty!" or "Charlie, potty!" and they'll remember "Oh, yeah, I'm not out here to play, time to get down to business".

Honestly though I can't remember HOW we trained them to do that... it's just one of those routine things that happened along the way.

I know what you mean. Jersey does respond to "go pee" and it works great. We're going to keep working on this poop issue, as it is obvious and only normal that we aren't going to give up. I'll update you all when we start getting better!

I am pleased to say that Jersey hasn't pooed in the house for TWO WHOLE DAYS! For Jersey, this is absolutely amazing.

I have come up with a new little thing to help her. I don't have to worry about morning poos, because she always does that outside. So when I get home from school, I take her out and we play fetch for about 15 minutes, after which she usually gets bored and starts to sniff around and has a bowel movement. Same thing with when I get home from work, as she poos in the morning, before supper and after supper.

I am so happy, and really hope that I am not jinxing ourselves, but oh well. If this doesn't work, I do have one other thing I may try but would rather not. And I don't we'll have to!