Help with potty training

[Laurie McClain]

I have a 5 month old Cocker Spaniel puppy. He is very sweet, lovable and goofy. He is not extremely intellegent. He is house trained to the extent that he will go when I take him out. He will not let me know when he has to go out. He holds it all night (crated)and 6-7 hourse during the day when I am at work (in the kitchen) without a problem. But if he has to go when I am home, and it can be less than an hour since he was out, he will go. But I seldom catch him. He doesn't have the run of the house, I am ALWAYS with him but if I have to take my eyes off him for a second he leaves me a present (usually #2). He has gone on the bed. This is only happening 2-3 times a week but it is still a problem. Does any one have any suggestions?

[Demigodess]

I am a foster mom for rescue dogs, and I have seen an awful lot of accidents in my house! Here are some tips I give to people who adopt adult dogs about housetraining. It also applies to your puppy as he should know better by now.

If you know the dog can hold it (sound like this is true for your dog) and you have ruled out any medical cause (urinary tract infection, worms, etc), then you have to get back to basics.

1) Confine the dog (crate, small room, etc) when you cannot actively watch the dog. I mean really, really watch him. If he is in the same room but you are cooking dinner, you can't watch him enough. The goal is to never give him a chance to make a mistake that you can't catch.

2) Take him outside on a schedule (as often as needed to avoid accidents - start with maybe every 1/2 hour or as often as he can go). But take him out - don't let him out if you have a yard. If you just let him out it's playtime. Take him out on a leash, wait till he is done and praise him like crazy. If he does not go, increase the time between trips outside.

3) When you catch him about to go (and you will catch him because of your precautions in step 1) calmly say, "No" (don't scold!) and take him outside immediately. Again, take him outside and wait for results. Don't let him outside. Don't overreact - to a dog (especially one alone during the day) even negative attention is attention.

You should only need to do this rigid practice for a few weeks. I f you don't see improvement, you need to consider talking to a behaviorist that can give you individual attention or re-checking for medical issues.

You might also increase the amount of time with you the dogs gets in case he is looking for attention.

Good luck!

[Laurie McClain]

Thank you for your suggestions. I have been trying to keep him on the leash even in the house so I can cook etc and still let him be out of the crate. What I don't get is he can be out of the crate, have the run of the kitchen and hold it but if I am home he won't hold it. Frustrating.

[Demigodess]

That's why I think it's not that he can't hold it, but that he is doing it for attention. When he makes a mess, don't you stop what you're doing and immediately focus you attention on him? Sounds like he is well trained, just not to do what you want!

Don't feel bad about crating him more than usual for a couple of weeks. It's a small amount of time and in the long run it's going to make your relationship a lot better. You've got to take some fairly extreme measures to show him who is boss and that he has to be the one to do what you want.

[BigScot]

This is quite a coincidence as my fiance and I just got a pup that does the exact same thing (with exception of the kitchen thing). We can be playing and then all of a sudden she'll leave a surprise out of the blue (even if she already went in her spot outside). She has gone on the bed also ... she is crated much like the original post ... When I take her outside we run to her spot and no problem ... she does her thing.

BS

[kai]

Yep..sounds all too familiar. I know that Kai knows better than to go inside the house but he still does. Well what helped was that since kai soiled at the basement everytime, I blocked off the entrance. It helped. Then what I also did was I increased the praise ALOT more...people look at me strange when they walk by the house and I say "GOOD BOY KAI! GOOD BOY! NICE POOP! GOOD JOB!" but...it helped him anyways. Hmm...well these may not apply to you because yours does sound like an attention thing..but remember that if they do soil inside the house, do NOT let them see you clean it. It'll become a game.
Good luck!

[Laurie McClain]

I am glad to see I am not alone. Kai is beautiful by the way. Unfortunately, work gets in the way of dog play. I do get up an hour early (5:30am), run home at lunch and play ball with him in the evenings. And I do give him an enormous amount of praise after he does it outside. But he is the one that looks at me like I am crazy! I would just like to hear someone say they went thru this and their dog did finally get it!

[lovemyshiba]

I totally agree with the crate training, and getting your dog on a consistent schedule--take her out every hour if you have to.
Another thing I wanted to mention is that I have heard that cockers are sometimes quite difficult to housebreak, some never really get it, for a long time.