House Training Problems

Hello,

I have a Cocker Spaniel who will be four months old on September 7th. We have had her for approximately five weeks. Her house training was going extremely well, until this past Friday. When we brought her home from the breeders, we designated a potty area and as long as we took her out often we didn't have any problems or accidents. However, this past Friday, we took her out (she didn't do anything) and brought her in and in 10 minutes she urinated on the floor. We immediately took her to her potty area.
She simply refuses to go in her potty area which consists of grass, and stone. She seems to be afraid to step on the grass. This area is actually in our fenced pool area. We want her to go in the fenced area, so we can eventually let her out on her own.

I have pretty good knowledge on how to train puppies and when and how often they should go out. I don't know what to do when I'm standing out there for 10 minutes waiting for her to go. When she cannot hold it any longer, she will ultimately go in the stone. I have had numerous dogs and never encountered a problem like this.

Does anyone have any suggestions or comments?

Thanks!

Maybe if she goes in the house you can wipe it up with a newspaper or something and put it in the spot where you want her to go. :confused:

I had Benji house trained and then all of a sudden he started going to the bathroom inside right after I had let him out. I eventually found out that it was an attention issue. And whenever he went inside the house I'd make him sit in a corner and I'd ignore him for a few minutes. We found out that he was trying to get attention whether it was negative or positive, so that's why the ignoring him worked.

Is this her first few days in YOUR home? Give it time. Even though potty training went well at the breeders, you yanked her away form mom and her siblings. Its ALL new ot her. Maybe she never saw grass and stone before -- maybe grass, or stone, but not both. Its a lot for her to process. Remember too that she's young. Its not going to happen overnight, especially if she's adjusting to life with you.

If she's been with you for a while, and has had a few good weeks, then its quite possible she heard/saw something in that enclosed area to spook her. Try to figure out what might have spooked her -- it might be as simple as water splashing out of the pool onto her back.

Also, when she piddles, is it right in front of you or does she run into another room where you are not present?

We have had her around five weeks. Yes, she will piddle in front of us, out of excitment. She has actually had only one accident in the house since we brought her home, which was this past Friday. As far as I know, nothing has spooked her, because we are always outside with her. I'm wondering if she might of been stung by a bee or stepped on a bush that has pickers.

We thought we were making great progress, but now I feel like we've moved back a few steps.

Ok, ONE accident in 5 weeks, for a 4 month old pup? AWESOME!!! Do you know how many people with puppies would be jealous of you right now? Chances are that your timing was off on friday night. You might have felt she was ready to go, but her body had another timeline in mind. Take her out, be out there for about 5 minutes. If she shows no signs of having to potty, then bring her in for a bit, never let her leave your side and watch her like a hawk. If you can't watch her, then crate her for 10 minutes then take her back out. I get a TON of people telling me in class that they stand outside for 20 minutes, and no sooner do they return back to the house, the pup piddles. Well, I tell them they were outside too long the first time, since they were returning to the house just when I'd be heading back outside.

Its like my grandson's diaper. I pretty much know he's gonna need a diaper change. I'll check it when I think he should be ready to mess it.... its dry. I turn around 5 minutes later, still dry. Then a minute after that, he's screaming because he has a wet diaper. You just have to know what their body's schedule is. They all pretty much pee within a pretty predictable amount of time after they ate or drank. Its uncanny how much their body runs like clockwork. Most of the time it'll be within a few minutes of the same time every time. You just have to know when she last ate and drank.

As for the peeing when excited, thats so incredibly common for Cockers that I'd be more surprised to hear she DIDN'T do it than the fact she is. Really just be patient. Never yell at her if she goes in the house, ESPECIALLY when she's doing the submissive peeing thing. In fact, when dealing with a submissive peeer, the best thing to do is pretty much pretend she's not doing it. Bringing it to her attention will only make the matter worse and she might never outgrow it.

Wow, there are so many methods of what works for each individual and each individual dog. When its time to potty train I use a few different methods. First, keep her in the room closest to the door that you want her to go out of. Have her gated in that room until she can master it. (you can have her in other rooms with you during the day as long as she is supervised with you). Once she can tell you she has to go potty from that one room closest to the door, this means you always asking at certain times if she has to go potty, move the gate to the next adjoining room to the room closest to the door until she masters that room. After that again extend her movement with the gate to the next adjoining room and so on. Now if she poops on the floor, don't pick it up and throw it away but move it to the outside area that you want her to use. It's a challenge, but if you love your fur baby you will be up for it and with determination you will come out the winner with a happy housebroken little Cocker. Have fun!!!!

What has always worked for me is to write down the time when they
would potty and what they did (#1 or #2 or both) and also log what time
they have eaten.
At night I would pick up the water dish at a certain hour
and make certain there were a couple of potty breaks between taking up the
water and bedtime. I always crate train too which is a very big help with
housetraining I have found, along with watching them like a hawk when out
of the crate.
The meals were always at the same hour and between that and the above
mentioned a schedule was set quickly and was pretty much like clockwork
as long as the schedule was adhered to.
The excited urination should taper off at time goes on.