How much water? Need advice for house training

Lady Grace is a chow mix and we got her just over a week ago, she is 2 years old and she's a fun loving dog. She never barks, is very playful and loves to run and chase anything that moves.

I'm having a hard time house training her. She is constantly going in the house. I take her out for walks when i can and when she is out she will unriate 2, 3 some times 4 times, but with-in a few hours she will wet the carpet again.

I make sure she has plenty of water since that is what i heard i should do. But i'm starting to think she has too much water. Should i limit her water intake? How much water should she have?

Currently I have her confined to the kitchen while my wife and I are at work. And you know...if she makes a mess while we are away thats understandable, but over the long weekend i took her out for walks constantly and it's getting a bit annoying (not that i've stopped loving her she is just so adorable.)

I hate having to lock her up in the kitchen, but maybe thats what i need to do even when i'm at home (at least until we get this problem taken care of.

Does anyone have any good advice for a frustrated first time owner of a dog? I'm not giving up on her, i love her to death, i just wish i didn't have to clean up her messes 4 times a day

I think she needs to see the vet. That sounds like a lot of peeing. She may have a urinary tract infection of stones or something. That just seems like she's going too much to me.

Although, all bladders are different, and maybe you're asking her to hold it too long. You say she goes again on the carpet within a few hours? How many is a few? I would take her out every hour or so, and when she goes outside, make a fool out of yourself. Jump up and down, kiss her, use a happy voice, and let her know she did the best thing in the world.

I strongly urge you not to leave her in the kitchen all the time. You’ll end up with a whole other set of behavioral problems if you keep her confined all the time. IMO it’s cruel to keep a dog penned up when you’re home.

Until you can get her to the vet and/or get her housebroken, tether her to you when you’re home and don’t allow her to roam free. That way you can correct any bad behavior as it happens.

When she starts to pee inside, tell her NO and take her out immediately. She will most likely then finish her business outside and when she does, go crazy with praise.

Good luck and let us know how things go. :)

:( Great, now i feel bad for keeping her in the kitchen today. It was only today and i won't do it again.

I like the idea of tethering her to me. I think i'll try that today when i get home.

Thanks for the advise. Any other sugguestions?

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Originally posted by b0bth0ny
:( Great, now i feel bad for keeping her in the kitchen today. It was only today and i won't do it again.

I like the idea of tethering her to me. I think i'll try that today when i get home.

Thanks for the advise. Any other sugguestions?

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No! It's good to keep her in the kitchen when you're not at home. That's for the safety and well being of Lady Grace. I just mean when you are home that she should be with her family.

I crated mine at first when I wasn't home, but now they are trusted and have free roam.

I'm sorry you misunderstood me.

Like Micki said, check it out with the vet.

I believe a dog should have an unlimited supply of water (with the exception of young pups where owners take it away during night). So, taking away the water probably won't be necessary.

I think investing in a crate would be great! It takes advantage of a dog's natural instinct to not soil in their 'den'. It's great for when you're not home or at night.

When she does soil in the house, make sure every little bit of the soiled carpet is cleaned and odorless. If she smells part of a carpet that wasn't cleaned properly, she may feel the need to soil in that area again. One of our obedience instructors recommended Nature's Miracle. She said that after having 60+ foster dogs and 6 dogs of her own, that was the only product she liked.

Just keep at it. Alot of patience is required on your part but it's darn worth it at the end. Taking her out every hour will help. It took Kai MONTHS of training before he caught on and could be fully trusted in the house. I think he was about 9 months old before I could trust him in the house alone without soiling and chewing so don't feel bad if it doesn't seem to be working right away. It could take days, weeks or even months (like in our case). :D Good luck!

My dog Chipper is puppy pad trained so he never goes outside....maybe you should put a few puppy pads down in a place where you confine her when you're gone and she might get the hang on going on those. So, when she does have to go when she's inside she'll use the pad rather then the carpet. I'm not saying to totally inside train her, just have them available for accidents but also take her outside and work on that some more. Also, you haven't had her that long, give her time. She's probably uneasy with her new surroundings and is just testing you out. When we first got Chipper, for about the first week and a half he'd go on the floor rather then his puppy pad. He's been puppy pad trained for 6 yrs so we knew he knew how to use them. We closed him in the bedroom with 4 puppy pads in a big square while we were gone and one day he just decided to use his pads in the bedroom. After that happened we let him have free roam. So, just give her time, try the puppy pad thing for insides and also work on the outside. I hope that made sense, I was typing out so much cuz I was thinking really fast.

Dogs are like kids and people...they usually get up from a nap and want to whiz....My mom taught me that and it works wonders...

As soon as the dog wakes up, take them out.

Associate waking up with going to the bathroom.


I trained my first dog with that in mind and everything went
perfectly!! But since the dog spends most of the day indoors this may be a little dicey.....

I know what you mean... we had a lab/dachshund mix that had absolutely no health problems but always peed all over! We called her "sooner dog" because she'd no sooner come in from outside and pee on the carpet! :rolleyes:

We'd have her out on her lead all afternoon in the summer - she loved it, and had EVERY opportunity to go at any time during the day. When did she go? The minute we let her back in the house!

I honestly think she was seriously abused before she found her way into our home and this was a remnant of her horrible past. We were never able to break her of it. It DID get better when we walked her reguarly - as soon as I crawled out of bed, again at lunch (thankfully I worked close enough to do that) as soon as the kids got home from school, at dinnertime and again right before bed. That was 5 times daily at a fairly consistant time. She KNEW that we weren't going to forget her and leave her for too many hours before she could go again - this is where I think the first people were at fault... I don't think they ever let her out properly or faithfully - and then I think they would beat her if she did anything in the house.:mad:

Do you know her history of her previous owners? It could be something similar to what we went through with Sammy.

I agree with Micki, I'd take her to the vet first beause it does seem like she's going a little too much at her age.

But Richard, I think you hit the nail on the head! I've always done that for our dogs and it works wonders:D

I wanted to give everyone an update. Something i failed to mention yesterday when i posted was that wednesday of last week we took her to the vet because she had a bad sneeze and was doing this weezing thing. The vet put her on antibiotics. Well, yesterday when i got home i noticed that she didn't sneeze all evening, so she might be getting over her cold. My wife and I also noticed that her water intake has gone way down.

Well, when my wife got home frist she noticed no pee puddles in the kitchen...if she peed, she did so on her pee pad. But as soon as my wife got home Lady grace got all excited and peed in the kitchen. (but that is understandable).

My wife told me she took her out for a walk but she didn't pee or poo. About 1 hour later i got home and took her out...no pee or poo. Lets see, that was around 5 that i got home. Around 6 we noticed that she had peed on the carpet, but the puddle was a whole lot smaller then the other messes she has made. Around 7 she takes a nap and around 8 i noticed out of the corner of my eye that she had woken up. Being the stupid human that I am, i didn't think to take her out and the next thing i no she had poo'ed on the carpet, so i took her out again. Again she wouldn't go, just wanted to walk. I took her out again at 10 just before i went to bed, and i got nothing.

This morning, first thing i did was take her out...nothing...so i take her back in to eat and about 20 mins later i take her out again...nothing, so i take her out one more time before i go to work...again, nothing.

Her water intake has gone down as has her peeing. Maybe it's because she's getting over her cold. Whatever it is, things were so much better yesterday.

i had her leased to me for a few hours before i went to bed, but she didn't seem to like it very much, probably because she was getting sleepy and didn't want to have to follow me around. She is just so use to having freedom to run around the house. I just need to make sure i lease her to me around the house, might prevent the two messes she made yesterday.

Thanks for everyones advice.

Thanks Anna!

It works for me!;)

Also you may want to associate a good piddle with alot of 'GOOD DOG', hug and kisses.......


It's all a matter of sounding pleased and being happy with the doggie.....You pet wants to please you and when you respond favorably, so will Lady G.

Good luck!

Oh I forgot that certain medicines dramatically increase a dog's drinking and peeing. Nicki has an allergy medicine that makes her pee about fifteen times a day - we re-fill the water bowl several times a day too! Thank goodness she's only on it for the summer!

I'm glad to see that things were a little better yesterday. Hopefully things will be normal once she's completely over the cold!

Glad to hear things are getting better:)

Just don't forget all those praises when she goes potty, sounds silly...but they love it:D

Couple of articles from Denver Dumb Friends League that might be of help:

Article on rehouse training a shelter dog

and

Proper cleaning of accidents

and

Article on excitement peeing

And I would continue the leashing of her to you while you are housebreaking her. Remember - you are pack leader and she needs to do what you want. :) Good Luck

Well another week has passed and things are getting better. Only one accident in the past 2 days. Sure thats not very long, but it's a start. Yesterday she did have an accident but it was just as i got home and put a leash on her. She just gets so excited when i get home that she relieves herself. I tried ignoring her and waiting for her to calm down, but as soon as i let her out of the kitchen to put her leash on and got outside she goes bonkers and just can't hold it.