combatmedicjen

My husband bought our long-haired miniature dachshund a few months ago when I was still in training. He got her as a puppy, but worked too much to be able to train her to go potty outside. Instead, he bought her puppy wee-wee pads, which she used pretty well.

We recently moved into our house, which has a large backyard for her to poop and pee in, but now she goes wherever the hell she wants to inside the house.

I don't know what to do!! She is otherwise a wonderful dog who rarely chews things and loves to cuddle. We've disciplined her every time she does it, but she's not getting any better. We let her out ALL the time, and she does "do her business" out there as well, but she still shits and pisses inside the house, too.

And the best part is she KNOWS it's wrong!! And she still does it!!! As soon as you find a little turd or puddle and yell out her name, she bolts the other way and hides.

Someone please help me!! What can I do to train my wretched incontinent dog to do her business OUTSIDE??

lurkette

First, please don't blame the dog. If you don't have time to train her properly, please give her to someone who does, or adjust to the behavior you're going to get from the dog.

She doesn't know going inside the house is wrong. She knows that she USED to be able to go inside the house, and now when she does it you yell. She's not running because you found the turd, she's running because you're yelling. You've switched the rules on the poor thing, and she's confused. You're going to have to start being very consistent if you want her to learn to go outside.

1. Don't yell unless you catch her in the act. In that case, a loud and firm "NO" will do, along with taking her immediately outside.

2. Clean up any areas indoors where she's gone with a good enzymatic cleaner like "Nature's Miracle." Once they've marked their area, they're likely to return there to pee/poop if they can smell it. Get rid of all the stain and smell. You can get a black light to see if there are any traces left.

3. Start crate training now.
http://www.about-dogs.com/puppy_hous...k_training.htm

Get a crate that's big enough for her to turn around in but not so big she can crap in one part and just go lay in another corner away from her mess. She stays in the crate any time she's unsupervised - that means any time she's not immediately in your eyesight (so you can catch her in the act if she goes). When you take her out of the crate she goes immediately outside. Give her rewards for doing her business outside.

You might want to check out a book called "The Culture Clash" by Jean Donaldson, or any books by Patricia McConnell. They're both sound, behavioral research-based training experts.

Remember, the behavior you're going to get depends on the training you give the dog.

__________________
"If ten million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."

- Anatole France

StormBerlin

Hehe, thats a Dachshund for you Ours takes a shit in the middle of the living room every time we go out of town for longer than one night. It's so bizarre. Like lurkette said, you'll need to be very consistent if you want to change that behavior. Cute doggy you should attach a pic.

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"if anal sex could get a girl pregnant i'd be tits deep in child support" Arcane

combatmedicjen

True, we didn't have time to train her properly when we got her because I was thousands of miles away and hubby had to work 8-6 every day. We should have waited to get her until I was home to train her when she was still a puppy. But what's done is done, and there's no way I'd ever give this dog up. She's the greatest little dog in the universe and we love her to death! She just likes to shit all over the house, that's all.

Maybe it's the stress of being in a new environment, but her incontinence has gotten worse and worse. I blame my husband for her lack of potty-training when she was still a puppy, and I blame myself now for not being able to break her since I've been home. But, on the flip side, she knows that going on the floor is bad. She's NEVER been allowed to go on the floor before. She knows that she's only allowed to go on a wee-wee pad when she's inside, but she's been ignoring it lately and going wherever she pleases. I know she knows it's bad, but I haven't been able to make her stop.

I will try the crate method, it does seem to be the way to go. I hope it works because I absolutely hate being mad at Cocoa. She is the most loving, loyal dog I've ever seen and it breaks my heart to be angry with her. I hope it works.

Thanks for the advice!

combatmedicjen

Here's a pic of Coconut

lurkette

Awwww....cutie!

Don't lose heart - a new environment can throw off even a solidly-trained dog. Dogs sometimes have problems generalizing rules to new situations, so in her little dog head what went in the old place (poop on the papers) may not apply yet to the new place. ("Oh, I thought you just meant not to poop on the carpet in the OLD place. You mean it HERE, too? Oooooooh, I get it now!")

Actually, the change of scenery might be a really good opportunity to interrupt the habits she formed at the old place when you were both working. Just be as consistent as you can, and be patient. And reward her like CRAZY for peeing/pooping outside.

__________________
"If ten million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."

- Anatole France

xepherys

Lurkette-

Thanks for the advice. We do have time to train her, and want to do whatever we can to help her adjust. Hopefully the crate method will help some. )

shakran

No, she doesn't. All she knows is that you yell alot, and that she doesn't like the yelling. Let me explain.

Dog craps on the floor.

You find the crap 10 minutes later.

Dog has totally forgotten about crapping on the floor. If she found the crap now, she'd probably wonder where the dog that left it is.

You start yelling.

Dog now knows that you're yelling about something. Of course she runs and hides when you start yelling. If something that was 20 times as big as you are started bellowing at you, you'd run and hide too - doesn't mean you'd know what the hell the yelling was all about though.

You say you yell at her when she craps in the house. You didn't say you reward her when she craps in the yard. So not only are you failing to associate house-crapping with negative reactions, but you are also failing to associate yard-crapping with positive reactions.

If you're gonna own a dog, you need to understand life from the dog's point of view. Too many people get a dog and then get upset when the dog does not react the way a kid would.

If you yelled at a kid for crapping on the floor then, assuming he wasn't a juvenile delinquent, he would stop crapping on the floor because he understands english and knows what "don't crap on the goddamn floor" means. Your dog doesn't understand one word of what you're saying, and doesnt' know the crap is hers, so how can you expect her to correct her behavior?

The crate method doesn't work if you just stick the dog in the crate. Sure she probably won't crap in her bed, but if you don't then get out there with her in the yard and praise her heavilly for going in the yard, and THEN follow up by watching her constantly and catching her IN THE ACT of crapping in the house, correct the behavior, get her outside, and then praise her when she finishes crapping in the yard, then all she'll learn is "don't crap in my crate," which she already knows.

combatmedicjen

Dogs are much smarter than you give them credit for. If dogs remember people and places and smells, they can surely remember that they just crapped on the floor. And they can surely understand that it's bad.

For instance, Coconut just took a crap on the floor. I picked her up, took her to it, and set her down right next to it without saying a single word. She tried to bolt.

She knows it's bad and we don't like it, but she's so set in her ways now that her icky habit is very hard to break. We're trying, though. It doesn't help that her crate broke...

Ugh.

xepherys

And frankly it's more than that. Often I can walk into the room she's in and know that she did something she knew was wrong by her body language, even if she did it in another room... i.e.-

I come home from school. I open the kitchen door and walk in the house. I walk into the dining room. Cocoa is sitting there and when I look at her she puts her head down and looks away (guilty look). I walk into the living room and sure enough she pissed on the floor.

Example of when she does NOT...

I come home from school. I walk in and into the dining room and she comes bounding at me panting and flapping her ears and jumping on me and licking me.

The first happens only when and always when she's done something wrong. The latter happens only when and always when she has not. This would lead me to believe that she does, indeed, know what she's doing.


Also, yes, we do give her positive reinforcement, both for going outside and for going on her puppy pads. She gets positive and negative reinforcements for most things she does. This has taught her not to chew on cords, shoes and books, but to chew on her toys that are given to her. And she now chews on nothing but what she knows to be sanctioned. She's a bright little puppy... she just has bad crap habits.

Hwed

Weener dogs are predisposed to have weak bladders. My sister had one that let out a little squirt every time you said its name. Wasn't much we could do about it, so we put it in the blender and made dog shakes. Ok, maybe not that last part, but the damn thing pissed everywhere until the day it died.