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Polishing off potty training

Shalista

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So this is going to be a long thread with a lot of backstory for a very simple question.

When I first got Bax at 8 months he'd never set foot inside. All he knew was pottying wherever he pleased outside.

I brought him home and immediately brought him into an environment that was full of carpets soaked in the urine and feces of previous dogs. He eventually learned to not potty in my ROOM while I lived there (the first thing I did when I moved in was rip out the carpet) but never mastered not pottying in the house even AFTER we tore that carpet out.

A few years later I moved out and got an apartment and like a light switch was flicked. he was perfectly potty trained. Everything was roses and snuggles without an accident to be seen.

And then I took him back to visit my rents. he continued in his old ways of pottying in there house.

When I took him BACK to my apartment he started peeing and pooping in my apartment. I was horrified.

I started laying down puppy pads in the spots he was most likely to pee and poop on and for a while, it looked like I carpeted my bedroom.

But days passed, the puppy pads slowly got whittled to five along one wall. winter came and Bax didn't WANT to go on walks and when it gets to -10F with a windchill frankly I didn't want to take him either. (frostbite on those poor naked paws is a real issue) so bax became purely a puppy pad user and I never had an accident off those five puppy pads. (an important note at this point is that I never trained bax for those locations to pee, he trained ME. the only reason he was going on puppy pads there is because the puppy pads happened to be on his favorite places to wee. this is important later)

After months of Bax's usage of puppy pads, I got a notice pinned to my door from my landlord. "People aren't picking up after their dogs on walks." (Haha, doesn't apply to me.) and NO puppy pads. (Oh, that does....) but its early spring, no more super cold weather, so I take bax on his usual half mile walk in the morning and half mile walk in the evening. instantaneously the puppy pad usage stopped completely. I still have them out as a safety net but he never uses them. (of COURSE, I just bought a big box of 200 to you know how that goes.)

My problem is this... I don't really.... trust.... him.

Unlike before when I come home from work sometimes he's already peed. he could hold it before but he doesn't now? I understand its a long time for a little guy to hold it and I'm grateful he has the pads if he needs them but it just makes me doubt that he could hold it if he was going into a store...

Which leads me to my next point. Bax has occasionally pottied (1# and #2) in stores and at the vets. In both situations I let him stop and sniff before we went in and he peed but it takes Bax a full half mile to fully empty his bladder. and he DOES mark so places, where other dogs have peed in the past, are like green lights for him to go pee there. does this mean that I need to take him on a half mile walk every time before I take him out in public?

Conversely, it has been YEARS since he pottied in either my apartments main living area (outside of the bedroom) or in my bedroom at my parent's house no matter how long I ask him to hold it. so in certain situations, he CAN hold it, he's just choosing not to.

So what are your thoughts on polishing up Bax's potty training so he's more presentable in public and so i can hopefully remove the puppy pads completely someday?

For right now my battle plan is to simply make sure he gets that half mile walk in before I take him out in public, and I'm intending to keep the puppy pads out as long as he needs them however rarely that may be.
 
I'm not sure, at his age, that he would ever be 100% reliable. Once a behaviour's been repeated enough times it can be pretty much fixed in the brain and can resurface... just when you don't want it to. Do you absolutely need to take him in stores with you on occasion, or other places he might toilet when you really don't want him to? (I wouldn't worry about the vet!)

I'm wondering, as an emergency solution, whether either a dog nappy you could pop on him or a dog carrier you could pop him in when going indoors might be worth considering. But not sure how happy he'd be with either of these...
 
ive yet to find a dog nappy that doesnt fall off and that covers his "ehem" parts. as to the carrier thats a no go for the same reason he's never been crated.

the reason this is really concerning for me is because he and i love going to the nursing home and the last time we went he pooed in the hall. the residents keep begging me to bring him back and im like "ehhhhhh"
 
Im sorry i drafted a reply yesterday and for some reason I failed to post it.

If I am reading this correctly, the only issues were in the store and in the vet, and the nursing home? Could the weeing be scent marking do you think? Could the pooing (and maybe the weeing too) be stress related - elimination as part of the fight or flight response?
 
What are the nursing home staff's thoughts? Are they willing to risk the odd accident as a trade-off for the pleasure he brings the residents? But even if they are, it's hardly ideal - at the least you'd have to keep cleaning-up equipment close at hand the whole time.

It's a tricky one :(
 
Im sorry i drafted a reply yesterday and for some reason I failed to post it.

If I am reading this correctly, the only issues were in the store and in the vet, and the nursing home? Could the weeing be scent marking do you think? Could the pooing (and maybe the weeing too) be stress related - elimination as part of the fight or flight response?

not sure. its worth a thought. i mean, he LOVES the nursing home but he's definitely amped up to 11. i think the one time at the nursing home was because i didn't give him a LONG walk to empty his bowels and he just really had to go and had no reason not to. that maybe COMBINED with stress and he just went? like i said in previouse posts hes always had a very low tolerence for how long he'll wait and in what circumstances he'll wait till he goes.
 
What are the nursing home staff's thoughts? Are they willing to risk the odd accident as a trade-off for the pleasure he brings the residents? But even if they are, it's hardly ideal - at the least you'd have to keep cleaning-up equipment close at hand the whole time.

It's a tricky one :(
i work in the walmart of nursing homes. its a 300+ bed facility. i cant ask the nursing staff =( i think i might do some more digging on nappies though. post on other forums for ideas.....
 
I wonder if you could find a nappy that sort of fits - say a bit big all over so it covers the important bit - and then adjust it by tightening elastic, stitching up holes that are too big to make them smaller, wrapping Vetwrap round some bits...
 
Worth a shot, any recommendations for a brand?
 
Sorry, not a clue. Anyone else?
 
talked to a work friend and she just bought adult pullups and taped it to fit her lab.... hmmmm
 
If you can take him for a long walk before going anywhere you know he’s likely to ‘go’ that might be best to try to break the cycle if you see what I mean. Don’t just think it’s because of the way he was before you had him though, we had Roxy from a pup and although she would immediately squat and wee if you said ‘go wee’s’ outside, she would still manage to squeeze a bit out if she felt like it, ie the vets, pets at home etc. I’m not much help am I, i think I’m trying to say I just had to accept she was like it and apologise everywhere we went. I could never trust her either lol.
 

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