Maltese puppy help!

[La Luna]

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I have a five month old Maltese Pup. She is clever and quick to learn. I am having some trouble house training her. Most of the time she is fine but just when you think you can trust her, she will have a 'naughty' day and pee and poop in the house. Some have said that it is because she has access to the outside all of the time (we live in a hot climate and doors are rarely shut) but she sleeps in our bedroom at night, let's herself out if she needs to and then comes in and gets back in her bed. She has never once done anything indoors at night. Any advice?

 

[gypsysmum2]

I think they may be right about the doors being open all the time. Dogs cannot always tell the difference between inside and outside when doors are always open. It is just one large toilet area. Not sure why she would take herself out at night but it could be that the natural instinct not to soil the "nest" kicks in at night. Dogs in the wild would leave the nest at dawn and toilet away from it.

You will probably have to go right back to basics with her and train her to toilet in the garden by rewarding her when she goes there. For this you will need to be present and to give her lots of praise and a high value reward immediately she toilets. Do not wait for her to come towards you as he may think that she is being rewarded for that. Keep her confined in some way so that she cannot toilet indoors. Some people use puppy dens (crates) or a small play pen. Take her out frequently and only let her have free run of the house when you know she is empty.

Once she "gets" the idea that a reward is on offer for outside toilets she will start to look for you when she needs the toilet so that you can go and give her the treat. Keep it up for a short while and then you can gradually fade out the treats as she becomes reliable.

I am sure you don't, but it is counter productive to chastise toileting mistakes. It makes the dog go off and toilet away from humans to avoid their displeasure. This can have very difficult consequences in the toilet training department.

While you are doing all this, keep an eye on what happens in the household on a "naughty" day. It may something else is bothering her on those days.