Omg help? Toilet training

[BeakOut]

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I am hoping it's not too late dog is a year old. My family and I are at our wits
end. We have had to replace every carpet in our house numerous times now,

it would be really useful to toilet train her because we are
all sick of her using the family home as a massive toilet.

We have another dog that had the same behaviour, but grew out of it
at a much younger age

The problems we are facing, is that she wakes in the early hours of the
morning. Once I'm out of bed and have moved around I can't go back to
sleep. So For practical reasons I can't take her out for the toilet and she
does it on the floor, NEXT to her litter tray. I have tried putting her in the
litter tray and waiting there but she jumps out, or she just stands there
after a while of doing that on repeat. She seems to be holding it in, just
to do it on the carpet.

If I take her outside during the day, it doesnt matter how many hours
we're out for, she will hold it in until she is indoors. She is a small breed
so admittedly not on the floor for the majority of the time but I push
her around in a stroller with a litter tray at one end lined with premium
pads. It was even suggested to me that I try putting her excrements inside
the litter tray to encourage her - to no avail!

Not to mention the fact that regardless of being literally attatched to the
pram she will try really hard to escape. But for practical reasons, she really
cannot walk around much as this would cause her bodily harm.

It was suggested to me to keep her in a crate at first. But she whined all
night and I got no rest. Neither did I or anyone else as we could all hear her.
I let her sleep on my bed, sometimes she sleeps in her own but either way
she will toilet there too.

The second suggestion was to use cat litter. Not sure how this would help,
does anyone know, or have any suggestions? thanks

 

[JudyN]

If she's one year old, why are you using a stroller? Small dogs can still walk several miles a day with no problem at all. Unless she has a specific physical condition I'd ditch the stroller.

This might not impact the housetraining much, but it would be good to understand her physical limitations first.

 

[JoanneF]

At a year old, she really should physically be capable of holding all night (assuming there is no medical problem, I take it that has been ruled out). But it sounds like by using litter trays and so on, you have accidentally taught her that indoors is where she should toilet, and she may not have learned the muscle control to hold. Also, some dogs feel safer indoors. So, I won't lie, it will be harder than training a puppy because you have to both untrain the indoor toileting as well as train the outdoors.

But I'd suggest you get a good routine of regularly taking her out, say every hour.

When she toilets outdoors make a huge fuss (never mind the neighbours, act like outdoor toileting is the best thing you have ever seen) and reward her with a high value treat. Maybe get something she hasn't had before, like roast chicken or frankfurter sausage, and use it only for outside toilets. Reward her immediately, don't make her come to you for the treat so she is clear that it's for toileting and not for coming to you. The idea is that she wants to earn the treat enough to hold the toilet until she is outside - provided she is physically able to control her toileting obviously. As she is actually performing the toilet you can introduce words she can associate with it (like 'do weewee' and 'busy busy') that later when she is reliably trained you can use these to tell her when you want her to toilet.

If you take her out and she doesn't toilet after five minutes, bring her in but don't take your eyes off her. Any hint of a toilet inside, scoop her up and get her out fast. If she doesn't try to toilet indoors (great!) take her out a second time and repeat until you do get outside toilets. You need the outside toilet to happen SO that you can reward SO that she learns.

For the next few weeks, until her muscle control is more developed, I strongly recommend taking her out overnight. The more successful toilets outside, the faster she will learn. You said ”we” in your post, maybe the household members could work a rota.

If she has an accident inside don't react at all. If you get annoyed she may learn to fear your reaction and avoid you if she needs to toilet (by going off and toileting out of sight) - the opposite of what you want. Dogs cant make the distinction between you being annoyed at them TOILETING, as opposed to toileting INDOORS. Take a rolled up newspaper and hit yourself over the head for not having taken her outside in time. Not when she is there though in case you scare her. Then clean the area with an enzymatic cleaner to remove any trace of smell that might attract her back to the spot. Leave the cleaner down for ten minutes to work properly.

And I'd get rid of the litter trays and pads and so on - they just give mixed messages about whether indoor toileting is allowed or not.

 

[lurcherman]

Omg I better keep my mouth shut,

 

[excuseme]

@lurcherman Why ?

 

[excuseme]

@BeakOut
Do you have access to your own garden or easy access to outside areas, or do you live in a high rise flat?

 

[Rinkydinkydo]

Omg I better keep my mouth shut,

Same here.

 

[Flobo]

regardless of being literally attatched to the
pram she will try really hard to escape. But for practical reasons, she really
cannot walk around much as this would cause her bodily harm.

Just wondering what the practical reasons are for not letting her walk and how it would cause her bodily harm?
Also maybe she is wanting to get out of the stroller to get on the ground to do her business? Could you not let her down in a safe place to see?