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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.
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.
