The untrainable house-dog!

wasted_winter

Hi All,

I thought I'd throw this one out to see what people think.
I have a neutered pom/dash who is now pushing 6. I got her when she was a year old - it was more or less a rescue case where she was living outdoors, with four other dogs in pretty bad conditions.

Anyway, I took her on as I was looking for a dog since my pom had died nearly a year earlier. She's fantastic - spoilt rotten, fun & loving... but we have one problem - house-training.

My mother blames the fact that she is a bitch - our previous dog was male & we never had any problems - ditto my sisters dog.

Like I said, she's neutered - and the problem has got slightly better since her op... but it's still a problem. I do have to admit she is getting a hell of a lot better - there was a time when she go when ever and where ever she wanted to.

She was even put on a course of doggy prozac for her anxiety - which just made her fat and dozy... she just lay about the house without moving for hours.

Anyway, at the moment our main problem is night-time. She can be left at home for hours at a time without any accidents - and when I return home she'll give her usual greeting before running outside and have a pee.

I just can't crack this night-time business. What is really annoying is the fact that I'm a complete and utter insomniac... so with the exception of a couple of hours left up to her own devices she really doesn't have any excuse for going during the night. It's mainly pee but sometimes she can leave a nice parcel as an added bonus.

On one hand I'm proud of her (and me for that matter!) for getting a really bad problem down to a minor incident every couple of nights... but at the same time I am completely stumped as to how to finally solve the problem. My cousin, who is a vet, says persistence is the key.... which it is... but... aaaghhh!!!

I accept that since I got her past her 'puppy' stage training was going to be a bit harder... but 5 years down the line?!?!?! Anyway - I'm hoping for any suggestions that you guys can offer, before you reply I'll fill you in with this:

It's only at nightime, she uses the exact same area on a tiled floor (she's just broken away from peeing right beside her feeding bowl/water bowl) - on my vets recommendation I don't let her see me clean up the mess, the area is washed down completely avoiding ammonia based cleaning products. When she does pee outside she's rewarded with food and attention.
I have literally cycled though all the different theories/practices over the past five years (giving each of them a fair try with enough time for her to understand what is happening). I've ignored it. I've given out to her. I've waved a rolled up paper at her. She's even had her nose rubbed in it. She's been brought over to the offending puddle and been given out to (I don't even know if this is effective... since the puddle was sitting there for a while before it was addressed... eh... that came out wrong! I mean to say I was in bed, so I didn't see her go to the toilet and the mess could have happened at any stage so she may not realise why she's getting in trouble!) and at the same time she is rewarded really well for her good behaviour... even on nights when she doesn't pee.

I'm starting to give up. I'm a bit worried as when our last dog got old he became a little incontient... I really don't want to have this dog go backwards after we've finally made some progress!

HELP!

Sigma Force

She sounds like a bit of a nervous dog which could be the reason she does it in the house.
Although it sounds like there could be a few reasons.
She may not be able to help it either, like ourselves sometimes there is only so long that a little dog can hold onto their wee before they need to go.
Has the vet checked her out thouroughly to rule out any health problems?
She's only a pooch and can't help what she is doing, the old trick of rubbing their nose in it is pretty pointless and not fair on the animal.

Here's a link to some dog trainers, from the sounds of it you would only need one visit from a trainer to give you some tips and hints on how to help your dog. It will probably save you money in the long run with all those cleaners.
I find a good ould fashoined stringy mop and galvanised bucket cleanes up a puddle of wee very quickly, although not so pleasant if you have to face stinky no2s in the middle of the night.
Here's the link
http://www.irishanimals.ie/care/behaviour.html

I would highly recommend Maureen, I've heard some great things about her and her tips are easy and seem to work fairly quick.

Maureen Byrne
Advise on all aspects of "Dogs Behaving Badly" on a one-to-one basis in the home. Based in Termonfeckin, and cover the Louth, Meath, north Dublin and Monaghan areas.
Phone: 086 8200010

My own little dog still leaves the odd present around, I don't mind it too much I do find if she is in a strict routine she does it much less.

Hope this helps, sounds like a really cute dog pom/dash cross

wasted_winter

Yeah... she's cute in more than one way!

I agree with you on the whole 'nose in the mess' theory - I find it hard to give out to her when she's had the accident some hours ago - it's a bit like kids, if you need to discipline them then do something at the time of the incident, leaving it for a couple of hours is just confusing and upsetting.

Plus, she isn't stupid. When I walk downstairs in the morning, and if she's done an accident, she'll actually hang back at the top of the stairs! When you look back up at her, without saying a word, she has her head down giving you her best, 'I'm sorry' look. I don't think the problem is discipline - she knows she was bad, you don't even have to tell her.... I think the problem is more in the whole training/routine area... it's just that at this stage I'm running out of ideas!

I think when she went though a stage (it hasn't happened in a long time, fingers crossed) of weeing BESIDE her food and water bowl I was really, I don't know, disheartened. Years ago we fed our animals outside and our old dog would eat what he liked and then wee on the food to stop the cats eating it - now we don't have any other animals, there is nothing odd or smelly about her food.

Anyway, thanks for the advice & contact numbers. She's due a check-up at the vet soon for her annual vac's and I'm going to ask him about therapy - hell, she's already done doggy prozac so it's just the next step!