Still Having Toilet Problems

[erin993]

Ok, so i posted a while ago. I have always owned JRT but up until now they have always been girls. They have always been easy to train and well behaved dogs. Toilet training over in a flash and couldn't be easier. We now have a male JRT who is STILL not toilet trained 3-4 months on since we got him. He is taken outside very often, and 9 times out of 10 will go either 1's or 2's or both. He is praised like there is no tomorrow and has really caught on that when we go outside and are not playing that it means toilet time. He still however goes inside - when we look around and notice he is missing we know he is either. 1. eating one of OH's socks (completely oh's fault for leaving the stinky things laying around) or 2. going to the toilet inside. We have tiles and floorboards so it hasn't been too much of an issue, we clean up the accidents, praise him when he does the right thing and just hope that one day there will be no more accidents. As a general rule he holds through the night (taken outside right before bed and first thing in the morning) no worries. He does however sleep in our bed with us...... Now - very recently we moved bedrooms while we painted a room and had our new bed delivered, when we moved back out of the spare room a week later puppy started to pee ON the spare bed... Quite surprising but simple - close the door. We have now been back in our normal room in the new bed about two weeks and a couple of days ago he peed on our new bed. He did get in trouble for this but it's not so bad - bed clothes are cleanable and we move on. Yesterday he actually took a crap on the bed. Again - we noticed he had snuck off somewhere and this is what he had done. He spent the night and most of today locked outside as naturally we were very upset. I really am at a loss. I am an experienced animal person and worked as a vet nurse. I'm no idiot and the dog is not locked inside for hours on end etc etc... We tried the crate/pen training but to no avail. He would only pee in there if he REALLY REALLY needed to - and it was hit and miss as to wether it was on paper/puppy pad or not.. Most of the time it would be the floor boards, his bed or blankets instead and it doesn't seem to matter which attractant sprays or drops we use.... He is ready to be desexed so plan on sending him off for that next week, but I am at a loss as to what to do.... He spends all day outside whilst we are at work, gets different interactive toys/treats each day and has his aussie dog play toy that he loves. As a pup, he lived in a 1 bedroom unit so always just went on the floor anywhere - so understandbly toilet training has been harder than usual but still?????? One of my friends, a dog trainer, explained that boys are slower than girls - but this is driving me crazy. I'm almost to my wits end and about to ban him from being an inside dog. I have also toyed with the idea of getting him a friend - OH doesn't want another - but don't even want to think about having to non-toilet trained dogs! ARGH!

ANYONE - what am i doing wrong?????????????????????????

Edited January 19, 2008 by erin993

[BrunoBella]

It sounds like you're doing the right thing Erin. There are a couple of things I can suggest that you may not have tried.

Don't let him out of your sight when he's inside. Maybe assign someone on puppy watching duty. If he has a couple of days of not toileting inside things should be a lot better. Another way to do this is to tie him to yourself with a lead so he can't sneak away.

Try a baby gate across your bedroom door - I have 5 of these and they are handy for keeping puppies out of rooms.

I'm not a big fan of dogs sleeping in people beds however house rules are your choice. I would suggest while he's still not toilet trained that you sleep him in a crate beside your bed rather than in your bed.

A very important thing is to not get stressed by all this. Keep the pup under your full control on a lead and/or in his crate and this should be fixed. Pups are not responsible for accidents but I know it can be very frustrating

Hope this helps

BP

Edited January 19, 2008 by BellasPerson

[BrunoBella]

I forgot to ask about what you've done with crate and pen training. Does he spend any time in the crate or are you using this as his toilet?

[erin993]

I forgot to ask about what you've done with crate and pen training. Does he spend any time in the crate or are you using this as his toilet?

he was penned with bed, food, water, toilet area - really just to contain him from the rest of the house. I think perhaps a baby gate across our gap between the lounge/kitchen and the rest of the house is in order (if he cant fit through) - restricting him from the bedrooms and hallway. I also think that a lot of the problem will be inconsistnecy, i am an animal person but OH is not - so has trouble understanding that you need to set rules and boundries and as much as he adores out little dog, little dog certianly walks all over him. I have told OH that we need to decide on a strict toilet training routine that we both agree to adhere to - and until we reach and make this agreement pups is spending time outside...

Sigh - this has never been an issue in the past but this pup is proving difficult...... ;)

So, what methods of doing this do people reccomend? He is home alone outside during the day and is normally inside with us at night. He is coming up 6 months and generally holds through the night. I would also really like to get him going in the same place outside too.

Thanks.

[BrunoBella]

I agree you need consistent rules. I am lucky cause I'm the only one I have to agree with - still forget the rules sometimes though

I started one room at a time and that seemed to work. Keep him in the kitchen and take him out regularly. I can tell mine need to go cause they start sniffing the floor.

I would take away his inside toilet as this will just confuse him.

With teaching him to toilet in one spot outside, I think you need to get him to go anywhere outside first .

I think a couple of days of constant watching should solve the problem . If you both take him outside every half hour for a number of days and not take your eyes off him it should work.

Good luck

BP