Pooing In The House

[teacher]

I have a 5mth old male maltese puppy.

I am hoping for some advice or correction if we are doing something wrong.

This is our first dog and are trying our best!

At night he sleeps in a pen in the internal garage. He has a bed in there and newspaper and toys

Every night for months now he has been holding on at night and goes wee and poo after his breakfast.

As I work part time he goes outside onto our deck where he has a kennel and a grassy area around the house.

I come home at 1pm and usually take him for a walk or play with him for a little while.

When the kids come home from school he goes for a walk (if I didn't take him) and they play with him.

He has his dinner after us at about 6.30-7pm and into the garage for bed around 8pm.

When he was little we would take him outside onto the grass every couple of hours to get him to poo and pee, then bring him back inside the house where he tended to sleep in his little inside bed. Now because he is outside alot of the time, he poos and wees when he wants and he comes inside for short periods of time.

The problem is this- nearly every time he comes inside he does a poo somewhere in the house (not the same place each time). Occassionally he will wee. Usually we tell the kids they need to have him on their laps and keep their eyes on him. But there is always a poo becasue he is not watched 100% of the time.

The idea is he would be an inside dog. I thought he would be able to just wander in and out of the house like other doggy's I've seen. I thought he was "house trained" because he does his business outside. If we take him out and say "do wee's" he will do wee or poo (usually wee).

So - why is he so sneaky with pooing inside?

When I read anything about this they say don't make a fuss, but then others say "be stern and shout NO if you catch him"

I don't know what to do!

I'd love anyone's advise on this, our doggy is turning into an OUTSIDE doggy and that wasn't the plan

[MalteseLuna]

I have a 5mth old male maltese puppy.

I am hoping for some advice or correction if we are doing something wrong.

This is our first dog and are trying our best!

At night he sleeps in a pen in the internal garage. He has a bed in there and newspaper and toys

Every night for months now he has been holding on at night and goes wee and poo after his breakfast.

As I work part time he goes outside onto our deck where he has a kennel and a grassy area around the house.

I come home at 1pm and usually take him for a walk or play with him for a little while.

When the kids come home from school he goes for a walk (if I didn't take him) and they play with him.

He has his dinner after us at about 6.30-7pm and into the garage for bed around 8pm.

When he was little we would take him outside onto the grass every couple of hours to get him to poo and pee, then bring him back inside the house where he tended to sleep in his little inside bed. Now because he is outside alot of the time, he poos and wees when he wants and he comes inside for short periods of time.

The problem is this- nearly every time he comes inside he does a poo somewhere in the house (not the same place each time). Occassionally he will wee. Usually we tell the kids they need to have him on their laps and keep their eyes on him. But there is always a poo becasue he is not watched 100% of the time.

The idea is he would be an inside dog. I thought he would be able to just wander in and out of the house like other doggy's I've seen. I thought he was "house trained" because he does his business outside. If we take him out and say "do wee's" he will do wee or poo (usually wee).

So - why is he so sneaky with pooing inside?

When I read anything about this they say don't make a fuss, but then others say "be stern and shout NO if you catch him"

I don't know what to do!

I'd love anyone's advise on this, our doggy is turning into an OUTSIDE doggy and that wasn't the plan

He isn't house trained if he is making messes in the house - I would say that you need to go back to square one with potty training. He needs to be CONSTANTLY supervised whilst inside and taken outside for potty breaks - just because he was outside for the morning doesn't mean he won't need to go potty later in the day. At 5 months old he is still a puppy - and still needs to be supervised (alot of dogs aren't fully trained at this age so don't worry).

The important thing is consistency - it sounds to me like he has gotten confused because he doesn't spend alot of time indoors. It's not his fault that he has accidents - its your fault for not making sure he is 'empty' Whilst he is indoors he shouldn't be allowed to wonder around un-watched and if he looks like he might have to go to the bathroom then outside - Make sure to Praise him ALOT when he goes in the right place - and even give him a treat. If he makes an accident don't punish him - if you don't catch him in the act - if you catch him in the act you can make a stern "NO" and take him straight outside BUT don't smack him or make him too scared or he will merely become more sneaky. Make sure that any accidents are cleaned up effectively with a pet stain cleaner (no ammonia) - this will make it easier. I would even confine him in a smaller area of the house - don't give him free run of the entire house - until he is fully house trained.

Does he have access to the outside whilst he is inside - i.e. does he have a doggy door? If not that might be the reason he is having accidents.

Don't confine him outside just because he has accidents - instead put in the effort to train him and you will be rewarded 20-fold with a gorgeous cuddly house trained Maltese They 'can' be notoriously hard to housetrain - but not in my experience - they are VERY smart and if you are consistent he should get the 'idea' quickly.

Another question - is he de-sexed? If not I would suggest getting him done soon so that he doesn't start 'marking'

[GotAnyBlacker]

Also try feeding him dinner a little earlier as it doesnt sound to me like you are leaving enough of a break in between his dinner and his bed time for him to do his toileting.

I feed mine around 5.30-6 and then leave the back door open for them to go outside until we go to bed around 10.30. I try to make sure they don't eat anything after around 8 as otherwise they are nagging me to take them to the toilet in the middle of the night!

[toofarnorth]

I was also going to suggest feeding him earlier...i feed my dogs at 5pm, and their last toilet run is at 9pm. Between dinner and bed, they are put outside at least twice....just in case they 'forget' to go the first time.