Having PTing issues

okiron

This boy doesn't seem to get it through his head that inside =/= bathroom. He will spend 5 hours outside and then come inside to pee. I purposely take him outside to pee every 3 hours or so plus after every meal or any time he comes out of the crate. He'll even pee outside and then come back inside to pee some more. We clean every pee spot with Nature's Miracle and even steam cleaned the carpet. I was thinking an UTI but it's almost always the same spot. We usually leave the patio door open so he has access to outside anytime he wants. What am I doing wrong?

TheWalrus

Sounds like Baron as a pup. He was an absolute fire truck. Indoors/outdoors, didn't matter where. He'd do the exact things you mentioned about Mihku. The one thing that worked was that Baron didn't like sitting in pee in his crate. So, I just had to keep him crated around 90% of the time indoors for a week or so. The couple times he peed in his crate, I left him in there for a few minutes till he was really unhappy about it.

Getting him PT'ed took a lot of effort as I'd take him outside every 30 mins or so for the first few days. Even after he was pretty solidly trained he'd still have an accident now and again for the first few months.

okiron

"The one thing that worked was that Baron didn't like sitting in pee in his crate. So, I just had to keep him crated around 90% of the time indoors for a week or so."

That's exactly what we started doing for the past few days. Glad to hear he's not alone. I guess we'll just have to keep up with it till he gets it. I keep telling him, "you're an ACD you're supposed to be smarter than this!"

Kajino P

Junya, our 16 week old Akita Inu, kind of had the same problem, but that's now as good as fully solved (only some small accidents once in a while).

The way we did it was (and you probably already read about solving it this way somewhere else) is taking him out of the house to pee as many times as possible. After play, after sleep, after eating, when he'd walk to the door, anything, maybe even every half hour when we started. Anyway, often! We'd take him outside in the garden for starters (as that wouldn't be such a big walk so that he could still make it outside without failing) and say "Junya, plassie doen!" (which is Dutch for "Junya, take a pee!"). When he'd do well we would very outbundishly praise him and give him treats. Just anything to let him know he did very well and really give him the feeling that he's the BEST DOG IN THE WORLD!

And when he'd pee INside the house we'd ingore him and do as if nothing happened and clean up when he wouldn't see it (one of us would take him to the other side of the living room or outside in the garden, at least somewhere where he wouldn't see we'd clean it up). If he just started peeing inside AND we were quick enough to notice it, then we'd pick him up and place him in the garden. If he there finished his pee, then we'd again praise him and give him a treat. Of course Junya made a mistake by starting to pee inside, but finishing it outside still deserves to be praised.

By the way, when we started this method we even used extra delicous treats for peeing outside (and only for that, he didn't get these for anything else to make them extra special). Of course, when Junya began doing things better, we also began to reduce giving him treats and mixing it with times when we'd only praise with a "Goed zo, Junya!" (Good Junya). Anyway, the point is that we'd make him very clear to him that peeing outside is GOOD and inside is... well... nothing, but at least it's not good. Also, punishing him with a "No, Junya!" for peeing inside doesn't work, as he'd relate that "No, Junya!" to peeing and not the place where he'd be peeing.

Now, perhaps you already tried this method... Also, I don't know if you ignore him when he pees inside. Or if you make sure he doesn't see you cleaning up after him. Maybe you've unawarely learned to pee him on that specific spot inside you mention? Not saying you've done any of these things, just trying to help you find the reason of why he might be doing this (to help you solve it of course). It's hard for me to judge... I don't know your and your dog's exact situation and I'm far from an expert. Maybe the cause lays somewhere else. Also, note that some pups just need more time to get PT'ed. Maybe you're already doing things perfectly fine and your dog just needs more time...

Not sure if this is of any help, but at least you know you're not alone in this (which doesn't help a thing, but still...).

shibamistress

I'm pretty much using the method listed above, and it's....kind of working. (I do think it's important to monitor the pottying and praise it when it is in the right place!) I think my little American Akita is just too small to be reliable yet (he's going to be 10 weeks tomorrow), and he tries, but he does pee in the house occasionally (and in my case, its always been my fault....I let it go too long between taking him out--we're up to going out every two hours now, but he can't go much longer than that). Oh, and I love the idea of special "potty" treats!

One thing I noticed, and I don't know that there is anything to do about this, is that my boy doesn't seem to know to actually empty his bladder, you know what I mean? I mean he pees, then plays for two minutes, and pees some more, etc. I've learned I have to let him pee at least twice if I don't want him to come back in and pee again. My male Shiba wasn't like this: he'd pee til his bladder was empty then go and play....

also, my boy WILL pee in his crate, so I have to be super vigilant....putting him in his crate doesn't seem to help. But I knew he was going to be a little pisspot the first day I got him, when I put him on my lap in the car and peed on me right away!

So no suggestions from me, but some sympathy and support....I know how it is!

okiron

@Peter - When he pees inside the first thing I do is take him outside, even mid-pee.. It's usually just me (my husband works nights so he's asleep during the day) so after I take him outside, I close the door, leaving him outside while I clean up the mess. I do ignore him, no scolding. I do praise him when he pees outside. I didn't even think of saying a command to tell him it's pee time though. I might try that. This is my first inside dog so who knows, I could've been unintentionally training him to pee inside. I honestly couldn't tell you though I think I've been doing everything right. The treats thing might not work, he's not very food motivated. That or I haven't found the right food yet.

@Lisa - I totally know what you mean about not emptying his bladder. I always try to wait till I see the second pee before bringing him inside..just to find out he had his 3rd and 4th pee still haha. He has been absolutely perfect when it comes to crate training though. I didn't really have to deal with all the yelping and barking that everyone else has mentioned. He only makes noise when he has to go potty.

Sangmort

We did the say, "Go Potty!" thing to get Wraith to go outside, & I have to admit it worked. 90% of the time now, when I say "Go Potty!" he'll empty whatever is in his bladder even if it's only a few drops lol We also gave him treats when / while he was going outside to reinforce peeing outside = good things!

I tried tethering him to me the first week we had him since he screamed so much in his crate, but if I looked away for just a second he'd make it an opportunity to go We didn't have success til we started crating him like Shigeru did.

Good luck! Our guy still has accidents every now & then and he's 13 weeks old. Can't wait for this part of "training" to be done! LOL ~

jm1613

I'm not sure if you said that he pees in the same spot. My psychology teacher had told me that dogs usually pee in their special spot that they choose. If it happens to be inside or in a spot you don't want to be pee'd on then you could do two things:
(Of course, these are her suggestions that I have never tried.)

Option 1.) You can always have a pee pad in that spot.

Option 2.) Keep putting the pee pads on that spot and leave them there for about a week so that the pups special spot now becomes the actual pad. Then you can start inching or gradually moving the pee pad closer outside or to a more desirable spot. I'm sure that this requires patience and commitment.

okiron

Well after a week of the crate/outside routine I've been letting him have some inside the house but outside the crate time. So far he's been really good about not peeing inside *knock on wood* but it's only been yesterday and today. Saying "potty" has helped a lot too, now it seems he knows what I want him to do.

Now anyone want to help me train Micah not to feed Mihku? Haha. Everytime I look the other way Micah and Mihku are sharing whatever Micah is eating at the moment.