# A sudden shock as Mercutio squeezes one out in the house Hi, Does anyone have any theories as to why Mercutio came in from the yard and pooed on the living room floor? He also had a pee by the front door the other day. No warning or walking in circles. No whining. Just a sly pee and poo. Does this mean that he is not properly toilet trained? Is he u… ## Thread In Shiba Inu · started by impreza_sp · 16 replies - **Category:** [Shiba Inu](https://nihonken.org/community/c/shiba-inu) - **Forum:** [Nihon Ken Forum](https://nihonken.org/community/) ## impreza_sp · 2009-02-20T01:39:13.000Z Hi, Does anyone have any theories as to why Mercutio came in from the yard and pooed on the living room floor? He also had a pee by the front door the other day. No warning or walking in circles. No whining. Just a sly pee and poo. Does this mean that he is not properly toilet trained? Is he upset about somthing... I couldn't get angry at him for the pee cause I didn't see him do it. The poo he did right infront of me just at the moment I turned my back to go and do the washing up. So I didn't actually catch him in motion. But, he didn't seem to know he had done anything wrong... Any ideas? Cheers ## lingmorton · 2009-02-20T02:09:07.000Z im not eaxctly sure why, my yellow lab did that too actually. my shibas have never done anything like that. my lab went outside to potty, i saw him potty and when i let him back in, he walked over my feet and peed on my feet :/ he used to poo in his bed too, after poo-ing outside. dont know what caused the behavior, but it happened only for a couple of times and then he stopped. i assumed he did it out of spike cos we had punished him by keeping him confined in the crate earlier that day(he was in there for 20mins) for pottying all over the living room and carpet. ## impreza_sp · 2009-02-20T03:58:45.000Z OH my GOD! I put this occurance on Facebook and a friend of mine that lives in the same city as me said her Shiba did the same thing this morning too!!! Freaky! ## wliu003 · 2009-02-20T04:26:05.000Z wow, that is crazy. I haven't ran into this problem yet but would love to hear the opinion of everyone. ## brandon_w (admin) · 2009-02-20T10:01:18.000Z I'm not sure why he would do it, he is still very young correct? No need to get angry at him, anything outside of a "No" and directing him back outside would be unnecessary. Some people are still under the impression that you should rub a dogs nose in their mess, and that's not the right thing to do. I'm not trying to imply you are one of those people, just thought I would cover that ground. Possibly Mercutio would prefer going on a walk to do his business instead of just being sent into the yard. ## Calia · 2009-02-20T10:56:45.000Z Sometimes a dog would have too much fun outside, that they forget to go, and remember that they really needed to when they come inside. Others may consider the yard as a play area, and don't want to soil it. Just some ideas I heard when it came to housebreaking dogs. ## rockinhlabs · 2009-02-20T12:32:49.000Z When outside by Skippy is placed in a 4x6 kennel until he does his duty. Then he gets to come play inside. He's never even thought about doing anything inside because he's trained that when he goes outside, that's "duty" time. We make it a playful time when he comes back inside. I even have a fenced in yard but he doesn't pee/poo in that area, he waits until he goes inside the kennel area. ## rockinhlabs · 2009-02-20T12:34:11.000Z Maybe leaving him out longer until you know for sure that he's done his duty, then when he comes inside, make it fun time. If he looks like he's going to go poo then pick him up and get him outside quickly. Consistentcy will make him realize that going outside is poo time not play time. ## Honey's mom · 2009-02-20T15:26:32.000Z Well Honey has done this to me. But it wasnt right after she was let outside I dont think. She has peed on my feet before without warning. Without the normal walk to the door to alert me she had to go. I posted a thread about it and someone said it was just because she loved me! LOL Stinkin pup. :D ## lepercann · 2009-02-20T15:57:51.000Z OMG WHO IN GOD'S NAME WOULD RUB THEIR DOG'S NOSE IN IT??!!! Sick freaks. That is really awful and mean. Sadie occasionally will leave a small poop between the couch cushions when she comes to stay with us. It's kind of weird, she hides it and I will find it later, dried up. It's pretty gross, I think she just forgets to go when she's outside sometimes. Our yard is large and fenced and there are lots of smells. ## _dlroberts · 2009-02-20T16:29:54.000Z How old is Mercutio? He's still a puppy if I recall correctly. Puppies make mistakes. It happens, especially if they are excited or distracted. If it becomes a regular thing, then I might be concerned. But the isolated incident every once in a while is nothing to worry about. ## tsukitsune (moderator) · 2009-02-20T17:38:45.000Z my mom would 'show' her dog her mess and say that she was bad. Honey is now almost 14 and still is not house broken. I agree with Dave, growing pups make mistakes - Tsuki did - but they grow out of it. And they might as adults if they are ill or something. It happens. But be consistent, perhaps walking him instead of yard time will motivate him to have a 'movement' so he's empty by the time the walk is over? That works with our dogs. ## KFontaine04 · 2009-02-20T17:40:42.000Z Miso refuses to poop in our yard unless he absolutely HAS to go at that exact second (he will pee though). He will only poop on walks. I think it's part of the Shiba 'Tude and not wanting to get "their" space dirty. Maybe Mercutio needs a potty place other than his yard? ## wliu003 · 2009-02-20T18:31:51.000Z I used to take kelly out at certain times of the day and she would go. but after a while that failed. I do notice that when I walk her she always poops. Maybe you can give a command when you know he is about to go, I am in the process of doing that with my shiba. ## Darwin67 · 2009-02-20T21:53:56.000Z The potty command is great and really is a benefit for the owner. Anytime I told cody "potty" he'd go (darn that pavlov thing)...although it got a bit tricky when I had my first baby and started saying things like, "Ohh...did Katie do a potty??"!!! poor cody, talk about mixed signals! ## impreza_sp · 2009-02-22T21:00:59.000Z Thanks for all the comments. Yes, Mercutio is still 8 months old. He's young, so I hope that it's just an iscolated incident. When he poops on walks I always say "good poo poo" He doesn't seem to be listening though. Just that "Can't you see I'm working here!" face. ## Calia · 2009-02-23T01:51:54.000Z Teddy the schipperke has a potty command. Whenever he is in the process, he walks and circles until he can work it out of his system, takes forever but is funny to watch. His potty time has been dubbed the "poopy dance", and he will go when you say it. --- **Navigate:** [Forum home](https://nihonken.org/community/?format=md) · [Sitemap](https://nihonken.org/community/sitemap.xml)