Need help with my dog

[21hens-incharge]

How old is he? He looks very young still.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Is he crated while you are at work with no option but to go potty in there?

I ask since he is far to young to have great control yet. He needs to go out often at that age.

My 15 week old bloodhound is confined to the kitchen while we are at work. We get home he is taken outside immediately.....and while he is out I mop. Just way to young to wait 9.5 hours to potty.

 

[Lenny loves chickens]

Is he crated while you are at work with no option but to go potty in there?

I ask since he is far to young to have great control yet. He needs to go out often at that age.

My 15 week old bloodhound is confined to the kitchen while we are at work. We get home he is taken outside immediately.....and while he is out I mop. Just way to young to wait 9.5 hours to potty.

I am home all day everyday and we are outside probably half the time taking care of chickens and everything so my dogs follow me around alot. The only reason o leave is to go to church or run to the store. I usally let him out every hour. But he cant even make it 2 hrs without going to the rest room.

 

[Marie2020]

Really praise him every time he goes to potty outside and give him some kind of treat. Mine likes a bit of carrot or banana.

Have you tested his wee at all?

 

[Halfpasthen]

Honestly I've worked with a number of puppy mill dogs that were kept in kennels 24/7. Only a handful of them every got broke of peeing and pooping in the kennel. Good luck. I would get a professional trainer for this one bc you aren't training a puppy. You are untraining behavior which is significantly harder. Find a behaviorist if you can.

 

[cassie]

If he got conditioned to peeing and pooping in his crate as a puppy you are going to have a devil of a time training him to do otherwise. Housebreaking exploits the fact that dogs do not like to relieve themselves in their den. Obviously, that doesn't bother him. One thing you might try is to keep him leashed to you during the day. Every time he shows signs he might have to go, take him outside. If he goes, praise him lavishly. You might put some of his droppings in the area where you want him to go.

There are things called male wraps. They are for incontinent male dogs. They go around the middle of the dog, are fastened with velcro, and they come in both disposable and washable forms. The disposable ones are made of the same material as baby diapers and the washable ones have a place to insert a sanitary napkin to absorb the urine. You can find them on amazon and in places like Petsmart. Good luck.

 

[tripletfeb]

Sounds pretty normal for a pup that age.

It's hard I know.

One thing that helped here was to train them to paw a spring loaded doorstop to ask for out. That sound travels very well so no matter where I am in the house I can hear it.
I trained ours by tapping it with my foot and doing a super excited "Go outside?". Once outside we played a few minutes then went back in, a half hour later repeat, and repeat, and repeat. They catch on pretty fast.

We trained our weimaraner to ring a bell by the patio door every time he has to go out. I would grab his paw, help him ring it, then say "touch". Then let him out. He picked it up really quickly. That sound travels all over the house and even wakes me up so he can be let out when he needs to. We convinced my sister to do that with her great dane puppy and he picked it up quickly too. Two years later both dogs still do it. It's a great way for them to communicate with us

 

[NatJ]

I am home all day everyday and we are outside probably half the time taking care of chickens and everything so my dogs follow me around alot. The only reason o leave is to go to church or run to the store. I usally let him out every hour. But he cant even make it 2 hrs without going to the rest room.

Can you set up an outside place for him to stay, when you are not able to watch him?
He cannot pee in the house when he is not in the house!
And every time he pees outdoors, he gets a little more practice at doing the right thing.

You could try using a dog door. Give the dog only a SMALL space inside the house (enough to lie down comfortably, and no more.) Give him a bigger pen outside, that is appropriate for peeing. Of course you would need to teach him to go through the dog door. But this lets him go out whenever he needs to, no matter how often that is. If the only problem is how long he can hold it, this will solve the problem. If he also has a problem with where he thinks he is allowed to pee, this may still help but will not be a complete solution.

I have noticed that dogs like to pee in the same kind of place they are used to peeing (grass, or carpet, or dirt, or snow, or whatever.) And the ability to hold his pee for longer should increase as he gets older. So if you set up a way to manage the situation for now and keep him from peeing in the house (like an outdoor pen, or dog door, or taking him out every single hour all day long), then the problem may solve itself over the next few months. He will get more in the habit of peeing on outdoor surfaces, less in the habit of peeing on indoor surfaces, and will be able to hold it for longer between breaks. (I do know that "just a few months" can feel like FOREVER when you are living through it!)

The usual potty training advice says to keep the dog in a small space, because he will hold his pee to avoid soiling his "den." For this particular dog, it seems he is already used to peeing where he lives. So you might try always keeping him in big spaces (preferably outside), so he can move away from his pee, and get used to being clean all the time. If he is in the house, this will not help keep your house clean-- it will just change whether the dog lies in the puddle of pee or can move away from it.

I also agree with the suggestion to get him tested for a urinary infection. If he has one, you want to treat it before it gets worse, and it may make the potty training much easier. And if he does not have one, you will know it is not the problem.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I've never had a cocker spaniel but I've always used a kennel to housebreak my dogs and never had a pup that age who would mess it's kennel after less than two hours. I would get him tested for a UTI first and then worry about how to train him if its not that.

 

[Lenny loves chickens]

Cocker Spaniels are usually super sweet, but notoriously stubborn with house-training. Pet store/puppy mill puppies can be even tougher, but not impossible. It CAN be done!

We've faced the same issue with a couple of our dogs, too. One of them was ... you guessed it ... a Cocker Spaniel! We came across a stepped approach that worked wonders for our little hard-heads. It took over a month, but it wasn't difficult and everyone kept relatively sane.

First and foremost, learn your puppy's signals. Most will sniff around in circles when looking for a good spot to "go." Watch the timing, too, to learn how long your pup takes to "through-put" a meal or drink. We had to have ours outside about ten minutes after a good drink, about twenty for a full meal.

Indoors:

• When your puppy isn't with you on a leash, keep him confined in a small area. A bathroom, laundry or mudroom work well. If you don't have a small room, try an oversized kennel. Baby gates are your friends!
• Cover the ENTIRE floor with newspapers. Any place that isn't covered with a bed needs to be papered. Make sure that no matter where he relieves himself, he's doing it on the surface you want him to use. You could also use puppy pee pads, but that can get really expensive.
• After a week of this, reduce the size of the acceptable surface. The idea is to make the bathroom area smaller without making the entire room smaller. If your puppy uses the smaller area, you can start reducing it every three or four days. Don't rush this part or you'll undo all your progress. Once he starts going off the papered area, you'll need to go back to square one again. Trust me on this one. We learned it the hard way!
• Eventually, you should be able to have a single pee pad/paper spot. At that point, we left the paper/pads up all the time, but our dog rarely used it unless it was an emergency. It was more of an insurance policy than an actual necessity.

Outdoors:

• Whenever you take your puppy outside to do his business, keep him on a leash until he finishes. As soon as he does, heap on the "Good Boy" praise! If you're in a fenced yard, let him off the leash to run and play with him. He'll learn that getting straight to business means getting on with playtime sooner.
• Always go to the same spot in the yard. Putting a used newspaper or pee pad there for encouragement can help.
• Choose a command that he can associate with relieving himself. It serves as a reminder, later on. Sixteen years later, our old pooch still knows that "Hurry Up" means it's time to "go," and he nearly always gets on with it.

Patience, consistency and persistence are all key to making this work. Just as in potty training a child, it takes time. Accept that there will be lapses and accidents, but in the end, you'll have a well-mannered family member ... and a cleaner, nicer smelling home!
Good luck.

Oh - and for the record ... your new puppy is adorable!

Thanks this helps...I was starting to get discouraged! I will try this method I just get worried that if I use puppy pads he will still think its acceptable to go in the house.