Puppy housetraining woes

Question
Hi Alan

I really hope you can help me. Our 3 month old corgi, who we've had for 2 weeks, is wonderfully smart except that she can't go potty outside.

She was raised in a household where they put crushed newspapers in the puppies' bed, and the puppies went potty in the concrete backyard. Yes, it's strange.

When we took her home, we tried training her to go potty outside, but that didn't work. She was too distracted with all that was going on outdoors.

Someone suggested paper training her first and gradually moving it outside, but she didn't take to it (perhaps because newspapers were her bedding before). She insisted on our floors or rugs.

Then I tried taking her out to potty outside again, even sitting with her for an hour, but she wouldn't go till the moment she got home, usually on our tiles. (We've put away all the rugs) This could happen up to 5 times a day. As we live in an apartment (on the 5th floor) it's rather hard to take her to the potty spot downstairs again right away. Believe me, I've tried, but she just rolls around the grass, and just doesn't get what I'm trying to say to her.

I am tired of cleaning up poop, especially after a long day at work, and I hope you can give us some pointers and rescue us.  

Answer
Dear Jill,
Thanks for the question. I can help. It's not very efficient for me to write five pages every time I get a question about housetraining so .. I have one already written and free to anyone. I'll point out some highlights that are very relevant to your situation, but for complete instructions, please go to my website http://www.howsbentley.com Thank you.


Dogs learn where to go by classical conditioning. Dogs form associations with the substrate (flooring, ground type) / environment AND the good feelings they get when they eliminate.

That being said, if it were possible (I know it's not) to never ever give a dog the opportunity to eliminate inside and the dog always gets the opportunity to eliminate on grass, that dog would choose to seek out grass when she had a full bladder (or colon). The same applies for concrete. If a puppy is always given the opportunity to eliminate on concrete, that puppy will seek out hard surfaces for eliminating.

Your Maggie has formed associations with concrete or hard surfaces, learned to seek out hard surfaces. Her associations can be changed, but it will take a bit more than 2 weeks to help her form new associations with grass. Here's some highlights from the free guide.  

Never scold her if you catch her eliminating inside. She'll have no idea that her choice of location motivated you to attack - she will quickly learn that it is not safe to eliminate when you are nearby. That will transfer to the outside and she will not eliminate when you are nearby.

Confinement training is the best route to go. Use a crate or baby gates, exercise pen or whatever you have. She cannot be trusted to be loose inside so she can only be in a few places.

She can be -
In your lap - In her confinement area - outside - or inside under direct supervision (only after she has just gone outside can she be loose for a few minutes.)

If you are morally opposed to confinement training, get ready to clean up poop the rest of your life, hire a full time dog sitter or send her to a trainer or to daycare. Every time she has an accident inside, that behavior is drawing interest and becoming very strong. Crate training tips can be found at http://www.ddfl.org . Look for the section about canine behavior.  

She will become less and less distracted as the numbers of trips outside increase - keep taking her outside when it's pottytime. No playing or talking until she potties. If there is no concrete nearby, consider placing a concrete stepping stone or two outside.

Not sure when it is pottytime!? Keep a log of all feeding and elimination and what she does in-between. You are a detective now, your job is to look for patterns that will help you predict her elimination schedules. :)

Rule out any medical problems that oculd contribute ot excessive urination. She could have an infection and no amount of patience and teaching will help you succeed.

Her feedings should be on a schedule- place her food down, give her 10 minutes and then take the bowl up. Leave water out all day but take her water up a couple of hours before you go to bed. Give her an ice cube if she seems to be thirsty.

Take Maggie outside and just wait- but for only 10 minutes. Of course she has no idea of what you're sayin- so say nothing, do nothing,! Teaching her a command to potty is smart and simple. Instructions are in the free booklet.

Sometimes walking in a small circle helps to trigger elimination. If she does not go, return inside, confine her for 20 minutes and try again.

I would not use newspapers since Maggie has learned to respect newspapers as her bedding. You could set up a bathroom in her confinement area, using sod or pee pads. The instructions are in the FREE guide.

You didin't mention if she was home alone for hours or always has a supervisor. Instructions for housetraining in either situation are included in the booklet.

Hang in there, you will succeed! Thanks for reading this post. Happy Training.
AT