House Training a Dog – Indoor & Outdoor Advice

Help! Why isn’t My Dog Potty Trained?

 “I have a 6-month old Cocker spaniel. She is so hard to potty train. She could go outside for an hour and still come inside to pee. Can you help?” (*)

House training a dog should be simple, except sometimes we jump to conclusions about the dog’s understanding of the process, or assume she is a mind-reader.

An Inconvenient Problem

In Claudia’s case, a critical clue is in the sentence: She [the dog] could go outside for an hour and still come inside to pee.

To me this paints the following scenario:

The unaccompanied Cocker goes into the garden. Perhaps Mom told her to “Go toilet”, but then disappeared back inside. The Cocker has a vague notion that “Toilet” means being alone outdoors, but little other understanding of what the word means.

A bee buzzes by, and quickly she becomes distracted. Then she picks up the scent trial of a cat that passed through. She becomes so pre-occupied that she forgets about her full bladder and puts her energy into digging, playing, and generally enjoying the fresh air.

Mom takes her back inside, at which point the Cocker remembers her uncomfortable bladder. But that’s OK because there’s a spot in the lounge room she uses regularly, which smells reassuringly of pee… so it must be OK.

In short, our Cocker has no idea about toileting outdoors but has reassuring scent markers indoors. Guess what? She pees and poops inside.

How to Potty Train

To turn things around and get this Cocker trained Mom must do two things: Make indoors less attractive as a toilet and teach Cocker the place to go is outside.

Indoor Action:

• Remove scent markers: Use an enzyme-based cleaner to scrub away the markers of previous “accidents”. Put the dog’s food bowls in that spot, to make her less likely to foul the area
• Limit opportunity to toilet indoors: Keep the dog on a longline and under close surveillance at all times. At the first sign of sniffing prior to toileting, whisk her outside to the toilet spot. Crate train her for those times when you can’t be watching.
• Use remote punishment when she goes to squat indoors: Never ever aim to hurt your dog. However, a noisy rattle, such as pebbles in a can, thrown to land beside her, acts as a powerful deterrent (Then take her straight outside).

Outdoor Improvements:

• Regular comfort breaks: Take the dog outside for five minutes every hour, which gives her plenty of chances to “go”.
• Create a toilet area: Designate a specific patch, rather than the whole of the yard. Try to scent mark it with some of the dog’s pee or poo.
• Keep her company: Take her out on a leash and keep her company. Direct her to the toilet spot so as to focus her mind. When she happens to squat down, give her lots of praise. Alternatively, mark the happy event with a clicker, so she knows she is about to get a big reward.
• Reward the momentous event: Be there to reward the momentous event when she pees in the right place. Do this often enough and she’ll start crossing her legs so that she can go on the magic place that earns her lots of treats.

Add in patience and persistence and the “penny will drop”! Your aim is to show the dog that her waste products are tradeable for fuss and attention, thus making her eager to save them up to spend in the appropriate place. Best of luck!

[*] This question was asked at a recent Holly & Hugo Q&A webinar. These sessions take place twice a month and are free for all Holly & Hugo students. To sign up click on Webinar banner in Your Virtual Campus. Not a student yet? Sign up to our Newsletter to get discount offers for our courses and FREE guides and resources.  Sign up Now!