[Toby & Lucky]

with Lucky pooping in the house. He is 14 months and is not taking well to house training. It's mostly pooping. He just does not want to go outside. We walk and walk and walk then he goes within 10 minutes of coming inside. It's like he is just too preoccupied when we are outside. I never catch him in the act to scold him, but I feel like he knows he shouldn't do it. I have been treating him like a puppy with it and not punishing him and just cleaning it up and taking him outside. It seems like I need to take a new approach, but I don't know what that woul be. Any advice??????

 

[weed30]

If he consistently goes within 10 minutes of getting back from your walk, just watch him like a hawk during that time. The second he starts to crouch, pick him up and run into the yard, saying Outside! Outside! Outside! the whole time. If he goes, praise him like mad. If not, take him back inside and keep the routine up. He won't be able to hold it forever.

Another method: This takes commitment, but it usually works with housebreaking problems. Tether him to you at all times inside the house. Slip knot his leash through your belt loop, or use a caribineer key hook if you have one. He will not be able to roam more than the length of his leash from you. Eventually, he will not be able to hold it anymore, so like above, when he begins to crouch, pick him up and quickly carry him to the yard, with the Outside command. You want to raise your voice a bit, but not yell at him, just a matter of fact voice, like when you give him the sit command.

 

[Brisen]

I wish I had some advice for you, but I'm also at wits end with Maggie's potty training business...both pee and poop. I know someday she HAS to get it, but right now I'm about ready to pull my hair out.

So no advice, but I DO empathize with you!

 

[Toby & Lucky]

Thanks ladies! Gale, misery loves company, right?!!

I am going to try tethering Lucky to me! Thank You Daisy TDD, I knew I had read some other ideas here before. That's a good one!

Lucky doesn't care for his crate, so when I can't tether him I think I will walk/crate/walk/crate, etc. until he figures out that pooping gets him his freedom. I don't think that is using the crate as punishment is it? I won't fuss or anything. Just walk, no poo = crate, poo = freedom in the house.

 

[LilHailey]

Originally Posted By: Toby & LuckyI don't think that is using the crate as punishment is it? I won't fuss or anything. Just walk, no poo = crate, poo = freedom in the house.

I would consider that 'crate training', not punishment. I know that with Hailey she thinks that scratching at the door is equal to going out and sunbathing. So if she doesn't go, I put her in her crate for awhile and normally the next time I take her out she will do her business, all because she didn't want to do the doo in the crate.

 

[beaglesmom]

Oh guys, I can so sympathize with all of you. Currently having 9 beagles living here, and having had several others come and go in the past 8 years, I don't think ANY of them have been easy to housetrain. Up until I got my first beagle 8 years ago, every puppy I'd EVER had was totally housetrained within a couple of weeks. Princess was quite an education. She and I had many very serious discussions about the fact that she did NOT have a 3 story, 6,000 square foot indoor potty.
I think the tethering is a good idea - I think it worked for Mrs. Nix and her Kioko - tho I think she may have done a little backsliding recently. All I can say is that patience and consistency are the keys to housetraining - tethering allows you to keep a closer eye on her when she's free - otherwise, crating her when you can't watch her every minute (and who can)!
Good luck to all of you! I wish I had really good advice - I think it's just something all of us have to deal with - beagles are just NOT the easiest dogs in the world to housetrain. I love them all to pieces, but I've had some extremely frustrating times with mine as well.

 

[Nifferboyd]

So glad I am not the only one with this problem. Molly is still very young and new to the house breaking thing, but she does the same thing. Outside is just too interesting to poop. She pees just fine within a few seconds of going out but it is like the planets have to allign correctly for her to want to poop. Of course inside isn't as distracting so no problems going inside. Our solution is to constantly monitor her, which isn't hard because we live in an apartment and block off access to rooms other than the kitchen and living room. She can go in other rooms when she proves she won't go in the house.

 

[Java]

and second the tethering as being near their humans seem to help remind the furkids that they're not supposed to potty unless they're smelling grass and soaking up sunshine.

 

[LilHailey]

Someone in another thread talked about how their dog had anxiety in the car and would poop, so before they went for a car ride they would touch an ice cube to the dog's pooper and the dog would then do the duty.

Well, I thought this was interesting, so when I know about when Hailey is going to go (for me it's about every 5 hours), I tried going outside to a specific poop spot and touched the ice cube to her behind. I think that it helped her induce pooping, but it also had to be around the time she normally would poo.

Maybe you could try this method if your dog seems too distracted outside?

 

[mkielbas]

Yeah, the pooping can be a problem. Fortunately in my case Zbój would 'tell' me he wants to poop by sniffing heavily inside the house

However peeing was an issue. What worked for me (Zbój is now 15 weeks old, I have him for over a month now) was praising for doing it outside and scolding for peeing inside. I would also put him in a garage alone so another punishment would be not being around my wife and me

It seems to be working so far: he usually pees every hour, but when he's left alone for 2-3 hours outside his crate (I did it couple of times to see how he behaves) he waits for me and pees a second after we get out...

 

[BookerMoose]

I definitely can relate to that feeling of being at your wit's end... we had similar problems when we first adopted Popcorn - although in her case she was just so terrified of being outside that she would be unable to perform. I remember MANY nights outside in the rain walking for HOURS until she finally calmed down enough to poop... the key with her was to just stay outside until she did, no matter how long it took (and no matter how frustrated we got - which certainly didn't help if she could sense we were getting angry). Catching her in the act and correcting her didn't really work, either, because even raising our voices to get her attention when she would go into the crouch would completely freak her out and then we would be back at square one. It slowly got better and the time outside before pooping got faster bit by bit until it stopped being an issue... hang in there!

 

[Toby & Lucky]

All good ideas!! I may just have to try the ice thing for the laughter of it!! That is too funny!

I have had some success the past couple of days by taking he and Toby for their walk, then feeding him in his crate and then leaving him in there for 10 or so minutes and then take him for a walk by himself. So far, so good. Thank you for all the help! I will be trying a little or all of it!!!!

 

[Smeagle]

What have you done to encourage him to poo outside, or to train him that outside is where he needs to poo?

If you know he goes within ten minutes of getting home, leave him outside or as soon as you see him sniffing for a spot put him straight out. If you catch him in the act DO NOT punish him, just pick him up and put him outside straight away. BIG rewards for pooing outside. Give him praise, treats, toys anything. Teach him outside is where he needs to be.

Exercise activates the dogs bowls which is why he poos as soon as he gets home from a walk.

 

[Toby & Lucky]

It's getting a little better! We have only had one accident in the house in 4 or 5 days now!!!

We seem to have the morning poo down. It's the night time poo that isn't quite as consistent. That's where we seem to have the most accidents. It is getting better, though!!

Of course, we have a trip in thre weeks! I am sure being at the kennel for 5-6 days will ruin all my hard work!

 

[Ryan79]

I empathize with you. Fin is ok with poop, but he doesn't seem to care about peeing in the house. Sometimes he pees outside, then goes inside five minutes later. Luckily his little pee spot isn't much bigger than a quarter. They definitely test your patience.