# 8 month old house training woes



## andybtsn (Nov 7, 2019)

Hi there,

Minnie is exactly 8 months old today. We've always had house training issues with her but there has always been an excuse; her age. Now she is 8 months old I think she;'s regressing rather than improving.

After we got her in October last year, she would do her business everywhere, ignoring her pads, I expected this but she soon she got used to going on them whilst in her room at night. However, she would ignore their location through the day when free reign of the house. This was a problem.

At night, when she went to bed I would put around 4 pads down, she would always go on these but after a while I thought this was making her dependant on going on them and in the house. I wanted to wean her off them so started staying up with her longer (I've never had much sleep), I would send her out between 1 - 2am and then put her in her crate for the night.
Each morning she would have pood/weed in her crate.
Despite me staying up all hours to let her out, she would always go for a wee/poo in her crate. It's like she doesn't understand to go in the garden despite her doing it, I often leave her poos out there so she knows its where she should go.

I got tired of cleaning up the mess in the morning so have reintroduced the pads but even this is now random whether she will do use them or just go on the carpet. The last two mornings she's ignored them and weed on the carpet.

In the time we've had her shes consistently weed on the carpet when given free reign of the house, rather than go to the place her pads have always been, she knows they are there.
I will let her out every hour into the garden, she will go on long walks but rarely does her business in this time. It's often a case of letting her out and within 10 minutes of coming in the house she will have weed on the carpet. It's almost like she thinks the toilet is inside the house now.

I'm trying to stay positive but I'm all out of ideas. Unfortunately as much as I can dedicate time to her, I have 3 kids so I can't keep an eye on her all the time.

Does anyone have any ideas? For the record I've changed her eating pattern to try and get her to digest her food before bed but she will go outside and just sit there, eventually I have to give in and bring her in, put her to bed knowing i will wake up to cleaning up poo/wee.
Regardless of what time she will eat, she will poo at night. Bear in mind I go to bed around midnight and get up at 7am, this is pretty unlucky.

Any help appreciated as I'm out of ideas.


----------



## Sbmpw (Jul 16, 2019)

Hi. Really feel your pain. I’m sure you’ve done this but treats when she goes outside. These have to be within 2/3 seconds of her going. My puppy never really used the pads properly it was always hit an miss with them but he was clean by 5 months. 
Go down the treat / praise route for a while. As soon as you see her start to go say ‘no’ lift her an put her outside. May take a good half hour but she’ll go. I was told to clean the areas throughly with bio washing liquid as it gets rid of odours. Also citrus, I used lemon wipes. I even used Granny apple spray. 
Guess you’ve spoken to the vet just in case there is an underlying reason. 
Good luck, they really are tough times the puppy months.


----------



## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

It sounds like your pup is very confused about what she should be doing.

You need to go right back to basics and treat her like a new puppy, get rid of puppy pads and take her out as soon as she has eaten, woken up, after playing and at least every hour otherwise. Wait outside until she does something and then really reward her for getting it right. If she does not go come back inside but keep her very close to you and keep a good eye on her and as soon as she starts to sniff around take her back out again.

You need to thoroughly clean with something like biological washing powder made into a solution so there are no traces of scent left. If she does go inside just clean up and mark it down to a failure on your part - never tell her off! Telling off will result in a dog less likely to toilet when you are watching which makes your job a whole lot harder.


----------



## Dig (Dec 27, 2018)

Thanks 2ndhandgal- I was just thinking about how to word my reply when I saw yours 🙂 great post. I agree about going back to basics. Taking your dog outside until it goes and then lavishing praise will give a clear message about the behaviour you want. You, or someone else, will need to be out there with her to notice when she goes and give immediate praise and also name it eg good toilet. This will help build in a command that you can use later. 
Also agree re using specific cleaner to get rid of any remains of previous accidents in the house. 
This might sound like a tough challenge, but it will really help her, and you, in the long run. 
Not sure if you are in the uk, but if you are there is an episode of Dogs behaving very badly on tv that covers a toileting issue similar to yours that you might find helpful. Good luck and keep us posted 🙂


----------



## andybtsn (Nov 7, 2019)

Hi there, sorry I forgot to respond.

Before I got a response to this thread I decided to go back to basics, start treating Minnie as if we just got her. So going out into the garden every time I let her out and made sure she was doing her business. I give her praise and love and a treat, so much that now when she's done her business she trots over to me wanting her treat.

There is still the odd accident, random wees around the house, I'm still worried about giving her the free reign of the house because of this.

The main thing I worry about now is the sheer amount of times she needs the toilet. Granted she can go 8pm - midnight without needing the loo but if I was to put her out on a hourly basis she will go for a wee every time. Then she had around three poos a day, she is on the correct amount of film and shes still very small <5kg. She doesn't drink an excessive amount.

To put in to context at midnight she had a poo in the garden, she then had another poo at 7:45am on her walk (not yet had her breakfast) - she ate a small amount of her breakfast then needed another poo at 2pm. Seems excessive?!

Is this all normal?


----------



## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

All seems very normal to me - well done on getting back to basics and sure things will soon be much better.


----------



## andybtsn (Nov 7, 2019)

2ndhandgal said:


> All seems very normal to me - well done on getting back to basics and sure things will soon be much better.


That’s good although I’m still concerned. I got home at 5:30pm, took her for a long walk, she had another poo but no wees, then just before 7pm she weed in the bathroom in front of me. She always looks very sheepish when she has an accident inside which suggests she knows it’s wrong, the fact she did it in front of me makes me think she was really desperate to go. It’s as if she can’t hold much in or doesn’t make any effort to not go. I’m considering a trip to the vet to check everything is okay.


----------



## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

Looking sheepish does not mean she knows it is wrong - more likely she knows people are not pleased. Not the same thing at all I am afraid.

She needs to learn the bladder control needed and that will come with age and practice. Walks are exciting and if she did not pee it sound pretty likely that she was going to need to so that sounds like human error I am afraid - garden trip needed.

It is possible she has a urine infection so worth dropping a sample in but generally dogs go much more frequently with that.


----------

