still going inside

[nicole]

Hello. My 6 month old Westie is a beautiful loving previous little dog and we love her. However....she is still not potty trained. We have had her for 4 months now. We have used the crate method. She does go on command when we bring her to her outside spot. I bring her out at all the correct times, after drinking, playing, sleeping, etc. But...if we miss the time she will just go in the house, just pee, not poop. When we scold her for it (never hit or rub nose in it) she cowers and acts like she knows she did wrong. But it doesn't stop her from doing it the next time. We have not noticed any sign from her that she needs to go out.....just pees on the floor if I don't get her out. Help!!

[Sarah]

It sounds like she is very stubborn, and doesn't want to do what she knows is right. Let me ask, have you enrolled her in obedience class? If not, do so, it will help her with her listening skills, because the teacher will teach you how to get her to listen to you all the time.

Other than this, patience, patience, and more patience she will grow out of it on her own.

[mia]

Yes Sarah great advice, Patience, they all get the potty training down, some just take longer than others.

Good Luck to you Nicole. Another thing you could check out is the bell hanging on the door knob and get her trained to ring the bell when she wants to go. There are web sites that sell them but I am sure any bell you can pick up would work.

If it was not going into winter I would try that with my new baby Yorkie coming in 2 weeks but I will just use the pads till spring.

Sarah, I live right below you in ND..........Please keep all the cold and snow up there......LOL

[Sarah]

No way Mia, we are very generous people up here, we share a lot, especially our winters. LOL

[newbear]

Hi, I have a tip here that may help you.

The most important point that you have to do now is to understand your dog. You need to understand how your dog thinks.

You said when you miss the time that you are supposed to bring your dog out, she will just go in the house. When you scold her for it, she cowers and acts like she knows she did wrong. But it doesn't stop her from doing it the next time. Dogs don't think like human. They do not understand human language too. They do not know that they did something wrong when you scold them. Here, let me quote a potion of a story by a wonderful and famous dog trainer.

"We can sometimes make behavior problems worse by punishing after the fact. Here is a typical example: Say you leave the house for an hour. While you are gone Peanuts decides to destroy the TV changer. You come home and find the TV changer in a hundred pieces. At this point you are angry and you know he did it. You call him over, show him the TV changer, and scold him. Maybe he’s made you so angry that you grab him by the scruff of the neck and physically scold him. What you have to realize is that Peanuts does not understand why he is being punished. He only knows that you are upset. “Wait a minute,” I interrupted. “My dog knows he did something wrong, he always acts like he is sorry after I yell at him.” Eric responded to this calmly, as if he had heard it a thousand times before. “Peanuts knows that you are upset, what he doesn’t know is why you are upset. I could go over your house right now and yell at him, chances are he will act like he has done something wrong.
In fact, let me ask you a question. What if you were to walk into your house and yell at Peanuts and he really had done nothing wrong? How would he act?” “I don’t know,” I answered, thinking about what Eric had just said. “Peanuts would act the same way.” “You’re right, he probably would,” I agreed. I had never thought about it before. “Then how does he know why is being yelled at?” Eric asked patiently. I thought about this for a second, and then slowly answered, “I guess he wouldn’t know.” “Okay, now we’re getting somewhere,” Eric said. “Peanuts doesn’t understand why he is getting scolded. Because of that, there is a strong chance that he would associate the punishment with your arrival home. You walk in the door and he gets scolded. Now, whenever you leave the house, what is he probably going to think?” A little unsure of the answer, I ventured a guess, “That when I come back home he is going to be punished?” “Correct! Peanuts will think that when you walk back through the door he is going to get punished. If that is what he is thinking, he will probably become anxious. Do you know what a dog does when he is stressed or anxious?” Eric asked. “Chews!” I exclaimed. “Right!” Eric said. “The other problem is that Peanut’s nervous system speeds up. When the nervous system speeds up, guess what happens?” I thought for a moment, but I couldn’t come up with the answer. “I don’t know,” I said. I had never been very good in biology. “The digestive system also speeds up, which means your dog will have to relieve himself.” "Quoted from Train Your Dog Blog | Dog Training Tips and Behavior Advice Chapter 3 M.O.B. Rules.

No offense but you have to understand that it is not your dog's fault that she pee in the house. It is your fault that you did not bring her out on time. So before you scold your dog, think twice. You should have scolded yourself for not bringing her out on time.

Some solutions for you:
1) Remember to bring her out on time to prevent her from having accidents in the house. The less accidents she have in the house, the quicker she will be potty train. (This is the most effective and important solution)
2) When you notice that your dog starts to sniff around on the floor, or turning circles on the floor, it means that she have to go out.
3) Hang a bell on the door knob. Ring the bell every time just before you open the door to bring her out. She will soon learn to ring the bell herself. You can teach her to ring the bell too. You can teach her this easily by teaching her to target your hand using her nose. First, open out your palm. Hide a treat between your two fingers. Wait for your dog to target her nose on your palm while she sniff the treat. If she does that, praise her and give her the treat immediately. Once she knows how to target your palm after a few repetitions, stick a post-it note on your palm. Ask your dog to target the post-it note on your palm and praise her and give her a treat if she does that. Once she knows how to target the post-it note on your palm after a few repetitions, paste the post-it note on the door and ask your dog to target it. Once she knows how to do it, hang a bell on the door knob in front of the post-it note. Ask your do to target the post-it note again. If she targets the post-it note and rings the bell subconsciously, praise her and give her a treat. Once she knows how to do it consistently, remove the note and ask her to ring the bell. (Please be prepared that this method may not be very effective as your dog may ring the bell just to ask you to let her out to play.)

You can ask me if you have any other questions, feel free to ask me and keep us informed of how it goes. Thank you.

[Morkiegirl]

Good Luck Nicole...I am right there with you! I LOVE the above advice...I'm going to start trying it today!!

[mia]

Hi Sarah,

Yes you guys up there are very generous, after last winter and all the snow, lets make a deal, I love the snow but please keep the miserable cold up there.....LOL

[Sarah]

No way Mia! As it is, we hold back some our cold, we only give what is needed..rofl

[mia]

Come on, we don't need -15. -20, and for sure no -30. I got up one morning to go to work and it was -36, Now that is brutal

[Sarah]

Well Mia we get minus 50 from time to time, we don't send that down. That is being very generous of us don't you think?