Ok, so here’s the story. She’s 50% Beagle, 25% Papillon, and 25% Pekingese. Her name is Sweet P., and she’s a female dog that is now nine months old. Don’t think we haven’t tried housebreaking her before this — we sure have.
When we first got her, around 7 weeks old, we placed “Puppy Pads” around the house, which apparently have a scent that dogs can smell, and it basically beckons for them to pee on it. It worked at first, and we always rewarded her with small treats — kibble, chunks of cheese, meat, and other things.
Then, after a few weeks, she started going to the bathroom RIGHT next to the pads. We would scold her, put her on the pad, and clean the mess. But she kept inching further and further away from the pad until she felt she could “go” anywhere she wanted to. Of course we kept scolding her. At this time, her brother was already transferring to newspaper.
After a while, people started telling us to let her go to the bathroom outside, being that it was getting warmer. We kept pads and newspapers spread everywhere in the house, hoping she would just not be able to find another place, while we brought her outside. At this time, it was mid-spring, and warm enough for us to be able to sit outside for hours at a time.
We hooked her up to a large pully system, so she can go throughout the backyard, up the small hill in our yard, up to the half-way point of the driveway that no one uses. She was basically aloud to roam all over the property, she was just on a leash. Anyway, we would sit outside with her, and a bowl of water she could access, and play with her a bit. But even if we stayed out there with her for 2 or 3 hours at a time, she didn’t go. She would wait as soon as we got indoors, and then do her business. We scolded her, brought her back outside, and sat for another hour, as she just looked at us. She thinks that the house is her potty, and the yard is her playground. I don’t know how to teach her differently!
We’ve tried lightly pushing her into her squating position, but she’ll just stand back up and walk away. We’ve tried not bringing toys out there, and not interacting with her. We can’t leave her alone, because she has a bit of separation anxiety, and if she’s left alone, she’ll sit at the door and whine. Nothing has worked. Out of all the time we’ve been training with her, she’s probably only “gone” outside 5 times. We praise her then, but it doesn’t connect that she’s meant to do this always.
At this point, I’m exhausted. The weather is turning much colder, and we can’t stay outside for lengthy amounts of time. Just today, I sat outside with her for an hour, and when we got indoors, she promptly squatted. I heard on the TV show “It’s Me Or The Dog”, that some people used a “Pee pole”, which smells like urine, and entices a dog to urinate on the post. Should we try that? I’m at my wits end. I love her to death, the only problem she really has is housebreaking. Should we ask our vet for advice next week when we get her fixed? Will that surgery make any differance in house training? I just need advice on what to do, she takes after me, being hard-headed and all.
If you can help, offer your advice, or similar stories, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks a ton.
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