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Posted by KDiamondDavis on February 18, 2003 at 21:39:09:
In Reply to: Housebreaking rescue dogs?!? posted by JM on February 18, 2003 at 15:25:47:
:My sisters dogs are driving me NUTS!! Milo and Otis are two yorkshire mixes that my sister picked up from the pound. The original owner was forced to surrender them to avoid prosecution. Both dogs were a MESS when we got them. We had them shaved down tot he skin, got their shots, had vet checks done and settled down to trying to crate train and housbreak these two guys.
:Well that was last October, as in 5 MONTHS ago. Took some convincing but both dogs now trust me and my sister (They are both still wary of my husband and kids) Both dogs understand the Crate, sleep in the crate, stay in the crate most of the day.......problem is, the dogs CAN'T come out of the crate in the house. They flat refuse to be potty trained. We take them outside, they pee...Good dog! They come in the house, they pee Bad Dog! and back out they go. (Don't worry we do know better than to hit them). I'm sure it's not an "Accident" as the back door can be hanging open and they will go out of their way to try to escape the line of vision of whomever is watching and pee or crap in the house. Yesterday both dogs were in the kitchen with my sister. Niether dog left the room. Good right? Nope, she stood up and discoverd TWO puddles of pee under her chair!
:I'm at my wits end. They are driving me nuts, and I know my husband is losing his sence of humour with these dogs. I can't leave them outside all the time, they are little dogs and cold weather and extreme heat (this summer, we live in the desert) will kill them. I can't leave them in thier crate all the time, they whine and my sister lets them out (She intends to watch them, but somehow they pee in the house anyway).
:Now what! Help!>>>>
Housetraining dogs who have had to live with their own waste can take a long time. Even the yelling is likely causing problems, because it sounds like they are now hiding from you when they relieve themselves. They don't "know it's wrong," because from a dog's point of view, it's not. They also don't know why you are mad.
One thing you might try to make things easier on both the humans and the dogs is a playpen approach. That way they're not wandering around the house to make mistakes, but they're not stuck in the crate all the time, either. You can get portable exercise pens to use for this purpose. You'll want the pen to be on a surface that's easy to clean and nonabsorbent, and you may choose to put newspapers in one end of it.
It sounds like both of these dogs are males, and both are Yorkies. Housetraining is not easy with male Yorkies under the best of circumstances. A bad start in life only makes it harder. You're really going to need patience, and the dogs need to be with people who can give them that.
Since they are males, belly bands can help when someone is supervising them in the house. This is a soft band that goes around the dog's tummy to catch urine. They can't wear it 100% of the time, because that could foster infection. But they could wear it some of the time, while you're watching them in the house.
Some find that the belly bands help to make male dogs more aware of the urination and may benefit housetraining. But don't expect miracles. Your goal needs to be to have the dogs in the right place at the right time to hit the right target every time they need to potty. I suggest taking them out once per hour during the times you are at home and awake. When they're not outside with you or in their crates, they need a human's eyeballs directly on them 100% of the time.
Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series at www.veterinarypartner.com