[putri]

I adopted a 4 mo. old Lhasa. He's going to be 6 months in a few weeks (although he might already be 6 months... I just made him up a birth date based on the rescuer's info).

When I first got him, he was such a shady dog. So afraid of EVERYTHING. He'd piddle when we picked him up for example AND he wouldn't pee when he touched grass. He'd just sit/stand. I've had dogs all my 30+ life and never encountered this. So then I thought it was just this dog being afraid and he'll just be fine.

The first day, it took a looooong time to get him to pee. I thought maybe it's because he piddled so much that he didn't have much in him. Then we got into a routine (after a few days) and he had a spot. I can take him there and he'll go just like that (within two-three minutes) every hour or so when we're home and when I go home (including lunch) on workdays.

A few weeks ago our neighbor dog came by our property and poo'd on THE pee spot. Ever since then, Max would not go there anymore. So now we found a few places but he can't go and pee just like that. He has to explore and sometimes doesn't go when I know he does need to. I'd have to stick him back in the crate 1-2 times before he then goes. A few times I wasn't paying really close attention (putting my coat away). I let him loose after he didn't potty and he pee'd on the rug... the only rug... soon after we came in. So since then I'd still have him on the leash and he'll get popped into the crate if he didn't potty.

This is not the only problem. He won't go potty for my husband. They'll both just stand there looking pathetic. Finally, after an all day deal Max would go. We also have a problem when we go out. Max can't potty. Took him to the park after his final puppy shot and he didn't go. I made one stop before the park, 1.5 after his last pee, nothing. At the park, 3 hours from last pee, nothing. I went to lunch and I had to walk a few blocks before he finally pee'd.

At the first stop there were lots of cars, he got distracted a lot. We live in the country. So ok, that's fine. The park, there were hardly anything there. But there were prob. a lot of other smells. The neighborhood walk, well, he finally just had to go but that was after a good 15 minutes of walking.

So I don't think he has a problem and the I did take him to the vet for his checkup and booster and asked. I think Max gets distracted a lot and he's only use to me taking him out even though my husband tries. I have no history of his past life so not sure if that had anything to do with his behavior. The interesting part is that Max knows potty and poo. He poos on command but with peeing he'll just take his time. He'll just do the act of trying to pee and he'll just ended sniffing here and there.

Thanks!

[NorthernLights]

Have you ruled out medical problems? The vet's office would be my first trip.

Also, every time he pees do you give him a treat and praise him like he just found you one million dollars in the grass? If you are not doing that, you should. Submissive dogs tend to respond well to positive reinforcement.

[007Dogs]

I agree, what do you do after he goes? Most dogs wait to go, because they know as soon as they go, they are going back inside or worse yet, back in there crate. So why would he hurry? There has to be a positive reward for going potty and then being allowed some free time out.

[MegaMuttMom]

Our rescue dog was very fearful when we brought him home. For months he would only pee right up next to the house, like he was hiding. As he gained confidence in us and his security, he started peeing in more random spots but only in our yard. It wasn't until about 6 months after we had him that he peed in the woods on our off-leash walk. It was another month before he pooped in the woods. We celebrated these accomplishments rediculously. Who gets thrilled when their dog is finally brave enough to eliminate outside of the yard? We do!

He still has NEVER peed or pooped on a leash walk (9 months with us now). He just waits till we get home.

Patience and time will help. Never scold, it will only make him distrust you. When we brought our dog home even a slightly raised voice made him cower.

A positive based obedience/puppy class with lots of treats and good cheer will help build his confidence in himself and you as his benevolent leader. Now when I tell people that Cherokee was a fearful dog, they can't believe it. But, we still know that he responds with fear to new things and situations and we are very mindful in everything we do with him.

Our love for him is so deep for all that we have been through gaining his trust. I wish the same for you.

[putri]

Originally Posted by NorthernLights

Have you ruled out medical problems? The vet's office would be my first trip.

Also, every time he pees do you give him a treat and praise him like he just found you one million dollars in the grass? If you are not doing that, you should. Submissive dogs tend to respond well to positive reinforcement.

When I took him to the vet for his booster I mentioned it to the doc. He did whatever he had to do to check and he said that he didn't see any obvious issues. I haven't done a thorough check, or requested on I guess, since Max does pee soon after he comes in on the rug. Also, I have let him run around and I missed the 1.5 hour mark to take Max out and he did potty on the rug. So not being an expert, I don't think he's got any medical issues.

After he pees/poos Max gets a few liver -- three to be exact. I checked out a book from the library a week after I had him and the author recommended finding "the spot" and also the beef liver treat. I found a recipe online how to make liver treats, been great in training Max in general. He learned words quickly with it. I think liver = THE treat for training. So it's like finding a mil. dollars, right?

Originally Posted by 007Dogs

I agree, what do you do after he goes? Most dogs wait to go, because they know as soon as they go, they are going back inside or worse yet, back in there crate. So why would he hurry? There has to be a positive reward for going potty and then being allowed some free time out.

After he pees, I let him go buck wild. We have 3.5 acres and him and our older dog would play and explore within our land and I'm always out there with them. In the mornings, noons, and after dinner, I would tell Max to go poop in between their play and explore time and he'd go poop. Sometimes I don't have to tell him and he'll just go poop on his own. We'd be out there playing for 5-10 minutes and we'd go in and he'd play some more until it's time to go again.

Originally Posted by MegaMuttMom

Patience and time will help. Never scold, it will only make him distrust you. When we brought our dog home even a slightly raised voice made him cower.

A positive based obedience/puppy class with lots of treats and good cheer will help build his confidence in himself and you as his benevolent leader. Now when I tell people that Cherokee was a fearful dog, they can't believe it. But, we still know that he responds with fear to new things and situations and we are very mindful in everything we do with him.

No, we never scold, I'd just do the "oh, Max, lets go back in the crate" and we'd walk to the house.

We are taking him to puppy class. I think he's doing better. Not so afraid of other dogs and people. I took him to our daughter's pre-school for show and tell and he did awesome with the kids. Of course, no peeing was involved between the house and pre-school (and being with me at work for two hours), so that was between 1 and 4 p.m. and he was given many opportunities.

I'm a bit concerned since we're going to travel this Thanksgiving and him not peeing on our 10 hrs drive would be so horrible.

[MegaMuttMom]

10 hours is a long time to not pee but if he can hold it that long, I don't think it will hurt him.

When we first went to our Vermont house, we were afraid that Cherokee would revert to his scaredy dog pee/poop issues so we actually brought some poo with us to show him where we wanted him to go. Actually, my husband brought the poo and I thought he was crazy but when he dropped the poo on the ground and told Cherokee to go pee and poo, he did it right on the spot. Oh well, sometimes my husband has a good idea or two.

Before Thanksgiving, work on praising when he goes with the words you want like "good pee, good poo" and work on the command "go pee", or "go poo". With luck you will have enough time to train some of this and maybe it will work on your trip. Good luck.

By the way, my "nephew" miniature poodle can nold it for days at a time if he is in a mood. (He's neurotic in more ways than one) It's never hurt him in any way but my sister-in-law is bothered by it!

[putri]

Oh, MegaMuttMom, I know I'm not the only one but it's nice to know others with a submissive adopted dog. We love Max so much. Even his pee problem is not that big of a deal it's just more troubling when we're out and about (we worried that he hasn't peed but really did not want to stand around for 15 min. or more waiting) and it is getting cold ya know

Max has done so well the first two weeks with us, it's like we got a totally different dog. So much more confident and happy. Him eating better food too helped with him development I think. If he can just get his potty down, we'd be a happy camper.

If I know he's just holding it, that's fine. But I know it's not cause he can hold it because he pee'd on the rug soon after we came in. The good part about the rug pee is that it's the oldest rug I've got... it use to be an outside rug that's now in our laundry/mudroom area. Despite the rug being old, I still use Nature's Miracle so that he won't smell the urine, but he still does. So I could care less about the rug. It's the fact that he's not going when I know he needs to outside is what's bothering me. URGH!!

[MegaMuttMom]

Luckily our foster mom did the potty training. I suppose time is on your side. Our dogs need a lot of patient support, don't they? So different than a lot of the problems you get on the forum. At least it's an old rug.....

[Annamarie]

i would go back to the vet. i had a rescue lhasa that had a potty training issue that got missed until she went in to get spayed and a more serious health problem was discovered when they opened her up.