[whiteodessa]

I have a 1 year old male mini Australian shepherd that we rescued when he was 10 months old (we have had him 3 months). He is house broken but sometimes ( 2 or 3 times a week) will pee in the house. There is no rhyme or reason to it as there is no particular location or time when he does it. He goes out regularly and will do this after an hour or two after a long walk or after being outside. We know he goes on those occassions. We get him out regularly but this has not seemed to stem the flow. If this was more regular i would think it was a urinary tract infection but it is random and infrequent. It has also only been occurring in the past month or so. We have no new pets or other events that we can point to causing this. We are not sure what to do to correct this. Suggestions?

[DogsRlife]

My dogs are trained that if they potty outside, pee and/or poop, that they get a treat when they come back inside the house. I also have the new topic posted "Potty Training!!!! Going in the house!!!!" so as of this moment my pyrenees male is not complying..... but the other dogs caught on really fast but we had them all from their puppy life. Maybe that helped. Good luck. Feel free to ask any other questions.

[Gates1026]

Originally Posted by whiteodessa

He is house broken but sometimes ( 2 or 3 times a week) will pee in the house. There is no rhyme or reason to it as there is no particular location or time when he does it.

First I would recommend that you consider taking him to the vet to get a full checkup. You can do all of the behavior modification you want, but if there is a medical aspect to it your progress will be severly hindered.

How are you rewarding him when he does go outside as he is supposed to? Do you use any treats or other motivation? How are you punishing him when he makes a mistake?

I would go back to square one and start over. Keep eyes on him at all times and especially after he has been inside without eliminating for a few hours. Make sure you treat him when he goes outside and that you are taking him out frequently enough. The key to kicking this in the butt is to ensure you have a LOT of positive repetitions (he goes outside, you treat) and as few neagtive repitions (accident inside) as possible.

If you catch him in the act, startle him and take him directly outside. If he finishes outside, praise him like crazy.

My dogs are trained that if they potty outside, pee and/or poop, that they get a treat when they come back inside the house.

I would be careful with this. What are you really rewarding here from the dogs perspective, the action of eliminating outside or coming inside? Just because it makes sense to you doesnt mean they will always get it. I would praise the second they finish going outside. This means that you need to be outside with them.