[SeanOf30306]

I've just adopted Lily, a 7 month-old Yellow Lab mix. She has a really sweet disposition, comes when I call and works very well on the leash. She was born at the SPCA, and has been adopted-out once and returned. I think I know why.

I'm pretty sure she was on the bottom of the totem pole, pack-wise. She's very nervous-submissive and has a nervous bladder. I'm working on the nervous bladder by ignoring her when I first see her, only calling her to me after she's had a chance to calm down a bit. It's worked pretty well so far; I think she just needs time to adjust to her new surroundings, I only got her yeasterday.

The one problem I'm having so far is with basic housebreaking. I have a fenced back yard, with a dog door for her. I'm trying to teach her to use the door and to go out when she needs to do her business.

So far, she's afraid of the dog door. I haven't forced her to go through it, instead just encouraging her. When we're outside, she'll use it to come in if I give the flap a little shove so she can see inside. Otherwise, it's a no go. When we're inside, I've been holding the flap open, showing her treats, then tossing them outside; progressively further wach time. She'll go through, get the treat, then come right back in as long as I hold the flap open, but won't do it otherwise.

I take her for a 3 mile walk each day, and take her out in the back yard every 3 or 4 hours. We stay out till she pees and/or poops. When she does, I praise her profusely, saying "get busy" so she'll eventually learn to do her business on command.

She's peed the carpet a few times, but has yet to crap. When she does, I find her and, without saying anything, take her by the collar, lead her to the spot, put her nose near the spot and say "NO!" and "BAD" several times while shaking her by the scruff with my other hand. I then take her out into the back yard and ignore her till she pees, then praise her profusely.

My questions are:

a) Is this the correct method? I won't do any physical correction other than the scruff schake, and am not going to use cans or loud noises, either. She's already shy and fearful, and I don't want to make her more so.

b) Should I correct her till she turns over on her back, or is a simple, firm correction followed immediately by taking her out back and waiting till she pees so I can praise her enough?

c) What should I do about the urine in the carpet? Currently, I'm blotting it up with paper towels.

d) Is there a better way to get her to use the dog door?

[workingdog]

In my opinion i would start from square one. Treat her as you would a puppy just beginning house training.I would use a crate and she would be in it if i could not watch every move she makes.Take her out often and never give her the chance to potty in the house and if she dose and you do not see it, don't get after her cause she will have no idea why you are mad.Now if cought in the act, then yell no! potty out side and take her right out but the trick is not given her the chance to go in the house.I have allways used orange clean on any pee/poop it works good. The dog door i think will come in time.Let her settle in and work on the house training and once she is comfortable in her new home, i'm sure she will start using it.

[opokki]

Originally Posted by SeanOf30306

My questions are:

a) Is this the correct method? I won't do any physical correction other than the scruff schake, and am not going to use cans or loud noises, either. She's already shy and fearful, and I don't want to make her more so.

b) Should I correct her till she turns over on her back, or is a simple, firm correction followed immediately by taking her out back and waiting till she pees so I can praise her enough?

c) What should I do about the urine in the carpet? Currently, I'm blotting it up with paper towels.

d) Is there a better way to get her to use the dog door?

a) Dogs live in the moment so there is no point in punishing her after the fact. And even if caught in the act, punishment might cause her to avoid eliminating in your presence alltogether...even while outside. She will continue to eliminate indoors but she might learn to sneak off to do so. These issues will greatly set you back on housebreaking her.

Instead of trying to punish her, interrupt her if you catch her in the act and get her outside quickly, allow her to finish up and praise her. You're not trying to punish or scare her, only trying to stop her in mid stream so you can have her finish up in the correct location.

Until she grasps the concept of eliminating outdoors and using the doggy door, you should be taking her outside frequently and keeping a close eye on her at all times while she is inside so you can prevent accidents from occuring in the first place. Tether her to your waist if you must or use baby gates to keep her nearby and restrict her access to the rest of the house. Lots of praise for going in the correct location everytime.

b) She is already nervous and submissive, there is really no need to get physical with her. With a dog like this, a firm verbal interruption should be sufficient.

c) Blott the urine up with paper towels and then treat it with an enzymatic cleaner such as Nature's Miracle, Anti-Icky Poo, or Simple Solution. Unless you completely remove the odor she may target that location again in the future.

d) What you're doing so far sounds like the right idea. If she is coming through as long as you hold the flap open, gradually begin holding the flap open a little less until you aren't holding it at all. Grab the smelliest treats you can find, stand on the opposite side of the door and encourage her to come though using a happy voice. Try making a short trail of smelly treats leading through the doggy door while you happily call her name from the opposite side. If she comes through reward her heavily.

[SeanOf30306]

What a difference a day makes!

Lily had another accident, but, since I didn't catch her in the act, I didn't scold her; I just took her outside, waited till she went to pee and praised the hell out of her.

I continued to take her out every two hours or so. Now, that's not all that easy, as we are in the middle of a blizzard here in Tulsa! Each time I took her out, I got her to go back in the door by encouragement and holding the door for her. As soon as I followed her in, I grabbed a handful of cookies and gave her a few, praising her all the way. I also continued to work with her from the inside, tossing treats out the dog door and praising her when she'd go get them.

Late last night, I caught her in the act of peeing on the floor. I didn't say anything, just grabbed her collar and took her outside, waited till she went to pee and praised the hell out of her.

A little later, I fell asleep on the couch. Sometime later, I heard a noise, didn't see Lily, and got up to see what she was up to. There she was, out in the back yard, peeing! Needless to say, she got some serious treats when she came back in!

She's been using the door ever since. She walks up to it, swats it with a paw, and goes on through after it's swung open a bit and she can see "outside" is on the other side of it. What a good girl! I'm sure there will be plenty of mistakes on the road ahead, but she sure is doing well!

I'm amazed at how quickly she's been picking things up. She's been pretty good on the leash from the first, and she's come when called every time, too. I just assumed that was her nervous submissive nature. I worked with her awhile last night, though, and she's already sitting when I say "sit", holding out a paw to shake when I say "hello", and jumping up on whatever I point to when I say "hup!". My last dog, an Aussie mix, did all that as well, but he didn't pick it up nearly as quickly.

I was sad that Lily had been adopted out, passed around, and returned. Now, I'm just glad the people who had her didn't take the time to get to know her and realize what a great dog she is.

She still has a bit of a nervous bladder. I have to be real careful to ignore her when I walk into a room where she is, or she'll start wagging that tail like crazy while crawling across the floor towards me, dribbling a bit of pee as she does. If I ignore her for a minute, get a bit away from her and calmly call her too me, she's ok.

[Curbside Prophet]

Sounds like Lily's got a great dad. Congrats on the success and patience.

[opokki]

How wonderful! I'm so glad to hear you are making progress.

[Sawyer]

Lily wants to make you happy...it's just taking her a while to figure out what that is!

[SeanOf30306]

Update:

Lily is perfectly housebroken! There have been only two reoccurrences. The first was when I woke up in the morning on Friday. She'd peed on the carpet. I was really disappointed till I noticed that the dog door was snowed shut (we'd gotten 18" of snow). You could even see where she'd tried to push it open, but couldn't.

The other was on Saturday. Being a man who lives alone, I don't bother to close the door when I use the bathroom. After relieving myself, I turned around to see Lily doing the same! I was laughing like hell as I took her outside and praised her when she resumed her "business". She hasn't done it since.

After using the tips kindly given to me by forum members, my advice to anyone tring to housebreak their dog is this:

1). Take the dog outside at least once every two hours or so, preferrably more. Wait patiently with the dog as long as it takes for it to relieve itself. When it does, praise the HELL out of it, over and over. Make a BIG deal out of it. If you like, attach a command to the praise ("Good Lily. Get busy! Good girl! Get busy. Good Lily", etc). The dog will soon learn to relieve itself on command.

2. Watch the dog closely when inside. Don't let it out of your sight. When it starts to relieve itself, don't correct it. Instead, just grab it by the collar and calmly take it outside. As soon as it resumes relieveing itself, praise the hell out of it.

3. If the dog has an accident and you don't catch it in the act, don't correct it or "stick it's nose in it", etc. The dog won't understand what you're doing. Just take it outside and wait as long as it takes till it does it again, then praise it.

4. Blot up any accidents right away, then clean them with a cleaner designed to eliminate the odor. If you don't, the dog may decide that's it's "spot".

There are some things I still have questions about, though. First, when I walk her, she doesn't relieve herself at all. We went over 2 miles yesterday, and she didn't do it once. That seems odd to me.

Also, when she defecates, she seems to have to work really hard at it, and it takes her a long time. Her turds are long and stringy, as well. This has been going on for over a week (since I brought her home). She's on Science Diet Puppy formula (kibble), which is what the vet had her on before I got her.