[uncbba02]

I have a 4 month old pittie, I am kennel training her. In the morning or when I come home from work, I open the kennel door to take her outside. If I reach in to put a leash on her she'll pee a bit in the kennel on the kennel pad. If I let her come out on her own and try to pick her up she usually will do the same on the carpet. If I let her come out on her own and don't reach for her she'll usually start to pee right there. I have done the negative reinforcement by using a strong deep loud voice and tell her NO, potty outside, then pick her up and take her out. She won't follow the other dogs and go out on her own so I have to pick her up or put a leash on her ... then I'm literally dragging her to the door.

How do I get her to hold it till we get outside or how do I get her to allow me to put a leash on her or allow me to pick her up without piddling in on the kennel pad? I do now acknowledge her in the morning or when I come home in the hopes she will not get over-excited but nothing has worked. I've started putting a puppy pad in front of the kennel so that she doesn't pee all over the carpet but I do not leave one down ... it's just there from the time I put her in the kennel in the morning til the time we go outside and then I trash it. Other than that, she is doing well during the day with going outside but mostly because I watch her like a hawk.

Any suggestions would be great!

 

[By-Tor and Snow Dog]

The reason that it's not recommended to shove your puppy's waste in their face is because, if you don't catch them in the act, they will have no idea what they did wrong and will think going to the bathroom is something bad. This makes any discipline useless.

This is different from shredding a pillow, where I can put the remnants of it in my dogs face and he will know exactly what he did was wrong (I know this because he always takes his punishment without fighting, walking over to the punishment crate on his own because he knows it's always next).

For waste inside the house, I think it's appropriate to clean it on a paper towel and put it in front of your puppy's face with your angry / serious tone and send her to a punishment crate or spray her with water if and only if you catch it happening live. This is a problem I had when first training too (but not to your extent), and it was effective. I'd go with the spray since that's better for a quick, immediate action. Use 3-4 squirts, if she's visibly annoyed and reacts to it, that's good because you can then make this a completely neutral future bad behavior consequence like I did. It's a very fast and emotionless way of doing it, but that works for me because of the way my own puppy thinks.

Political correctness in training has made people believe that just being upset or saying a word is enough to deter bad behavior. Saying "no" and picking her up isn't actually reinforcing anything. It's just teaching her that that's what will happen if she pees. This might work on most easier dogs but there are some dogs (like mine, a working breed) that are more independent thinking or stubborn and need to be shown consequences to their actions that will outweigh any positives of said bad behavior. They'll learn for themselves that peeing in the house leads to getting sprayed in the face and act on their own decisions accordingly in the future (if you maintain the discipline).

For excitement peeing though, there is really nothing you can do about it. We had some high energy neighbors come over to play with our puppy and he would pee when he spun around to greet them and wrestle. We didn't punish him for this. We decided he wasn't actively doing anything wrong if he lost control of himself and wasn't conscious of his actions, so corrections were useless here. We just cleaned it up and moved on.

He was about 5 months old at the time, and he eventually outgrew it completely by 6 months old. But your case might be different.

 

[uncbba02]

The reason that it's not recommended to shove your puppy's waste in their face is because, if you don't catch them in the act, they will have no idea what they did wrong and will think going to the bathroom is something bad. This makes any discipline useless.

This is different from shredding a pillow, where I can put the remnants of it in my dogs face and he will know exactly what he did was wrong (I know this because he always takes his punishment without fighting, walking over to the punishment crate on his own because he knows it's always next).

For waste inside the house, I think it's appropriate to clean it on a paper towel and put it in front of your puppy's face with your angry / serious tone and send her to a punishment crate or spray her with water if and only if you catch it happening live. This is a problem I had when first training too (but not to your extent), and it was effective. I'd go with the spray since that's better for a quick, immediate action. Use 3-4 squirts, if she's visibly annoyed and reacts to it, that's good because you can then make this a completely neutral future bad behavior consequence like I did. It's a very fast and emotionless way of doing it, but that works for me because of the way my own puppy thinks.

Political correctness in training has made people believe that just being upset or saying a word is enough to deter bad behavior. Saying "no" and picking her up isn't actually reinforcing anything. It's just teaching her that that's what will happen if she pees. This might work on most easier dogs but there are some dogs (like mine, a working breed) that are more independent thinking or stubborn and need to be shown consequences to their actions that will outweigh any positives of said bad behavior. They'll learn for themselves that peeing in the house leads to getting sprayed in the face and act on their own decisions accordingly in the future (if you maintain the discipline).

For excitement peeing though, there is really nothing you can do about it. We had some high energy neighbors come over to play with our puppy and he would pee when he spun around to greet them and wrestle. We didn't punish him for this. We decided he wasn't actively doing anything wrong if he lost control of himself and wasn't conscious of his actions, so corrections were useless here. We just cleaned it up and moved on.

He was about 5 months old at the time, and he eventually outgrew it completely by 6 months old. But your case might be different.

I don't shove my dogs face in their waste, I use my loud deep voice to say No when I catch her in the act. I have to pick her up and take her outside because she won't go on her own. I've tried different things to get her to go out on her own but she just won't do it.

 

[ClanWorgen]

Unfortunately this may be something you have to wait out and tolerate until she gains more bladder control. It could be fear urination as well, she may not understand why you are shouting no at her. Pit Bulls are generally very human soft dogs, it doesn't take much to get them to feel bad.
My Aussie puppy excite pees, he is almost the same age. I put a few potty pads in front of his crate because he piddles a little as I open the crate. Once the crate door is open I book it down the stairs and to the back door to let him out saying "come on lets go outside", this gets him moving and he understands where we are going. I have zero expectation that he will 'hold it' until he gains more bladder control.

On the bright side, generally speaking, dogs do not like making a mess in their 'home', so potty training is essentially working off natural instinct.

 

[uncbba02]

Unfortunately this may be something you have to wait out and tolerate until she gains more bladder control. It could be fear urination as well, she may not understand why you are shouting no at her. Pit Bulls are generally very human soft dogs, it doesn't take much to get them to feel bad.
My Aussie puppy excite pees, he is almost the same age. I put a few potty pads in front of his crate because he piddles a little as I open the crate. Once the crate door is open I book it down the stairs and to the back door to let him out saying "come on lets go outside", this gets him moving and he understands where we are going. I have zero expectation that he will 'hold it' until he gains more bladder control.

On the bright side, generally speaking, dogs do not like making a mess in their 'home', so potty training is essentially working off natural instinct.

I don't think I explained it well. The times she does this is in the morning and when I come home from work ... I'll open her kennel door and try to get her out to pick her up to go outside... then she pees a bit. Any time I try to pick her up to go outside she does this. The only time I raise my voice is when I catch her in the act.

 

[DaySleepers]

This does sound like it's more likely "submissive urination" (not a fan of the term because it can be easily linked with dominance theory, which is a bunch of hooey). Dogs who are a bit soft and sensitive can be more prone to it. It's a very natural way for a dog to say "whoops I'm harmless please don't hurt me" when they're scared or uncertain, and the younger the puppy the less bladder control they have so the more it happens.

Stop the verbal corrections altogether. You don't want her to connect pottying in front of you with punishment, because that often leads to a dog who still has indoor accidents, just sneaks off to do them somewhere you aren't. Sometimes it even makes a dog who won't pee in front of you at all, which makes rewarding outdoor pottying difficult and creates more work for housebreaking overall. Interrupting is fine, just stick to it being a more neutral sound rather than a scolding one - I use things like "whoops!", "ah-ah!", "hey-hey-hey!" and the like, in a high, silly pitch so they're weird and unusual enough to get the pup's attention, but not inherently alarming.

When getting her out of the crate, have you tried crouching down and letting her come out into your arms, and picking her up that way? She's still a very small puppy, and if she's a bit sensitive, being loomed over (unintentionally, but still) by a person - especially if you're on the taller or bigger side in general - can be intimidating. Getting down to her level might be a more comfortable picture to her. Turning yourself sideways a bit instead of fully facing her (or the door to her crate) is also a more comfortable, less confrontational posture that might give her more confidence in approaching you and reduce the possibility of peeing. You may need to practice her going in and out of the crate on her own with you crouching like this (during times when you know she doesn't have to potty), and if you search for 'crate games' you can find lots of ways to make this fun and low-stress for her.

A lot of dogs - even puppies - are also kind of uncomfortable being picked up. You might want to work on being picked up outside of potty trips as a training exercise, keeping it fun, positive, with a lot of rewards so it isn't an intimidating or scary experience. I don't know much about this training facility so I'm not endorsing them wholeheartedly, but I do like this article and attached video (it's geared towards small dogs but absolutely works with puppies too):

Teaching Your Small Dog to Love Getting Picked Up — Summit Dog Training

 

[3GSD4IPO]

Stop any "corrections" (including voice) when this happens. It is submissive urination.

Leaning over the dog or reaching into her kennel are intimidating actions to some dogs and they will submissive pee.

Is there a way you can stand to the side of her crate, not leaning over, to let her out of the crate and not putting a lead on until she is at the door? What kind of crate is it? If it is a wire crate cover it with a towel or get a plastic crate (more like a den than open wire crates).

This is not a behavior to punish. Punishment, including a stern voice, will make it worse.

 

[ClanWorgen]

I was not trying to imply you're being too rough or harsh with her, I am just saying this breed tends to be so people soft that even the slightest correction, as little as raising your voice, can cause them to become fearful. While she may be urinating before you raise your voice the anticipation of this correction could be enough to cause her to fear potty, which creates a vicious cycle of pottying and getting hollered at for it.

Potty training really shouldn't include corrections but rather redirection, if I catch my puppy in the act I do say AH AH to try to interrupt him then I take him outside, but if I had a softer somewhat fearful dog I would not do this because it would be counter productive. Training absolutely changes depending on the dog.

Is it possible to put the crate closer to the door?

 

[Kensi]

I don't shove my dogs face in their waste, I use my loud deep voice to say No when I catch her in the act. I have to pick her up and take her outside because she won't go on her own. I've tried different things to get her to go out on her own but she just won't do it.

Try not to punish her. I's possible she just doesn't quite get it yet, so the urination could be submissive- she is afraid of the correction. She may make the wrong connection and just think it's bad to pee in front of you- which, of course, is not what you're trying to teach. It is better to just do whatever you can to interrupt her or - better yet - distract her before she gets a chance- and then if she ever goes where she's supposed to, praise excessively.
Is it possible that she's been in the crate too long? Perhaps she simply physically cannot hold it.
Could you maybe move her crate closer to the door so that when you get home you can grab her and whisk her outside before she even gets a chance to go?
Also, have you spoken with a vet on this?

 

[storyist]

One of my Rotties girls did this as a puppy and then less and less as she grew, but it didn't completely end (when she got excited meeting people - new friends or old). I do think it's beyond the dog's control as youngsters and getting after them for it makes it worse - excitement, anxiety = leakage. So I agree with others that the best solution would be to use something easy to clean in the crate (assuming she doesn't chew crate pads, but crate trays wipe up easily if she does), put something easy to clean just in front of the crate door, clean up with something like Nature's Miracle as necessary, and otherwise ignore it. The suggestions for minimizing it and giving her a chance to get over it faster because you aren't reacting in a way to increase the emotional stimulus are all worth a try.

 

[Quinsation]

How long are you leaving her in the crate? It could be that she just can't hold it any longer, especially in the morning.
If I sleep a bit late on the weekends, I have to race my puppy to the door. If I'm late, he will pee by the door. My fault for not taking him out soon enough.
I would try taking her out more often, or waiting until she is a bit older and can 'hold it' longer before getting too worked up about it.