house training challenge

dtrachtman said:

. I catch him in the act and reprimand him and take him outside immediately but he just does it again.

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A couple of things come to mind. When you say catch him in the act...are you catching him the instant he starts and not letting him finish of is it really after the fact?

Are you rewarding and praising for going in the right potty spot...really teaching him that that's the correct place to relive himself?

As you stated, he's sort of house trained....he shouldn't have access to the rest of the house until the training is done.

TooneyDogs said:

he shouldn't have access to the rest of the house until the training is done.

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That's true. When a dog is trained to a room, letting him in another room is the same as letting him outside, especially if he's gone in the other room before. So, the only time he should be allowed in the other rooms is AFTER he's gone potty outside AND under strict supervision for a limited time.

Thanks for the help.
When I catch him in the act, its just when he starts or in the middle, never after the fact. When I take him outside at that moment, he has usually forgotten all about it by the time he gets outside and no longer has interest in going. Maybe thats part of the problem too. But again, he knows to go outside when he is in the kitchen.

Its not always clear when he has gone potty outside because he goes in and out regularly on his own.

I dont have to praise him for going potty in the right place outside because he knows to do that very well, and besides I rarely see it happen.

If he shouldnt have access to the rest of the house until he is trained, how am I supposed to know if he is trained w/o testing him?

Your dog is room trained but not house trained. A house is made up of many rooms so what you need to do is fairly obvious here.

If you rarely see him go outside, how do you know it has happened? How does the dog know that is the right place to go if your not communicating that to him?

The doggy door connects to the deck and I regularly find poop on the deck, so thats how I know. I guess he figured out that is the right place to go w/o my communicating it to him.

The only thing your dog knows is that the kitchen is his den. Everywhere else is not.