[MastiffM0m]

I have a 5 1/2 month old English Mastiff. We got her at 16 weeks, from a pet Store & she was not housebroken of course. We used a crate at first, but she ALWAYS poo'd & pee'd in it, even after being taken outside and since it was difficult giving her a bath 3x a day we got rid of the crate and gated her off in the kitchen. She has NOT stopped the pooing & peeing in the house!! I take her out almost every hour so I know that's not an issue. If we play with her outside & bring her in and leave her in the kitchen she will pee on the floor as if in spite! If we leave her alone for any length of time she will pee/poo on the floor. Even after taking her out. It's like she stores it to go on the floor. How can I stop this??? Its really becoming an issue in our house as my husband thinks she is beyond housebreaking & wants to get rid of her. I don't & really am desperate for help. Last night she pee'd on her blankets. What kind of dog does that? Can she really be spiteful? How do you break spiteful peeing? I have tried so much positive reinforcement when she does go outside & I just don't understand her. My son (12 yrs old) has been sleeping with her and she has been holding it all night. If she sleeps alone, we wake up to piles. HELP!!!

 

[Xie]

Before I say anything else I want this to be clear, it is NOT spiteful!

You say you got her at a pet store and sadly that pretty much explains all of her housebreaking issues. Pet stores get their dogs from puppymills and puppymill dogs are never taken out of their crates so they learn to go in them and live in the filth. It's very common to have a hard time housebreaking a pet store pup. They just don't have the normal inclination to not pee or poop where they sleep as a well raised pup does. At 16 weeks your pup has already had 4 months of living and sleeping where she poops and pees and that is what you now have to break.

Get a good enzyme cleaner to clean any mess she makes in the house. Any smell at all of her pee or poop that is left behind (even if you can't smell it) makes it much more likely for her to go in the house.

Then keep taking her out and praise like crazy! Find a really good treat that she loves and give her a jackpot (a bunch of treats at once) everytime she goes outside. Whenever she is inside keep a super close eye on her and take her out the second she looks like she might do something. Try not to leave her alone at all when in the house. You can even tether her to you with a leash, just attach it with a carabiner clip to your belt loop so you don't have to hold it all day.

If you are diligent she will learn to go outside, but remember you are breaking some deeply ingrained habits from her time at the puppymill and pet store and that is NOT going to be easy. Lots of praise and lots of time together will help her learn where it is appropriate to go.

 

[Darkmoon]

First of all it isn't Spite. Welcome to having a Puppy Mill dog. As Xie said, they are extra hard to house break.


Xie has said it the best. You have to be consistent, which include getting up every few hours at night to take her out. You can't expect her to hold her bladder if she doesn't know she has too. That includes at night too. Time to set your alarm for every hour to hour and a half and take her out (including at night) and over a week, move the time up to 1 hour 45 mins, if she does good, then every 2 hours and so forth. You can't expect her yet to hold it in. She is too young.

Good luck and she can be house broken, you just have to be consistent.

 

[TooneyDogs]

Totally agree....this is is going to be hard. The two crucial things are catching her in the act and then teaching her that going in the house is wrong....very wrong. That does NOT mean that you scream at her or scare her out of her wits. You just interrupt her, tell her No! and march her to the potty area where you praise/praise/praise for finishing in the right place.

 

[Dogstar]

Here's a quick rundown on what you need to do to housebreak a dog who doesn't have the instinct to keep a 'den' clean -

http://dogstaracademy.wordpress.com/2008/05/06/crate-soilin/