[Donnamzalas]

My pug/jack russell mix is 8 months old. He was 7 weeks when we got him and we immediately began training him to go outside. He learned the word potty and went to the door when he had to go. He could be left out of the crate and we were able to trust him. He has now gone completely in the other direction. You cannot trust him for five minutes. He goes outside to go and simply wanders around and is distracted by everything. He then wants to go back into the house. You bring him in and he goes in the house. I am am so frustrated and and considering rehoming him. Before I do, I want to try to get as much advice as possible.

 

[Lillith]

Regression is quite normal in a dog's "teenage" phase. Your dog is right in the middle of it. They often need refreshers on their basic obedience skills, push boundaries, and seem less interested in their owners. I think it's the hardest phase of dog ownership because they're getting big and strong and it seems like they should know better, but remember they're still just babies!

Begin to treat him as a little puppy again, with 100% supervision at all times, and crate when you can't supervise. Take him out frequently for potty breaks, reward for going in the correct spot. When you take him out to potty, take him out on leash and be very boring until he goes potty so he can't wander around. It's easy to them to forget that they have to go potty, and then they come inside where its boring and they're going potty before they remember they have to go!

It seems that dogs really don't have complete control of their bladder until they're over 1 year old, so I would keep a close eye on him and restrict his freedom until he's a bit more mature.

 

[3GSD4IPO]

You are expecting too much too soon from what is, essentially, a baby dog.

Go back to crate and rotate and treating your dog like a puppy so the behaviors you want are cemented. Yes.. a lot more work but it will pay off greatly down the road.

When puppies are very young they are also very dependent. As they mature they become more independent. This is natural. If this puppy were born in a feral situation this gradual independence is a natural progression. By 8 months old a feral bitch may have been bred again and be looking to have another litter if the dogs were feral so she would be pushing this dog from a previous litter away from her (and have been doing it for awhile).