[nettieeee]

Hi everyone! I am new to the board and really need some help/advice. I have a puppy who I got about five months ago from a friend of mine that breeds puppies. He's about 6 months old now. He's pomeranian, shih tzu, and pekingese mix. He has gotten his first puppy shots and everything already. He was perfectly fine when he was around 2-3 months old. He listens and pees on the pad right away which made me very happy. I don't know what happened but recently, I moved to a new state that's 1,200 miles away and brought him along with me, he has acted a little off. What I mean is that he doesn't pee on the pad anymore and he keeps peeing on the ground/carpet all the time. We have trained him numerous times to be on the pad but never does.

Lately, he only pees when my boyfriend praise him and hold him while he's on the pad just so he can pee. He also eats his own poop if we don't take him right away when he finish eating. He was fine before when I first got him but now, I don't like to use the word retard but he's a little challenged. Also he pees on himself when we try to play with him which is a bit odd. As he gets older, he seems to be going to a different direction that I've never dealt before. I've owned a dog before and it wasn't this bad. Also, we'll put a kennel on the patio when I have an 8 hour shift at work so he doesn't get stuck locked in the kennel so he's mostly free. When I come home, he doesn't even lay in his bed and rather sleep on the hard surface as well as eating his poo.

I really don't know what's going on and would love any advice and tips or help! I really don't want to give him away but he's losing our patience. He's been chewing on wood out on the patio as well and it had made him throw up a lot recently. I don't know how to stop him from that. The major thing is the peeing issue. He would hold his pee all day and sometimes all night and out of nowhere, he'll let it out like crazy. We even walk him sometimes and he just pees on the sidewalk and not on the grass. Please help! Thanks for your time!!

Here is Shiro!

 

[Mr. saggylips]

Please stick it out. Small dogs have a bladder the size of a thimble. The best thing you can do is to take him outside to go to the bathroom, stay out there with him and as soon as he goes potty give him plenty of positive reinforcement with petting and a treat. When raising mine I would sometimes have to sit out there with him for an hour or more. They can be quite the tricksters. You might think that they just don't need to go, but as soon as you let them back in they will go in the house. After a few successful outtings he will start making the connection that going to the bathroom outside will earn him a reward. After awhile phase out the treats and just reward him with petting. The next step would be to just reward him with a "good boy" in a positive tone. I personally think that using a pee pad has the opposite effect because the dog will think that peeing inside the house is acceptable. Smaller dogs seem to need more training because they are slower to catch on in my experience. You must realize that 6 months old is still pretty young and there are going to be accidents in the house. Stay vigilant and one day you will realize it was all worth it. You only get out what you put in. Good luck!

 

[Amaryllis]

Moves seriously stress dogs. And it's common for puppies to backslide on house training at 6 months. Just stick with it.

As to the poo eating, what are you feeding? It could be the food, but there are additives that make poo unpalatable to dogs. You just sprinkle it on his food before he eats.

 

[Bordermom]

Dear owner:

Common issue with using pee pads, I would suggest you stop using them and start training him to go outside to potty all the time. MUCH easier to the puppy to figure out 'oh, I go OUTSIDE to the bathroom' instead of 'where's the bit of carpet I do get to pee on? Oh well, this carpet or that, it's all good'. He's also a small breed mx and young, so give it time. Like human toddlers it's a bit of work at times to get it all figured out.

Switch foods slowly, or add in some products to make his poop taste bad, but for now since you're already going to be taking him out to potty often, you can try just distracting him with a treat and picking up the poop as soon as you can, before he eats it. That will help break the habit. Dogs also don't like to always have the soft fluffy bed, sometimes the cool floor is much better - when he's old he'd likely enjoy something soft more.

Walk him all the time, not sometimes. Make it part of the routine to go for a walk twice a day, doesn't need to be anything long, just get him out and moving, and he'll likely do his thing on the walk since that gets things going.

Provide him with things he CAN chew. He's teething! He is going to chew, so get some bones, antlers, or other chew items for him to chew that are safe. Pick up some bitter apple or other product for spraying the things you don't want him chewing (go around and see what you might think he'd try, and spray before he does try) too. We have lots of bones around, some rope toys and such, and the dogs love to work on different things and toys.