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Need help getting our dog to pee outside!

1K views 4 replies 5 participants last post by  Kathyy 
#1 ·
A few days ago, my roommate and I rescued a dog, a Manchester terrier mix we named Luna. She's 2 years old, very sweet, but she was a stray, so she's not house trained. We've managed to get her to poop outside, but peeing is still a big issue. The problem is that she knows to hold it when we're gone, and she always holds it until we get back from outside. Since she's older, she can hold her bladder like a mother f-er (one time I stayed outside with her for 2 hours and she went immediately after we came in!)

We bought a kennel yesterday, which she's getting used to. I'm not sure how helpful crate training will be, since I worried that she'll want to go pee, then do the same thing as she always does. I've read that if the she pees, take her directly to the bathroom area, but I'm worried that she's associating it as a reward. She's a good dog, and she's smart, she's just backwards right now. Does anyone have any advice for us?

I'm attaching a photo, because she's cute, so why not?
 
#3 ·
What are you doing when you are outside? I have a big back yard, and even if I put my dogs outside for 10-15 minutes before a walk, as soon as I put that leash on, all they want to do is PEE ON ALL THE THINGS. Can you take her for a walk in areas where other dogs frequent? Smelling other dogs' pee may help motivate her.

If she pees on something like a towel, you can take that object with pee still on it and put it outside.

What type of area does she have to pee in? Some dogs are REALLY picky. For example, we had a dog who would only poop on grass...but she was a small dog so if the grass was too high it poked her bottom when she squatted and she didn't like it. So she would find a tiny tuft of grass growing up out of the driveway and poop on that. She was very picky for a mutt born in a chicken coop. :)

Maybe try some different types of surfaces outside. Grass, mulch, dirt, etc.
 
#4 ·
What happens if you take her for a walk? Some dogs will not pee on their own property. Just won't do it. They need a walk to pee.

What are you cleaning with? You need to use an enzymatic cleaner like Nature's Miracle. Regular cleaners won't remove the smell and she'll think that means it's an okay place to pee.

You may just have to treat her like a puppy. Out every 15 minutes, tied to you or crated when inside. This is just a matter of her not understanding what you want, sometimes you have to put a lot of effort into showing her what you want.
 
#5 ·
I adopt adult dogs from the local shelter and have always simply taken them outside on leash every hour for the first week or two. Sometimes they potty, sometimes not. The last two dogs have been penned unless on leash for walks and potty trips as they were second dogs and I want to introduce them to the household very calmly and that has been in my favor as well.

I walk around the perimeter of the yard a couple times very slowly. Since there is plenty of dog pee and poo out there it cues the new dog to go. Cookie and quiet praise when potties then back in the house to be penned up again or possibly a short training session of touch my hand or doggy zen, something that gets the dog lots of cookies and isn't very frustrating.

Learning the new dog's tell is important as well. I taught the medium sized dogs to ring a jingle bell tied to the door but Ginger thought that beneath her dignity. She pointedly sits and stares at us then runs to the door when we stir. Bucky hasn't much time between urge and void, if we see him turning in a circle we jump! He will ring the bell but generally because he wants to go out and bark rather than potty. It took a while before we figured out G's tell but due to reward and punishment it didn't take long for us to learn B's tell. Nothing like seeing your dog pee right in front of you to learn that there was a really good reason for the spins he did just before!
 
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