[Papa Deuce]

A few months back I was incredibly frustrated with my coonhound mix. We just could not seem to get her fully housebroken. As I had said in another thread, I was shocked that I could not get this dog housebroken. Most of my previous dogs were pretty darn reliably housebroken in a week, or even less.

And she was a slow learner on so many levels..... plus just plain stubborn. I could tell she was smart. The vet thinks she is half border collie. But she was just ambivalent about being taught what to do. It was getting to the point that I was willing to give her away to someone who had more patience and better training skills than I have.

THEN.... somebody recommended the book "When Pigs Fly" to me.... and while I didn't actually follow what the book told me to do, the book gave me insight to the way my dog - and coonhounds in general, according to her - think. So the parts that made sense to me, I read and re-read, over and over.... and I started thinking how to make my dog want to learn.

So, now the puppy is 10 months old and she seems to finally be picking up what is expected of her. It's been 3 weeks since she has had an accident, and she has learned to go to the door and whine a lot if she need to go out. If it is the middle of the night she jumps up on my bed and licks me and then whines.... like she did yesterday at 5:15 AM. I hated getting out of bed, but I loved the fact that she got me up! And when we went out she peed and pooped almost immediately. Hurray!

She is also much better at listening to other commands these days.... she's not perfect, but at least she has reached the point where she can co-exist in the family without so much - I hate to say this - resentment.... or maybe a better word is exasperation. Life was really hard with her for about 6 or 7 months.

While not a perfect dog by any means, she is becoming the dog we had hoped she would be...

1. She is great with kids and dogs
2. Can be left uncrated alone ( with my other dog )
3. Great watch dog
4. Really a loving dog..... though if she's not in the mood she stays away from us.
5. Funniest, most amusing dog we - or I - have ever had.... she can make us laugh like no other dog ever has.

Anyway, I wanted to make this thread to mention the book. And I wanted to possibly give hope to other people who have dogs that just seem "Impossible" to train. Seriously, we had nearly given up. And then it was like a light bulb clicked for me ( the only person in the family who ever really worked on training her ) and her, after reading the book.

Good luck to all of you who feel like I felt.

 

[wvasko]

Great job, just keep the thought that she is only 10 months old and sometimes possible accidents are still in future. I have always preferred an "out schedule" with pup that young rather than rely on the pup to tell me when he/she wants to go out. It's nice that she does but just keep one eye/ear open.

Again, pat yourself on back, you did good.

 

[Abbylynn]

Great job! I know it can be frustrating ..... It also sometimes seems like you cannot move forward with the fun stuff ... like leaving them with full run of the house until they are potty trained too ... doesn't it?

Leeo was a toughie to potty train too. Took him over a year ... but I think the poor little guy had physical issues. :/

Abbylynn had a few accidents at 11 months old ... but by the time she was 1 year old ... all accidents ceased.

Blu Boy has always been good about it.

I lucked out with Lucy ... she is potty trained ... except twice she snuck to the basement when I was not paying attention ... she is a quick little bugger! :/ ... maybe she is not potty trained!

 

[Papa Deuce]

I don't actually have a schedule for her to go out other than when we first get up, and then right before bed. Other than that she gets to go out about 6 or 7x a day, spaced out about every 2 hours. She can handle 6 hours of not going during the day, but since I work from home, I take her out.

The only "issue" we still have bothers me more than anybody else..... she likes to whine about stuff where nobody can figure out what is bothering her. You can tell "something" is on her mind, though..... usually it just means she wants food, or whatever else my other dog has, but sometimes we have no clue at all. In the book the lady says coonhounds are "unbiddable" dogs, meaning the breed does not care about doing what you ask, unlike, say, a golden retriever. And I believe her... Our other dog is a Golden and she lives to please us, while the coonhound is a very independent thinker. I have had breeds that are supposed to be independent thinkers before, but none that even came close to this pup.

 

[RCloud]

I'm glad you were able to finally get her housebroken, but even if she was one of those dogs who just "never got it", it wouldn't be the end of the world. Charlotte has never been 100% housebroken. My husband and I come from a long history of owning and housebreaking dogs, so it's nothing WE'RE doing wrong, it's just her. For as incredibly intelligent as she is, she just never seemed to "get it" and will occasionally pee inside (never poops inside however, just pees). She's been taken to the vet and they ran tests on her and said she's totally healthy and it's not a URI, and thus most likely it's an incontinence issue. Though I honestly don't know about that, that's what I call it when I talk about it.

When left alone in the house or visiting people at their houses, she wears something called "piddle pants" which is basically a doggy diaper in the shape of overalls. If she ends up having an accident, her pants prevents it from getting all over our carpet, bed, couch, etc.

 

[chubby]

I'm glad you were able to finally get her housebroken, but even if she was one of those dogs who just "never got it", it wouldn't be the end of the world. Charlotte has never been 100% housebroken. My husband and I come from a long history of owning and housebreaking dogs, so it's nothing WE'RE doing wrong, it's just her. For as incredibly intelligent as she is, she just never seemed to "get it" and will occasionally pee inside (never poops inside however, just pees). She's been taken to the vet and they ran tests on her and said she's totally healthy and it's not a URI, and thus most likely it's an incontinence issue. Though I honestly don't know about that, that's what I call it when I talk about it.

When left alone in the house or visiting people at their houses, she wears something called "piddle pants" which is basically a doggy diaper in the shape of overalls. If she ends up having an accident, her pants prevents it from getting all over our carpet, bed, couch, etc.

I have this really horrible feeling that Butters also wont quite ever get it I know it's my fault, but I feel so frustrated feeling knowing I have to get up 4 times a night to let her out of her crate so she doesn't have an accident in it - and she's 10 months old! Do you have any words of advice? I just feel so frustrated and sleep deprived and I feel it's really taking a toll on me and my ability to see past all this.

 

[RCloud]

I have this really horrible feeling that Butters also wont quite ever get it I know it's my fault, but I feel so frustrated feeling knowing I have to get up 4 times a night to let her out of her crate so she doesn't have an accident in it - and she's 10 months old! Do you have any words of advice? I just feel so frustrated and sleep deprived and I feel it's really taking a toll on me and my ability to see past all this.

I think each issue is unique to the dog. In my case Charlotte is older. She's around 8 or 9 years now and was adopted at the age of 6 years and was spayed at that age. My husband has no real memory of Charlotte ever peeing inside prior to her spay, and given she's VERY vigilant about pooping outside (unless she's sick which is excusable), it's believed to either be spay incontinence or bladder incontinence due to her age by our vet. I'm not sure I can fully believe this because she only seems to pee on soft surfaces like carpets, blankets, beds, etc. yet seems to hold it on hard surfaces like wood floors and linoleum. She also goes through phases where she does really great for several months and won't have a single accident, and then suddenly it's an everyday occurrence.

I honestly don't know what her deal is and realistically I doubt we'll ever know. So instead of getting mad at her for something she has no control over, we just decided to accept it and deal with it as best we can. The Piddle Pants are really the best thing ever created in our case.

I wouldn't give up hope on your dog, however. She's young and sometimes it can take dogs quite a while to understand what's expected of them. Just be patient and keep being persistent with her.

 

[Papa Deuce]

I have this really horrible feeling that Butters also wont quite ever get it I know it's my fault, but I feel so frustrated feeling knowing I have to get up 4 times a night to let her out of her crate so she doesn't have an accident in it - and she's 10 months old! Do you have any words of advice? I just feel so frustrated and sleep deprived and I feel it's really taking a toll on me and my ability to see past all this.

Just my OPINION, and I don't know all your details, but I don't think you need to get up 4x a night. I pull the water dish up at 9 PM.... I take her out at 10 - 11 PM.... she's always good til morning as far as peeing goes.... I would bet that your dog could cut that at least down to 2x a night, and given time, she will make it all the way.

Good Luck.

 

[RegiaPutri]

I know it's my fault,

How is it your fault?