[Mavalos]

Hello everyone,

I've tried searching the forum and I couldn't find anyone with a problem similar to mine so here goes.
Just two questions:

1-. Been having problems housetraining my dog since day one. I live in an appartment so it's a long way to an area with grass. I have a 6 month American Eskimo and at this time what I'm doing to housetrain her is to leave her in her crate and only take her out to potty. If she does this I let her run freely around the house for about 2 hours before I place her in her crate again. She can hold herself pretty well, she has never relieved herself inside her crate. I've been doing this for about two weeks.
The problem is this. If I take her crate outside with me, there is obviously no problem because she'll relieve herself on the grass. But I'm trying to stop doing that now and release her inside my house so we can walk to her designated area outside my appartment.
The problem is that as soon as i release her, it takes no more than 1 minute before she relieves herself on my floor. I've read that sometimes they get excited and because of that they relieve themselves, so I've tried completly ignoring her for 2-3 minutes but she'll still relieve herself even if I'm not paying any attention to her. I've also tried carrying her downstairs (on my arms, not her crate) and she'll even relieve herself while I'm carrying her.

So anybody have any ideas ? Everytime she potties on my floor when I release her what I do is make her smell her pee (not wet her in it ofcourse) and say "No! Bad dog!". Then I lock her in her crate for 30 mins to 1hr. But the problem persists, after 30 mins to 1hr, I take her out of it, and she'll go again on my floor .
I really have no idea what to do and I mean I don't want to be taking her down on her crate EVERYTIME I take her potty, although if this is the only solution I guess i'll have to do it this way .


2-. My second question is easier. If she has a potty accident when playing (like a really small pee accident) should I punish her for that?

Thanks in advance to everyone that takes the time to read this .

 

[pamperedpups]

It sounds to me like your dog needs to be taken out to potty more often if she cannot hold it more than a few minutes after she's been crated. There's really no need to punish her for having to go potty, no matter if you just let her out of the crate or you are playing with her. Simply interrupt her and take her out to finish, then clean up the mess with a pet stain and odor eliminator.

Are you ready to take your dog out when you release her from the crate (shoes on, snapping leash and collar on before releasing her from the crate so you can swiftly walk to the door)? Is the crate positioned near the door? What do you do when she potties outside? Is she eating on a schedule? How much physical and mental exercise is she getting every day? Has she been checked out by your vet to rule out any physical reason she may need to go as often as she does?

 

[Mavalos]

I could try taking out her more. I haven't tried that yet. It still worries me because at 7 months she should be able to hold herself more I think. I mean i take her out every 5 hours. I think that's often enough.

I've taken her to the vet and she has no infections at all that might be causing her to potty a lot.

I'm always 100% ready to go to the door when I release her. The problem is that while we wait for the elevator to come, that's enough for her to do it on the floor. I've had people holding the elevator and she'll just potty in the elevator.

And when she potties outside I praise her all the time.

I mean even if she potties on my floor, as I immediately take her out, she'll still potty on the grass, so I guess she knows where she needs to go.

Thanks for your quick reply

 

[pamperedpups]

Every five hours is actually pushing it even for my two pups who are over a year old and all they have to do is walk through a door to the backyard when I take them out. Sure, they can hold it longer when crated, but it's not fair to keep them crated all of the time for that reason. For now I've settled on keeping them baby gated into the kitchen when I am home but cannot watch them and always letting them out every few hours. There are still accidents some days, but they are easier to clean up on the linoleum.

Could you set up a potty for your on the balcony if you have one?

 

[Lil Red Express]

Most of the time a dogs crate is suppose to be their safe place and you shouldn't use it for punishment .

 

[canteloupe]

Can you try taking the stairs? That way she would never be standing still, so maybe you could get her out without incident.
I've heard that punishment doesn't work for this, and that interrupting and taking outside is better. She might not make the connection that it's only bad to pee when inside, and start developing anxiety about peeing in general -- making training even harder.

 

[Mavalos]

I will try taking the stairs. Actually that isn't a bad idea. I live on the 10th floor but I guess a little excercise never hurt anyone .
I will try to take her out more often see if that stops her peeing right as I take her out too.

Thanks a lot to everyone for their feedback .

 

[Gingergal]

I'd be interested to here what other think about making a dog smelling it's pee in an area you don't want him to go in. I thought that was counter-productive?

As if a dog smells it's 'toilet' it just makes him think this is where I should go.

Which is why there are products in the market to completely take away the smell ie nature's miracle.

But as I said that's just what I have been reading and way more completely qualified people can tell you if I am way of base or not.