5 month Shorkie still not potty trained

[kcbutsch]

Hi Everyone.  I'm new to the forum and so glad to have a place to ask questions.  Our shorkie Jack will be 5 months old tomorrow and still does not seem to have the potty training thing down.  We have a bell hung by the door that he sometimes rings.  He will go to the door only half the time he has to go, otherwise, he makes no attempt and goes right where he is.  Because of this, I have kept him confined to the kitchen or the room I am in if I can keep an eye on him.  Otherwise, he goes in his crate.  We take him out often, every hour or so.  We praise him lavishly, however, sometimes he just refuses to go outside.  We'll bring him in and he'll go in the house 10 minutes later.

Any experiences or tips would be most appreciated.  We love him dearly, but oy, this is getting old.  TIA.

[Ann]

Yeh I under stand where your comeing from.May I ask if you bought him at a pet shop.The reason is I got my Toby from a pet shop and this makes them harder to train as they are taught eat, sleep and toilet in the same area. Dogs are naturally clean but when they have no choice but to do this they will and so being puppies they learn this is the right thing. Bad habbits are hard to break. The only thing I can surgest is try useing the paper system. You set him in a room near a door to outside. Then cover a large area of the floor close to the door with paper. When he goes on the paper praise him. Then gradually each day reduce the paper closer to the door. This will teach him to go outside. If you don't want to do this I do believe that if you perserver he will eventually get it. It took me a long time and I thought he would never get it but this method and also taking him outside worked. I have no trouble with him now he has been left inside on his own for 10 hours and I have come home and  he hasn't done anything inside. He even waits for me to tell him to go toilet. Please let us know how you go.  

[eepuni]

also,  if you try controlling when he eats that helps.  you can predict when he will need to go to the bathroom.  puppies will tend to go about 30 min after they eat.  as for peeing, if your puppy makes a mistake on the floor make sure you clean the area very well with white vinegar because even though you may think that you have cleaned it, your puppy may still be able to smell it and think of that area as his bathroom.  white vinegar (mixed with water, I hear) is good at getting rid of the smell.  you could also go and buy a pet stain cleaner if you'd like.

[rowan_mommy]

The cleaning up the spots mentioned earlier really does work wonders. Rowan is almost 4 months and I have no clue what the people that had her before me did with her but she was not potty trained when I got her um 5 days ago I think. For the first few days we had issues like you talked about, I would take her outside and nothing even though I waited and when she did potty outside I would praise AND give her a treat but then 10 to 15 min after we came inside she would potty again or for the first time. But I got that Nature's Miracle stuff and I spray it on every spot either on carpet or laminate floor and she never goes in the same place twice. I was so frustrated.  So I did alot of research (thats how I found this wonderful site  ) and found out its alot easier to potty train if there are fewer variables. That means you have to do several things: 1. control when they get food AND water, put their food and water out for a set amount of time at set times depending on your puppy's needs 2. keep track of the last time you took them potty, their bladders can hold for 1 hour for every month they are old on average (you might want to error on the side of caution and reduce that by an hour to an hour and a half just to be safe) 3. consistently take them to the same place to potty, if you are taking them to the back yard take them to the same spot in the backyard that way they know its not play time its potty time (really helpful for that last potty of the night when your already exhausted n just wanna go to sleep n don't wanna stand around while your puppy plays til she decides its time to potty) 4. while they are looking for their 'right spot' to potty don't interupt them or talk to them or encourage them, it might take a few minutes but how many people are fans of people talking to them while they try to go to the bathroom?? 5. after they go potty act completely and totally enthusiastic about it even if your exhausted, your puppy likes to see you happy so she will continue to do what makes you seem seriously thrilled.......

Now these are all things that I found from different websites on potty training in general (not necessrily using a crate technique or anything like that just more of a how to not get potty in your house kinda thing) so they might not work for your puppy or anyones puppy and some things might be completely and totally off base, all I know is that i have been using these for the past few days and last night we had a major break thru that continued on thru this morning with Rowan potty training (haven't gotten her crate yet cuz I ordered it online cuz the only place in town that might sell ones small enough for her at a full grown size I do not go in because well I think they are cruel to animals and the people that want to love them and help them, so we are sharing a bed til tomorrow night since her crate will be here Monday but she let me know she had to go potty 3 times last night even tho 1 was only an attempt to get a treat lol and then again 2 times this morning and its late afternoon and we have had no accidents yet and had none yesterday so we are relaxing watching old Disney dog movies lol)

[sarah]

I have a 5 month old shorkie and am having a heck of a time potty training her.  We bought her from a breeder.  He had her in the cage with her mother until we picked her up at 10 weeks.  When we brought her home she had her normal mistakes but she is GREAT at night, she can go for 8 hours and not potty one bit.  There are some nights that she is sleeping (in my bed) that she does wake up and has pottied, but most of all she makes it great.  The daytime is what is bad.  First off she is not put in a cage at all, whenever we put her in one she goes nuts.  I mean nuts, she yips like crazy jumping all over the place.  She calms down, but if we leave her in it to go to the store, she pee's or poops in the cage.  It doesn't matter if she just went to the bathroom, she still goes in the cage.  We let her out all the time.  She does NOT whine when she has to go, she'll just squat and go.  We've tried a variety of things and nothing seems to work.  We've tried the cage training, that didn't work.  We've tried taking her out all the time and that doesn't work.  Infact, she can go potty outside and come in an poop on the floor.  She'd rather be around us then anything and when she is not she freaks out.  I can use any advice you may have because it is getting really frustrating.  I have only owned one dog before her and he was a St. Bernard that potty trained immediately, so i'm new to the little puppys.  But if she doesn't whine to go outside, hates the cage then what do i do?  Please help because we love her and want to help her do things right.   

[Mai Tai]

I am in the same boat with Mojito, who is also almost 5 months old, so I am open to all advice too...LOL.  I am getting ready to slap a diaper on his butt, but I know that is not the right thing to do either.

[Kim]

First off, you want to choose the method that will work for both you and your dog, and stick to it. Too many methods will just confuse her.

Depending on how often you feed your dog, you can pretty much tell what their potty schedule will be. For Max, he goes poop about 2-3 times a day. One when he wakes up and we let him out of his crate, maybe one in the afternoon, and one after his dinner.

You can tell when she needs to pee by the way she goes around sniffing. If you see her basically sniffing in a circle or in one spot, that can mean that she's looking for a place to pee. Immediately take her outside or onto her pee pad. Because she was just moved away from the area she wanted to pee it may take her awhile to pee. So just be patient. Remember to giver her a treat and praise her when she does go pee. If she drinks a lot of water and you only saw a little bit of pee, that means she was just "marking" and so keep her outside/on the pee pad till you see a lot of pee.

Max tends to sometimes mark, when we go outside, about 3-4 times before his bladder is empty. So it sounds like your dog is keeping some "reserves" till she gets inside the house. So just keep her outside a little while longer. So these are just some things to keep track of.

I suggest using a metal crate where you can adjust the size in the inside. It's great for dogs who are still growing. First you need to get your dog used to the crate. Check out my previous post under Training Yap Re: Help. Hopefully that will get your dog to enjoy being in her crate.

It also seems like your dog has some separation anxiety. Try going out the door for a few seconds then come in and give her a treat. Keep doing this and after about 10 times make it a few minutes. Eventually, she will see that even though you leave you will come back. Sometimes when I'm gone for a couple hours, I come home and I give Max a treat and tell him he's a good boy. Now he doesn't whine as much when I leave him in his crate.

I know this is a lot of info. but I hope it helps. If not, I would try to go to a professional dog trainer. I hear Petsmart has training sessions for potty training.

[Christine3837]

There are many reasons they pee in the house even though they ARE trained. 1) He has a UTI and just physically can't hold it; 2) Excited peeing; or 3) Fear Peeing. There may be more but these are the reasons my dog does it. I can tell when it is an accident because he's looking straight up at me when I see him pee. He doesn't search for a spot in the house, then pee. He knows damn well where he's supposed to go. When he hears a noise that is loud and too close, he'll pee on spot. When my BF comes home from work, he gets so excited, he runs to the door to pee, but in doing so, pees at the door, before being able to get out. Also, a couple weeks ago, before I knew he had UTI, he would pee so often but only a little at a time. He physically couldn't hold it in and would pee once the feeling hit. There are also odd times they pee. Dogs will pee out of spite. If they are mad at you, they may stare you in the face and BAM! Pee in the house. Dogs who are crated too long and have waterbottles also tend to drink WAY too much water because they will drink out of boredom. You can control his water intake by giving him water every few hours, and promptly walk him long enough to know he's empty. Are you giving him treats after every time he pees outside? I use to do that and Monty would purposely hold it in and perform multiple squirts to get multiple treats. Tricky little guy.

[teddybear]

I don't know what you should do, but I agree with Christine. Good wishes, though!!!

[Belldandy]

I am glad to see another person who thinks dogs are capable of spite. So many people tell me that no, it isn't true, but I remember having a dog once that god mad at me for not playing with him. I was folding my daughters clothes and putting them in a pile in front of me and he walked right up and peed ON the pile of clothes! This was a trained adult dog. I think dogs have a bigger emotional range than people give them credit for.

[Sandy Carole]

Hey Everyone i'm new to this and I was reading what you all wrote and I'm just wondering about one thing what if we are taking her outside every hour ( i have to cause I have a golden retriever as well) she will pee outside but come right back in a poop. Not only that but Normally in the mornings i take both dogs out cause my Golden eats at night and I have been feeding my shorkie at night as well, but I will take her to her pee pad cause it has been raining a lot lately here in GA and it is hard to take them both out when it is raining. But I show her the pee pad and she will walk away from it and pee right on the floor and then go to the opposite side of the room and then poop. I'm 9 months pregnant and I have an almost 3 year old in the house so i mop my floors ALL THE TIME since she is peeing on the floor constantly  even after taking her out. I have tried the vinegar  and water but she still goes. I've used ammonia as well and about killed my hubby LOL but I just have no Idea what to do anymore. Locking her in a room with pee pads all around her doesn't work and even locking her in her crate at night and when we leave doesn't either cause she will still go poop and pee on her self! I'm in desperate need seeing that my baby is due next week and I'm having a c-section and my husband will be deploying for 3 months and I just need to know what I can do to make her stop!!!!!!!

[Mai Tai]

Sandy, your hands are soơơơơơ full.  Congrats on your new baby too, and thank your husband for us for helping protect our country.  Now, I would like to suggest that you don't clean up with ammonia as it smells like urine to a dog and entices them to pee in that area.  Vinegar is good, as is Nature's Miracle, which you can get in pet stores.  Don't know if it is any better than any other cleaner, but it makes me feel better, mentally.  I am sorry to have to say that you are going to just have to pick a method and stick with it and be persistent and patient.  This is going to sound ridiculous, but you must watch the dog all the time and when you see him or her circling excitedly to poop, scoop him up and place him where you want him to go.  I think trying to train outside and on pads may be a little confusing but others here have done it so they can weigh in on how.  I trained my dogs to go outside though I would have loved it if the small one would have used pads.  He ripped them up all the time instead, so I gave up.  At five months he was still peeing, and pooping in my kitchen, and I though he would never be housebroken.  I continued to watch him at all times when he was out of his crate, and firmly tell him no if I caught him going anywhere but outside.  Finally, at around 7 months, he got the hang of it.  I am lucky though, as he would not poop or pee in his crate, so that helped me a lot.  My other dog was a dream and was housebroken in about 3 weeks, though he DID poop and pee in his crate.  He eventually, just stopped doing that once he learned to go outside.  I wish you luck and I know others on this site will have much better advice than mine.  Just be consistent with whatever you choose, and never yell or hit when they have an accident.  Please keep posting to let us know how it is going.  The people on this site are great.  GOOD LUCK. 

[Mai Tai]

Oh, and I forgot, tons of praise when he gets it right.  Also, gross as it sounds, save some poop, and smear it outside where you want him to go. The scent will help him get the idea.  There are lots of other tricks too, but you can read them in the old posts.  This must all be so difficult with a three year old and being pregnant. Sending good thoughts. 

[Kim]

First off welcome. Second, congrats on the new baby. Third, I would also like to thank your husband for keeping us safe and wish him a safe return.

In regards to your dog having accidents in her crate, is her crate the right size? Has to be enough room only for her to turn around and sleep in a fetal position. Although since you said she doesn't mind being in her own poop maybe you can try feeding her a little pineapple juice as someone has suggested.

As for cleaning your floors, I would try mixing bleach with some lemon juice and water and use that to clean your floors.

Mai Tai is right about having to watch your dog. I know it will be difficult with a baby on the way so here's a little trick I've learned from watching Max. Usually after they eat, it will take them about 1-2 hours till they have to poop. With water, depending on how much they drink, it can be an hour or right after you see them drink a lot of water. Of course this is just an estimate. It also depends on how old your dog is. But if you watch them closely, you will pretty much know their routine by the end of the week. Also, as Mai Tai has stated if you see them sniff intently in a circle then she is most likely getting ready to go. Pick her up immediately and take her to the pee pad and if she walks off bring her back to the pad. If she does go give her a treat and praise her.

Typically you will want to stop giving her water and food after 9. That way she won't have accidents at night and you know in the morning she will have to go right when she wakes up. If you are taking her outside, keep her outside till she poops. If she's using the pad then keep her there till she pees and poops.

I know this is a lot of info. but hang in there. Good luck with everything. 

[Belldandy]

I know it's a long shot, but are you at Robins by chance? We're military as well and I would love to get a puppy playmate for Wicket