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Indoor dog toilet training


katherineaw
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Hi all

 

I know that toilet training gets done to death as a topic, but I'm struggling to work out where I'm going wrong and could really use some advice and/or reassurance that all is not lost.

 

I have a beautiful cavi girl, she's 5 months old and we're about 60-70% trained, I reckon.  I'm just after some advice for how to really lock this training in, and maybe for some encouragement for me - because I do feel extremely frustrated at the moment and have had a few big 'deep breath' moments of late!  The temptation to hand her leash over to the next person who says "oh, she's so cute" has been high of late!

 

She's an indoor dog.  She's set up in an exercise pen with a small 'ensuite' (made from a second x-pen), so that she clearly has to move to a new space in order to go to the toilet.  This resolved all accidents in her exercise pen. This spot was only ever intended to be for while she's in the exercise pen, and I never saw it as a permanent spot.  Since the last week, she's completely stopped using the 'ensuite' and just waits to be let out - albeit noisily.  The spot I've been training her to is a nook under the built-in kitchen island, where I have a pee pad for her.  She's pretty reliable about going to that general area but has a tendency to pee off the edge of pee pads, rather than in the centre of the pads.  But we definitely get to the right area, which I count as a big win.

 

Routine:

  • ~5.30am, whining puppy wakes me up - take her straight to toilet for a quick puppy pee, then back to bed because that's an uncivilised hour for mum.
  • ~6.30am, time for a walk - poos usually within 5-10 minutes of leaving the building.  Unfortunately, I'm near a tonne of construction, and there are far too many distractions, so me standing around "being boring" doesn't achieve anything, because the environment is anything but boring.  So usually we walk quite a way before she lets go.  But this morning, she didn't go at all, even though I stopped in comparatively boring spots, with the right surface.
  • 7.30am, some training time & breakfast
  • 7.45am, into exercise pen while mum gets ready
  • Quick toilet run before mum goes to work.
  • ~3.30pm, housemate comes home.  He has historically been ignoring her, but I got home today and found that he'd let her out and she'd peed off the edge of the pee pad and he'd not even bothered to clean it up, just put her back in her pen.  I'm starting to get the sense that he is not helping the situation.
  • ~6.00/6.30pm, I get home.  No fuss, I usually unpack my bag and grab a glass of water before going over to say hello.  We then make a quick dash to the toilet, have some play time and then hangout together for a bit.  Dinner (for both puppy and me)
  • ~7.30pm, short evening walk for poos.
  • ~8.00pm, back in exercise pen while I do things in the living room for practice that confinement is not the enemy!
  • ~8.30ish, some training and play. 
  • ~9.30ish/10.30ish, final toilet run & "bedtime".

 

Couple of challenges

  • She's unpredictable as to when she goes - the above routine is broadly accurate, but it's almost impossible to get anything reliable.  That whole 20 minutes after eating, sleeping, play etc... doesn't work.  Her control is excellent and, frankly, she's a stubborn little so & so.  She can hold it all night (I know this, because she was doing it from about 9 weeks), but has regressed to about 5 hours overnight. As a consequence, I'm finding it really hard to get her to a pad before she starts whining/crying (so the whining/crying seems to be getting worse, and now she's discovered her barking voice).
  • We seem to be missing the pad - often the left or right legs will be on, but the other side will be off and so the pee will just pool on the non-absorbent sections and then leak over my tiles.  Or front legs on, rear legs off.  This seems to be improving if I put out a brand new pad every time she pees, but that's extraordinarily expensive, given the pads are nearly $1 each, so if there's a better alternative, I'd love to hear it.
  • We've tried real grass, like freshpatch and ruff patch, but she just digs them up and chews them - usually while she's on the lead or I'm at home.  I'd love to try them again, but honestly I can't decide whether the mess of cleaning up grass and dirt shreds is better or worse than cleaning up urine.
  • i've tried putting her on a word like "quick quick" but she gives me the most irritatingly cute stubborn face and refuses to go, so I have a feeling that expression is basically useless.  Is it too late to train her to a word?  Because to get this on cue would be so handy.

 

Any suggestions? I'll be speaking to the housemate tomorrow and saying that I'd rather he left her confined if he's not prepared to clean up after her and supervise her appropriately. I suspect she was making a tonne of noise, which is probably why he let her out, but that's worse - because her crying is not improving, and if anything is going the other direction!

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For the missing of the pee pad - this all depends on the size of your nook, but I found that putting the pee pad inside a low container that they needed to step into worked really well for my latest girl puppy, who started out with a similar bad aim! :laugh:. I used an underbed plastic storage container (about $8 from memory) and because she had to hop inside to wee, everything was easily contained. She had to be shown to use it but it only took two or three times with me giving rapturous praise for her to realise her indoor toilet had grown walls LOL. Depending on the size of the nook and the size of your puppy, possibly a kitty litter tray lined with a pee pad would work just as well.

When training them to wee on command, you need to say your chosen word whenever you see them pee (in the right places!) and follow the word with your praise. Then start using the word just as they are beginning to pee and heaps more praise (careful here - if she stops peeing to see what you want her to do just go dead quiet and look at the sky). It shouldn't take take too many repetitions (if you get the timing right) before she associates that word with peeing. Then you need to go absolutely over the top with praise the first few times you've used the word and she has peed in response!! Of course, at first you need to carefully set yourself up for the win - you need to be sure she wants to go and that you've led her to a spot where she is happy to pee. It's not to late to train her to a word, but remember she is still learning English LOL and needs a way to associate the word with the meaning you want it to have. :)

As to the whining to be out of the pen, you'll have to come to some sort of agreement with your housemate, preferably that when she whinges to come out, she is taken to the toilet spot, given two minutes to use it, and then returned to the pen and not let out again until she is QUIETLY waiting. Or that she is ignored totally by him and you are the only one who lets her out of the pen.

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Thanks RuralPug - I'll try picking up a large litter tray / tub of some description and see if that helps.  She's very smart, so I suspect it'll only take a few times for her to clue in - she's adjusted well to all my other changes!  

 

I've spoken with the housemate this morning (I was pretty irritated last night, as might have been obvious) and explained the importance of ignoring bad behaviours and rewarding good ones.  I've said he either has to do the job properly, or he should ignore her unless I'm at home as well.  We'll see how we go! 

 

I'm particularly concerned to get on top of this asap, because I have another puppy arriving in about 5 weeks (a toy poodle), all going well, and I don't want him to learn bad behaviours from her!

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  • 1 month later...

Good news!  

 

I bought a pet loo and my Cav, Georgie, is now completely convinced that it is the only place to go inside - and  she's worked out that when I say "quick quick" she needs to go to the toilet, or she could be waiting for a while before the next opportunity!  Next step... convincing Poodlechild that he wants to do the same.

 

The smell is a bit irritating - I'm finding it needs to be cleaned under a hose every 2-3 days, and the container emptied daily, but still better than pee pads!

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The smell is a bit irritating - I'm finding it needs to be cleaned under a hose every 2-3 days, and the container emptied daily, but still better than pee pads!

this makes sense.  Imagine if you didn't flush the toilet for 2 or 3 days...

I think I'd be cleaning it daily but that's just me.

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I have a little spray bottle that I spray every time it's used (at least to the extent I see it), and then hose it down properly every 2-3 days.  That seems to be resolving the smell issues.  I was contemplating using cat litter or similar in the collection tray to avoid spillage risks!

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I was going to suggest maybe a spray of lavender oil (1/4 teaspoon) in water (500ml) but I thought there is a chance that will put your dog off using the toilet.   Bicarb soda is also supposed to be good for absorbing pee smells but you'd need a lot of it and if you put it on top it may also put the dog off.

Personally - I can't stand the idea of having a dog toilet in my kitchen.  But that may have something to do with being raised by medical people.  And being very sensitive to smells.  Ie dog toilet smell would be an excellent way to put me off dinner.

 

Ps I'd consider putting it in a shower alcove... and taking it out when I showered.  Would make hosing it off every day easy.   But I much prefer my dog toilets outside.   But I have a lawn. 

 

Edited by Mrs Rusty Bucket
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