Question:
Hey, I have a 6 month old cavalier dog, he's still peeing and pooing in the house, even doing it right in front of me! Is this unusual?? I have a 3 year old bitch, but Even tho it's only 3 n a half years ago, I can't remember whether she still did it in the house x
Answer:
Is it normal that your dog is still pooping and peeing in the house? The answer is both yes and no, in a way it is normal, but it is very much unwanted.
Toileting is about surface preference, scent and access. So owners who are experiencing trouble with toilet training need to look at these factors and start to take some proactive steps to ensure that no further accidents occur. Toilet training is simple, but that doesn't mean that it is easy.
Let's have a look at those variables:
- Surface preference: It is estimated that a dogs preferred surface type for going to the toilet is set at about 12 weeks of age. This means that their real Toilet Training, that is where they choose to go to the toilet is partially the responsibility of their mother, but more importantly their breeder. A surface preference is the material that your dog prefers to go to the toilet on, in an ideal world young pups would have access to grass to toilet on, but this seems to rarely be the case - with most either in kennels with concrete floors or some breeders still sticking with newspaper or pee pads. So if you look at the surface that your dog is aiming for that will give you an indication of what they were most likely raised on. See if you notice a pattern, is it hard surfaces that create run off or soft surfaces that absorb?
- Surface preference: It is estimated that a dogs preferred surface type for going to the toilet is set at about 12 weeks of age. This means that their real Toilet Training, that is where they choose to go to the toilet is partially the responsibility of their mother, but more importantly their breeder. A surface preference is the material that your dog prefers to go to the toilet on, in an ideal world young pups would have access to grass to toilet on, but this seems to rarely be the case - with most either in kennels with concrete floors or some breeders still sticking with newspaper or pee pads. So if you look at the surface that your dog is aiming for that will give you an indication of what they were most likely raised on. See if you notice a pattern, is it hard surfaces that create run off or soft surfaces that absorb?
- Scent: A big mistake that dog owners make is failing to clean the site of the accident properly, the reason for this is most cleaners that you get from a shop are ammonia based cleaners, and guess what urine is... that is right it is ammonia. So while it may be pine fresh, the enzyme that attracts the dog remains and if given a chance they will frequent the same area to pee again. Scent plays a huge role in a dogs life, much more than dog owners realise - so ensure that you clean with a bio-enzyme cleaner will help reduce accidents.
Access - Here is the training component of the variables - because it is the easiest thing for you to control. You need to prevent your dog accessing areas that he is going to the toilet. An important thing to note here is that you MUST be consistent - I really can't stress it enough - from my observations Owners tend to follow the procedure for a week or two - and then stop and set their training back. The thing that must be consistent is that unless you are directly interacting with your dog (playing, patting, training) then the dog must be confined, in the confinement space you can make a turf litter tray go that the puppy has a place to pee if they need to. My preference for confinement is a crate attached to a pen. This isn't a prison sentence, you can give your puppy lots of mentally stimulating things to do while in the pen.
Start a toilet training diary - note the date, time, place and what the accident was - often you can see a pattern (e.g dog pees between 7am - 7:15am) - you can then ensure that you are allowing your dog access to a toileting material at these times.
Let's not forget that dogs don't know that you value your rug or you bed or anything. For the majority of dogs these things have no intrinsic value, they just happen to be there. Dogs are also not offended by urine and faeces, generally they find them a great source of information, and some dogs even find them a tasty treat - the idea that a dog pees or poops "to get back" at their owner has no logical basis if you look at pee and poo from a dogs perspective rather than a person's perspective. I mean what are the first 2 places a dog sniffs on another dog, where the poop comes from and where the pee comes from. So don't be offended if your dog pees or poops in front of you - either quietly stop them and take them outside or clean up after them. Now you can start dealing with the access portion of the training and teach your dog what you expect of them.
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