# 6 month old pup still not housetrained :(



## wildpoppywild (18 April 2010)

we have a 6 month old lhasa apso X shih tzu and she's still not doin her business outside. did the usual house training thing stay out side with her praise, a firm no when she goes inside etc the same as we did with our now 11 yo lhasa. but she still wont go outside any tips??


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## galaxy (18 April 2010)

does she go inside when you are there?  Or is she doing it when noone is around (as in she may ask to go out, but noone sees, so she goes anyway)


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## wildpoppywild (18 April 2010)

She does it when we are in the house, she can be running about outside for ages then come in pee then go outside


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## CorvusCorax (18 April 2010)

Does she go at set times?
Does she have a feeding routine? Can you spot when she is about to go and whisk her out? You will need to spend a good few days devoting time to spend a watchful eye on her.

Could you confine her to a certain area? Dogs rarely like to go anywhere near their beds.
FI when my fella has been caught short in the house (it is a small house  and he has been on meds that make him pee, normally he is as good as gold) he will go on the doormat or the bathroom mats, which are the furthest away places from where he would sleep when he is inside.


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## Cedars (18 April 2010)

Ok, firstly she's only 6 months! Chloe is a year and 2 months old now and she still has the odd day where she messes up!

I agree with CC (as always!!!!). Confine to a smaller area, watch like a hawk, take to a certain place to wee, if she does start to go inside physically move her outside (even if its mid flow!) and then when she finishes outside give loads of praise! Take her out every hour shes awake, crate at night.

If she is squatting to go then its unlikely to be incontinence so dont worry too much!


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## galaxy (18 April 2010)

well I know my dog trainer strongly advises people not to just leave the back door open and let them just go in and out.  She recommends keeping it shut so they have to ask and have to learn to hold it sometimes.

I think the suggestions of confining her are a good idea.  My boy is nearly 7 months and has been clean since about 3/4 months, but I think it's just more luck than anything else!  He caught on quick! But at one stage when he'd just started asking to go out he was going out every 40 mins or so!  Had to watch him like a hawk, cause he only asked when he absolutely HAD to go!  Do you know how often she needs to go?  Maybe confine her and take her out every 30 mins or so and wait till she goes and then reward her.... So she gets the idea that it is going outside that is the good thing.


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## Booboos (18 April 2010)

If all else fails, this will work but you need nerves of steel to go through with it:

pop her on a lead and attach the lead to your belt. Where you go, she goes, when you see her sniff, circle or attempt to squat, straight out. This will eliminate all accidents from the house and break the cicle, but she has to be under your supervision (lead clipped to your belt) or in her crate or outside, 24/7.


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## wildpoppywild (18 April 2010)

She will go anywhere, not in her bed mind u, she has a feeding routine breakfast lunch dinner and supper.she has access outdoors whenever anyone is in the house, its something we never had an issue with when we trained the other dog. Someone said it might be tht the scent of her pee might still be on the carpets? So there all being cleaned this week.she's gonna get puppy bootcamp thsi week while I'm off


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## galaxy (18 April 2010)

You can get a spray from Pets At Home called Clean and Get off that you spray on the carpet when there's an accident (then just rub with kitchen roll).  It removes any smell.


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## CorvusCorax (18 April 2010)

Depending on what you are feeding her, that is a lot of meals for a six month old!

As you are off and you have time to spend, then you can do the 'watch like a hawk' thing and be ready to whisk her outside as mentioned, lots of repetition. I would maybe get some baby gates and cordon off an area near her bed, also.


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## FinnishLapphund (18 April 2010)

First, I would skip the No's, if telling her a firm No when she's caught doing it indoors would have taught her to stop doing it indoors, she would have stopped doing it by now. 


How do you feel about this situation? Do you worry about that she's not getting it? Do you feel tense, stressed? It would be perfectly understandable if you don't react with a shrug of your shoulders, but she might sense that you're stressed and tense and she will most likely not understand, that it is her not becoming house-trained that is causing it. But if there is something in the situation making you tense, she might not be able to relax and do it outdoors and do you know what I think is much, much worse than a 6 months old puppy that is not house-trained?

A 7 months old puppy that has learned to try and do their indoor accidents on places where you won't find them at once.  


Besides, on dog breed info, it says about Shih Tzu's 




			Some can be difficult to housebreak.
		
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So keep on working, ignore indoor accidents or just scoop her up and take her outside, crate her some of the time so that she doesn't have room to have any accidents unless she wants to go in her bed, treat her like a young puppy and take her out again and again and again - before you feed her, after she has eaten, after she has slept, when she has played for a little while and sometimes in between that and eventually, you'll get there. 

Some dogs seems to become housebroken in no time but some dogs needs more time, personally I've learned to treat my puppies as individuals, I just keep on training and sooner or later, they become housebroken. 


Oh, and buy Piss Off! And spray over the area after that you've cleaned away an accident.


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## wildpoppywild (18 April 2010)

She will go anywhere, not in her bed mind u, she has a feeding routine breakfast lunch dinner and supper.she has access outdoors whenever anyone is in the house, its something we never had an issue with when we trained the other dog. Someone said it might be tht the scent of her pee might still be on the carpets? So there all being cleaned this week.she's gonna get puppy bootcamp thsi week while I'm off


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## CorvusCorax (18 April 2010)

Did you mean to double-post?


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## CAYLA (19 April 2010)

I agree and wound not give outside access all the time when you are there, she needs a new routine as suggested, this breed type is notorious for it's long toilet training period, most small breeds are.
I would recommend a crate, not only for a night time but for the day time when u are out, if she holds in her bed thats a very good start, so therefor the crate is your guide, when u are not home she is in it, when u arrive home no fuss and no talking just realease her and place her out, eventually she should make her own way to the door.
 when u are home she is in the same room as you at all times and as suggested, when she goes to squat, lift her and take her to the garden and give a command and a treat for passing her motion, I don't recommend pads but u could place them at the door of the room she is in, this gives her something to head for, when u see her head for the puppy pad, lift her and out, don't let her actually pee on it, it's jsut a guide to get her heading for the door.
The problem usually is no guide to build up from and too much space to eliminate, cut down the unsupervised space and start small and gradually increase as u see improvement.


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## Booboos (19 April 2010)

I would agree with the others. That is a lot of food for a six month old, try cutting it down to twice a day and soonish to once a day. Do not leave the door to the garden open. Confine her to a smaller space, e.g. the room you are sitting in, and keep a very close eye on her. At the first sign of sniffing, etc. pop her out. Also take her out when she wakes up, after she has eaten, after she has been playing, etc. Take her out yourself and don't rely on her asking to go out, she is too young for that.

Getting the carpets cleaned is a really good idea. However, check the underlay as well. If wee has sipped through to the underlay it's impossible to clean but will always smell of wee to the dog.

Also, would you be able to take her to puppy classes yourself? It will help her focus her attention on you.

Best of luck!


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## FinnishLapphund (19 April 2010)

I prefer to give my bitches three or four meals a day, than giving them one big portion. One of my reasons to have the routine I have, is that by feeding them before I eat my own food it's much easier for me to resist them, if they try to tell me that "I'm starving and it is hours since I last saw any food".  






Anyhow, just because something worked for your Lhasa Apso, Wildpoppywild, it is not certain that it had worked for your new bitch, even if she also had been a pure Lhasa Apso. So, regardless if it is the Shih Tzu part of her or not, that is causing her difficulties with becoming housebroken, she needs more help from you than just having access to the garden through an open door to learn it.


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## RobinHood (20 April 2010)

flamehead said:



			Ok, firstly she's only 6 months! Chloe is a year and 2 months old now and she still has the odd day where she messes up!
QUOTE]

Really? We've had all of ours since pups and they were 100% at least by 10 weeks. Maybe we've just been very lucky but they piddled inside once or twice in the first day or so and then never again, and only one of the lurchers ever did a no. 2 inside.

wildpoppywild do you have any other dogs? I think having older dogs help because they tend to go out the dog flap for a wander in the garden as a pack.

I know this is going to sound really crazy but when we have a pup in the house last thing at night we all go outside in the garden (4 dogs, my parents etc.) and ahem  pee . Could be worth a try... We also never let them in from the garden until they've all been, the older dogs know this and just go through the motions of cocking a leg but at least you know they don't need to go.
		
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