Its not clear how you are training her, but what has worked for me and others, is to taker her out frequently, every 30 minutes or so, when she does go outside, she gets showered with praise and treats, when she goes inside, nothing!!! If she is food driven your training will go much faster as that gives you a really powerful tool to use. Its just going to take time and patience.

 

So I did all of that from 4 months- 8 months and it was going pretty well, but still some accidents inside. We also tried getting a doormat that buzzes when stepped on so we would know when she was at the door. We have construction going on in the house so that may affect all of this as well…

 

I'm pretty sure a buzzing doormat would put me off stepping on it if I didn't understand why it was doing it. It could be a barrier to her wanting to go outside.

I'd add, kennel training can help with toilet training, in as much that a dog will prefer not to toilet where she sleeps. But, it's not a silver bullet solution - if she has to toilet, she has to toilet; whether she is in there or not.

I'd agree with @Laco that you should look closely at your toilet training.

Take her out more often than she needs, so she is never so full she can't hold.

Don't wait for her to tell you, be proactive.

If you take her out and she doesn't toilet, bring her back in but don't take your eyes off her - any hint of wanting to toilet, scoop her up and get her out fast.

If she doesn't try to toilet indoors, take her out again 10 minutes later. Repeat these steps until she toilets outside.

This is the important part. When she does toilet, reward her immediately and generously. It has to be immediate to be clear that it's for toileting and not for anything else and it has to be generous to make it worth her while to hold her toilet until she is outside. Maybe get a new reward (frankfurter sausage?) that's only used for outside toilets. And to a dog, several tiny pieces seem to have more value that one bigger piece of equivalent size.

If she has an accident inside, don't react. Getting cross or scolding can make dogs just avoid you when they need to toilet, so it's completely counterproductive. They will just seek or create opportunities to toilet when you are not there.

Just clean up any accidents with an enzymatic cleaner and leave it down for 10 minutes to let the enzymes get to work before you wipe it up.

 

I agree with the above advice..........most especially about the buzzing door mat! The very first thing to do is get rid of that, as it has quite possibly created a negative association for her with going to the door. If I had something like that at my door, none of my animals would go anywhere near the door.

 

I agree with others. The door mat might be weirding her out, and it seems like it isn't accomplishing what you want, so I'd remove it. Revert to an earlier stage of training. As others have suggested, start taking her out on a schedule. I do mean, take her out. Maltese and poodles are both very people oriented. She might have a bit of an internal conflict between going out alone to empty her bladder and staying inside with her favorite people. Going out with her eliminates that conflict, plus it gives you the opportunity to reward her and verify she did really pee.

Going forward, I'd start watching for some of her more subtle signals. Several of my dogs would stick their noses in my face and breathe heavily when they wanted to go out. (A great way to wake up.) Some would get restless and pace. Two would bark. Of course, these signals might also mean they wanted food or wanted attention. Whatever their reason, taking them out would reinforce the signal they chose to give.

 

She might be reacting to your renovation project too if it causes noise or traffic in the house.

Supervise the dog, do not give her a chance to slip to do her business somewhere in the house.

Reward for doing it in the right place (outside). Make sure you aren't accidentally punishing the dog for doing it outside. IE. the dog might want to explore outdoors and if pee/poo means going back inside immediately, it is not worth it for the dog to go.

If she has regular pee/poo spots in the home, block access to those and/or clean them with odor-removing substances. Your local pet store can help picking a brand.

Taking a step back in house training is also a good thing. As in treat her like a younger puppy.

Have her health checked. I spotted my dog's UTI because her housetraining stagnated.
What kind of temperament she has? Is she fearful? Is there something outside that could freak her out? She might feel unsafe or too excited there and thus avoid doing her business. It is a vulnerable situation for a dog. Another thing is surface preferences and sensitivity to weather.

Never scold the dog for accidents. She might take it as 'do not go in front of people' - and we are very present when we take our dogs for walks.

You could teach her to ring a bell or push an alarm button for going outside. It has to be such that it doesn't scare her. The thing here is that she has to want it herself and understand where the noise comes from. And it is paired with treats and access to outside. A mat that buzzes without proper introduction might have startled her and now has an unpleasant association.

 

You could teach her to ring a bell or push an alarm button for going outside. It has to be such that it doesn't scare her. The thing here is that she has to want it herself and understand where the noise comes from. And it is paired with treats and access to outside. A mat that buzzes without proper introduction might have startled her and now has an unpleasant association.

Teaching them to ring a bell is a possibility, but ------ be aware that you might wind up being at their beck and call, as some dogs will ring that bell whenever they WANT to go out, whether they need to or not. I know someone that did train their dog to ring a bell at the door, and every few minutes the dog was ringing the bell, just to go out look around and sniff.