[Nclmerz]

Hello. I am having some trouble with my 9 month old pitbull/rottweiler mix puppy. She has been "housebroken" for about two months now. And by that I mean she knows she is supposed to eliminate outside, and does so about 95% of the time. The trouble is that other 5%. For some reason, she randomly decides on occasion that instead of asking to go outside, which she knows how to do, she'll just go upstairs and eliminate (in the same place she always would go when she was young and not yet housebroken). I would make this area no longer accessible to her, except it is the main hallway, so it's not a very feasible option.

I am not really sure what to do about this other 5% of the time, i.e., how to get her to 100% outside. My other dog, who is 6 years old now and we've had since he was 6 months old, was successfully (100% of the time) housebroken within the first two months of us getting him, so I'm not sure why we are having so much trouble with our 9 month old.

Any advice would be very welcome!

 

[mathilda]

A housetrained dog is not relieving itself inside the house, except when it's sick.

IF she's housebroken and she's still relieving herself in the house, then you should go see a vet with her if she's got a health problem.

If it's not a health problem, perhaps the times between the walks are too long or the walks are too short.
usually my dog goes "big" two times on a normal walk...once at the beginning and once around 15 -20 mins later....2-3 times seems to be normal if i go by the other dogs I walk with.
or she's just not housebroken and you need to have to learn to read her signs faster so she can't do her business.
this is generally the trick I'd use.
learn find out how she acts when she has to use the toilet and be faster than her, so she can't show the unwanted behaviour anymore.

 

[Thisisme19]

All dogs are different and you can't hold your current pup to the standard set by the previous one.

As @mathilda said, if your dog thinks that it's OK to go in the house, which she clearly does, then she is not housebroken.

Is the hallway area where she pees carpeted? Did you clean all her previous accidents with a cleaner made specifically to remove the smell of pet urine? What I would guess is happening is that she smells previous accidents and thinks that it's OK for her to pee there.

How often do you currently take her out? She should be out at least 4 times a day.

My solution would thoroughly clean the area and remove her access to upstairs all together. If she is upstairs she's being closely monitored, eyes on her at ALL times. If you she her start to sniff the area or make any motion that looks like she might be getting ready to potty I would take her out immediately. Give her a treat and praise when she goes outside to reinforce the behaviour.

 

[mathilda]

A house leash could be helful, because it keeps her in your control all the time.
perhaps that would be a possibility for you.

 

[Nclmerz]

We do clean the carpet every time she has an accident with nature's miracle, and also gave it a thorough cleaning last weekend. I don't think it could be that she doesn't go out enough (we take her out first thing in the morning, then again before I leave for the morning an hour and a half later, at lunch, first thing when I get home, and then every time she asks at night). For instance, last time she had an accident, she had been out 10 minutes before she had the accident. I am not surprised that she had to go out again (she had eaten after she came inside), but what surprised me was that she didn't communicate to me that she wanted to go out, which she normally does.

I guess what I am trying to figure out is how to discourage her from going in the hall, is it just a matter of trying to keep her away from that area whenever possible?

 

[BrittaS]

I'd try what Mathilda said.
The house leash really helped us a lot in housebreaking. Meaning, you have the dog tethered to you at all times, so she cannot go to the upstairs hallway by herself.
It is not very convenient for you and she will be bewildered at first, but it also helps in creating an even stronger emotional bond to the dog. We used it for 2 weeks and then gradually let her more and more off leash and we are without an accident for 4 weeks now.