Housetraining is feeling like a neverending battle

Your vet has done a urinalysis checking for a uti and any other medical possibilities recently? As in after these recent frequent accidents started up again?

My dad had MS and was in an electric wheelchair for a long time... I'm the only of my siblings who remember him walking and my memories are of him with crutches... we had many dogs over the years. Mom still has 5 pugs. They housetrained them all. I get it. But you can get creative and make adjustments that will limit Bella's access to different areas of the house. My parents came up with some creative solutions. I'm sure you can too! Or like I said, tether her to yourself and when not home crate her. Doesn't require any blocking but will if diligent and stick to it, take care of supervision/management. I can't make you supervise and manange her well. i can offer suggestions... that's it....

It's been about 6 months of accidents. Honestly, either you have something like recurring UTI's or other medical issues. Or you are doing something very wrong, and it sounds like it's in the supervision and management area to me. Frankly given the length of time and number of accidents, Bella has learned to go potty inside. If there's nothing medical, you need to change your own behavior and come up with a plan to COMPLETELY 100% eliminate the possibility of Bella having accidents...

Whatever you do good luck. Hope you get it figured out.

Rain said:

Time to rule out medical.
@crazy 's Jesse had a hard time housetraining and nearly all her accidents started out due to medical issues. If I remember once they were cleared Crazy would need to go back to housetraining 101 with Jesse because Jesse would be starting to get into the habit of pottying inside.

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@Rain is correct house training Jessie was a major major battle and never ending! pee wise she was great but if i went upstairs and blocked stairs off with baby gate she would wee in distress but that soon stopped. It was the pooing that was the biggest battle. when i finally thought she was house trained turned out she had been pooing where i couldnt smell or see it and there was mountains of it

basically i had to do the following:

• Crate her when i couldnt keep eye on her and give a kong
• tether her to me for a bit
• take her out on the long long lead in the freezing winter weather whilst it poured down and cold as worth it though it was
• She did get UTI's what breed is bella and is her what i will call pubic hair long? if so trim it short helps prevent such things.
• keep eagle eye on her
• shut the kitchen door till she learnt to go to the door and bark etc
• get her out every hour or two
• Biggest thing is what time does she go to bed for the night? i had to stop Jessie having water a hour or two before bed or she would pee and need to pee overnight if to avoid accident. This really did work!
• crated her at night till 1.5 years old
• your not telling her off?
• vets eventually diagnosed cystitis
• before the cranberry supplement please get a through urinalyis done to test for everything and please make sure they test her specific gravity(SG) and concentration levels. If need be send urine to the lab to test it and if can afford it bloods to make sure all is well esp with kidneys.
• Jessie also had frequent urine accidents inside 2 years ago and it was put down to behavioural incontinece. she also had crystals in urine(this is why i suggest sending urine to lab)
• after drinking water get her out within 30 mins if poss and right after a play, straight away from waking up
• leave lead on so can see where going and you can quickly look

id also see if cant wash the carpet in natures miracle right good scrub where she goes.


IF no medical issues then id think its teenage rebellion and go straight back to house training 101.
what food is she on to? sorry to ask but i have found food responsible for Jessies urine problems esp when having accidents inside

We do not have a kitchen door it is open to the living room she peed on my bed THREE times yesterday, tonight we put her outside twice she peed BOTH times as soon as she comes inside she ran to my dads room and pees on his bed. she was doing great for over a month very very few accidents it all started again about a week ago. my bed smells HORRIBLE because she has peed on it so many times and one of the mattress pad cannot be washed without it tearing apart. I'm so frustrated. Nothing has changed but she just started peeing everywhere again. I know I was doing stuff right because she made amazing progress and now she is peeing everywhere about 4-5 times a day (mostly on the beds) no matter how many times we take her outside. She can pee outside 10 times and still pee inside the moment she comes inside and as I have stated multiple times SHE DOES NOT HAVE A UTI it has been ruled out by the vet. The reason I do not tether her to me is because she freaks out on the leash (only when she is inside) What is odd is she only seems to pee all over the house at night, She goes All day without accidents as soon as night comes she pees everywhere. She pees so much it soaks down to the subfloor before I can soak it all up and its starting to make knots in the floor, we are having to replace the entire carpet and the subfloor, I may even have to replace my mattress pad which is expensive since I have a KING size bed. and For everyone that says keep her off the bed she jumps on the bed and pees BEFORE I have the time to get her off.
My mom said if she is not housetrained in 1 month I have to get rid of her. I just don't understand what is going on. She went a month with only 1 accident. Her sister has been housetrained since she was 3 months old and I've done EVERYTHING recommended except barricading the house and nothing is working. She is almost 8 months old and she should be almost fully housetrained by now and she has regressed back to worse then she was when I got her at 9 weeks old

If she potties almost immediately after being brought back in, why on earth are you letting her free? Take her immediately to her crate. Take her back out for a second time or keep her crated for for the night. Actually lead her or carry her from her crate to the door/from door to crate. She should be crated at night. Do not give her the chance to run off and pee.

Since she keeps peeing on beds (peeing on soft things can be a sign of a uti btw) keep bedroom doors closed. She shouldn't be able to get on the beds in the first place. Beds should be completely off limits.

She should be in the same room as you with your eyes on her at all time. Or crated/in a play pen. That's it.

I hate sounding like a broken record, but this is either medical or a major lack in supervision and management...

You are not doing what has been advised. You keep coming back with complaints about Bella peeing all over the place. Many different options for management have been suggested and you are not implementing them because if you did, this would not be as much of a problem as it is.

In addition, since money is so tight and your home is clearly being damaged with pet waste, perhaps it is better for Bella to be rehomed. And frankly, I would wait a good long time before even considering another pet. Get through school, find a stable job, and keep learning about training and caring for dogs.

Take it from someone who did not know about tethering, and considered crating a dog cruel, resign yourself to her never being housetrained, if it's not a medical issue, if you cannot prevent the accidents someway

I got Shadow as a puppy, I worked during the day, my roommate came home around noon and would let him out to potty. I never crate trained him, allowed him free roam of the house, and he was inside unsupervised during the day. He'd pee outside and pee on my floor 10 minutes after being let back in, he did that for around 7 months when I finally had enough and started leaving him outside during the day. Combined with moving a month later he finally stopped having accidents, I think because he didn't associate the new place with a doggy bathroom and had had a month of practice mostly peeing outdoors. Shadow and I were a case study in how not to housetrain, and it was totally my fault. He was not stubborn, he was not dumb, he was not defiant or vindictive, he was simply doing what he was allowed to do.

If you cannot figure out a way to prevent accidents, mine was to leave him outside during the day which is not really recommended especially in the winter up north so many things can go wrong, she'll never housetrain.

Personally I'd set up an indoor potty spot, and invest in potty pads, rather then have to replace mattresses, and carpet, if she's that afraid to go outside. Even doing that though you NEED to prevent accidents or it's not going to work.

She only has accidents when my mom is watching her if you read she pees so fast that I don't have time to get her off the bed she went 2 months without peeing on the bed it just started again 3 days ago I don't leash her to me because she chokes herself trying to get unhooked and chews the leash. She sleeps with me at night because it's so cold she shivers and cries in the crate and does good at nights she has accidents between 5 pm and bedtime no time before that. I supervise her but she has the accidents before I can get her up and outside when she squats I can't get to her in time to yank her outside before she pees she always sneaks away if I look away for a second to watch TV or do something she potties she sleeps behind the chair with our older dog. We have tried to barricade it but where it's at she just jumps over the barricade and then it keeps our other dog from getting back there and she goes back there often to get away from Bella . I usually lock her in my room with me. She has no accidents it's only when I'm busy or not home and my mom is watching her that she has accidents.

I have a few suggestions, for what they're worth.

Most importantly: keep her tethered to you at ALL times. If your mother is disabled she can't take her out when she needs to go, and if she's having accidents in front of her anyway she's not the best babysitter either.

I'm a college student too. I know you need to get work done. You just need to figure out how to get it done while Bella is in your presence.

In order to do that, I have two suggestions:

1) work on counter conditioning her to her leash indoors. Give her lots of yummy treats when you get the leash out to start, then when you put it on, then once she seems excited by the leash and is looking for her treats, work on walking inside with it on. Step, treat, step, treat, 2 steps, treat, etc. That will hopefully make it more functional for her to be tethered.

2) look for a way to keep her occupied while you're working. A filled Kong is great. Bully sticks are another option. Puzzle toys too. Whatever she likes.

You could even incorporate the crate into this. Don't just cram her in there - start by letting her lie in there with her goodie while you work, with the door open. Graduate to door closed, but always stay in the room with her.

If you are totally sure it's not medical in nature it is probably just a habit at this point. It will be difficult to break, but not impossible.

I cant understand why you arent following advice. i followed everyones advice on here with housetraining Jessie who was a nightmare to house train end of day at mine if i couldnt keep my eye on her id either tether her to me or crate her. I also caught a cue she needed to go during training her at home as she kept sniffing and circling and got her out in time. told her what a good girl she was! Also to note with everyone help on here i did manage to eventually fully house train Jessie! going to re house train her before the move as a safety net incase she rebels after the flight as i wont be in Uk for 3 days after she lands and with new surroundings etc its a good idea.

if you both cant keep eye on her crate her it would do her good to have a bit of space and she can rest as well. if she is out the crate all day she is probably over tired from being so active.

With puppies you need all the time in the world and patience to give them. Luckily for me when i got Jessie with selling avon from home i had all the time in the world to focus on her and when i got tired or couldnt keep eye on her crate for few hours while i slept on couch.

As soon as she woke up and i let her out the crate i was outside wee wees come on and got her outside asap. I also learnt one morning i was so desperate for a pee and so busting but that Jessie was very young and didnt have the control i had so i had to really focus on getting her outside then dash inside to the downstairs loo while i closed the backdoor! if i was that desperate just imagine how desperate for a pee bella is!

You cant hold on forever no one can. i do agree with the others if you cant keep eye on her and you are too busy with studies and your mum who is disabled is threatning you both well can blame bella for peeing constantly? she probably has no idea how to deal with the stress of your mums threats! infact i once had a ex's mum corner me in a room threatning and shouting at me and i was so scared and desperate to get out i did have a bit of incontinence from the stress and tried to smash a window to get out. Thats how bella could be feeling?

I agree with what's been said. If you cant watch her then keep her in a crate or x-pen. You said she gets upset if she's crated when your home, work on getting her more comfortable being in the crate. If she's uncomfortable with having the leash try a harness and work with her on being comfortable leashed in the house.

Im also in college and I have two dogs. I know it can be difficult to balance having a dog and having to go to school and do homework. But that being said you have a dog, so you need to make time for her even if your studying or doing homework. Take the opportunity to teach her that being in her crate while you study is a good thing, give her a yummy toy even if you have to leave the crate door open at first. Try putting a bed in her crate to make it more inviting. Take a break from studying every hour or two and let her out.
For me I let my dogs out before I leave and immediately after I get back even if its only been a hour. Even if its as short as a hour both dogs still usually go pee when I get back. They also both get a yummy high value treat when I leave, one they usually only get when I leave. My new dog who has a harder time being in her crate while im gone get extra treats stuffed in a kong to occupy her for a few minutes and give a positive association to her crate.
If she pee's more at night try limiting her water intake when she normally has to go the most. Don't let her on the bed any more, if she's cold in her crate at night get her a bed and add a blanket over the crate to keep the heat in. If she runs directly into your room and pee's keep your door closed at all times unless your in there watching her. Having her learn to sleep in the crate at night will help her in learning to be ok being in the crate on her own in the long run. Tire her out with training and or exercise before she goes in her crate.