[katieoz]

About a week ago my partner came across a stray young female dog, we have been searching for an owner but so far no luck. In the mean time she is living with us, she was very skittish and would throw herself on to her belly being submissive a lot, but is a very friendly, playful and affectionate dog. It seems her previous home may not have been a nice one and she was possibly dumped. We know nothing of her background and the local animal shelter reckon she is a jack russel/pug and probably around the one year old or younger mark.

She very quickly took to going to the toilet on the newspaper we had put out for her but now we are trying to teach her to toilet outside, so far with no luck at all! When she first came to live with us she was terrified of outside but now she is much more relaxed and curious of all the smells. For the first few days she would not toilet in front of us at all and would hold it in all day until we went to bed!

She only pees a little when out for walks and even though we make a big fuss and give her treats she just doesnt seem to understand we want her to toilet outside when at home too. We bring her outside frequently during the day but she just sniffs around then toilets when we come back inside. We dont have a closed in garden so we cant leave her out there by herself. Toileting in front of us only happened for the first time yesterday! Big fuss and treats were had

I've read a few other threads and it seems like the newspaper training was a bad idea seeing as now we have to untrain that behavior but we had little choice as we live in a rented home and cant have her toileting everywhere!

Any help on the best way to get her to toilet outside would be very much appreciated!

-Katie

 

[Dawnben]

Try clicker training
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvPiFcG7ROI
get her a long leash she may have been punished for going in the house so she does not want to go in front of her human. Get one of the 15 ft ones that way she will be able to have some privacy.
6 15 20 30 50 100 ft Dog Leash Long Obedience Recall Foot Feet Training Lead Hot | eBay

 

[hdziuk]

I agree with @Dawnben - I think this dog was definitely punished for peeing in front of her previous owners, and has learned the way to avoid being punished is to wait until they are gone.
You've made a great big leap forward by treating her yesterday when she pottied in front of you for the first time
Do you have a crate for her? I think until she is potty trained, that would be a great investment. Keep her in the crate most of the time. If the crate is the correct size, she won't pee or poop in there as dogs instinctively keep their 'dens' clean (potty training is basically getting dogs to see your entire house as their den.)
Keep her either in the crate or tethered to you. That way, if she's going to potty in the house, you're close enough to interrupt (say "uh oh!" loudly - but not in a mean or intimidating way that scares her) and immediately take the dog outside. If she finishes her business outside, throw a treat party! Take her outside often so that she has more opportunities to 'get it right' then to fail.
It will take a while to unlearn these habits, but it will make your life easier in the long run if you keep her, and increase her odds of finding a permanent home if you end up placing her with another family.

 

[doglover2106]

Hi

Totally agree - " If she finishes her business outside, throw a treat party! Take her outside often so that she has more opportunities to 'get it right' then to fail."

It will take time. One of my previous dogs took ages to toilet train, but it was worth the time and effort. She give back so much to us.

I get so annoyed at the cruelty of people to dogs, that it breaks my heart. Can't get my head around it.

John
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Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole. Roger Caras
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