[Thereseb21]

Hello,
I just got a new dog, she's about a year old and is somewhat house trained. She won't go to the bathroom outside and I think it's because it's been so cold out recently. The previous owners were in the middle of house breaking, but I don't know much information about it. There isn't anything I can do about the weather. So I ask for tips and tricks to get her to use the outside.

 

[JoanneF]

Will she wear a coat?

Toilet training happens when two things come together - the ABILITY to hold the toilet, along with the DESIRE to hold it in order to earn the reward for doing so.

Ideally you want her to not be in a position where she needs to toilet before you have her outdoors, so that every toilet is outside. So set her up to succeed by taking her out far more than she needs; for example every 45 minutes to an hour. Your aim is to have her outside at the times she needs to toilet. It is possible she hasn't developed muscle control to hold. When she toilets outdoors make a huge fuss (never mind the neighbours, act like outdoor toileting is the best thing you have ever seen) and reward her with a high value treat. Do that immediately, don't make her come to you for the treat so she is clear that it's for toileting and not for coming to you. The idea is that she wants to earn the treat enough to hold the toilet until she is outside. Then you can introduce words she can associate with it (like 'do weewee' and 'busy busy') that later when she is reliably trained you can use these to tell her when you want her to toilet.

If you take her out and she doesn't toilet after five minutes, bring her in but don't take your eyes off her. Any hint of a toilet inside, scoop her up and get her out fast. If she doesn't try to toilet indoors (great!) take her out a second time and repeat until you do get outside toilets. You need the outside toilet to happen SO that you can reward SO that she learns.


If she has an accident inside don't react at all. If you get annoyed she may learn to fear your reaction and avoid you if she needs to toilet (by going off and toileting out of sight) - the opposite of what you want. Dogs cant make the distinction between you being annoyed at them TOILETING, as opposed to toileting INDOORS. Just clean the area with an enzymatic cleaner to remove any trace of smell that might attract her back to the spot.

Indoors if you see her circling or scratching the floor, that can sometimes precede toileting so get her out fast.

 

[Curls]

My puppies used to get the zoomies right before they needed to empty their holding tanks. With my older dogs I listen for the sound of clicking toenails on the bare floor. A pacing dog is an uncomfortable dog, and an uncomfortable dog is probably uncomfortable because he needs to take a dump.

 

[OldDog-NoTricks]

In recent years ... like 25 ... we have always been a multi pet family.... right now 2 dogs / 2 cats. Koda's (3 in November) been with is 2+ years, Yeti (2 yearss 8 months) just since December. We experienced a bit of this during winter after bit of weather (snow ... snow melt ... freeze) and with Yeti just her a few weeks, she couldn't find "her spot" .... she's wander all over nose to the ground sniffing, and then would come in and have an accident. We adopted a 3 hour outing schedule, which helped .... no problem for me.... at 3 am, I often bump doors with my son as he's coming home (like I did when i was his age) and I'm getting up 'to go" myself ... like many people do my age , and the head is right at the front door.

As was said above, increasing the frequency will help as it gives you the opportunity to reward her when she does. Things that will influence her adaptation:

The weather - Is her coat appropriate for the weather ? Is the ground frozen / covered with snow or ice ?
The "new place" - She may not quite understand as yet where it's Ok and not OK to go... this is especially true of shelter dogs who are couped up in kennels for most of the day. How long did the previous owners have the dog and what was their success ?
Temperment / Emotional State - if he's nervous / excited they often piddle as they are exposed to new people/ new experiences / new places.

Where is outside ? - Are you walking the dog... using a fenced yard ? A new dog in a new home is taking in new experiences at quite a clip. All the distractions and wondering what your reactions will be to her actions could be a factor in keeping her mind off her taking care of business. As was said above, as much as your are able ,,,

a) Take her out as often as practical ... over time, adjust to your success... lengthening when progress is made, shortening again if there's a detback
b) Keep an eye on her (in the same room, preferably tiled) when you can. The pandemic and working from home has shortened many a dog's potty training.
c) Use a crate when you can't keep an eye on her
d) As was said above, immediately react to any signs of the dog wanting to go out. When we were trying to lengthen the 3 hour cycle, I'd here same dancing nails by door or a whine or bark and I'd be "OK 2 minutes" ... and it was always 1 minute too long.

 

[storyist]

When I fostered rescues I came across this, and I've had 2 puppies who believed for a while they could only go in their own yard and wouldn't potty anywhere else when they were young. In all cases, what got them to going outside (or somewhere other than their own yard) was walking with another dog, seeing that dog go and seeing the other dog get praise for it. Different dogs broke down and went sooner or maybe took a couple walks like that, but they all figured it out with that help.

So if you have a neighbor with a nice dog you could walk with....