Please help with difficult poo-poo pooch

[Turkeycat]

Hello all,

First of all, I must say a big thank you to everyone; I looked at some of my old posts and I really got a sense of how much I have been helped as I have learned to become a responsible cat owner. Now my girlfriend and I have two dogs, one of which is a real problem. The dog, Imari, a beagle/Australian cattle dog mix, is 7 1/2 months old. She continues to urinate and defecate in the house even though we let her out several times a day. These times are fairly regular, with one time at 4 a.m. every morning, and one time between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. We first put her nose in her mess and patted her lightly on the behind and said "bad dog". She seemed to respond to this, which was the suggestion of my mom, who has housebroken several collies, but soon thereafter contineud her old habits. We haven't tried to do the same procedure since this original time as it seems useless. We are considering continuing this procedure and hoping it will work if we persist.

She was a rescue. Her previous owners said she was housebroken, but they are retired couple who could leave her outside most of the day. We have had Imari for about a month. She has become great friends with our original dog, Dilbert, a male who is twice as big and is a pit/Australian cattle dog mix. We thought she wasn't relieving herself outside as much as she should have (though sometimes she does dp it outside) because of the distraction of playing with him, but we have separated them outside to no significant difference.

Perhaps I'm not using the right keywords, but I haven't found a lot on here about housebreaking. I just wanted to let you know I tried to do my research on here before posting.

My ears are open to any advice. By the way, Dilbert's salivary gland issue has been dealt with successfully. Thanks again and take care.

[Marty]

I'm not an authority, but if those are the only 2 times you let her out, that is really a long time to expect any dog to hold it, let alone a puppy (and she still is one). Could you hire someone to let her out more often? Normally, I would say she needs to be leashed to you while in the house, so you can take her out immediately when you see her needing to go, but if you aren't home, that wouldn't work.

Sticking her nose in it and swatting, even lightly, is a rather old theory of housetraining which doesn't work. If you don't catch the dog in the act, they will not associate that with what they did. That is the reasoning behind leashing them to you.

Is she crate trained, or have free access to the house when you are not there? Guess a little more info is needed...

You might get some help from this link, or at least some reading material. It is well thought of...

http://www.wonderpuppy.net/canwehelp/htdogs.htm

[Turkeycat]

Thanks, Marty,

I see what you mean about sticking nose in it and swatting. Unfortunately, everyone in our household has to work, so we can't supervise her during the day, and we don't know anyone who can help us during the day. In fact, when someone is gone, she is crated along with Dilbert (different cages). She has never messed in her cage. The very least amount of time she has to be crated is 6 hours and the most is 8 hours. The thing about the nighttime is that we let her out before going to bed, usually 11-12, and my girlfriend always lets her out at 4 a.m., so she only has to wait 4-5 hours with this.

Another point which may be important: She will sometimes relieve herself inside RIGHT AFTER being let outside. When she does relieve herself outside, it almost seems like it's coincidental.

Thanks again,

Chris

[momPaws]

I'm not an expert either, but my dog, Honey, responded well to tons of praise and a treat after she went outside. She got so she would let me know by getting my attention and running to the door to let me know she had to go out.

Marty had some good info and hope other will post to help you.

[Marty]

Ok, what I would do is to take her out on a leash and praise her when she goes. Bring her in, still leashed, and when you see her squat say "No" firmly and take her back out again. If she goes again outside, praise her and give her a very high value treat, ie a liver treat, small slice of hot dog...whatever she will work for. Keep repeating until she can be trusted.

Another thing, clean up her mistakes with an enzyme cleaner to eliminate the smell.

[k9Karen]

Since you are crating her when you're gone, I'm assuming you (or someone else) are there when this is happening. Catching her in the act is the main thing. She may or may not be able to make the association between actually deficating and the mess that's left. If you catch her after the fact, all she knows for sure is if there is a mess, she will get in trouble. If you know it's going to happen, you need to be watching her VERY carefully. Could you clarify if at 4am she is deficating before being let out, or after she comes back in?

My suggestion is to look very carefully at the time(s) you are feeding her. Most dogs need to deficate very shortly after eating, and you should be watching her at those times if you expect to catch her in the act. Something as simple as adjusting her feeding schedule so you can be sure to let her out at the appropriate time may put an end to the problem.

Unfortunately, some dogs do take a while to get all this into their heads while simultaneously developing the ability to actually control their bodily functions. Consistency and patience are the keys. She's getting to the age where this should be stopping as long as her schedule isn't suddenly changed.