Puppy soiling older dogs bed

[Duunowaddathink]

I have never had this problem before (this is the 6th dog I have had from a puppy) My newest puppy is 13 weeks old and has been doing so well with her house training...if the back door is open she always goes out (we did the take her outside every hour and give a trigger word as she eliminates method). She has unfailingly used paper and puppy pads indoors from getting her at 8 weeks until 12 weeks, and for the last week has been clean and dry overnight as well, but for the last 2 days if my 10 yr old male dog hasnt been in his crate and the crate door has been left has been open (he loves his crate, it is his haven and it hasn't been shut for years until she started doing this) she has snook in there and pooped on his bed! Yesterday was the first time and I thought it was a blip in her training, and after washing it I decided that it wasnt really worth salvaging, threw it out and bought a new one..Shuhe found the (washed) old bed by the bin and soiled it again and 2 hours later when the older dog was in the garden she went inside and soiled the new one too. This morning she soiled the spare bedding in his crate and later the towels that I put in there to keep him comfy while the new bed and spare bedding were drying. If she was older I would assume she was trying to dominate him ... surely at just 13 weeks old and 7 kg she cant be trying to bully a 50kg male???? And apart from keeping his crate shut whenever he isnt in it what else can I do to stop her??

[Lilcamper]

It has absolutely nothing to do with dominance. Sounds like you have confused the puppy as to what surfaces are an appropriate toilet area by using pads and newspapers. Ditch them and go back to basics.

Toilet training is all about creating good habits. Young pups have very small bladders and very little bladder control so they need to be in the right place when nature calls.

To toilet train successfully in as short a time as possible you must take your puppy to the garden:

When they wake

After eating

After taking a drink

Before, during and after a period of activity

When you come in

Before you go out

Before bedtime

During the adverts

And every twenty to thirty minutes in between unless they are asleep. During periods of activity change that to every ten to twenty minutes.

Stay outside with your pup. Do not nag or distract him just mooch about and he will do the same and eventually eliminate. Quiet praise is sufficient. Once pup has eliminated you can either stay out and play or go back indoors. If you stay out for a game then he will often need to go again before you go back indoors so stop the game and stay out for a while longer to give him a chance to go again.

If you have to take him back in and he hasn’t eliminated outside then either confine him to his crate, sit him on your lap or tuck him under your arm (small breeds only) as you go about your chores and try again in five minutes.

It is imperative that you do this, especially if you have started off with newspaper down or puppy pads because your puppy may prefer to pee indoors and he could simply be waiting to be taken back in. Give him zero opportunity to go wrong.

If your puppy toilets in the house it is because you haven’t toilet trained him yet and didn’t take him outside when he needed to go. When this happens take a rolled up newspaper and hit yourself over the head whilst repeating the words “I forgot to watch my puppy. I forgot to watch my puppy” If your puppy laughs at you when you do this – praise him.



Common mistakes during toilet training.

Using newspaper or puppy training pads. Whilst it may aid the clearing up process it can be very confusing for the pup that is taught or permitted to toilet in the house to make the transition to going outside and will often result in a pup that when playing in the garden will simply hold on until they are back indoors because that is where the toilet is.

Leaving the door open. This does nothing to teach the pup to toilet outside only.

Reprimands for toileting in the house will result in a dog that believes you disapprove of what he did not where he did it and is damaging to your relationship with your pup.

Giving treats for toileting in the garden, again the dog is being rewarded for what he did not where he did it. Whilst this is not going to be as big a problem as the reprimand, the clever dog will learn to do lots of little wees and never fully empty their bladder. The insecure dog may wee indoors to appease you if you get cross about something else because they know that this is something that pleases you and gets rewarded. NB using both reprimands and rewards is very confusing for your pup.

Expecting your pup to tell you when he needs to go out. Once a pup understands that outside is where the toilet is then he may start to let you know he needs out. However if you are not there to ask or you fail to notice him asking then the housetraining will break down. Far better to have a dog go out to the toilet on your schedule once they are house trained.

Giving your pup an ensuite in his crate. Do not encourage your pup to toilet in his crate by putting puppy pads in there. If you have to leave puppy for a while and he is going to need to go then best to have the crate inside a larger pen or blocked off area and leave the crate door open so that he can get away from his bed to toilet.


N.B. Areas indoors where pup has had an accident are best cleaned with a dilute of biological washing powder. Avoid using disinfectant as this contains ammonia and can encourage pup to pee there again.

Overnight.

Young pups will need to go to the toilet once or twice in the night for anything from a few days to a few weeks.

If your pup is sleeping in a crate in the bedroom with you then they will wake and should let you know they need to go out. Carry pup to the garden to eliminate and then straight back to bed again. A few nights of this and it will take you longer to find your slippers because of sleep deprivation and consequently pup is learning to hold on and will soon be sleeping all night.

If you choose to leave puppy in the kitchen or utility room to sleep then do not shut them in a crate and simply clean up in the morning without comment.

Why punishment does not work for house training.

A typical morning in the life of an 8 week old pup.

7:00am Puppy pees in the garden – Owner present. Gets praised

7.30am Puppy pees in the kitchen – Owner present. Gets a reprimand

8:15am Puppy pees in the lounge – Owner not present. Nothing happens except relief

9:00am Puppy pees in the lounge – Owner present. Gets a reprimand

9:30 am Puppy pees in the kitchen – Owner not present. Nothing, just relief

11:00am Puppy pees in the garden – Owner doesn’t notice Just relief again

11:30am Puppy pees under the dining room table – Owner not present. Nothing happens

12:15pm Puppy pees in the garden – Owner present – gets praise

What we think we are teaching puppy is that it is good to pee in the garden and wrong to pee in the house but what the pup is actually learning is that sometimes it is rewarding to pee when the owner is present and sometimes it is dangerous. However it is always safe to go when the owner is not present and that so far the safest place is under the dining room table.

NOTE. - Never deny your dog water in the mistaken belief that this will aid toilet training. It won't. It will make the urine stronger, it may impact on your dog's health, i.e. cause kidney problems or urniary tract infections.if the dog drinks greedily and excessively when it is available knowing it will be taken away.Dogs must have clean fresh water available all of the time.

[SpicyBear]

That is excellent training advice that lilcamper has shared.

Dogs are not really not capable of doing things like pooing in another's bed to assert dominance or out of spite or any other such fanciful notion. It is just a confused pup who is finding it very confused by the message sent by using puppy pads - they have learnt that it is okay to toilet indoors on something soft and absorbent.

[SpicyBear]

Oh gosh try again - I do not know what happened there!

That is excellent training advice that lilcamper has shared.

Dogs are really not capable of doing things like pooing in another dog's bed to assert dominance, out of spite or any other such fanciful notion. It is just a pup who is very confused by the message sent by puppy pads i.e. they have learnt that it is okay to toilet indoors on something soft and absorbent.

[Duunowaddathink]

Lilcamper; Thank you for the wonderful description of exactly how to house train,we have in all honesty been doing exactly that...the paper (and pads at first but we stopped using them when she decided they were better as chew toys at 10 weeks) were only put down at night (our dogs always sleep in utility the room and I didnt want to create the 'ensuite' (love that description!) bad habit) She started going dry and clean overnight at 10.5 weeks so we made the area smaller each night and then eventually put it outside the back door, she really seemed to be understanding what we wanted. And no, of course she hasnt been chastisied or punished for accidents (though I didnt take a rolled up newspaper to my head either! lol) During the day we were going out every hour, saying "be quick" as she performed and giving quiet praise, the weather was great so the door was left open and she started going out of her own accord (still followed her and praised performance) At bed time she goes on command before being crated (only started shutting the door last week because she had stopped needing to go between 12pm and 6am for over a week)..the sudden soiling of our older dogs bed only began 4 days ago after I genuinely thought we had it pretty much cracked (and since she has been allowed to go for her first walks).. I was just waiting for her to start giving a stronger indication for needing to go out to say "yes. we've got it!" (she will scatch at the door but doesnt make a noise yet) ...
The only thing I can think that is causing it is that her breeder had the litter in a big puppy pen in the living room with bedding to the left and newspaper to the right and our older dogs crate is to the right of hers....but it is 5 weeks since she had that set up....I must admit I'm finding it frustrating though..yesterday the whole family and both dogs were outside in the garden and she ran inside...I followed just as she got on his bed a pee'd, picked her up and put her outside, said good girl as she finished outside, cleaned up (put bedding in washer, washed and dried the base of his crate), put fresh bedding down and only just stopped her going on his clean bedding again before I could shut the door!

[daisydotandgertie]

What are you washing it in?

[Duunowaddathink]

Daisydot; a solution of biological washing powder. (use it for floor cleaning too)

Latest update is that as long as we shut his crate door when he isnt in it she has absolutely no accidents (well, for 2 days so far so a bit soon for celebration I know, but a step in the right direction)...I think a few more days of vigilance and we may have it cracked...