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Toilet Behaviour. Any ideas?

3 replies

dgc4rter · 08/06/2019 20:41

She's almost 12 weeks now and beginning to get the hang of ringing on a doggy doorbell when she wants to go outside to do a poo. However, wees are a completely different kettle of fish. She just seems to do them wherever without any warning. Any ideas as to why she should be treating wees differently to poos?

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CMOTDibbler · 08/06/2019 20:47

Totally normal. They get the hang of poos way beyond wees

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adaline · 08/06/2019 22:44

At 12 weeks you need to be taking her outside regularly, not waiting for her to tell you she needs to go.

Out every 20-30 minutes when awake, plus after play, food, drinks, training and naps! It's tiring but it only lasts a couple of weeks or so.

She's too young to be reliable yet - you need to take her out and praise and treat (go way OTT with both) so she know she's doing the right thing. Ignore any accidents (just take her out - mid-wee if you have to!) and praise when she finishes outside.

And you have to go and stand with them every time until they go! You can't let her out alone else she'll pee and not get praise for it, so won't realise she did the right thing.

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Nettleskeins · 08/06/2019 22:53

If you ignore any peeing indoors and start rewarding and praising pees outdoors, they soon work out to hold on.

We also had to wash the entire kitchen floor in white vinegar (although he mostly peed around the edges) so the faint familiar smell of pee didn't encourage her to keep using that area. Dog training club also said to try and limit their area of activity to part of the house, so that you can avoid them peeing all over the house without you being able to monitor, until they are trained. Initially we found that whenever the dog went up to my daughters room he would immediately pee on the carpet there (soft and warm like puppy pads) so until he had the association with outside and grass/cement we had to stop his access to the trigger surface.
Someone also said on Mumsnet that you need to teach them to pee on command rather than waiting for them to ask. So you link a word with an action, and praise praise treat, then once the association has been set up you can ask them to pee when it suits you. Much easier than waiting for them to request at that age. Later on, the two become more interchangeable, you and the puppy tend to both "request", so puppy might show signs of needing a pee (more bitey, rushing home, frenzied action) and then you need to give them the command word. I think you have to anticipate that a pee will be needed, and then give the "request" in the form of a word that puppy links with the action.

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