How on earth do we get him house trained??

[Doodlekitty]

Our puppy is coming up to 6 months and is an absolute dream in most respects. Has flown through puppy training and puppy improvers and is about to start the bronze good citizen. Great (now) with my 3 year old and baby. Well behaved on walks, great recall etc. But I just can't get him clean.

There are times when he is constantly asking to be out. I let him out each time. He runs in and wees on the floor. Whenever he comes upstairs he wees on landing (only place with carpet in entire house)
He will hide away to have poos all over the house but will also poo on walks.

I'm at a loss and dh Is at end of tether. How come I can teach him to ring a fucking bell to go out but can't get him to poo only outside?

Dh wants to start punishing him as I've ran out of strategies but I don't want to go that way

Have you tried taking him out on a lead to a particular spot and not moving until he's been? You say he's out several times a day already. What about going back to puppy training and out every fifteen minutes or so?

Some dogs just don't get it for ages. It's frustrating I know but they usually get there in the end.

One thing you can definitely do is exclude your dh from any aspect of the dog's training from now on. Ask him how he expects a creature with no concept of time or cause and effect to understand a random punishment? Ask him how he thinks that will affect their bond? Oh dear.

Hi. This is very frustrating, I know. Teddy wasn't reliable until 8 months. I would take him to the vet's just to check there's no underlying medical reason for it. Doubtful, but you never know.
Are you rewarding and praising when he eliminates outside?
He WILL get there. My pup isn't very bright, bless him, so if he can do it ...

Reward (piece of usual kibble) when he goes outside - and spending every 10 minutes going to the garden is working for us. We use a code word 'swizzles' for toileting and paise 'good swizzles' when he goes outside. But it is a work in progress at 12 weeks - the last 2 days were the only ones where he did not wee in the house. The trigger is him getting over excited and not paying attention to his bladder - if calm he always asks to be let out. We have been lucky though - he has not pooed in the house since day 1.

Have you tried crate training?

I wouldn't agree with the usual piece of kibble as the reward. We were told to have something amazing to hand for going outside, something special reserved only for this (sausage, cheese, ham, chicken or whatever). Our pup would do nowt for kibble ... well, unless it had been marinated in tuna beforehand ;)

We had intended to crate train but he cried the place down if he was in it.
Dh has not bonded with dog at all, we now realise he hadn't got over the death of our last as he only sees this one as not her. He is working on it but it's a slow process. He's not involved in any training which personally I don't think helps. Out trainer advised not to treat for going outside but maybe I need to

I definitely would! I make the most of dogs being so food motivated when training my lad! You could reward him for either 'telling' you he needs out (so waiting by the back door or whatever), or the actual toileting itself.

Make sure you have a cue word to prompt him into action. Ours is 'go toilet'.

Our 8 month old springer is now reliable - we have one cue word for being let out ie Go outside and then another for actually doing the deed - 'Go quickly' and agree with a really special, strong smelling reward ie cheese, ham etc

No I would not treat a dog for going to the wee in the correct place. I am a positive reward based trainer and click and treat for nearly everything but not toilet training or recall!

What tends to happen is the dog starts to wee gets treated, does not complete the wee, then comes indoors and wees again.

If you are ever busting for the wee the best reward is being able to wee not being given a treat.

You must however go out with him to wee. Then when he does wee you can praise him and let him know that is the correct place to wee. A young dog if left to go out on his own will get bored not wee, come back in and then wee indoors. So although you have a lot going on with 3 year old you must take your dog out regularly wait with him until he wees.

If you are consistent with this, he will get it in a matter of weeks but usually days assuming that there is no physical reason for the weeing.

Ah! That totally makes sense! We tend to let him out and wait by door.