Restarting house training after failure

[maddiie]

Puppy is now 5 months. Think it's time to admit we've failed house training. We put pee pads everywhere at first, moving these closer to the door and then outside. A lot of the time, probably about 70% of the time he does go outside, but he doesn't let us know when he needs to go out and 30% of the time he just goes wherever he wants. We started leaving the back door open during the day, and now he's started going inside again even with access to outside. Including on our bed I'm in despair. Thinking I just need to start completely fresh.. any ideas please let me know!

No ideas except to reduce his chances of getting it wrong. To me, this means:

• no free access to the garden, he should be taken out specifically to pee
• no free access to parts of the house unsupervised
• watched at all times and taken out each and every time he looks like he might want to pee (sniffing, circling, pacing, panting)
• taken out every couple of hours and encouraged to pee, rewarded with praise when he does
• taken out after key moments (after play, food or sleep)
• if he doesn't pee when taken out, brought back in and try again in 15 mins or so; repeat until he does go
• clean all indoor accidents up with an enzyme cleaner so there is no lingering smell
• no telling off, sighing, swearing, crying or whatnot when he does have an accident indoors

I will also add that asking to go out can mean different things to different dogs. I once had a dog who barked when asked "do you want a wee?" if he needed to go. This one just sits and looks at me. It's a very subtle ask and could be easily missed. It may be that yours is asking in some way, but you are not spotting it?

I personally don't find that pee pads work, the best way for me and my dogs is to repeatedly take them out to the garden. First thing in the morning, before and after meals and repeatedly throughout the day. When they go give them lots of praise and a treat!
I also bought the spray that removes the smell of urine for dogs so that they don't try to mark the areas where they've had an accident.

My puppy is also 5 months, she has accidents occasionally (mostly when she finds something that shes scared of, weirdly the bathroom bin has been causing her to pee!) but if she needs to go outside and the door is shut she'll cry by the door to let us know.
Toilet training can be difficult but I'm sure you'll get there! If you continue to have issues it may be worth paying for a session with a trainer who can advise.

Wash indoors as much as possible with biological washing powder especially in the areas that he has wee'd. Any other cleaner will enhnce the wee smell to the dog and make them wee more in that area.

Ditch the puppy pads - they have a chemical on them that encourages the dog to wee - you do not want the dog weeing inside so ditch them.

Take your dog out every hour to every two hours depending on the dog at this age two may be ok (but you know your dog)

Every time you let the dog wee inside it will slow down the process. Your dog is confused at the moment so do be patient and watch like a hawk. Do not trust him to tell you he does not know himself yet.