Puppy won’t go to the toilet outside garden

[Meggriffinshatsmells]

18 week old golden retriever.

Absolutely wonderful with toileting, a bit too wonderful as she will only go on one specific spot in the garden.

She was trained to go in one area, which opens from the utility room where her crate is (the garden is large with loads of hidden areas, I didn’t want a puppy darting off), so it was the best option to use that safe enclosed yard area). She will only go there. We can be out for hours in the garden, she will not go in another spot, she comes back inside and waits by the utility door to go to her spot (it’s separate from the rest of the garden by a small chain link fence).

It’s exactly the same floor surface as the rest of the garden - concrete and shingle so it’s not that she won’t go on different textures, they are the same. And If anything, it’s nosier as it’s closer to the road, so it’s not an issue with noise.

She has a toilet command.

Obviously, she has only has one short walk per day at the moment as she’s so young, 20 mins, she’s never been to the toilet on a walk. She will come home and sit by the utility door to be let out.

I had to go and house sit for a friend for the last two days and she had to come with me as dh is away.

we were there for 8 hours each day. She ate, slept, was happily playing. Totally normal as she would be at home.

I took her in to their quiet garden after sleeping and eating which is when she usually goes and nothing (they have no pets). We sat in the garden for a few hours - Watched her like a hawk, nothing. She was playing, training. It was just me and her and she’s been to that house for an hour or so a couple of times a week since she was 10 weeks old, so she’s used to it.

Soon as we got back in the house, she was straight to the utility door to do the biggest wee I’ve ever seen.

I know this takes time with some puppies. She’s sleeps in a crate at night from 10:30pm - 6:30am. Hasn’t needed a middle of the night loo break since 12 weeks.

BUT we are all going away on holiday in 4 weeks time with her. What the hell will she do then?!

All the advice is to use a command word - we do. Sometimes she will sit by the door if she needs a wee, sometimes I will take her out and say “do a wee” and she does.

I’ve tried it everyday in other parts of the garden and on walks but she will hold it until she can go to her spot. I honestly thought that this weekend she would manage to go, in a familiar place that was quiet with just me there with her, nope!

The first time we went away with our pup I thought we were going to have to come home again as we walking her round the campsite at 10:30pm after she hadn't toiletted all day. She went eventually and it hasn't been a problem since.

She'd be great for a guide dog - we spend months trying to get them to only go on command and not when out on walks 😁

Honestly - she will go when she needs to, they have far stronger bladders than we think.

When you took her to your friends house, did you use the command when she was out in the garden or were you just hoping she'd understand that she could pee there?

If she's been trained not to pee in your garden, she probably doesn't understand that she's allowed to go in someone else's, if that makes sense. It takes a while for dogs to generalise their behaviour to all locations.

No, I used the command, as I do at home. Took her out as soon as she woke up from napping and as soon as she’s finished eating which is when she usually goes like clockwork.

took her out, gave the command, at home she drops immediately- she just looked at me like I had 3 heads 🤣

Then we played in the garden for hours in the afternoon, and ran around, sniffed, slept under
my chair on and off. Didn’t take my eyes off her! Got her attention, gave the command - again, looked at me like I was crazy.

And it’s not that she’s been trained not to pee in the rest of the garden. She’s always been encouraged to.

same flooring as the yard, but she won’t go. by “trained to go” in the yard area, I meant as in trained to go outside there, not in the house.

Is that not a good thing that it would rather go on your own property rather than public spaces (which is not pleasant for others)

My retriever is three and is the opposite - won't pee in her own garden unless it's an absolute emergency.

This is what dh says. She can’t hold it forever.

She can hold it a long time. She’s in her crate from 10:30pm until 6:30am. She doesn’t run out the door desperate for the loo. I open her crate, she had a stretch and a roll around and water first and then I let her out.

I guess, If you were always at home. Would be kind of limiting if it carried in forever though!

And it’s not that she’s been trained not to pee in the rest of the garden. She’s always been encouraged to.

I thought you said she'd been trained to pee in a certain fenced off area? Or am I completely mis-reading your post?

The fenced off area is just for ease for when we done want her running off through the rest of the garden (late at night, early morning). It was easier when she was a small puppy. All that standing around, waiting for a small puppy to pee was far easier in a contained area and training was easier as there’s no distractions there - especially as it seemed to rain non stop the first month we had her!

That’s what I meant by trained to go there. As in outside of the house, that area was somewhere that she couldn’t run off into out long, higgledy piggledy garden and get distracted.

Along side that, we tried to train her to go in the rest of the garden too. She’s been to the toilet out there a few times but her preferred space is the small yard area off the utility.

It’s not so much a problem at home. I’m just thinking of when we go away soon.

Ah, got you. Is it possible that she feels more secure in the fenced area because it's what she was used to when she was little? Have you tried taking her out in the garden on a lead so she can't run off and get distracted?

Yes, we have tried!

I would try not to worry, she can't hold it forever so at some point she'll have to go - just be ready with tons and tons of praise when she does :)

It was the same with our border collie, he wouldn’t go out on walks, then one day we were talking to a dog owner in a park, so we were there a bit longer and the 2 dogs played together and as we walked away, he suddenly did a 💩 we think he realised he couldn’t hold it until we got home. After that one time, he did start going out on walks, but doing a wee on walks took a little longer at about 18 weeks.

It’s honestly fairly normal for puppies to associate toileting with where they’re been trained to go and nowhere else outside.

Dogs aren’t good at generalising so, while to you the garden is outside, to them the rest if outside is a different place.

She’ll have to go elsewhere eventually, just reward it when she finally does and she’ll start to click.

She will eventually

I’ve always heard about people having this issue, but it’s new to me. She’s the third golden retriever puppy I’ve had in my life (plus two childhood ones, but their toileting wasn’t my responsibility!), and I guess I was lucky never to have encountered this before!

This sounds gross, but take a poo with you that she's done in her safe place, and it its turf where she wees I'd dig up a bit too. The familiar smell with help her. She sounds like a very good girl.

I took her for a walk with a friends older dog this evening.

He did a couple of poos, and there I was, like a mad woman saying “look at him! Good doggy, doing a poo poo!” Like a mad woman while she watched him shit 🤣

It worked through because a few minutes later, she squatted and did one outside of the garden for the first time ever. You’d have thought she’d found the solution to world hunger the amount of praise she got.

So I hope that has opened the floodgates.

Good news, I hope unlike me you had some poo bags, luckily I had a plastic shopping bag.

It sounds like the holiday may be the solution tbh. She’s not going to have the option of going in her spot 🤷🏼‍♀️

Yes I did, thankfully!

Fab news! Hopefully that solves your problem.