potty training... sort of
I'm a new OES owner - I picked her up at a no kill shelter after some crazy person dropped her off. (I was looking for a golden retriever mix, but she picked me....) She's an amazingly wonderful dog and so many of the wonderful qualities that I've read about sheepdogs on here apply to her. She's about 5 years old, completely housebroken and cage trained. She was sort of neglected in her previous home - fed, but not much else. So she's a little overweight and suffers a bit of separation anxiety (although she's fine if she's crated). My only problem is that she pretty much refuses to go to the bathroom in the back yard! She's like velcro to my knee, so won't even leave the porch if I'm not out there with her, and even today - after not peeing in the morning before work, hasn't peed now that I'm home, either. She will only pee/poop when we go on walks. I've given her treats the few times she has used the backyard, but this hasn't seemed to help. On a side note - we visited family this weekend, and with every other family dog, she would run right outside, see them pee, and then she would. Is there any way to train her to use the back yard! I love walking her and exercising her, but when it's pouring down rain (now), I'd love for her to be able to go out, do her business and then come in. Any advice is appreciated. Sorry this got so long winded. THANKS! |
|
|
| Gross as it sounds, next time she pees (on a walk) stick newspaper under the stream and put the urine soaked paper in the backyard where you want her to go. It'll help associate her smell with her new surroundings and make her more comfortable to go there... ideally!
Beauregard's Mom, wasn't this your problem with Daisy too? |
| I agree putting her smell in her own yard should do it.
Welcome to the forum. Lots of help here. Please visit us often. We have a new place called Holiday Celabration Album. OES photo gallery. We are trying to diplay pics of our Xmas and of course OES's. Hope you enjoy the site.  |
| Welcome to the forum! Some dogs (and people!) just develop little quirks along the way...lol... I personally think it is easier to get a dog to give up a little quirk than a person....lol...
Please let us know how it goes!  |
Welcome to the forum, and bless you for rescuing! She'll get used to your home and the routine you want for her, but she's probably just reliving her prior life in her mind all the time. It will take a little time, but other than that, it sounds like you have a wonderful new sheepie! 
Chris |
Hello and welcome! Willowsprite is right about the quirks. My dog has developed a bit of the opposite behavior - recently he will ONLY pee in our yard (or in Darcy's yard, LOL!), never on a walk or while we're out at dog class. He will poop on walks or at our dog class site if he needs to, just not pee. One day Bailey and I went on an outing with the local canine hiking club. We left the house at 8am and got back at 12:30. He drank tons of water along the way and there were 6 other dogs taking potty breaks during the hike. He held it until he got home. Wacky dog! He had a total Austin Powers pee when we went out in the yard  |
| Welcome to the forum, so glad you joined us. Bless you for rescuing her.
You didn't say how much time you give her to go. We kind of went through the same thing when Mojo was little. When we would take him out back, he thought it was play time and would hold it. I agree that putting her scent in the yard should help. May even take her out there on the leash and just walk around where the paper is. Be sure to use the potty word a lot and bunches of praise. |
| Hi. You'll love this forum "almost" as much as your new OES. I was also going to suggest putting her smell in the yard, and possibly even the scent of one of the other family dogs you said she went out with.
Just a passing thought, but could you possibly associate the words you say for "go for a walk" with whatever she may have heard in the past that means go potty??? Somehow, playing with the phrase you use and twisting it around so that the "go for a walk" phrase becomes wanna go pee pee, etc..... Kinda hard to explain since I don't know what phrases you use, but I hope you understand what I mean. Good luck. |
| I would give her some time too to get used to her new lifestyle. I know when we adopted our 5 y.o. female, she was used to dirt & no grass so she would always run to those areas to do her business so maybe it's something similiar. Maybe she only thinks she can go on a leash. Some girl dogs are fickle about their bathroom habits too.
good luck with you new pup. btw., we almost named our 22 month old Monk when we picked him up at the breeder because he was so quiet. We ended up naming him Frank instead. (long story...) |
| Seeing as she will go on leash, in front of you, the next step would be to put "potty" on cue. When she is just about to go, or as she starts to go, say whatever you want to use as the magic word "potty" or "go pee" or whatever, and give her a small, very tasty treat..while or immediately after she does her job. Do this over and over and over, for a few days....Then start to use the word as you see her start to sniff around, when you know she is ready to go. The trick is not to use it too early, and only when you know she will go. After several days you will see her recognizing the word, and she will squatt to do her duty in anticipation of her treat. So once she will go when you ask her to, then you move it to the backyard, still on leash. Do not do this last step until she is quite good at going when asked, on leash out front. Keep the treats small and very tasty during this whole process, and then you graduate to asking her to do it out back, no leash. and BINGO! |
| Good memory Jill! I did recently have a girl I was fostering, Daisy, who would not go potty for me. She held it so long I thought she was going to explode. She just needed to get used to me, my house and her new routine. It took several days of me trying every trick I (and the rest of the forum members) could think of, but she did eventually "get it". For her, she just would not go while on the leash. If I turned her loose in the yard, she would go running around a bit and then stop to pee or poop.
She repeated this behavior the first week at her new adopted home, too. She chose a wonderful couple, though, who adore her and were very patient with her accidents.
Bless you for rescuing! Give her time and be consistent, she'll figure out what you want her to do. |
| thanks for all the welcomes and ideas!
Of late, I've tried a couple different things- and treats after she does go in the yard is one of them. I sort of think that she somehow got the idea that if she goes in the yard, she won't get a walk, so I've been spending lots of time with her in the back yard and rewarding her and praising her when she goes. So a little of her scent will be out there for now, hopefully it continues. I'll give you all an update as time goes by. She's the sweetest girl ever... I couldn't be happier with her. It's not even been a month, and I couldn't imagine life without her. btw - monk is actually a posting name I use on another forum, so I just kept it. Her name's Beulah. And she LOVES that the weather has finally gotten colder. |
| I have the same problem - my rescue dog will not go in the backyard! We moved into a new house, and he finally started peeing in the yard. We go in the yard before he gets to go in the car, and before every walk, and gets lots of praise and a treat every time too. That lasted a couple of weeks, now he's stopped again. At my brother's house, when their dog goes out mine follows and happily pees outside in his yard. I have been going out and standing with him for 10-15 mins (giving the "hurry up" command), then going in for 1/2 hour and repeating if he doesn't do anything. I've had him for 5 years, and he can hold a really long time!
Should I pick up some dog pee snow on our walks (from a strange dog) and put it in the yard? |
Didn't find exactly what you're looking for? Search again here:
Custom Search
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|