# POTTY HELP!!!



## Connabelle (Feb 6, 2007)

I am sure someone else has had this issue but could not find anything. So sorry if I am repeating....Oh lord, I hope I am not the only one....

I have an 18 month old Hav (male) he is peeing everywhere. He knows better than to go in front of us, so we never catch him in the act. He gets plenty of outside time and even goes to the back door when he needs to go out. Lifting his leg has just begun about 2-3 months ago which is why we know its him peeing and not his sister. Its on the walls, dressers, etc...

I need some tips as my husband is having a fit. I have shown Oscar the pee-pee spots (after the fact) and said no and immediatly taken him out back but it does help. 

Any advice/suggestions???


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## pjewel (Apr 11, 2007)

Carla,

I'm suffering the same thing right now with Milo. He's driving me crazy. I'm ready for a one way ticket for him to S. Dakota, where he came from. I have absolutely no patience for it anymore. I certainly can empathize with you. It's making me very uptight all the time.

There is another thread about it in which people have tried to help me. Is your male intact? I'm planning a quick neuter to try to make this problem go away. I hope yours ends soon too.


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## RikiDaisyDixie (Apr 15, 2008)

*tips from Glo Dittman at [email protected]*

Glo gave me these tips for housetraining a havanese. Her only request is that you not sell this information. She has given permission to share it as long as it is not changed and printed intact.

Linda

How To Housebreak
by
Gloria S. Dittmann (c)

This article is meant as a companion piece to my article 
HOW TO CRATE TRAIN. The assumption is that those who
are reading this article are crate training their puppies, 
as the crate is an integral part of proper housetraining.

When housebreaking your puppy, two facts must be kept in 
mind. The first that that although the need to keep the den 
clean is instinctive, the puppy has no idea that your entire
house is now his den. It is your responsibility to show 
puppy that the entire house is now the puppy's den and the 
puppy is expected to keep the den clean.

The next fact is that puppies, when it comes to bladder and 
bowel control, are not much different from human infants. Puppies have 
small bladders and bowels at first and virtually NO muscle 
control. While a puppy may intellectually understand the 
housebreaking philosophy within 2-3 weeks, his body takes a 
lot longer to mature to the point where puppy has the 
physical control needed to be clean in the house under all 
conditions. Do not ask, nor expect, a puppy to 'hold it' 
longer than is physically possible for that puppy.

A 3 month old puppy is virtually incapable of going for 
6-8 hours at a time without eliminating even once. If you 
have a full-time job that will keep you out and the puppy crated for 
prolonged periods of time (longer than 3-4 hours), you 
should make arrangements for someone to come in mid-day to 
let puppy out for some exercise and to be able to eliminate.
If this is not possible, you can use an exercise pen (a 
free-standing playpen for dogs) attached to the crate or you 
may place the crate inside the playpen. This 
way, the puppy can sleep in the crate and then exit into the
exercise pen to get some exercise and to eliminate. Be sure 
to place the pen and crate away from walls or 
draperies...puppies LOVE to chew on moldings, plaster and 
drapery fabric!

Now, when puppy first comes home, remember 
that puppies MUST eliminate within 15 minutes after eating, 
immediately after drinking water, immediately upon waking, 
when excited (when company comes, for example or puppy is 
startled by a sudden, loud noise) and during and after play sessions. 
Be sure to take puppy out at these times until you learn 
your puppy's individual needs and schedule. Also keep in 
mind that it takes approximately 2-3 hours for a puppy to 
digest a meal. If you feed your puppy breakfast at 7am and 
then crate it, it is going to have to eliminate by 11am or 
noon at the latest. Keep this in mind when planning your 
crating sessions.

Now, until puppy begins to understand what
is expected of him in terms of housebreaking, it is up to 
the human family members to keep a very close eye on puppy. 
Be sure puppy is always with you except when puppy is 
crated. Puppies will usually give a signal to indicate they 
have to eliminate. They will walk with their noses to the 
ground while sniffing for a likely spot; walk in a circle; 
get 'that look' in their eyes that tells you what is coming.
Close observation of your puppy will soon let you know what 
your pup's individual signal is. When you see it...get puppy
outside as quickly as possible! Take puppy to the same spot 
in the yard each time you take him out, and use a key word 
command such as "DUTY! Do your DUTY!" or whatever word you 
choose to use each time puppy goes. This way, he will begin 
to associate the word with the action and before long, he 
will eliminate on command.

When puppy eliminates, praise him! LOTS of praise! 
Never let puppy out alone to eliminate!
He needs you there to keep him company and to praise him as 
soon as he performs properly. Sometimes it may take puppy a 
while to sniff around and explore before he goes. BE 
PATIENT! Too often people give up after about 15 minutes, 
come in and whammo! Puppy immediately goes on the floor or 
carpeting! You are just not giving puppy enough time 
outside. Puppies have virtually no attention span at this 
age and their memory spans are non-existent as well. They 
need some gentle encouragement to keep their minds on what 
they should be doing. Try not to make this time playtime as 
this will also distract puppy. If you know puppy has to go but
puppy is fooling around and you run out of patience, come back 
inside and place puppy in the crate for 10-15 minutes. Then carry
puppy back outside to the usual spot and wait again. Chances are,
puppy will do his business this time, however if he fails to eliminate
once again, put him back in the crate for another 10-15 minutes and 
then take him back outside and try again.

If puppy does have an 
accident in the house and you do not catch him in the act, do 
NOT punish him! Even if you come in 30 seconds later, let it go. As previously 
stated, puppies have little or no memory span at this age. A
puppy will not associate a scolding or spanking (and it is 
NEVER necessary to spank a puppy for having an accident or for any other reason!)with what happened 30 seconds or 30 minutes ago. Oh, he will
act guilty and contrite, but that is only because he is 
reacting to your body language. Dogs are masters at reading 
the most subtle body language signals we give off almost 
subconsciously. This is how dogs communicate with each 
other, so it is not surprising that they use this talent to 
'read' us as well!

Rubbing a puppy's nose in his mess is an 
old wives tale which does NOT work. All this does is 
confuse the puppy and possibly cause him to resent you for 
what he thinks of as your unreasonable behavior. If you do 
catch the puppy about to have an accident or having one, 
immediately growl "NO! BAD PUPPY!!", pick him UP and rush 
him outside to a spot he is used to going. Now, he is going 
to be very startled by this unexpected development and will
temporarily stop what he was doing or about to do. Just be 
there with him and quietly, in a friendly tone of voice, 
give the word command you are using. Once he does settle 
down and finish what he started, praise him lavishly! Then 
clean the area he soiled inside with a good enzyme 
deodorizer/cleaner.

These products use enzymes to literally 
eat the odor-causing molecules found in all organic matter. 
Conventional cleaners such as Lysol, etc. use perfumes to 
cover up the old urine scent...but only to human noses! 
Canine schnozzes have no trouble at all detecting old urine 
sites. Use of an enzyme product stops this cyclical behavior
(going back to the old site to eliminate) by completely 
eliminating the old scents.

By closely following this program, your puppy should have 
the basics of housebreaking down within a few weeks, although 
each puppy is an individual and will progress according to his own internal 
body schedule. If your puppy is having trouble with VERY 
frequent urination or frequent, loose stool, check with your
vet. Any time a dog's bladder and/or bowel habits change 
suddenly and radically and stay that way for longer than 
about 24 hours, you should check with your vet as well.

And please remember that your puppy is really not much different
from a human infant. Like a baby, a puppy has to be mature 
enough, mentally and physically, in order to completely 
control itself in the house. Be patient with that new 
pup...he has a lot of learning and growing to do in a very 
short period of time! Love and lots of patience will have 
that pup turning into the best dog you've ever owned in no 
time at all!

(c) Copyright 1995 - 2008 Gloria S. Dittmann. All Rights
Reserved. Any reproduction, in whole or in 
part, in any medium without the express permission of the 
author is strictly prohibited. For reprint information and 
permission, please contact the author via e-mail at [email protected]


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## RikiDaisyDixie (Apr 15, 2008)

*another article by Glo Dittman*

This is her article on housetraining an older dog, a foster dog, or a rescue. It worked with my male, Riki. It was a lot of work, but he is completely housetrained.

permission to post with concept that article will not be sold and will be printed in its entirety without changes.
Linda

There are times when an older puppy or adult dog comes into a 
new household and seems to have 'forgotten' its former 
housebreaking. Often, the problem lies in the strangeness of the
new household, the trauma of losing it's former home or perhaps 
the dog was never completely housebroken in the first place. 
When a new dog comes into the household and is not continent in 
the house, the first step is to have the dog checked carefully to rule 
out any physical cause for the problem. A low-grade urinary tract, 
bladder, prostate or vaginal infection will cause a dog to 'lose' its 
housebreaking. Similarly, an intact dog or a bitch in season (or coming into
season) may 'mark' their territory and to some, this behavior looks like the
dog is urinating in the house. In fact, it is using a different substance
to let other dogs know that this area is HIS (or HERS) and there will be 
NO TRESPASSING. This type of behavior can only be curbed by first
altering the animal and then attempting behavior modification, perhaps using 
this method of re-training. There is no point in trying to correct a problem that 
is outside of the dog's physical control. So first be sure that there is no 
underlying physical cause for the problem and that the behavior is, indeed,
not being caused by reproductive hormones.

Once the dog is found to be healthy, you can try what I call the
'umbilical cord' method of housebreaking. The philosophy behind 
this is really very simple. It is based on two factors. The first is the 
way a dog learns. Dogs learn by IMMEDIATE correction or 
IMMEDIATE praise. They do not relate their actions to past or
future happenings. For example: A dog has an accident in the
livingroom. While the dog is eliminating, he is not thinking "Uh oh, 
I am going to get in trouble for this later!" 5 minutes later YOU come into 
the room, see the wet spot, make an immediate assumption and
begin feeling angry toward the dog. You see the dog nearby and go 
toward it to correct it. The dog, while having NO IDEA that you are 
angry over something that happened LONG ago (to a dog!), does sense your
anger in the vibrations and scents your body is giving off and in your body 
language, so he immediately ACTS guilty in an attempt to ward off your 
anger, even tho he has no idea WHY you are angry or what he is
acting guilty about. He is merely trying to appease the leader of the pack. 
Since he does not relate his earlier action to your anger (it is simply 
outside of his frame of reference...dogs are NOT able to make
long-term associations) he looks upon your anger and subsequent actions as 
being completely unreasonable. He is not learning NOT TO SOIL in the 
house, he is learning that you are not to be trusted and that you
will act in what HE considers to be an irrational manner from time to time.

The second factor is....if you and the dog are together ALL the time, 
whatever the dog does, YOU will be aware of IMMEDIATELY! So here
is how it works:

Whoever is on 'dog duty' takes the leash and puts it on the dog.
He or she then ties the loose end of the leash around his/her own waist. 
Where the dog goes, you go. Where you go, the dog goes. Remember 
that a dog takes about 3-4 hours to digest a meal, but may have
to urinate shortly after drinking water. Keep these facts in mind while 
housebreaking the dog. A dog that has to go badly
enough will go regardless of where he is. If the dog
begins to act as if he is thinking of having 
an accident (dogs WILL signal before eliminating...you have to
watch the dog and see what his particular 
signal is. Some dogs will circle, or sniff first or hold the base
of the tail at an odd angle just before letting 
loose. Watch your dog and learn his signals) you
IMMEDIATELY...BEFORE the accident, preferably....give 
a strong verbal correction. You can say "NO!" in a low, growly,
disapproving tone or you can use a noise such as "BAH", again in 
a low, growly tone of voice. You do not have to shout or yell at 
the dog. Using a gruff, growly tone is much more understandable to 
the dog, since the Momdog will growl at him when she 
is angry. A growl is much better than a shout! So you growl at
the dog and at the same time, you pick it up (if it is a small or medium 
size breed, of course! A larger dog must be RUN out the door) and carry it 
outside to a spot it HAS gone in the past. The dog should be
startled enough by the growl and being picked up (or run) to stop 
whatever it was about to do or even DOING at the time. Put the dog 
down on the grass at a spot it has used before and wait. It may take a few 
minutes for the dog to settle back down enough to continue. But you wait it 
out! Don 't talk to the dog, just stand there at the other end of the leash patiently 
and wait. This is not party time, the dog is there to do something. As soon as 
the dog finishes what it started inside, you praise it! What a good dog! 
Giving it a treat is also a good idea, to help with positive reinforcement. But remember...like the IMMEDIATE correction, the praise must 
be immediate for the dog to be able to relate it to its action.

The dog will remain tied to you whenever it is 
not in its crate or outside. If you are too busy to have the dog
attached to you, either put it outside or in the crate but do NOT 
let it loose in the house until it has stopped having accidents in your 
presence and has started whining or making some other noise to let you 
know it must go out. When it DOES make a noise, IMMEDIATELY STOP EVERYTHING ELSE and get it outside! The first time or two or three may 
be flukes, but soon the dog WILL begin to associate making noise
with going outside and will start to signal on his own. If this method 
is used consistently, the dog should be housebroken within 2 weeks, although 
some dogs MAY take a little longer if the den instinct has been completely 
negated for some reason. Once you take the leash off, you must still keep a 
close eye on the dog, preferably keeping him in the same 
room as yourself for the next few weeks. What you are doing is
re-instilling the den instinct in the dog.

Dogs won't soil their dens IF they have an alternative and the
dog must associate the entire house with his den. Start out with a small 
area...wherever YOU and the dog are...and gradually increase that area 
until the dog thinks of the entire house as his den area and does
his best NOT to soil it. This may be all new to him or he may have never 
been taught properly in the first place, so you must be alert and 
understand that until he gets the idea, it is your job to watch
him carefully and get him outside BEFORE he has an accident. 
But you must expect an accident or two or three<g> before the lesson is 
learned, as a dog must learn what NOT to do before he can learn how to 
do it right. Patience and consistency will help teach your dog how to 
be clean in the house!

(c) 1996-2008 Gloria S. Dittmann. All Rights Reserved. Any
reproduction, in whole or in part, in any medium whatsoever, is
strictly prohibited by International Copyright Law. For reprint
permission and information, please contact the author via e-mail
at [email protected]


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## Me&2Girls (May 11, 2007)

Linda these are great - exactly what I've done and it does work. But for those habitual offenders, you sometimes have to go back to basics boot camp and that's tough!


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## Thumper (Feb 18, 2007)

Sorry!  Marking is NO fun. Is he neutered? I know they say that helps, but there are some neutered dogs that don't realize they don't have all their 'parts'. lol

You could try a belly band, but that is sort of a band-aid and better for maybe a puppy that you are training and not so much an older dog, but it would be great for the times you can't keep your focus on him and watch him, atleast you'd know he wasnt' marking up all your furniture.

OR do you have an intact FEmale? I do, and I know firsthand how many boy havs (neutered) leave their scent for Gucci. lol Granted, she's a hottie. lol 

Kara


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## ginny (Mar 29, 2008)

This is great advice and I appreciate both articles. What age is considered an older dog for the second article? How long did it take to housebreak Rikki?


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## suzyfrtz (Nov 12, 2007)

Carla, 
Thanks for posting this thread. I have been having problems with Cazzie wetting in the house. He is just one year old. This is certainly regression on his part. I had two theories 1. we came back from our winter home and was re-marking his territory 2. I was in the hospital and he was shifted around and so is acting out his confusion. Don't know if either of these are valid from a dog trainer's point of view. He has been neutered. Last night he wet on the bed! He sleeps with me and I think this is very strange behavior. He always had awakened me when he needs to go out at night. So I am not going to give him water after 6 p.m. and now that I'm feeling better, he's going for his walks again. Also I am keeping him in sight as much as possible. Appreciated Gloria's ideas about re-housebreaking. 
Suzy


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## Connabelle (Feb 6, 2007)

Thanks so much everyone...Yes, he is intact. I guess this is the main issue but I will try the leashing him to me idea. Actually, he is tied to me now so I will keep you posted, if it works.


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