I'm sure you get a millon questions relating to house training but I was wondering if you could help me out with a problem I'm having house training my 12 wo Mini Foxie pup Lucy.
I'm positive she gets the whole idea of toileting outside as she hasn't done a poo inside for weeks but weeing is another matter.
We take her out regularly (about every hour or so) when we are home & I am also getting up during the night to take her out, which is working OK most of the time, the problem is when we are not home during the day, she is peeing on the floor & it seems particularly worse if it is raining.
Just this morning I watched as she put her head out the dog door, saw that it was raining, then proceeded to wee on the floor, I ran to stop her but by then it was too late.
We have 2 dogs (Penny is a 1yo JRT) so I have 2 dog baskets that they sleep in at night (though they generally both sleep in the same basket these days). I have removed the second basket at night time as she was weeing on the 'spare' basket during the night but during the day she is still choosing these as her preferred toilet before the floor or going outside, I'm not sure how to eliminate this problem without taking the baskets away all together when we're not home, I also don't want to lock her out of the house when we're away as there isn't any other shelter in the yard but I'm getting frustrated with having to wash baskets & clean floors every day when I get home from work.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Comments
Management is the best solution...
...given that you have a secure, fenced yard and that this is only a problem while you are out (because you are doing a brilliant job of managing the situation while you are home), I would invest in a warm, dry kennel placed somewhere near the back door and leave your dogs outside while you are out - just until you have this problem solved.
At night, Lucy should probably be crated to avoid any accidents. You can teach her to hold on right through the night fairly quickly using a crate. Set your alarm 10 minutes later each night and get up to take her outside.
It sounds like you've got the training part right and the management part right when you are there to supervise. Complete the management solution and you will solve this problem very quickly, I have no doubt.
Make sure you clean up any accidents with an enzyme based cleaner. I have a product recommended here, which you should be able to find locally with a little searching.