[ItalianGreyhound]

I have 2 Italian Grehounds. My boy is 10 months old, my girl is 7 months old.
My 1st question pertains to the boy... he has just recently started hiking his leg on things in the house. I never catch him in the act, but it was obviously him. How do I punish him for doing this, especially when I don't discover it right away? How do I stop him from doing this?
My 2nd question pertains to the girl... she seams to be impossible to housebreak. I take her out very frequently and I always say "lets go potty outside, potty outside, potty outside" I try to make it very clear what we are doing!! She just don't get it! She will pee and poop in the house without giving it a second thought, like she has NO CLUE about why we go outside. She also pee and poops IN HER CRATE. I have never heard of a dog doing this. She will "relieve" herself through the night and practically have her head laying in it when I get her up in the morning. She will bark when she's OUTSIDE and wants to come IN, however, she won't bark when she's INSIDE and needs to go OUT. I have also tried newspapers and I have purchased the pee pads and she won't use those either. She is the sweetest most lovable little girl but she has issues!! I have been going through this for 3 months with her and I am ready to give up. PLEASE HELP ME!!

[labman]

Aside from neutering him if not already, there is nothing you can do if you don't catch him in the act. When you are around, you need to keep a close eye on the dog. Use closed doors or gates to keep it in the same room as you are, and perhaps as I do, a short chain fastened to the computer desk. If you catch it in the act, give it a sharp ''Ah, ah, ah!'' and take it out. When you can't watch it, crate it.

The female is a tough problem too. It is easy to find books that say dogs won't foul their bed. It is also easy to find questions here about ones that do. I think book writers know better than to start with a pet store, puppy mill, or backyard breeder puppy. Such puppies start life being forced to live in their filth and being left alone long periods. When they go to their home, they continue to foul the crate either out of stress or just not knowing they can stay clean. It is tough breaking the cycle.

The first step is to have a vet clean up any UTI's or loose bowels. A grid as I suggest at https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/i...tml#post251809 will keep them up out of urine. Feeding a meat based, concentrated chow makes holding it easier. Making her move around outside can force her to eliminate, giving you a chance to praise her for it. They can't walk and hold it.

[finzi]

Dear Labman,

I am so intrigued about this wire grid idea. But wouldn't this just perpetuate the cycle? They still get to urinate/poop/whatever, we still have to clean it, but they are happier (this is questionable!) they are not sitting in it. I think it would almost encourage them to go in their crate. I am not saying I don't believe you - and I am highly considering creating one for our puppy's crate - but I wonder how this works?

[labman]

I mainly use it for the first week or 2 to cope with the few accidents young puppies have at first. As I said in a similar thread, I don't have a magic bullet to fix fouling crates. It never is an ongoing problem for me, and I don't have successful experience correcting it. None of the resources I have even note it happening, let alone give a solution. Nobody else here seems to have any good ideas either. Perhaps the grid is counter productive, but it does help cope.

I am sure the best solution is to avoid it by not buying mistreated puppies from pet stores, puppy mills, and backyard breeders. I really hate and despise the latter. They come here wanting help, and then take up more of my time as I try to help the unfortunate people that bought one of their puppies.

[katieperez]

I've also got 2 puppies. My male is 6 months and my female is 5 months. The male had no trouble whatsovever learning to potty outside. We got him at 8 weeks and he never once pooped in the house and had very few pee accidents. The female, we got when she was 4 months and we're still working with her. She came from a not so ideal living situation. She is coming along pretty nicely, although I must admit, I was at wits end and posted a potty question myself. Anyhow, I use some pretty silly tactics but they seem to help. For instance, I know how difficult it is to 'ignore' the bad behavior because it's so frustrating. So rather than simply praising her when she went outside, we went nuts! We call them 'potty parties'. This included a kibble of her food (but with all the excitement she thought it was a treat), excited puppy talk saying good girl and good potty outside, and throwing her a tennis ball after all the pets and scratches. It seems a bit excessive but she loves it! Another thing that helped me, was taking my dogs out separately so that I could focus my attention and praise on her. Since my male can be trusted to hold it, she always went potty first. I found if he goes first, she gets anxious waiting by the door and ended up having an accident. My pups are on a pretty strict schedule too. Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 11:30 am we're at work. We come home for lunch then back to work and home around 4:45. They're never expected to hold it longer than 4 hours. Once she got used to this, her accidents seemed to lessen. On the weekends, just because we're home, they don't go out all the time. We try as much as possible to keep them in the same potty timeframe. More for her sake because the male is such a breeze. Shortly before he was neutered though, he started the marking thing like yours is doing. It sure is stinky isn't it? That stopped as soon as he was fixed. If he is fixed already, then he may need some more aggressive potty tactics.