SummerGirl
Jul 9, 2007, 06:44 AM
Hi everyone,
I have a 1 year old Nova Scotia Duck-Tolling retriever who I am starting to believe will never be fully housetrained.
She is crate-trained and manages to go at the appropriate times & outside 90% of the time. However, she has accidents at least once or twice a week consistently. We do all the right things... we have her on a schedule, praise her when she uses the bathroom outside and discipline her when we catch her in the act. We limit her food and water.
When she has accidents, she often does it right in front of us. It tends to be at totally random times, as well. For instance, I often work from home and purposefully do not take her out at all during the day, even though I am there, so that I don't get her off her schedule. So I know that she can make it all day, and she almost always makes it all day even when we aren't there. But once a week or so, she will have an accident in the house during the day, even if I am home.
This is not a UTI - this has been going on since she was a puppy - she has never been 'fully' houstrained, despite all of our effors.
We are totally at our wits' end... it is beyond frustrating and it is becoming harder and harder to keep our tempers! At times it seems that she is even being spiteful... for example, we had to leave her outside on the porch this weekend for longer than she would have liked because we were cleaning the house. She walked in and immediately peed on the carpet.
Aside from the housetraining issues - she is a wonderful dog with a good disposition. A bit naughty, but she is still a puppy after all.
Will getting her spayed resolve some of this? What are we doing wrong? Are there some dogs that are just 'unhoustrainable'? Help!
I have a 1 year old Nova Scotia Duck-Tolling retriever who I am starting to believe will never be fully housetrained.
She is crate-trained and manages to go at the appropriate times & outside 90% of the time. However, she has accidents at least once or twice a week consistently. We do all the right things... we have her on a schedule, praise her when she uses the bathroom outside and discipline her when we catch her in the act. We limit her food and water.
When she has accidents, she often does it right in front of us. It tends to be at totally random times, as well. For instance, I often work from home and purposefully do not take her out at all during the day, even though I am there, so that I don't get her off her schedule. So I know that she can make it all day, and she almost always makes it all day even when we aren't there. But once a week or so, she will have an accident in the house during the day, even if I am home.
This is not a UTI - this has been going on since she was a puppy - she has never been 'fully' houstrained, despite all of our effors.
We are totally at our wits' end... it is beyond frustrating and it is becoming harder and harder to keep our tempers! At times it seems that she is even being spiteful... for example, we had to leave her outside on the porch this weekend for longer than she would have liked because we were cleaning the house. She walked in and immediately peed on the carpet.
Aside from the housetraining issues - she is a wonderful dog with a good disposition. A bit naughty, but she is still a puppy after all.
Will getting her spayed resolve some of this? What are we doing wrong? Are there some dogs that are just 'unhoustrainable'? Help!