Looking for Input on Current Potty Training

[ParadiseTzu 11,275]

I feel as if sometimes I am just talking to you guys about the issue of the day with my dogs but I just don't know anyone else with a small dog much less a Shih Tzu and so friends/family get glazed eyes if I start talking about mine. They think they are very spoiled anyway. And I do, as always, value each of your input.

My issue here is one I have talked about before. Potty training of Willie Boy.  I guess I am looking for encouragement but will take the truth too if that's what you want to offer (such as this breed is very difficult to potty train and sometimes doesn't). My little Willie will be six months old on July 11 and is no farther along in his potty training than when he came home to us at 8 weeks old. Because he has from day one, peed and/or pooped as soon as he went out. Every single time without fail.  So initially I think this is so good because that is the hurdle I feared the most...that I would take him out, he would do nothing and then come back in and pee/poop on the floor.  Thought with time he would learn to hold it longer between outside visits.  At almost six months old, he holds it in the house about 20 minutes!!!  I do use a crate and he has never peed in that. But I attempt periodically to let him play on the floor for longer that that 20 minute period and am always rewarded with a pee spot in the floor.  Never a poop in the floor so I am thankful for that.

I do watch him very carefully but we have open concept den, dining and kitchen and the one of the bedrooms he can go into also. So sometimes I go in another part of that area to get something done and turn around and he has peed on the floor, but never in front of me so that at least I could say eh, eh, eh. Now I don't think for a moment he is purposefully doing it behind my back, it just happens. I think the truth is that he just doesn't hold it and other than the crate time, I just don't think that can be taught. And to be very fair to him, I feel that I manage the issue well and he is only having these accidents about every three weeks or so (because I am either taking him out every 20 minute or crating him). It's just that as long as the accidents keep happening, he is not potty trained and I am beginning to wonder if this issue will just always be a part of his life. And so I continue to worry and get frustrated about it. I have only potty trained one dog and that was Sassy Mae and from her, I thought that this was easy, as long as you did your part and took them out regularly and watched them, it would happen.

Hopefully some can offer some encouragement as their puppies were like this and finally did get trained to hold it longer. If so, please let me know about how long.  I keep telling myself that my children were also like this. Would go months and months with panties on and then I might leave them with a babysitter and they peed their pants every five minutes like they had no clue as to potty training but not a one of the three had to wear diapers to first grade, LOL!!

Also, this has been discussed with the vet and Willie Boy has no medical issues that would cause him not to hold his urine the typical time for his age.

Edited July 2, 2015 by ParadiseTzu

[Sophie's Haven 17,464]

They have a mind of their own. With my 7 each one has different potty habits that I pretty much have accepted. Sophie (7) will for what ever reason out of the blue will pee right in front of me.........Bailey marks(reason for belly band) Missy sometimes gets lazy and will miss the pee pad.....Winnie like Sophie will pee on the floor out of the blue. Allie and Lucy are perfect......outside or pee pads........and what gets me is that 99% of the time the others that bless my floors from time to time  use the pads or go outside...........Lexie from the time of puppyhood drove me nuts and I thought I was going to have to throw in the towel but after 2 frustrating years she is right in their with Allie and Lucy...........just be patient and keep up your routine and in time it will happen........

[Pawz4me 6,802]

Yogi's my only Shih Tzu, and the smallest dog I've ever had. So take this FWIW --

At not quite six months old it sounds to me like he is (and you are) doing pretty good!  I know it's discouraging because you're still far from where you want to be, but overall I think things are going fairly well.

This is the one thing that comes to my mind --  Some dogs have to be taught to hold it.  It's not something they just naturally understand.  I'd develop a plan to consistently lengthen the time between his potty trips.  That may mean that to begin with you take him outside to potty and then let him roam around the house for 20 minutes and then you sit down and play with him/pet him/brush him/whatever (or crate him if necessary) for a few more minutes.  Maybe for the first few days try to stretch the time between potty breaks to 30 minutes.  And then if that goes well stretch the potty breaks out to every 40 minutes and so on.  It may be that you just need to do it consistently for him to get the idea that he can (and should) hold it.  But for the lengthening to be successful it sounds as if you're going to have to either crate him or be interacting with him in order to keep his mind off of peeing.

Edited July 2, 2015 by Pawz4me

[minabey 3,687]

Well, all I can say is they're a stubborn breed and too smart for their own good.

We don't let monkey roam the house for a reason. There are areas in the house that he will simply pee on even if he just came in from his pee break so we have to keep an eye on him if he's loose in the living area. He stays with me in our bedroom (with a gate at the door) and I take him out for pee breaks and water  breaks and playtime. 

I think what you're doing is great. Don't lose hope. 

[ParadiseTzu 11,275]

Thank you all SO much!!

[Luna 8,676]

If he can hold it in his crate, he can hold it in the house.  For some reason, he is choosing not to.

When I had my first Poodles, the first one house-trained painlessly in days.  When the second one arrived (opposite sex), her training also went fast and painless.  But about a month after the second arrived, the first suddenly "forgot" all his house-training and at one point I caught him peeing on the couch cushion where I always sat.  I had NO idea what to do (I was raised with dogs but they were always "outside" dogs because they were my Dad's hunting dogs), so I looked for a trainer/behaviorist who would come to our house, observe, and teach me what to do.  I got lucky and hired "the real deal", who within a couple of hours told me that the older dog was trying to claim his territory (us) and that was the issue.  I literally walked-around the house with that dog leashed to my belt loops for two weeks.  At the first sign of eliminating, he was told "NO!" and taken to the allowed potty place.  Worked like a charm. The trainer and I became great friends and to this day I thank her for all she taught me about dogs.  With the last litter we had before leaving FL, I had two boys and one girl and the boys beat that poor girl to smithereens.  I learned to distract them and encourage her, and when she came to temperament test them she asked me what my opinion on each one's temperament was.  I told her and she got to work.  When she was done, she said, "You don't need me any more.  You were right on the mark and you have done a WONDERFUL job with that little girl."  We remained friends for years and when she passed I went to her funeral in FL.  RIP Diane.

I suspect in your case you have the reverse situation.  Your boy is trying to establish ownership of you and THAT'S why he's peeing indiscriminately all over the place.  Try leashing him to you any time he is not crated and see if that doesn't work.  Hard to miss when you are THAT connected, lol.

 

[minabey 3,687]

Wow, that was insightful, Pam. Thank you for sharing. 

That might be why monkey has "blessed" every part of the house except our bedroom. He seems to favor places my in-laws stay in like their bed (when he's not chaperoned and their bedroom door was left open), the den where they watch TV, and the living room couch, is because he's "owning" them? They do spoil him and they don't scold him at all when he's being cheeky (they laugh at him because he's cute) so maybe that's why he doesn't recognize their authority. Hmmm...

[missy dawn 22,220]

They have a mind of their own. With my 7 each one has different potty habits that I pretty much have accepted. Sophie (7) will for what ever reason out of the blue will pee right in front of me.........Bailey marks(reason for belly band) Missy sometimes gets lazy and will miss the pee pad.....Winnie like Sophie will pee on the floor out of the blue. Allie and Lucy are perfect......outside or pee pads........and what gets me is that 99% of the time the others that bless my floors from time to time  use the pads or go outside...........Lexie from the time of puppyhood drove me nuts and I thought I was going to have to throw in the towel but after 2 frustrating years she is right in their with Allie and Lucy...........just be patient and keep up your routine and in time it will happen........

I sure hope Bristolle Noel will be good at using the pee pee pads (lol we refer to them as diapers)