# Potty Training Issue



## Laidback1 (Mar 21, 2014)

Well we've had Peter for 4 weeks now and he is an absolute great dog and has really captured our hearts. He is now 16 weeks and weighs right at 30 lbs. going to be a big boy I'm thinking.

We are having a peeing issue. For the 4 weeks we have been very consistent about training him in this area. My wife does not work outside the home and spends most of the day with him in the yard or house. When we take him outside and say "potty"'he goes to same exact place in the yard and pees. He "knows" where we want him to go. 

The first couple of weeks we could be outside playing for a couple of hours and he would pee 3 or 4 times in that time; however, when we bring him back in he would pee within 5 minutes on the floor in the house. That is not happening as much. But still does happen.

He has a little whine that let's us know when he has to go outside and we take him out immediately. We have a crate by our bed and we take him out at least once a night when he whines.

Over the last week he has started peeing in his crates. We have the one in our bedroom and have another in the utility room. The crate in the utility room is the correct size and the one in the bedroom is big but have a moveable partition and we have been "shrinking" his space in to the point to where he can barely turn around in it. The last 4 nite's we have withheld water from him 3 hours before bedtime and have taken him out multiple times before putting him in the crate. Before bed we exercise him outside in the yard for at least an hour to wear him out. He loves running and playing with our schnauzer. To no avail, he still pees in the crate. Last nite he did his little whine and we got right up to take him out and he had already peed and was laying in it and then when we got him outside he peed a lot more.

We have taken him the the Vet to male sure he doesn't have a UTI. No problem there. He was shipped to us in the USA from Hungary and spent about 16 hours traveling in his crate and obviously had peed during that time. So I'm wondering if this has something to do with it.

Never a poop problem always goes in the yard.

We have had many dogs and have never had a dog that would soil his crate. Wondering if we are missing something.

Mark


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## einspänner (Sep 8, 2012)

Scout also came from Hungary. Like Peter, she learned the commands for potty and crate training very quickly, but it took longer than expected for her to control her bladder and to enjoy the crate. She probably had her last accident from overexcitement at around 6 months old. 
It doesn't sound like you're missing anything. I think it's just a matter of waiting for him to mature more.


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## Laidback1 (Mar 21, 2014)

Thanks, that's encouraging


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## Laidback1 (Mar 21, 2014)

Update: Peter is now 19 weeks old and is the sweetest dog in the world.

On the pee front, he had been doing fine for the last couple of weeks and in the last 2 days has really moved backward. Today already he has peed twice in the house and once in his crate which he just fits in. Five minutes ago we were sitting on the porch and he was standing in the grass. Looked at us, stepped on the porch and peed staring right at us. 
Each time that he had peed in the house and his crate today we had just come in from being outside.

He is getting exercise all throughout the day and other than being in the crate when we sleep and eat he is out with us.

This is vexing us. We have trained many dogs over the last 40 years and have never had this much trouble getting a dog to go where he's supposed to.

These aren't "excitability" pees when someone new comes over. It's just me and my wife and Peter.

He sits and comes very reliably and is getting better at "staying". We walk/run him daily at the Ranch which he loves.

Any ideas?


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

Are you really, really celebrating when Peter pees where you want him to? Are you throwing a great, big party on the spot, in your happy, happy voice, when he does it right? "Yea!! Good boy!! Good pee! Oh, what a good boy!!" ;D ;D ;D 

That's the only thing I can think of. Positive reinforcement helps a lot. And maybe, as einspanner said, he just needs to mature a little bit more.


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## jld640 (Sep 29, 2010)

I can't even imagine your frustration level. We didn't have the potty training headaches, but we had many occasions of two steps forward and one step back. 

Savannah would seem to have a concept locked for a few weeks then would completely forget it. After seeing this pattern a few times, any time she 'forgot' something we would just start again. Act like she had never learned the behavior before. Start from square one. Learning the second time was always much, much faster.

Take a deep breath. Gather your patience. Start again. 

Good luck!


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## Laidback1 (Mar 21, 2014)

Thank both of you for the feedback. Patience, patience, patience..... ;D

LOL
Just gonna keep consistently working with him on it.


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## mlg1900 (Jun 12, 2013)

I don't know if boys get the urinary track infections like the girls do. But you could always take a sample of urine to the vet for checking. It is completely normal to have occasional accidents. But I have always heard that it is "unusual" to have an accident in the crate unless their is a medical or other type of reason.


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