How to re-housetrain an already housetrained dog...

December 13, 2005 8:53 PM

Help me figure out what's wrong, and re-housetrain my pug...

I've got a female pug that's just shy of two years old. She's been completely housetrained for a long time now (a year or so). In the past two weeks, she's started peeing and pooping on the carpet again. Nothing in her schedule has really changed, her diet is the same, and we're still spending the same amount of time with her. She used to reliably tell us when she needed to go outside, but now she's just been doing her thing without warning. It was really cold a few weeks ago, so I thought it might have been an aversion to the cold weather, but it's warmed up again (well above freezing for the past 5 days or so) and she's still going on the carpet every couple of days. What's causing this, and what's the best way to get it to stop?

posted by gwenzel to pets & animals (10 comments total)

Luckily, since she's peeing and pooing, it's likely not an organic cause. I'd bet on some change in routine.

Pugs, bless their little puggly hearts, are creatures of habit, perhaps more so than other dogs. I would parse your routine since she's started going in the house to see if there could be a cause there.
posted by docgonzo at 9:28 PM on December 13, 2005

Give her the opportunity to go outside at frequent intervals whenever you think it might be time, and reward her with attention or treats whenever she goes outside.
posted by unSane at 9:48 PM on December 13, 2005

'goes' as in poops/pees
posted by unSane at 9:49 PM on December 13, 2005

Time for some (very minor) retraining. We have a Boston terrier we left at a kennel for three weeks. Long story short, the kennel basically baited-and-switched us, and when we picked up little Gus, we found out he had been kept in the cage 24-hours a day and left to wallow in his own poop and pee until it was changed, presumably once a day.

When we got him home (we live in an apartment and he's always been very good about letting us know he has to go outside) it took about a week before he realized or remembered that all he had to do was ask to go potty. In that time, though, we hada lot of accidents.

Also, Gus hates the cold weather, so sometimes he'll hold it as long as possible (occasionally a little too long) for he'll rush around outside and not totally "finish" all his business, if you're pickin' up what I'm puttin' down here.

Those short-snouted dogs can be very sensitive to cold, and she may still think it's cold outside, and has forgotten how to ask to go potty. She likely just needs a gentle reminder.

If things don't change soon, though, get her to a vet, as this could signal bigger issues.
posted by Brittanie at 10:03 PM on December 13, 2005

Make sure that you have not been slipping on your reward system. Whenever I start forgetting to hand out a treat every so often for good potties, she reminds me with a turd on my bed. Basically, go backwards a bit in the potty-training process.

Also, if the cold weather is getting you down, consider a litter box. Stella, my 1.5 year old pug, loves hers, and I'd much rather change paper than trudge out into the snow all the time.
posted by MrZero at 10:11 PM on December 13, 2005

Well I'm sorry this isn't really helpful, but my pug has to wear a diaper.
posted by fourstar at 11:59 PM on December 13, 2005

I wouldn't automatically assume that there is no medical reason for this (not least because defecation can often stimulate urination and vice-versa, even if there's only a problem with one or the other). Your first move any time something like this happens should be a trip to the vet to rule things out.

Then, I would re-housetrain her as if she were a puppy. Feed her on a schedule (which you should be doing anyway), take her out on a schedule and keep her out until she takes care of business, gentle praise when she starts (and start adding a cue to the behaviour), big party when she finishes including treats. Make sure she's getting enough exercise. Never leave her unsupervised outside a crate, she's either with you (ideally attached to you by a leash) or crated. The more times you allow her to relieve herself in the house, the harder it will be for her to unlearn the habit, since this is a self-rewarding behaviour and you're trying to explain to her that she can't relieve herself in the house even though she's already proven to herself that she can. So make it impossible for her to relieve herself in the house, and if you catch her starting, interrupt her with an "AH-AH!", whisk her outside, wait for her to finish.

I don't agree with using a litterbox in this case, since that just reinforces her idea that the inside is the bathroom and you need to convince her that it's not.
posted by biscotti at 5:36 AM on December 14, 2005

Second the vet idea. With my dog it turned out to be a urinary tract infection.
posted by jbradley at 8:47 AM on December 14, 2005

My dog is trained to go in the yard. She has always been corrected when going on the patio. ('NO' followed by being relocated to the yard, then praised afterwards).

Now during a particularly bad rainstorm once she was reluctant to go out into the yard. (the patio is covered). So she went on the patio. My wife had taken her out and figured well it's raining so I understand, and did not correct the dog.

From that moment the dog assumed that patio is OK for evacuating on. It only took one time. (Fortunately she also re-learned quickly that that is a no-no with gentle correction).

The moral of the story is you have to be vigilant with your rewards and corrections. It doesn't matter if the dog has 'an excuse'. The dog doesn't think 'hey it's not fair that I should go poop in the rain', that's far too complex. She only reasons that pooping on the patio (or house, wherever) is apparently no longer forbidden. You must always reward (praise) good behavior and correct bad behavior.
posted by jockc at 11:20 AM on December 14, 2005

Thanks to everybody for their advice. Our pug went to the vet today, and everything checks out (so it's not a medical problem). We're back on the crate-training routine until she gets the hang of things again.
posted by gwenzel at 12:46 PM on December 20, 2005