potty problems

Potty training first, THEN doggie door to allow them to go where they have
been *trained* to go!

Dogs do not know where they should go. They see no difference between your
living room rug, the patio, or the lawn. Or any specific area of the lawn.

They can not read your mind.

You need to "communicate" to the dog where you want the dog to go. This is
done with NO! (wrong place) and tons of praise and a reward when they go in
the correct place.

So yes close off doggie door. Keep them in a small area where you can watch
them at all times. 24 hours a day for a week or two. They will train faster
if you can be there all day long. Follow them wherever they go in house.

(My puppy stays with me. If she gets up to walk somewhere, she probably need
to do her business. I say "Do you want to go outside?", then I go outside
and she follows where I walk to. At night she sleeps on the bed with me. I
keep the bedroom door closed. If she jumps off the bed, I notice and take
her outside.)

If the dog starts to do its business in the wrong place, you are there
watching! Say NO! (medium voice), then pick up dog quickly and take outside
to where you want dog to do its business.

When dog does its business in correct area, be happy! You have never been so
happy! Say "Good Doggie!", pet the dog and give the dog a treat. They want
to please you. Let them know you are very pleased each time.

If poop inside, move poop outside to where it should be. Let dog see you
moving it.

Dogs tend to not do their business where they sleep or eat. And they can
smell where they have gone before. So clean up the mess where they went in
wrong place. Then spray pet odor neutralizer on area. Then spray on dog
repellant. Feed them at that spot the next time you feed them.

My puppy did her business in every room of the house at least once. I did
the above for each room, then she would move on to another room. After a
week of this and exhausting all rooms in the house, she only went outside.

Also don't punish a dog for doing its business in the wrong place. The dog
will just start doing its business when you are not watching! And never say
NO! after the dog has finished doing its business. Once the dog is finished,
it does not know what you are saying NO! about! (Short memory.)

You have to say NO! while the dog is caught in the act. Thus the reason to
stay home and follow the dog everywhere for a week or two.

Then leave the smell and poop in the area you want the dog to go in.

I took my puppy outside about 30 times a day the first week so she would
hopefully go out there and I could then praise and reward her for going in
the right spot.

If dog does its business in wrong place when you are not watching, roll up a
newspaper and smack YOURSELF in the head for not watching the dog closely
enough.





"GD" wrote in message
> hi,
>
> i have two male labradors: one is 6 months and one is 6 years old. we
> have a sun room, with a doggie door so we assumed that, with access to the
> backyard, they would be able to go potty on their own schedule. we do
> walk them twice a day for exercise as well.
>
> recently, i noticed that one of the them (i assume it is the younger one)
> has occassionaly (up to 3 times) pottied on the patio.
>
> we also noticed that they and my sisters dogs don't go (or very cautiously
> go) into the grass now. is it the scent of all the potty?
>
> there is a side area that we can designate as the "potty area", but it is
> difficult to get them to go there.
> we have closed off the doggie door so we can control how this happens.
> the older one will hold it until he is ready so it is hard to force him to
> go in one area.
>
> i tried the scented pads in the designated area also. they seem to have
> to effect on either of them. any advice?
> also, will the scent go away from the grass naturally or is there a
> quicker way to do this?
>
> bk