Maltese male puppy and mother "use it" inside.

[jfavalora]

Hey guys, how are you? I have a 9 month old male maltese puppy who insists on peeing and crapping on the kitchen floor when I'm not around. His 2 1/2 year old mother will do the same...but not as much as he does. I have a doggy door and they use it frequently to go in and out.

For the first day or so they were using it and doing their business outside but then started to use the kitchen floor again. I've tried sticking the male puppies nose in it and even lightly spanked him when I caught him doing it.

He STILL insists on making my life miserable when I'm not looking. I almost have to buy stock in paper-towels because I go through atleast two rolls a week with their bad habbits.

I need to break this habbit asap...otherwise they are going to have to find a new home...and my wife wouldn't like that very much.

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

-Josh

[KOPcaroline]

Hey jfavalora,

Oh no! Housetraining can be a nightmare, and sometimes a long one.

The first thing I'd suggest is to confine the two to a smaller, more manageable area or room while they are inside. Housetraining is about opening the whole house up to the dogs gradually, and you only allow access to new rooms once the dogs show they won't use the toilet inside the area they are already in. If you've got a laundry or back coat room or something that works really well. Invest in doggy gates! Keep the critters confined in their area, with food and water and toys, and let them out often to use the toilet. I'd say every hour or two if you can manage. Once they've mastered the art of not using the bathroom inside their small room, upgrade to the small room plus another room, and repeat the process. If you give them more space and they start using the bathroom inside again, downgrade to a smaller area for them and start over from there.

When you let them out and they use the bathroom outside, make a BIG deal of it. Lots of praise, and maybe a treat right after they've done their business. That way they know that going outside is such a great thing to do!

When they use the bathroom inside, its really frustrating but I"m not sure rubbing their noses in it helps. I did it once with my pup, but then moved on to other techniques of deterence. I've actually heard of dogs learning that behaviour, and rubbing their own noses in their business after theyve done it for a long time! We wouldn't want that! :P Instead, you can use your light smack on the nose, but the aim is not to hurt the dog, its just an unpleasant stimulus to get their attention and make them realize they've done something wrong. Instead of this, though, I'd recommend (if you catch the dog in the act), giving a sharp "no" command, getting the dog by the collar, and immediately putting it outside. Make sure your pups know they've done wrong. If you find a mess later and no one around to directly blame, you can get the dogs, bring them to the mess and point at it saying "no", and again, put them outside. This is what we did with my flatmates dog, who had some issues with housetraining, and it seemed to work pretty well. Obviously its better if you can catch them in the act, and this is where confining them to a small area helps.

I hope this helps, its my own version of a "tried and true" method of housetraining, so I'm crossing my fingers for you!

[jfavalora]

Thanks a lot.

I confined them in the corner of the kitchen (by their doggy door) recently and they have been going out to do their business from there. A time or two they broke through my barrier and used the kitchen floor instead of going outside... I'll invest in some sort of sturdy gate/wall to enclose them to that area and continue to monitor them.

Your suggestions definately sound like they could do some good. I'll try to watch them a little closer so I can praise them for going outside and handling their business. Thanks again for the encouraging words.

-Josh