Goes out 6-7 times an hour

[cybor462]

Hello all

Rescued a 4 month old purebred Husky from my son. He was unable to train her and started treating her poorly. We took her and in 2 weeks have her well on her way to being house trained.

Here is my trouble. She will go to the door when she has to go out. Each time she goes to the door (at times 7-8 times an hour) she will urinate outside. We are unable to keep up the freq. of trips and need to get them less.

Background...she will hold it while in the crate overnight 6-7 hours. Maybe longer but I try to get her out between 6-7 hrs. max.

I crate her during the day according to a local trainer, and she holds it 3-4 hours could be longer but I will not leave her in more than that right now.

Outside of the crate she goes out all the time. She does not play when she goes out but does her stuff and right in so it should not be play related.

The local trainer said to not take her out every time she goes to the door so we tried that. She will go on the carpet if we do not take her out. I am beside myself because it does not seem fair to scold her for going in the house after she has told us she has to go.

When she goes in the house she knows she did wrong as she puts her ears back right away even before the words come out of our mouths. This is when we see her do it.

What can we do to get her to hold it when loose in the house? We are getting real short tempered and are thinking of maybe finding her another home.

We want to try everything first but just can't keep taking her out every 5 minutes.

We keep her out plenty long enough each time. We do not let her just sit as she will do that. We take her out she will pee right away and then sit. We keep her moving to see if she is done. If she shows no sign of interest in going we then bring her in but most times out at least 5+ minutes.

We can't put in a doggy door as we have a bi level house and there is no way to do it.

Can anyone help as this is becoming a no winner for us and I fear we will give her up because of it.

Last tidbit if she sleeps while loose in the house she has already held it for over 2 hours. If she is awake she has to go out all the time.

We know it should not be a body function issue. It has to be training related.

[crazycrayonmom]

I'm wondering about boredom. She gets lots of attention if she needs to go potty that often. What kind of things do you have to keep her busy in the house? If she whines at the door and you don't take her out are you doing something to distract her from urinating in the house?

Are you getting her enough exercise during the day?

I would also check with her vet. Make sure she doesn't have a urinary tract infection too.

Four month old puppies can still have accidents, as my 4 month old puppy just reminded me. We hadn't had an accident in a long time and then this afternoon he whoopsied. Don't lose heart. Keep up the good work and you'll be rewarded with a wonderful friend. Let us know how it goes.

[cybor462]

I guess I need to tell the whole story. My son is in Special Forces. He just got back from Iraq and is messed up, PTSD. A couple weeks after he was back he went to a breeder and got the pup 6 weeks old. He should not have a pet and when he could not train her in a week he started to abuse her.
He lives with his girlfriend so we do not see him much.
We heard the dog broke its leg and we feel he did it. She was 8 weeks old when that happened. We knew he was hurting her so we went to see him and he was abusing her. We made him give her to us. We got her 3 weeks ago. She will be 5 months old in a week.
He would leave her outside in below freezing temps when she was 7 weeks old. He would throw her around and we had to get her from him.
In the 3 weeks we had her she only had 3 accidents in the house. She is so smart and loving and a great pet.
As I stated she can hold it in the crate both night and day and when she is loose and sleeping or laying around she has held it for a couple hours.

Her leg never healed straight so she gimps. The vet told us not to work her hard or play hard as it makes her gimp worse. I take her for walks several times a week and play with her in the house but do not overdo it.
This is all the vet said we should do as far as exercise.
She has other medical issues too. She has had diarrhea the entire time we had her. She has been on canned ID bland food the entire time and 2-3 types of medicines and Imodium. This is another reason why we take her when she lets us know.
She does not have a UTI. The vet has not found the intestinal issue yet. She has been wormed for parasites, antibiotics for any viruses, and other stuff but no fix yet.

All that aside if she can hold it in the crate, and when lying around the house she can hold it other times. I know she has been dealt a raw hand from my sons abuse but I feel this issue is not medical. Of course I am not a vet but it just does not seem to be.
She gets plenty of attention for sure. I work 50% from home and I crate her every morning for 3-4 hours so I can work. You have to watch her like a hawk because she is into everything.

She is ok with her crate. We leave it open all day and she will go in from time to time and sleep in it when she wants too.
She does have a biting issue and I have tried everything. I find that the crate time out is the best for her. When she gets playing hard and starts to bite I tell her no bite and say you need a time out. She goes into the crate herself. I leave her in for 5-10 minutes and let her out. She is very smart. She forgets the next day but I hope in time she will break out of that habit as she gets older.

I need to find an answer to this out all the time thing. I think she gets plenty of attention so it seems odd she would do it for that reason but again I am not an expert.

I know my wife cant take it anymore and I am losing my nerve too. I hope someone here could offer help because I want this all to end well.

Thanks

[crazycrayonmom]

I'm so sorry to hear about your son's problems. I hope he gets the help he needs. He did his best to serve our Country and we now need to do our best to help him!

About your puppy, 6 weeks is very young to be taken from their mother. (I know because twice I got puppies younger than that, both times are a long story.) Puppies learn not to bite by playing with their litter mates (8 to 12 weeks old is when they usually learn this skill). When they bite too hard the other puppies yelp and stop playing. Some people say if you "yelp" and stop playing it helps. It didn't work for Max though. I wound up coating my hands and arms with hot sauce and set him up for biting play. He quit biting very quickly after that. Now if he starts to bite I just say "no bite" and he stops.

Did your vet check for UTI's? I think because dogs don't like to soil where they sleep they hold it better while they are in their crates than out. Max could hold his potty for 6-7 hours at the age of 2 months! But no way could he go that long during the day.

The only other thing I could think of is his water intake. Do you leave water out all the time or just give it to him periodically? If he's drinking a lot and peeing a lot he maybe should be checked for diabetes too. Those are two of the signs I know of.

Hopefully someone else will weigh in on the potty issue. I just have no idea what is going on there.

You did a great thing taking her away from your son. He can't care for her now and they are both lucky to have you in their lives. If you do decide you can't care for her try the german shepherd rescue groups. But I hope you'll keep trying. She sounds like a nice girl! What's her name, by the way?

[MaxHollyNoah]

Hi cybor462,

I am sorry to hear about your son's problems. I am glad that you saved the puppy though. It sounds like she got abused so badly when she was very young.

I understand it is a lot of work to keep up with her toilet problems, both taking her out so often and cleaning after her. But can you think of this way?

The poor puppy had to go through the terrible time since she was only 6 wks old up to 16 wks old! That also includes she got her leg broken and left out in a freezing temperature! From 6wks to 16wks are the most critical time for puppies to be with his mom and siblings to develop his confidence and socialization. Your son has psychological problems himself so it is not totally his fault but please try to make up for the time the puppy lost. I am sure she is traumatized. She suffered 10 wks without any help. I am afraid your son abused her when she had an accident inside the house that's why she tries hard to go outside. She is not comfortable being loose inside because she is afraid she might make a mistake again. She must be totally confused. Peeing inside the house is not such a big deal when you think about the hardship she went through.

I foster dogs, stranger dogs, right from shelters and most of them pee and poo inside the house since they are not potty trained. I get upset and sometimes I even cry if the problem goes on and on. Then, I think this way. They are not intentionally doing this to make me upset. They just don't know what they are supposed to do. It takes a lot of time and patience but no dogs will keep wetting the floor forever unless they are too old or have medical problems.

Please, please be patient with the puppy. She has only been living for less than 5 months and most of the 5 months were hell for her. Once she understands the routine, she will be just fine. Some dogs takes longer than others, especially your puppy that has got a trauma about potty.

[cybor462]

I want to thank you guys for your concern for my son and the pup..Lucy is her name. She is so sweet and everyone who sees her falls in love with her.
Here she is



I never thought about what may have happened when my son was trying to train her, I guess that could be a reason for her actions.
If that is the case how do we go about correcting it?
She does not go in the house if we take her out when she tells us she has to. She just goes far too often. I can see if she is afraid of going in the house that she would want to go outside any time she gets the least feeling that she has to.
Another note his girlfriend made Lucy wear diapers so she would not go in the house. That was crazy I know.

I just hope someone here can offer a suggestion on how we can try to help her with this.

I have to say this about my son. It tears us up that he is like he is today. When he enlisted, he did so at 17 because he wanted to serve his country. He took the worst and most dangerous path as he feels someone has to and he wanted to do what needed to be done. He himself was far too young to do this. When he was 18 they sent him off to all the special training. This kid was a straight A student, never got in trouble, was kind and polite and respectful. When he came back from SEAR training, this is where they torture the guys to make sure they do not give up intelligence, he was messed up.

He was so aggressive, angry, mean well a total 180 from who left us. We were so concerned we contacted the military who said we would have to file forms that would force them to examine him which would ruin his career and cause a discharge. We in turn made him see a local counselor. We threatened him with blowing the whistle to the military. He went and was said to have PTSD. This again would have ruined him. We contacted his commanding officer who all but called us pansies. He said this type of interference would get our son killed if we kept it up. He said they are warriors and we needed to live with it. He said that is what Special Forces do.

They put all the load on us and our son would have hated us for life. We did not do it. He then deployed to Iraq and well things got worse. My wife is now afraid of him and he still will not get help.

We were happy to get the pup from him but we were not looking for a pet. I am not young and have medical issues and my wife who works in a nursing home deals with this kind of stuff all day is finding it too difficult to deal with at home when she is not working.

I want to do what is right and will do my best to help this pup and try to get her on the right path. We just need help getting her on a better schedule because as it is we are at wits end.

Hopefully there is help for us.

Thanks

[MaxHollyNoah]

Hi cybor462,

Thank you so much for your reply and the picture of Lucy. She is adorable!

I am sincerely sorry for your son. What a terrible thing to happen to your beloved child! I am a mother of 3 children so I feel for you. It is much bigger concern for you than Lucy's problem. I really hope somehow he and you guys will find help so that he would be treated as soon as possible. He is still a young man and this is just not fair. I am very sad to think about him. I hate wars!

Well, this is a dog training site so let me give you suggestions on Lucy's problem:

1) I would keep her in a contained area to start with. This area can be easily cleaned so that you and your wife won't have to get too upset if she makes a mistake. I would suggest a laundry room or kitchen.

2) I would set a time for her to go outside to realease her, starting once every 2 hours. This is like giving her a toilet training all over again, just like a little puppy. I don't know if you are mostly home or working during the day but let's do this training on the weekend so that you can be home all day long.

3) When you first let her out right after she wakes up, watch her where she likes to go potty. Praise and give her a treat! Make a big deal out of it. Then, next hour you take her out to the same spot, and give her a command (it's OK if she doesn't understand the command. I would say to my foster dogs "Go shi-shi") and if she actually releases, make a big deal in a very happy voice, like a "Good Girl! Lucy!". Repeat this every time. Other times she will stay in the kitchen or the utility room, or wherever you decide to have her.

4) When she is in the room, keep her busy somehow, with chew toys or throwing ball for her. Maybe a Kong might be good. You can also do your own things, like doing dishes or laundry, or read, etc.

5) If she makes a mistake. Just clean it not making a big deal. A lot of praises and treats when she does a good thing, such as peeing outside.

Please see how it goes. Keep a journal so that how good/bad she does on the potty schedule. Let us know how she does.

Again, I am so sorry for what has happened to your son. I wish him the best.

3)

[kjd]

cybor462,

While you are training your dog to limit her visits outside, during the time you cannot train her, have you thought of using that indoor potty that is advertised? It would give her a place to pee, where all your wife would have to do is pick up and empty the container. Still like something she does daily in the nursing home, but not quite as much work as mopping up.

I've no idea if they work well. It just seems like something you could put by the door and get her to use it when nobody can open it for.

kjd

[cybor462]

Never thought of those potty papers or mats. Not a real good idea in my mind unless you are in a high rise and you just can't take them out.
We do not mind taking her out it just prevents us from any kind of life having to stand guard and take her out all the time so many times an hour.
This dog is very smart and I think if there is a way to train her to hold it I would rather do that over just allowing her to use a pre-determined place in the house. Like I said I think those have a place but they should not be used just for convenience.

I fear the other posters view of abuse during training may have been the cause. As with any bad habits, issues, bad experiences they can be overcome. We just need to find the way to make it happen.

I do not want anyone to think I know anything about this topic, I do not but I am having a hard time understanding how allowing her to go in the kitchen would correct this trouble. Would that just confuse her? She knows to go to the door when she has to go, ignoring her or not allowing her to get to the door to let us know and then forcing her to go on the floor just seems a bit weird to me. Again I am not saying I know about this but that seems almost backwards from what we want to achieve.

Please if I am wrong please explain it to me so we can get the pup on the road to a happy life!

Thanks

[kjd]

I'm not that good at explaining things, cyber462. I was not thinking of mats or pads. The Potty Patch at https://www.officialtvwebsite.com/po...&refcode=PPg1a is an example of what I was thinking of. It is sort of like bringing a bit of the outside in. Also, I was not thinking of it as a permanent solution, but something to use when you couldn't be training her, so there wouldn't be a puddle on the floor.

I'd misunderstood you, thinking you weren't always able to let her out everytime she wanted. I'd inferred from MaxHollyNoah's post that you might only be able to train her on the weekend. Since that is not the case, please forget my suggestion.

kjd