Sagethesiberianhusky Posted September 12, 2014 Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 Hi all, I have a 7 month old siberian husky female. We have had her since she was 4 weeks old. Unfortunately, she still is peeing and pooping in the house and the majority is in the middle of the night when we are sleeping. Your advice is much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazz Posted September 12, 2014 Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 Oh boy, you've got your work cut out for you. While she was a pup, I assume you probably did not get up every two hours through each night to take her out for potty. I assume that, because if you had, she most likely would not be doing what she is doing now. So let's see what we can do to help you out. At 7 months, her bladder will hold more than when she was say 2 months or even 3 months. In theory, she should be able to withhold peeing for 6 - 7 hours, give or take. But that would be at the extreme. A more reasonable expectation would be 4 to 5 hours. So what you need to do, is set a schedule for both her and your family. Take her out first thing in the morning. When she potties, praise her, make over her, let her know that she did well. If a mistake happens in the house, whatever you do, don't punish her, yell at her, or give any indication that you are angry. That will simply set her back and all training will go down the tubes. I know it's hard, but simply clean up the mess and move on. Back to making the schedule. Ok, so we've taken her out first thing in the morning. Now its breakfast time. She eats, and from ten to fifteen minutes later, you take her out again. This time, the hope is, she will go #2 (poo). And again, when she does, it's praise time. At 7 months, she is probably OK until about lunch time, maybe a bit sooner. So it's outside for potty again. And again at late afternoon. After dinner, wait about 10 to 15 minutes and out both of you go again. Also, depending on how many times a day you are feeding her, wait the 10 to 15 minutes and take her out. Sometimes, it may take less than 10 minutes before the urge takes over, so you'll have to sort of judge that timing since you are there, and adjust accordingly. After dinner and potty outside, she may be ready for some play time. If the play time is inside, keep it relatively easy going. Too much rough housing after eating can result in a twisted gut in a dog, which is often times fatal. After all play times, usually within five minutes, you want to take her out again for potty. Also, a few hours after dinner time, take her out again, and then right before you retire for the night. I would also recommend that you get up after four hours of sleep, and take her out again. One important key to this working, well actually two important keys. Number 1, YOU have to take her out, not just let her out. The praise is important and she has to feel comfortable going potty with you present. Number 2, be consistent, but able to adapt. Start out with the schedule, and if it's working, fine. If a mistake happens, clean it up, move on. If two mistakes happen or a pattern develops that is not part of your goal, you may have to adjust a bit. Good luck. Please keep us updated on her progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sagethesiberianhusky Posted September 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 Thanks Mazz for your response. Yes, we certainly do have our work cut out for us! I think the delay in her potty training progress relates to our situation with the back yard. There is no gate that separates the back yard to the front yard. The front yard has no gate either which poses a threat to Sage getting loose. so she doesn't have that free range and we can't just leave her out there alone. If it were my house I would of had this fixed a long time ago but it's not. Good news is my mother in law has been looking into installing a fence but she is quite particular what type of fence so I have no choice but to wait. We do have a dog run that goes along the side of the house and Sage spends much of her time out there often while we are at work. When Sage was a puppy, we actually did take her out every 2-3 hours at night and then we both came home at lunch at different times everyday to let her out. She did often pee/poo her crate tho even when we were on our previous schedule. We had to use a leash of course and walk her around the yard until she did her business. It just never seemed to stick with her and/or we need to do something different. Currently when we are home and she is inside, I do believe we have been pretty on schedule with taking her out every couple hours, but often times we put her in her dog run area for a while and so we actually don't know if she'd peed and then we miss the opportunity to praise her like you mentioned. I will be sure to share your advice with my family and also welcome any further suggestions or similar stories. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chula Posted September 12, 2014 Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 I'm assuming she is not crate trained and is going in random areas of the house? At 7 months, she really should be able to hold it overnight. I would take Dave's suggestions on schedule. If she isn't crate trained, you could also try keeping her in a contained area of the house that is relatively small and feed her there until she figures out where she's supposed to go potty. Typically they won't potty where they eat. Also take up water an hour or so before bedtime and make sure she is going before she settles down for the night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chula Posted September 12, 2014 Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 (edited) Ah, so is she going in her crate? Or is she free roaming at night? I would really work on routine, and a command that is to go potty. Ideally you want her to be able to go when you tell her to. Obviously she isn't going to be able to always go on command, but if you have a schedule worked out, she'll know what you expect and what her reward will be for doing it. Also, you need to make sure that you are cleaning the area with a proper urine cleaner. Mine loved to go on carpet for awhile, I think because it was harder to get rid of the smell and it felt more like "outside" than hardwood. So we had to get rid of all throw rugs and keep her out of carpeted rooms until she figured out where the pee place was. Edited September 12, 2014 by Chula Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sagethesiberianhusky Posted September 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 Thanks for the reply, Emily. Perhaps the way we have been feeding her May be contributing to our current situation. I would be interested to get some feedback. In the first 4 month or so she ate 3 times a day on a schedule and would eat all her food. We no longer have her on feeding schedule because she doesn't eat when we give it to her and she chooses to let it sit and nibble through out the day and night. This makes it difficult to know when she needs to be let out if she's been inside. Our last dog we had for the last 14 years, not a husky btw, did that so I just assumed it was ok. I know each dog and breed is different though and what worked for our last dog May not be the best for this dog. Another issue we sometimes have is guarding food and toys. I did try to hand feed her, which helps with the guarding but like I said before sometimes she chooses she doesn't want to eat at that time. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sagethesiberianhusky Posted September 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 She used to go in the crate, yes. However we no longer crate her, and she has free roam in our room while we sleep. That's usually when she goes. We have tile and use the sprays that cut down on the urine enzymes but there has been no progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maz51 Posted September 14, 2014 Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 Hi there It looks a bit uphill at present and getting a secure garden area asap really is important. A friend of mine who has three of my Westies! ( I bred these for five years). She works - does not have access flap for the dogs but has trained them to go on demand. Food/drink as per routine. 20-15 mins later out on leads into selected area of garden with the words 'Be Quick...Be Clean'. she stays in a specific area of the garden as this is the dirty section. She may walk around a bit but the instructions are repeated. They have learned to do this with small treats after every success and lots of fussing and praise. REALLY get the 'GOOD GIRL!....BE QUICK/BE CLEAN' whichever comes first quick=wee....clean=poo. Might be worth checking no infection - IF you can get a urine sample as this will cause an irritated bladder with frequency. They could check for diabetes too just to be sure. IMO..I wouldn't leave the food down. If she doesn't eat...so be it. She'll be hungry enough next time round and certainly the third time! Plenty of water though I keep pushing this but...www.successdogs.com. Jean Cote's positive reward training method has turned MY thinking around with 50 years of dogs in my life..And my Chester is a tribute to him in the training I have a viewed in the past year. I now have Eski..(just two days with us) but she's getting to grips re possessiveness - over me, (!) food and toys. Quite a bit of nipping and attacking my Chester...but I'm already winning...she's adjusting and is acting less insecure as well as realising she's not missing out and gets treats when she's nice! I'm starting a new regime in manners and discipline with her but now I know how & what to do even better! Getting your girl to 'focus' on you both...will also help getting her to learn and listen to you and reading your body language. Great advice from those who have already contributed...you'll find the right course that works for you. Don't give up! Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay yO Posted October 10, 2014 Report Share Posted October 10, 2014 might be late but our husky is 4 months old now, from 2 months to about 3 1/2 he was peeing on a weewee pad in a designated area. it really is all about the consistency. hes now 4 weeks without peeing in the house. i started by getting rid of the pads completely (might be an obvious statement). he wasnt sleeping in our bed until we built a little trust and until he learned that the bed room was OUR area. from then i was taking him out every hour and high praising him every time he went. luckily he was going in the same areas to keep it consistent. most credit really goes to loki as he made it pretty easy. the praising is the important part. once i knew he could hold it and he knew to hold it we were giving him an hour or so in bed at a time. we actually accidentally fell asleep and forgot to put him back into his crate, he then woke us up around 4am so he could go outside to do his thing and thats how we knew we could trust him to sleep at our feet on a daily basis. ever since then hes been in bed with us and weve been getting up around the same time. daily schedule 5:45am - wake up and give him water, immediately go out for our walk 6:25am - feeding 7:00am - out for potty 7-8am - play/i get ready for work 8:30am - he goes into the crate - - my girlfriend and i get home at different hours on different days but someone is usually home around 4pm to let him out for a walk - 6:00pm - walk / exercise / play 6:30-7pm - he eats depending when we get in from previous walk - i dont give him any more water after he eats, but make sure he gets plenty of water bedtime is normally around 10\11pm .. and he wakes us around 3\4am to go out once a night. good luck with your progress! hopefully your pup makes it a little easier on you =] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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