Ok, There Has To Be A Way To Get This To Stop...

[AuroraTheSiberian]

My now 4 month old female Siberian Husky is still going to the bathroom in the house.. This is what we have been doing for her:

We crate her all night while we are sleeping, let her outside to go potty during the night if she is crying. Then let her out again as soon as we get up, after she eats, and before we leave for work.

When we are gone for 8 hours a day, we have been gating her in our mud room where her crate is so she can move around. We put a pee pad down for her.

 

What I have been seeing is she does not ever seem to try to hold her pee/poop, she just automatically goes to the pee pad or where the pee pad usually is, even if it isn't there she will go. She goes a lot during the day while we have her gated off in that room, but I feel like at this point she should be able to hold it? Or at least my husky years ago was able to. When she has free roam in the house while we are home, she still will go to that spot whenever she feels and go to the bathroom, she doesn't try to go outside.

There HAS to be something we can do to teach her that pottying in the house is NOT acceptable and that she NEEDS to go outside to do that.

Someone, ANYONE! Please help me out! I know that she can hold it, she seems to be too comfortable with going whenever she pleases instead of asking/waiting to go outside.

 

Sincerely,

A very frustrated, confused momma.

[mydiamond]

OK first off pee pad has to go. That's why she believes peeing inside the house is acceptable. Second off, how do you clean each accident? Maybe you're not thorough enough and she can still smell the pee scent. Do you have a friend or a relative that can take her out during the day so she can relieve herself at the garden? Lastly, try putting a newspaper on top of the accident and leave the paper on the garden. Transfer the scent; toilet has to smell like toilet and house has to smell like house. Good luck x

[AuroraTheSiberian]

Awesome advice, I will do that. What do you suggest I clean the floors with? When I get home, I will hands and knees scrub them! Bleach? Or anything else that will make her not want to potty on them?

Still, should I continue to gate her in the room all day? I feel guilty crating her for that long.

[mydiamond]

Jase always says vinegar but I don't know what sort of vinegar and what do you mix with the vinegar I always use glass cleaner myself but it's a hassle to make sure Dime doesn't come near the accident spot until the glass cleaner thoroughly seeps into the tiles. Dime's previous owner suggests bug spray as a last resort. But it's an even bigger hassle to remove Dime completely from the room for several minutes (up to 15!). During Diamond's I-don't-know-where-the-toilet-is days, I put newspaper atop the pee, scrub my garden with the newspaper (yes, ew), spray the spot with glass cleaner, wait until it dries and then add a single spray of bug spray as the cherry on top. Yes it's a time-consuming ritual, but the dog never persistently pees in one same spot so I guess it sort of worked

 

If Aurora is crate-trained, you really don't need to feel guilty crating her. Once she sees the crate as her den, she'd be happy to stay there all day long if you let her. It might save her life too, seeing as mine chewed a power cord one day when let loose could've hurt him or worse.

[Mazz]

I use a cup of white vinegar to a gallon of warm water. Also, you mention you "let her out". Really need to "take her out". And praise her. It is also very important to not get frustrated or to punish her if a mistake happens in the house. That will only serve to prolong the training and she may well simply sneak to a secluded area in the house to do her potty. I agree with Olivia on the pee pads. The really don't help in the long range of potty training.

[Dan]

I think like the others have said, you're giving her a conflicting message with the pee pads. You really need to decide on either the pads, or going outside. If going outside while you aren't home isn't an option, then maybe you'll have to make do with the pads. One thing I remember my mother had was basically a large flat tray, it had a little frame inside it with a piece of fake grass over it. Idea being they'd pee on the grass and it'd collect in the tray underneath to empty out later. That could be another cleaner option than the pads if you can find one. Reusable too.

2nd, like Mazz said, you really need to take her out, not just let her out. Just keep taking her out every chance you get and she'll get the idea. I think I took my boy out every half an hour for the first couple of days, but a year on and I haven't had a single incident in the house

[michelle12]

Ah isn't potty training fun?  It look us a while as well.  We also used the pee pads and while they made clean up easier, I think they trained Lobo to go in a certain spot in the house.  It took a while to break it.  I agree, the pads must leave the house.  We took them outside to the same spot every time we wanted him to go out to do his business.  It took several times but he eventually got the hint and would go on the pee pad in the yard.  After a few days, we didn't bring the pad anymore and he continued to go outside without it.  It did still take a little while to completely break him of going inside in the spot where the pad was.  I agree with heavy duty cleaner to kill the scent in that spot.

 

We also hung a bell on the door since he never alerted us when he had to go.  He would stand by the door for 3 seconds and then pee in the house.  We were vigiliant about letting him out any time he went near the door and we always rang the bell.  He eventually learned and now rings the bell whenever he wants out.  Sometimes I think he rings it just to watch us jump up... ah the power of the bell.

 

Good luck!

[Jay]

I would agree with the others, that the pee pads are not a good idea.  There are special cleaners to get rid of the smell, like natures miracle that will clean it well.  

 

It does get easier, it took Nikko awhile to potty train and seemed like he would never get it!

[psychgrl]

I have to agree with everyone above-even though a lot of people recommend pee pads (including the breeder we got Nyx from) I have never used them.  I, too, feel that they actually train the dogs to go in the house.  In addition to crating her at night (she's just a couple weeks younger than your pup), we also crate her during the day.  We have yet to have an accident...and this includes one day when we had no choice but to be gone for about 11 hours (not a good thing but had to be done that one day).  She still hasn't mastered the idea of being super clear that she needs out but she at least now goes to the vicinity of the door.  I just make sure to let her out after playing and eating and really watching her for signs she needs out.  She's starting to understand the words "potty" and "outside" and I think/hope, if we continue this, she'll master it soon.

 

Potty training is so tough!  I got spoiled with the shepherds as they potty train ridiculously easy.  But I remember my last husky took a bit longer.  I would say follow the advice above and she'll be getting it soon!  Oh, and I use this cat urine remover that I found on Amazon...seems to do a good job getting the scent out though I've heard that vinegar and water is also a good solution.

 

Good luck!

[Jase]

Great advice above

 

have a read of this thread too

 

[psychgrl]

And just to prove that setbacks happen...we just had an accident, ironically.  She was too caught up in playing with my other dogs to think about going out!  Or maybe I was too caught up in the message boards...  Haha!

[hurihusky]

I feel your struggle. I also have a 4 month old female husky. I was very frustrated a couple of weeks ago because it seemed she just wouldn't get it and she peed all over my apartment. I then read this article in DogTime (I googled house breaking and crate training) and started using that advice. It's worked so far for me. We haven't had an accident in 13 days (hopefully never again, fingers crossed). 

 

Also, I don't know if this helps but my vet told me that puppies can only hold it for '1hr. per month.' So if your puppy is 4 months old then the maximum she/he should be expected to hold their pee is 4 hrs (unless they're sleeping).

 

Someone also advised me to use treats when the puppy successfully goes outside. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to try this because Mayka is a picky eater and if I give her treats she won't finish her food But maybe it's something else that'll teach your pup that peeing outside is fun and yummy!

 

It really takes tons of patience. I wish you tons of luck! 

[AuroraTheSiberian]

THANK YOU everyone for your posts! Seriously, every single one is helping. Today, at this moment while I am at work, Aurora is in her crate. She goes in on her own, she loves her crate. I put a bone and a chew toy in there for her. I have a good feeling it will work!

Last night I also was on my hands and knees cleaning the crap out of the floor.. Literally! I hope the smell is completely gone, but she didn't go to the bathroom in the house last night or this morning after I did that, so fingers crossed!

 

Also for a little giggle, this morning as I was getting ready I heard her jump on the couch. I went into the livingroom and told her "DOWN", and she got down. This happened about 4 more times. Then on the 5th, I heard her jump up and she heard me coming to tell her to get down so she got down before I got in the room and faced down at the ground, with her tail wagging and peeking at me in the corner of her eye like "I wasn't doing anything.....". What a little devil!

[NOBELHOWLUC49]

Read this post with interest as my pups are now nearly 15 weeks.  Howler is a very good boy and has very few mishaps, Lucky is a cheeky boy and thinks when he passes through a door he is ok to pee.  Good when its the back door, not so good when its the front room door. So have picked up a few tips and will be applying this to the front room.