# Won't stop peeing in the house



## Drewbacca (Jan 6, 2014)

Let me first just preface this by saying that this really seems to be the only issue I'm having with Roya, and that she spends Friday nights into sunday mornings at my parents house while I'm at work. I'm beginning to think that cross-training her between my apartment (I live in the city) and my parents (they live in the suburbs) is confusing her, regardless of how much praise she gets when she goes outside. She's 14 weeks now, and I realize every dog is different, but is it possible she's peeing inside out of spite? I know that sounds dumb, and she used to be sneaky about it, but now she just out and out does it. Sunday she did it right next to me while I was getting ready to take her out, but then stopped to say something to my mom real quick and boom, pee on the hardwood, without any indication of having to go (i was taking her out to play with her and the older dogs and burn some energy). SO hopefully it's something I'm doing wrong, and not just her being a jerk haha. Thoughts?


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## middleofnowhere (Dec 20, 2000)

For some dogs it just flat out takes longer. By a little over 1 yo my youngest became reliable. This was not my first dog but she has been the most challenging to toilet train.

Perhaps for Roya, you getting suited up was stimulous? I'd say when she anticipates going outside, you'd best not stop. That was a mistake on your part.

You could try training to a bell on the door at both places, train both sets of humans to very similar "take out the dog" behavior so the discrepancy is lessened. 

No it isn't possible she is peeing inside in spite. A human would do that, not a dog. Really. They do not know spite. They know "get attention", they know "wow, look how the human responds!" (They also know "it moves, I want it.")


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

Not spite, that's us trying to make sense of something by using a human 'label' for what is merely a training issue.

Dogs learn at a different rate. Your puppy IS a puppy and for puppies, they can be VERY site specific about knowing something. I have had pups with a perfect sit in my kitchen in my house, but when I go to a friends kitchen and their house, and ask for a 'sit' my puppy looks at me like I've suddenly started to speak Russian and clearly is confused.

One of the many reasons a good training basis is so important is that when something starts to break down (like housebreaking) all you have to do is back up your training to help them 'remember' what is what. That peeing in the house at parents is not right JUST like peeing in your house is not right. 

So just go back a few months to when that puppy hit the house and start up the crate training and baby gates/closed door regime again. Much more frequent trips outdoors. Plus, are you sure your parent ARE doing the same thing you do? Are they praising all the many times your pup is peeing/pooping outdoors at their place? 

I know I explain things to my parents when they are dog sitting, and they nod and think they get it, but most of the time either I accidentally skip steps or they think some of the steps aren't important, leading to confusion for my dog(s).


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## Waffle Iron (Apr 3, 2012)

I think Maggie is right on the money with what she says.

I'd like to expand a little further about one point she made regarding your view that it may be "spite." Dogs aren't humans. They don't know how to spite anyone. Dogs, like any other animal, don't operate that way. Roya is going in the house because something isn't telling her it's wrong. She doesn't understand. So you have to keep that in mind. I'd also say that in addition to training like Maggie suggested, maintaining Roya's dignity when she makes a mistake is important. Don't yell or scream at Roya if she makes a mistake and goes inside.


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

Has she been vet checked to rule out a UTI?


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## Drewbacca (Jan 6, 2014)

Waffle Iron said:


> I think Maggie is right on the money with what she says.
> 
> I'd like to expand a little further about one point she made regarding your view that it may be "spite." Dogs aren't humans. They don't know how to spite anyone. Dogs, like any other animal, don't operate that way. Roya is going in the house because something isn't telling her it's wrong. She doesn't understand. So you have to keep that in mind. I'd also say that in addition to training like Maggie suggested, maintaining Roya's dignity when she makes a mistake is important. Don't yell or scream at Roya if she makes a mistake and goes inside.


I didn't think it was possible, but I had to at ask, despite of how dumb it sounded . 

She's been going over there every weekend for almost 2 months now, and I can guarantee you that both my parents have been doing the exact same thing I've been doing, which is tons of praise with frequent trips outside. I know this because this is what my parents told ME to do, so there's definite consistency. That's why we're kind of scratching our heads. That being said, she does try to give Roya a little more freedom than I do. I do understand that freedom has to be specifically limited to avoid accidents as such, but there have been multiple times she's done it, in both my apartment and their house when she's literally within a few feet of them or me. They also have things they need to get done around the house as well, so they can't just sit on top of her the entire time she's there. They'll crate her if they can't keep direct attention on her, but as i said, there have been some times where my mom has tried to give her a little bit of freedom to just hangout while she tries to get some stuff done, and you find out she can't be trusted. Pooping on the other hand, she's a pro at letting you know when she's gotta go. 

I guess I'm just not being patient enough, I think I'm expecting a little bit too much out of her too soon. She's super smart and she already knows sit, lay down, leave it, paw, stay (sort of, it's a work in progress) and walk (she'll only move to walk if i give her the command while leashed), and has been going 7-8 hours in the crate at night without a peep to go out since about 10 weeks, which is why i'm like "come on roya!" haha. Anyway, just wanted to vent. Thanks for the advice.


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## s14roller (Nov 18, 2010)

When mine was a pup, she would either be in the crate, or when she was out I would literally have to keep an eye on her the entire time. 

Still very young, but make sure you do everything in your power to make sure the dog doesn’t take steps back when going in the house.


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## arctic (Jun 20, 2014)

Do you keep water out for your puppy to drink all day long? And does your puppy drink a lot of water after eating kibble?


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## Drewbacca (Jan 6, 2014)

arctic said:


> Do you keep water out for your puppy to drink all day long? And does your puppy drink a lot of water after eating kibble?


yes, she has free access to water as per the vet. it really depends, honestly. sometimes she'll take a few laps of water after eating, other times she'll go crazy and drink alot. it all depends on how thirsty she is or how long she goes without it.


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## GSDAlphaMom (Jul 20, 2010)

Has she been checked for a UTI? They will go frequently if they have an infection.


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## Drewbacca (Jan 6, 2014)

GSDAlphaMom said:


> Has she been checked for a UTI? They will go frequently if they have an infection.


no, hasn't been checked for a UTI, not that I'm ruling it out at all. it's more of an issue with her going in the house and not indicating she has to go, than frequency of how much she's going. she's got a routine vet visit next week, i'll ask to have her checked then just for the sake of argument


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## Waffle Iron (Apr 3, 2012)

Drewbacca said:


> She's super smart and she already knows sit, lay down, leave it, paw, stay (sort of, it's a work in progress)...


I don't think it sounded dumb at all. German Shepherds are, as you put it, so super smart sometimes I think I have a fur covered person sitting near me. Sometimes I feel they are doing things on purpose to get at me, but at the end of the day it sadly isn't so.

One thing you may want to consider to if you haven't is looking up a trainer who has a GSD background. I use a gentleman referred to me by a member here that's local in my area. He's fantastic and has helped me tackle some challenging problems with success. They can come in handy even though you have your training down pat but run into that brick wall now and then and need a little assistance.


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## Lucas Payne (Dec 8, 2014)

Like most people have stated so far every dog is diffrent my sam is now 15 weeks old an has no accidents at all in house he stays loose all night an day to roam the house i work 10-5 an he never has any problems but i believe the key to that is when i got him at 8 weeks of age he was either in his crate or i was holding a 5 foot leash hooked to his collar. Key is constant contact you have to teach her that she cant use the bathroom in side if you keep her in one room alot then when you let her loose an she explores new rooms she want understand that those areas are still part of the house not a place to pee. hope this helps


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## peppsmom (Oct 4, 2014)

My tips! 

Pepper wasn't potty trained until just about a week shy of 5 months. I tried positive/praise only training with frequent trips out (we're talking at least once an hour when out around the house, and once ever 2 to 3 hours in the crate). We never had a crate accident but we had a **** of time with both poo & pee in the house. 

I don't know if we finally got better with age, or because of a difference in training, but she did finally get better once I started using corrections. My husband had always been of the "correction and rub their nose in it" old school persuasion, and I was trying to hard to prove to him that according to what I'd read that wasn't necessary!

Well turns out a middle ground was really what we needed. I know she knew that I LIKED it when she went outside (praise, treats, potty celebrations) but I think she didn't know that i DIDNT like it when she went inside.

All I needed to do was say "no" firmly and stomp my foot (only when catching her in the act, never after) and then take her outside and lots of praise. We did that only 3 or 4 times before we never had an accident again. Again, it may have been the combination of this change and her age, because I can see at this age that a lot more "computes" behind the eyes than just the random crazie zoomy puppy brain. 

ALSO, make sure you're cleaning up her accident spots REALLY well and without ammonia based products! The residual smells will keep her having accidents and those hardwood floor ones especially are easy to just wipe and ignore, but they all need really good cleaning! 

Good luck. It may just not happen as fast as you want no matter how diligent you are. I truly thought if I was perfect that we would be potty trained in weeks, but it just doesn't always work like that.

You can always try keeping her on a leash in the house. Mine wouldn't go on leash right next to me as long as I took her out frequently enough. But I'm not sure it helped in the "training" just accident prevention...


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

Drewbacca said:


> Sunday she did it right next to me while I was getting ready to take her out, but then stopped to say something to my mom real quick and boom, pee on the hardwood, without any indication of having to go (i was taking her out to play with her and the older dogs and burn some energy).


Her puppy brain said, "I gotta go pee!" You said, "Let's go pee!" by getting her ready to take her out. Then you stopped the entire process by hesitating. Her puppy brain said, "Well, I guess this is where you want me to pee....." and she did. 

YOU were thinking about going out to play. She was thinking that you were taking her out to pee. She was complying with what you were asking of her. 

Potty training is about timing. In training, you aren't waiting for them to tell you they've got to go. You take them out and praise when they do go. The trick is YOU figuring out how often they have to go. I take my pups out every hour. I don't play, or talk or have fun. Once they potty, I throw a party.


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## Kyleigh (Oct 16, 2012)

Lilie said:


> Her puppy brain said, "I gotta go pee!" You said, "Let's go pee!" by getting her ready to take her out. Then you stopped the entire process by hesitating. Her puppy brain said, "Well, I guess this is where you want me to pee....." and she did.
> 
> YOU were thinking about going out to play. She was thinking that you were taking her out to pee. She was complying with what you were asking of her.
> 
> Potty training is about timing. In training, you aren't waiting for them to tell you they've got to go. You take them out and praise when they do go. The trick is YOU figuring out how often they have to go. I take my pups out every hour. I don't play, or talk or have fun. Once they potty, I throw a party.


This! And I will add my own story that will give you a chuckle LOL

You said you're parents tell you what they are doing ... 

So, I got Kyleigh at 9 weeks, and I was super anal about getting up every 3-4 hours in the night to bring her out ... I got her on a Friday, and Monday was a holidays ... I had her potty trained by Monday ... I was so proud of both of us (I was also exhausted, but I digress!)

I live with my dad, and while I went to work on Tuesday, he would take her out to pee and have a little yard party. (She was otherwise crated.)

When I got home from work, my dad told me that Kyleigh had peed twice in the house while he was bringing her upstairs (have to carry her up the stairs!)

I was really surprised, because she'd done so well, so I asked him to break down his every move.

It goes like this:

He would go to her crate, open the door, and tell her to come out. He picks her up instantly, and then bring her upstairs. As he was walking up the stairs with her in his arms, he says in a happy tone, let's go outside and go pee pee ... BAM, she pees!

So, once I got the whole story, he did it again on Wednesday, and didn't talk to her until she was OUTSIDE ... then she peed outside, and never in the house again!


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