My husband and I adopted a 2 year old Lab Pit mix about five days ago. Since day 1, he has had issues using the bathroom. I noticed immediately that he was not peeing or pooping outside. We live in an apartment complex and when we took him outside he just spent the whole time sniffing everything. He came from a home of two older women who, from what we have assumed, spoiled him and did not train him at all. At his old home, he did pee and poop on walks with his previous owner. When we adopted him his owner told us that he really loved his crate. We did not have one until the fourth day day we had him.
Day 1
We got him late at night so when we first got him we spent some time petting him and interacting with him trying to make him comfortable with us. He very quickly got comfortable with me, but was hesitant with my husband. This is understandable considering he came from a female only home. Eventually he warmed up and we were able to take him for a walk before bed. He did not use the bathroom, but we did not think much of it.
Day 2
I took our dog out in the morning for 45 minutes and he still did not use the bathroom. This concerned me, but I assumed he was still a little nervous. When we came in from our morning walk I fed him. Throughout the day I took him out about 5 times with no results. I fed him dinner and took him out about 2 hours later for 45 minutes and he did not poop or pee. About 20 minutes after bringing him back in he peed on our bathroom floor. While I cleaned, my husband took him out again to see if he would poop and he did not.
Day 3
When I woke up this morning, I realized he had peed on our bedroom floor. I cleaned it up and took him out (he still didn't use the bathroom). I took him out about 5 times throughout the morning and afternoon with no results. When my husband came home in the evening, he took the dog out and he finally pooped outside! We decided to make where he pooped his designated bathroom. After dinner, I took him to his new bathroom spot and he pooped again! We gave him praise each time he pooped outside.
Day 4
I took him out about 3-4 times throughout the day and he did not use the bathroom at all. When my husband came home in the evening, he brought his new crate and our dog was very excited. He made himself at home in his crate very fast. We took him out 2 more times for the night and he did not use the bathroom. This was our dog's first night sleeping in his crate and it was also the first night he did not give us any issues with whining at night. When I woke up to use the bathroom at night, I noticed pee in the dog's crate. I woke my husband up to take him out while I cleaned it up.
Day 5
We took him out almost ten times today because he kept giving hints that he wanted to go outside. However, every time we took him out he wouldn't use the bathroom. We spent 20 minutes to 40 minutes when we took him out depending on his behavior when we took him out. We locked him up for the night and about 2 hours into sleeping I wake up to hear him crying. I go check on him to see that he pooped and peed in his crate and he was in the process of trying to push his poop out of his crate.
I really want to know why he lost his potty training when we adopted him. We have tried using pee pads outside, but they do not help. We already have to teach him basic commands and teach him to not jump on people. Do we have to re-potty train him? If so, do you have any tips? I would really appreciate any feedback.
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A new owner is a traumatic thing for a dog. He may poop and pee inside. Dogs usually don't mess where they eat or sleep. Go to your vet and make sure there are no infections to cause him to do this.
So happy you are giving this pup a good and caring home!
My first thought is that you should get him into the vet to make sure he gets a clean bill of health. I always like to rule out UTI or other health issue before I think about retraining. Sometimes a UTI or stress can cause potty issues and once they are resolved, the potty habits are back on track.
So my other thoughts are that--provided he gets a clean bill of health--that perhaps he didn't forget potty training, but he may not have been trained as you are expecting.
Potty training with a crate is the best method!!
It takes a lot of the guess work out of it as you get him on a schedule and while there may be accidents at first, he will learn that out of the crate and outside means potty. Always lavish praise like you are when he does it outside.
I have had 2 dogs who do potty in their crate with 100% clean bills of health. Both were when they were nervous. One got over that quickly and never had issues from the first brief bout. The other had to be on meds for a while to reduce the anxiety and he still has the occasional nervous attack. He is smart enough to fold the blanket over so he is not sleeping on the pee.
Big dogs usually learn potty habits quickly so I hope if you post back in 2 weeks after the vet and a good round of crate training that you will have good news to report!! Please do post back!!
Prayers for the new pup and you!! Wishing you a lovely history together!
My daughter just adopted a rescue dog.
Was told she was housebroken.
For many weeks the dog would poop in so many many places in her home.
Yesterday she had to go to the emergency hospital as she pooped a large amount of blood.
Found out she has worms!!!
Check with your vet.
according to AKC dog experts, you should provide her a smaller crate space so she will really think twice about going in there. Also be vigilant and when she's getting ready to do her business, take her outside right away. Also be religious about taking her out every 4 hours - even at night. www.akc.org/
also if she ever does manage to go outside, instantly reward her with treats
making sure she's not ill is a good step too, though
It is very common for a dog to be confused when taken to a new home. I suspect that is what is going on here. And as you mentioned, not a lot of prior training. Whatever training method you decide to use, be sure it has regular and consistent feeding and walking times. That really helps with the confusion these dogs are dealing with. That and a positive supportive energy in the household is about 50% of the battle.
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