walter314

Seeking advice:

I have a 10 month old Basset/Beagle mix. He was adopted at 5 months. When I first got him I was living in a house where he had a large back yard. I now live in an apartment, 1000 square feet, and have lived here for 2 weeks.

My issues is with his pooping. We go on frequent long walks where he has no problem going pee but as soon as we get home he poops inside. He doesn't like to go on his leash.

When I leave home I crate him. He frequently pee's in the crate and occasionally poops there, too.

Any hints to controlling his bowel movements?

Esther

first i'd like to empathize. and the frowny face is exactly right it's frustrating.
bassets are stubborn. and frequently take a bit longer to house break.
structure
schedule
patience

walter314

I'm afraid that since he is almost a year old that we are reaching a point where he may have a hard time learning. Is it true that if a dog isn't potty trained at one year the he will have issues for the rest of his life? It sounds extreme, I know, but it is a fear of mine.

MollyMcFrecklesMom

If I recall correctly, MikeyT always says that they can be a year old before they are fully housebroken. My Molly is 10 months...she has the pee thing down, but not the poop. She still has #2 accidents in the house. Pee accidents are almost 100% gone, unless it's my fault for letting her go too long.

But yes, patience, persistence, and schedule are key.

duder

A consistent schedule and routine are probably the two most important in getting the potty training down.

I don't know if I am just lucky or am some kind of poop whisperer, but both of my guys had very little problem getting house broken. Within a couple of weeks of them being home they both were pretty much house broken and we havent had an accident in probably 6 months.

walter314

I envy you right now. Thanks for the support, everyone.

Esther

POOP WHISPERER

that rocks

Kirska

Anabelle had probably never been housebroken until we adopted her at 8+ years old. Yes it was difficult and there are still accidents but after a few months of perseverance she eventually "got it".

The idea that dogs can't learn something after a certain age is just a myth, with the exception of any physical/medical problems preventing a behavior from being done.

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Mikey T

there are some that are never housetrained. I think a year is a good average, Keep in mind when I say house trained I do not simply mean a lack of accidents which is all about management. Housetrained means the dog has a signal and uses it to indicate when it need to go and 2 when required can hold or refrain from going for some extended perion of time.


{quote]Is it true that if a dog isn't potty trained at one year the he will have issues for the rest of his life?[/quote]

certainly not but the problem is what dogs do is develop a substrate preference for the surface they normally go on. This must be over come the longer this substrate prefferance for a non-acceptable surfaces ocures for and is self reinfoced the hared and longer house training will take. House training difficultly is more contigent on the number of accidents than it is on how long it has taken or how long the dog has not been house trained for so the first thing is through management eliminate the accidents and the dog being self rewarded for them.

1. that is problem number 1. When taking the dog out to deficate it should be all about buisness he goes to a very limited area that you want him to go and stay there until he does. no walking around and other fun doggie stuff to do. You need to differentiate defficating and going for a walk. It is also a good idea to but defication and urination a a verbal cue so the dog understand what is expected as well. To teach the dog what is expected where you want him to go you need to be clear an consices. going for a walk an letting the dog go or not does not do this it is more "acccidental" when he dioes go rather than learning he is suppose to go.
What you have is a dog that has learn that you poop in the house and when you go for a walk you wait until you get back to go.

see [url=http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2001/housetrain.]
Housetraining Your Puppy[/quote] which covers substrate preferrence and teaching a go on command cues.


2. schedual is the most critical thing in managing the dog to prevent accident. affter you feed the dog it is going to need to defficate. If you have exercise, sleep access to whater on a schedule when the dog need to pee will be as well. a lott easier to prevent an accident when you know when the dog has to go.


So seriously how doe the crate help in this case in housetraining? Alll that happes is the dog will over time develop a subrstare prefference for going in the crate. It is a myth a dog will not soil its den or crate. There is a tendency not to but this is far from being absolute. Dogs/puupy do this to start primarily for two reasons. ! is because they are left in the crate two long and can't hold it hany longer. ie basical forced to go in the crate by circumstances, or two suffer from sepperation anxiety and the peeing and pooping in the crate is a manifestation of that. either way makes the crat more of hinder to house training than a help once it happens on a farily consistent basis.


Food in + food out the are biological reasons but the act of eating starts the process of the dogs needing to defficate. So if feed a minimium twice a day but if the dog has more frequent bm match the numbe of bm per day to the number of times fed. When this is done the dog will need to go shortly after eating . Take him to the spot you want him to go. Keep him there until he does.

for appartment dwellers the himt below may be more difficult to do but even then given the particular circumstances not always Potty Training Tip
but this can be done by simply keep the dog an a short leed is one spot as well.

3. Lastly the biggies mistake most make is assumeing that the dog is simply going to find on his own a cue to use to tell you he nedds to go out. A large percentage of the time that never happens. The more sure fire way is to train the dog to us a particular cue of you own chosing. On of the easiet is to train the dog to ring a bell(s)
House Training: Ring My Bell!

Soundtrack

You may wish to use the match trick to teach him that it's okay to poop on a leash.

The match trick:

Take a paper match (unlit) and moisten the sulfur end

Stick it in his butt.

Give him the command you are using to indicate you want him to poop (I use "hurry up") and move him around or go for a walk.

If he has to poop at all, he will do so within a few minutes.

Praise and reward.

If he does not have to go, remove the match.

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