# Toilet training going backwards



## Oki1234 (Nov 19, 2015)

We have a 13 week old labradoodle and it feels like we're going backwards with his toilet training. He seemed to be mostly going outside with one or two accidents, but now he doesn't seem bothered about it at all. 

Part of the problem is he used to be predictable - 5 minutes after eating - but now he goes all the time. Like 12 times a day. We were using a puppy pen for when we couldn't watch him (I work from home but can't be in the room with him 24 hours a day) but he started weeing and pooing in it. We noticed that he would get INTO the pen to wee and poo even when he was out of it, so we decided he was confused about what it was for. So we got rid of the pen and now let him have the kitchen to himself (with a baby gate) and now he just wees and poos all over it. 

When we do take him outside he just plays, sniffing things, eating leaves etc so doesn't seem to give any attention to the toilet issue. He's only had his first walk today but that seemed the same - too much going on to think about going to the loo. 

What are we doing wrong?


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## Burrowzig (Feb 18, 2009)

Take him out on a lead so he can't play and sniff and stay out there with him; you will be there for some time. Then as soon as he starts to go, put a word to it, (I say go biz). Do this every time he toilets, even inside. If he goes outside, it's 'good biz' or whatever word you choose, and a treat. You have to be consistent and take him out a lot - not easy if you're working from home. You might be better off having him tied to you on a light line, about 8 feet long, so you can see what he's doing and get him outside quickly if he looks like he's about to pee or poo indoors.

And what are you doing wrong? Maybe assuming he was trained too early, lack of consistency, not taking him out often enough, lack of attention to what he's doing. It's a massive job, and unfortunately, it needs your full attention.


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## Oki1234 (Nov 19, 2015)

I've tried taking him out on a lead but he just loves playing with it, chewing etc so is completely distracted. I'm wondering what people do to get their dogs to go during a walk? I'm not convinced ours understands the 'toilet' word we've taught him


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## labradrk (Dec 10, 2012)

I think the problem is that when a puppy starts looking like he/she is a bit more reliable in toileting outdoors, we lapse a bit, when actually until they have that "lightbulb" moment (asking to be let out rather than you anticipating and putting them out) they still aren't toilet trained. So until then you just have to be boringly consistent and keep plugging away.


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## Colette (Jan 2, 2010)

With pups it often feels like 2 steps forward 1 step back. Horace was very good with housetraining for the first couple of weeks. Then it rained! He got really bad at it and toileted more inside than out. We kept going and saw huge improvements, with the odd accident every few days. Then one day about 2 weeks ago he went in the house 4 times! Since then, back to normal. Its been several days since his last accident.

It just takes time, consistency and sometimes your own lightbulb moment!

We worked out part of our problem was that Horace adores kitchen roll. He got super excited at us cleaning up pee and always tried to pinch the kitchen roll, sometimes succeeding. In other words peeing in the house was being rewarded with his favourite game.

To overcome this we made sure to put him out of the room every time before cleaning up to remove that reward. We also upped rewards for going outside - higher value treats and super high value for going out in the rain! I even gave him the occasional piece of kitchen towel with a few treats in as a deliberate reward as that counts as super high value for him.


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## Oki1234 (Nov 19, 2015)

The other main thing that's changed this week is that he's started pooing over night loads. He used to go through 11-7 either dry in his pen or with maybe one wee. Then he started going in the pen so we got rid of it, so now he just goes all over the kitchen at night. Should we go back to the pen, and make it literally the size of his bed so his only options are to go in his bed or wake us up? (So hopefully he will wake us up)


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## Aahlly (Sep 12, 2014)

If the pen is big enough that he feels okay about pooping in it even though his bed is there, defo think about reducing the size. My puppy is 10 months and he's been a little slow on the uptake with toilet training and I would say even now he's not reliably fully toilet trained in that he still has occasional accidents (although these can be days and days apart) and he's still not reliably asking to go out. So some dogs do take longer to get it. I would take a step back with him and start taking him out more frequently again. I'm at around 2-3 hours between potty breaks for my pup with the occasional longer period if he looks settled, and we're dry overnight if I take him out at 11.30pm and 7am. 

With the lack of concentration while he's outside, I went through this too. My puppy just didn't seem to understand why he was outside at first and would just sniff around and try to play with my other dogs. I just waited. And waited. Sometimes it would take a good 20-30 minutes for him to actual pee but when he did I would praise him and give him his most favourite treat. After not too long when we went out, he started peeing right away and now that's the first thing he does before starting to play because he wants his treat. 

I think it's a case of just being consistent, patient and relentless.


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