[justine]

Okay so a friend/neighbor of mine has a 7-8 month old Lab mix who she has had since he was a puppy. He is STILL pooping and peeing inside the house!! She keeps him in a crate while she is at work, which is generally for about 7 hours. He doesn't go in the crate at all and he is taken out immediately when she comes home.

He will sometimes walk around by the door, so she knows he needs to go out but sometimes he will just decide to poop inside, without any warning. If he poops/pees and she catches him in the act, she will tell him to stop and immediately take him outside to finish.

It's not just at my friend's apartment, but he does it also at other peoples' apartments, as well.. including mine!

If she is home, he is taken out at least once every hour and it still keeps happening.

I suggested that she hang some bells from the door and try that route.

Any other advice/suggestions?

Thanks!
Justine

 

[nicole]

Tell her to try leashing him to her while in the house...this way, she can't possibly miss him going. When she can't, crate him. When outside, make sure he's getting plenty of exercise so that everything gets moving and he has to potty out there.

 

[Dani]

Tell her to try leashing him to her while in the house...this way, she can't possibly miss him going. When she can't, crate him. When outside, make sure he's getting plenty of exercise so that everything gets moving and he has to potty out there.

+10000

 

[sarah]

I'd tie the dog to me too and see if that helps.

 

[brody]

he's simply not housetrained yet
she needs to be more proactive about rewarding the right thing - is he supervised outdoors?
++ the leashing to self above

 

[justine]

That was the next thing I was going to tell her. It's a smart idea and I think it's what he needs. I told her to give him lots of good praise when he goes potty outside but I'm not sure how much she's keeping up with it.

 

[amazongold]

I agree with the leashing the pup to her so she can always watch him, but to try high-value treats when he goes outside. Also, teach him to ring bells, and give the same high-value treats when he rings the bells and goes outside.

 

[patm]

Some dogs take longer to "go outside " than others too. Skippy poops almost immediately when we go on our "poop walk", but Emilu doesn't go until we're about halfway through, and if its a shorter walk for some reason, she might not go at all and waits till the next time. For a pup, try giving it a command of sorts "go poop", at first when you catch the pup actually pooping in the correct place, praise with "good poop"! And you have to stay with the pup - don't just let it out into the back yard and expect it to go by itself. If the problem is wanting to play when outside and pooping when you get back in, go out and "ignore" the dog, except to give the Pee and Poop command. is the dogs schedule pretty regular? Especially feeding and going out to poop times. Also, how many times a day is it pooping? Could be that a food adjustment is in order. My dogs are fed a high-quality, no grain food and they have one or 2 solid poops a day - Skippy used to have more frequent, softer poops, but even he is down to 2 solid poops a day.

 

[justine]

She has been attaching him to her with the leash for a few days and has had no accidents yet! She caught him in the act, about to go inside a couple of times and immediately went outside and then gave him treats and lots of praise.

But she said he's been playing games, where he will pretend he has to go and then just mess around outside for 20 minutes..! Any suggestions on what to do for that?