Pooping in the house

[DebbieZ]

My little baby girl (who will be a year old April 24) has developed a bad habit of pooping in the house. She has not urinated in the house since she was about two months old, but seems to think that she can poop in a few selected spots. She will ring her bell to go outside, but will come in the house to poop. Any suggestions?

[dutchman]

Hi Debbie,

I first spotted you post last night bus since I not an expert in this area (still the occasional accident around here<IMG SRC="http://dachsie.org/ubb/cwmsmilies/cwm26.gif" border=0> ) I thought I would wait and see what others suggested. Rather than leave you waiting any long I'll take a stab at helping. First off it's not uncommon for dachshunds to occasionally have a back slide like this especially in the first couple of years. You almost have to go back to square one with their training. A couple of common methods are a return to crate training (crating her when ever you can't watch her) and tether training where you attach a leash between you and your girl so that she can never be out of site. One other trick I have heard of when all the accidents are localized to one area is to start feeding the dog in that location. I've heard they won't go in the area where they get feed. The only problem I found with that last approach is that when Tanner was having a series of accidents he just move to an alternative location.

Last fall when the weather was getting bad Tanner seemed to resist going when he was outside. As an alternative I tried one of those new doggie litter boxes that are available. Neither boy want to get any where near that thing so while it didn't work like intended it did stop Tanner from using one of his favorite indoor potty sites.

Good luck,

Tom and the boys (Frank and Tanner)

<FONT COLOR="#00FFFF" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">This message has been edited by dutchman on April 12, 2001 at 09:03 AM</font>

[Mark]

Hi Debbie,

Tom has given some good tips.

I guess at this point I have more questions than answers. From your post I get the impression that she (name?) comes back in the house from urinating and that's when she poops in the house? If that is the case, you probably need to be outside with her until she does both outside. After several successful outings where correct behavior is rewarded immediately . . . she'll start getting the idea, but keep it up until she remembers no other behavior.

If I've misunderstood your original post . . . please give a more detailed description of exactly what happens, when and how you react to it.

I hope this helped and please do let us know how it goes,
Mark

[Mandy]

I agree with Mark. I would put her leash on and go out with her....and no one comes back in until she poops. We also have a little, um....potty song <IMG SRC="http://dachsie.org/ubb/cwmsmilies/cwm41.gif" border=0> that we sing when we are getting ready to go out to go potty.

[DebbieZ]

Thank you for the suggestions. Yes, my little baby girl, Hilda, would urinate outside and then come inside to poop. After some more thought on my problem, I realized that it seemed to start after our snow melt which was only last weekend. Up until that point, she was limited to a small area of the backyard that had to be shoveled so she could access it. It was obvious that she had urinated and pooped because she would only be outside for as long as it took because of the cold, and the evidence was very clear on the snow. Now that the snow is melted she has been very excited to be able to run around in the back yard again without floundering in the snow. It almost seems like pooping outside is too much to be bothered with due to all the great smells and sights that she went without since last November. It was also hard to tell if she did poop unless I followed her around, which was difficult because my back yard is large and she is very fast. I live in Minnesota, and we had a long, snowy winter. Anyway, I have pretty much gone back to potty training 101 and have started bringing her out on the leash and won't let her run around until she does her business. Do you think I'll have to do this forever or will she catch on?

Thanks again for the help.

<FONT COLOR="#00FFFF" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">This message has been edited by DebbieZ on April 13, 2001 at 07:37 AM</font>

[Mark]

Hi Debbie,

Yes, Hilda will "get it" and with the long non-snow time we do have here in the north . . . it will be plenty of time for her to forget all about pooping in the house. Once she does start to get it . . . be sure to keep up the practice of taking her out for an additional 2-4 weeks then taper off gradually (that is, if it is your goal to be able to simply "put her out"). Stopping the reinforcement too soon may result in a relapse. http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/biggrin.gif

I'm looking forward to hearing good things about her progress. http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/circle.gif

Mark

[DebbieZ]

Hilda has gone about a week now with no poop in the house!! (Or should I say she hasn't gone.) I've been limiting her freedom in the house by putting up gates to her favorite "poop-in-the-house" spots unless I'm sure she has gone outside and so far so good. Keep your fingers crossed!

[Mark]

Fingers and paws are crossed, Debbie! http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/smile.gif

Thanks for the update!

Mark