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A Peeing Pekenese!

Dear WOOF:

I have a 13 week old male Pekingese who quite simply seems to be impossible to potty train. He was my 5-year-old daughter's Christmas present from Santa so we have had him for several weeks. I have crate trained all of my dogs and each one has been trained in 2-3 weeks. What could be the problem? Is it because he is a male dog? I've never had a male before.

He will urinate anywhere, anytime. He urinates in his crate and has since day one. He never seems to urinate in the same place twice and he cries in his crate and still wants to go out every hour and he does potty every time. Isn't that a lot at his age? Shouldn't he be able to hold it for at least 4 hours by now? He doesn't have any water before bed. Sometimes he can hold it for 4 hours, but most of the time he can't. I am at my wits end! We are about to move into a brand new house and I really thought he would be fully potty trained by now. I think a lot of it might have to do with the breeder, I don't know what kind of conditions he was in when we got him, she never let us see where he was staying. What can I do?

Hello,

I love puppies, but as cute a sweet and cuddly as they are, they are also a lot of work to raise. Just like human babies, puppies need to be constantly monitored, so that they are kept safe and out of trouble, and also so that they are learning how to live in a home as a member of the family. As a member of the family, a puppy is expected to eliminate in a specific spot--usually outdoors. In order for this to happen, the family must teach the puppy where to go and give them special rewards for doing so, but also prevent the puppy from pottying anywhere other than that designated place.

Dogs are continually learning, and for every behavior that they display, they are learning if that behavior is reinforcing or punishing. If it is reinforcing, they will continue to perform it, if it is punishing however, they will stop doing it. Dogs decide whether or not a behavior is reinforcing by taking note of the consequence of that behavior--if the dog sniffs a rose and get stung while sniffing or IMMEDIATELY after, rose sniffing is considered punishing and that behavior stops. After a dog performs an action there is a half-second to two second window in which the results of that action can be seen. Anything that happens outside of that window will not be associated with that behavior.

It sounds like you are taking steps in the right direction by using the crate as part of your house training program, but let me give you some tips to help you with the trouble spots. It is important to keep in mind that this new puppy is a different dog and may take longer than your previous dogs to learn where he needs to potty. It is not that he is a male that makes it harder, but that he is a different dog, and some dogs take longer or have different reinforcement histories. You mentioned that you were not allowed to see the puppies at the breeder's, so really, you don't know where the puppies were used to eliminating while they were in her care. Since elimination in and of itself is a self-reinforcing behavior to dogs (because they feel relief immediately after they potty), his reinforcement history for that behavior began before he came to your house.

So what we must do is teach the puppy where to go, make it VERY reinforcing and prevent him from urinating or defecating anywhere but the desired location. Since you mention that your pup is going in the crate, we need to solve that issue first. Since dogs are clean animals, they won't usually go in their crates unless they can comfortably get away from it. If the crate is any bigger than just enough room for the dog to stand up, turn around and lie down in and he is urinating or defecating in it, the crate is too big. Make a divider and make the crate smaller. Also, if there are towels or blankets or even a stuffed toy that he is urinating or defecating on, remove it from the crate, because it is seen as an absorbent surface and gets rid of the potty so the dog considers it still clean.

Place the puppy on a food and water schedule because if you know when it went in you will know when it needs to come out. Puppies generally need to 'go' after eating, drinking, sleeping (including naps), playing, or chewing on something for a period of time. So, to prevent the accidents, you must keep both eyes glued to the puppy at all times so you KNOW when each of these things has happened. If you cannot keep both eyes on the puppy, put him in the crate with something to do. This is your prevention technique. If the puppy is sneaking off still, you need to keep a closer watch, try tethering the puppy to you.

Now for the training. After your puppy has done anything from the pre-potty list above (eating, drinking, napping, etc), you are responsible for getting him to the pre-determined potty area. So, leash your puppy and take him out there. Wait for 3-5 minutes for him to 'do his business'. If he does it, great! Reward him with a tasty treat to sweeten the pot, and then allow him supervised play either inside or outside. If he does not go potty within that 3-5 min time period, off he goes into the crate because you KNOW he has to go, and you are preventing an accident. After 15 minutes, leash him and take him back out to the potty area for another try. If he goes, great! Treats and supervised play. If not, repeat the crate cycle until he goes. When you give your puppy the treat reward be sure that he has totally finished pottying first so that he doesn't get inside and think 'I never finished peeing, I better do that now.'

As this little guy is just a baby, he cannot yet hold it for a full night's sleep. He can most likely hold it for 4-5 hours comfortably. So, for awhile you will need to continue waking up and taking him out. Remember, though that behaviors that the dog sees as reinforcing will continue, so when you go to let him out of the crate make sure he is quiet first, otherwise you will be reinforcing the whining.

Also, if you catch your puppy in the act of pottying inside, gently interrupt him and take him out to finish. If you yell 'no' you will only make him see the consequence of 'pottying in this room in front of people is scary, I'll go to a room where they are not next time.'

Happy Training!
Sarah Grimm, CPDT