Wetting in the house

[Katt]

Roxie (6 mo. rott) still has a problem with "accidents?" in the house. We can take her out to go to the bathroom and within a few minutes of coming back inside, she's wet on the kitchen floor. These are the things that have happened in the short time my son has had her. He found her at 4 months old wandering, he moved to a new house shortly after he found her, now I've temporarily moved in with them, AND she just got fixed last week. Someone tell me, is all this the reason she won't stop wetting in the house? We take her out SEVERAL times a day and have been watching the water we let her drink. Any ideas? Thanks.

katt

[Joanne in NJ]

Urinary infection? One of my girls was piddling on the floor sometimes- 4 times in the evening. Put her on antibiotics and it stopped right away. But, uh oh,,,, it's back.....

[Chantal]

Mine had a couple urinary tract infections when she was a puppy. take her to the vet, and have them test her urine.

[AngelBunny]

katt:

Is Roxie housetrained? From your description, she was found as a stray, she's young, your son moved soon after finding her, and you just moved in--was there enough time in all of this to housetrain her??

Checking to see if she has a UTI is a good idea--use a ladle to catch a sample.

[Katt]

No, Roxie is not housetrained. She's moved from wetting on the carpet to wetting on the kitchen floor though, which is much better on the ole pocketbook since my son had to replace the carpet in a 3 month old bedroom because of it. He has these "training pads" that can lay on the floor and he said they didn't work. But she seems to go in the SAME place each time so I put one down and she actually used it. I think the reason she is not trained is laziness on the part of her masters. Since I have been there, she goes out alot more, but when I work, I can't take her out as much. It was the wetting on the floor right AFTER being taken out that was worrying me. I'll tell my son about the UTI and maybe he can check it out.

Thanks.

katt

[AngelBunny]

katt:

To be on the safe side, your son can certainly take a sample of Roxie's urine to the vet to check that she doesn't have a UTI, but based on what you say, Roxie uses the house as a latrine because she doesn't understand she's not supposed to.

Roxie isn't having "accidents" in the house because the word implies she knows better. She doesn't.

Time for everyone to buckle down and get her housetrained--at six months old, she's certainly old enough to be reliably housetrained.

You know the drill: Roxie is taken out like clockwork to the latrine spot in the yard. She gets a big fuss and rewards when she does what she's supposed to in the yard. If she starts doing something in the house she shouldn't, interrupt her w/ the AKKK!! sound, pick her up and hurry her outside. If you're loud enough and quick enough, you'll stop her in mid-stream and she'll have something left to do outside.

Roxie is ALWAYS watched and if she can't be watched--even for a minute--she's crated.

The only way to housetrain is to monitor the dog constantly, to never let the dog out of your sight, to take the dog outside periodically, to reward porfusley when the dog does what it should outside, and say Shame on me if the dog has an accident.

"I think the reason she is not trained is laziness on the part of her masters."

You're 100% correct.

What concerns me about this statement is if her owners can't find the energy or motivation to do something as basic as housetrain, how are they going to address training such a big, powerful, stubborn dog as a Rottie? At 6 mo, Roxie's training should be underway.

Yes, your son has a kind heart in that he rescued her, but you need much, much more than a kind heart to be a successful Rottie owner and have a dog that's a credit to the breed.

[Joanne in NJ]

Couple more things come to mind. That alot of adult rescues aren't housetrained. That's one of those things that people are just too bloody lazy to bother with. Easier to just tie them outside to a tree. Grrr....

Sometimes, a new dog can be very subtle with their signs that they have to "go". My little rottie/springer will come and stare at you but the big dobie will pace. You're not sure if he's just a big dog in a little house or he's got to potty....At least with adults, it's easy. You're not dealing with little puppy bladders.

The third thing I thought of, is if the dog is going outside and just having too much fun to remember why he/she's being sent out in the first place? Little Tara-terror has SUCH a good time playing outside that when she comes back in... uh oh, now I gotta "go".

[ShelbyVonRhodes]

I too agree with Angelbunny: What concerns me about this statement is if her owners can't find the energy or motivation to do something as basic as housetrain, how are they going to address training such a big, powerful, stubborn dog as a Rottie? At 6 mo, Roxie's training should be underway.

I think that says it all!