Re-training - New rules. Please Comment

[Namor]

I need some ideas. We moved to a new house that is on one level. Deuce is almost six and had the luxury of having a pee pad in the basement work room of our old home for just in case but is outdoor potty trained successfully. He did use the pee pad when we were not home or when he was stressed by the mailman or dogs passing the house. Here at the lakehouse life is usually calm. We have wood floors and no basement so we decided to drop the pee pad luxury. We paid attention to his needs, he spends more time outdoors so it seemed to be working. Initially I noticed a pee puddle in the front entry hall on rare occasions when the grandkids were here. We cleaned it up. I figured he was stressed. Then We put a entry rug by the front door when guests came and apparently Deuce thought that was his pee pad and began piddling there unknown to me. One day I lifted the rug and saw the evidence on the rubber side so I removed the rug. Now I've been cleaning up pee in the entry hall for the past few days perhaps once a day.

I need some solutions but I do have some ideas so please comment and add to my thoughts. I really do not have the space for pee pads in this house so I want that to be the last resort.

Solutions:
I will block off the front entry hall. Construct a portable gate as I did for the upstairs guest rooms. (Two rooms have rugs. He will go in and mark them if he gets up there)

Clean the hall with the enzyme cleaner before I gate it.

Trash the little rug and start over. It was an inexpensive Costco rug so no big deal.

Put a Buddy belt on him when guests are here. (Where can I get some cute ones?)

Take him out every two hours as a new training commitment, praise, reward. (But if I do that will he then expect to go out so often and when we are out have a problem?)

Should I confine him in a Portable playpen or in the mudroom? It's just that the mudroom is boring. He can't even see outside from there. Maybe I shouldn't even worry about that since he tends to sleep when we're gone and it seems he pees when we're here. When I'm here he likes to watch me.

Try to teach him to signal us when he has to go potty. I once tried to use the bell but he was afraid of it. Should I try it again?

Thanks for your time. I know we can teach an adolescent dog new tricks!

[Mayzoo]

I would clean with the enzymatic cleaner then go back to doing what you did to train him in the first place (minus the pee pads). Kinda like a basic training refresher course. If it worked the first time, no reason it won't work again.

[jshade]

I've only had my adult male Yorkie a few months and he was not housebroken when we adopted him. He is a marker and a leg lifter. Our previous boy used washable pee pads and went outdoors, as well. With Casey, we have been using buddy bands that I bought from Amazon. They are very cute with paw prints and easy to hand wash quickly. It's not the ideal situation but we think we can live with this. We have 7 or 8 of them and use baby wipes to clean him. He does poop outside----most of the time. We also put a sanitary pad inside the belly band if we are away for a few hours.

[MzLynnC]

Originally Posted by jshade

I've only had my adult male Yorkie a few months and he was not housebroken when we adopted him. He is a marker and a leg lifter. Our previous boy used washable pee pads and went outdoors, as well. With Casey, we have been using buddy bands that I bought from Amazon. They are very cute with paw prints and easy to hand wash quickly. It's not the ideal situation but we think we can live with this. We have 7 or 8 of them and use baby wipes to clean him. He does poop outside----most of the time. We also put a sanitary pad inside the belly band if we are away for a few hours.

Where were/are you getting your washable pee pads? Have started using them and alway looking for a better quality and better cost.

[Cindy_17]

As far as buddy bands aka belly bands I get mine from Best Belly Bands on Facebook, they are awesome! Presley for the most part is trained but he is known to pee when he takes a notion in the house too..These bands have been a great thing in my house, they are a very good price I think I pay $6 or $7 bucks per band! I get to pick what fabric I want and they tell you how to measure your baby so they are made to fit, and they are beautiful! We have 9 of these and I am getting ready to order more because they have their Christmas fabric out! They are located in Texas, I order and usually within 3 days they are in my mailbox in South Carolina, incredibly fast shipping (esp. seeing they are made to fit by measurements!). I put a sanitary pad inside and it works like a charm! I have had mine several months now, they wash in the washing machine beautifully and look as good as they did the day I got them! I am pretty sure they work to help Yorkie Haven Rescue too, so it also helps a good cause!

[Lilah Charm]

You seem to have a lot of great ideas! We use gates at our house too, enzyme cleaner is a must- I would say no to the mud room, I think just saying it had you ruling it out too. I think belly bands could be a great idea! Of course there is t bumpkins on here with washable pads- doesn't she make belly bands too? I think every two hours is a great idea- yes, you won't always be able to do that but I think it will really re establish those initial training boundaries and be a great reminder. Good luck!

[Namor]

So I thought I'd let you know where we are with Deuce. In the new house we are taking him out to pee every two to three hours when we are home. All seems to be going well. I got rid of the carpet in the front hall. He seems to be making progress and even asking to go out ( walking fast back and forth to the door and circling as a signal). I had a discussion with a few trainers at Petco about the problem and they seemed to think it was anxiety related. It does seem to manifest when I have a houseful of guests, especially the two grandkids. They really don't bother with Deuce much because he makes sure he stays away. But he is not happy when they are here. So these two trainers suggested I put the Thunder Shirt on him ( I do use that in the car) and suggested I use a natural calming product in his food prior to their visit. Anybody ever give their dog that type of product?

[Lilah Charm]

Originally Posted by Namor

So I thought I'd let you know where we are with Deuce. In the new house we are taking him out to pee every two to three hours when we are home. All seems to be going well. I got rid of the carpet in the front hall. He seems to be making progress and even asking to go out ( walking fast back and forth to the door and circling as a signal). I had a discussion with a few trainers at Petco about the problem and they seemed to think it was anxiety related. It does seem to manifest when I have a houseful of guests, especially the two grandkids. They really don't bother with Deuce much because he makes sure he stays away. But he is not happy when they are here. So these two trainers suggested I put the Thunder Shirt on him ( I do use that in the car) and suggested I use a natural calming product in his food prior to their visit. Anybody ever give their dog that type of product?

Yes. Lilah has not been the same since she was attacked in July of 2014 she has a pretty serious problem with other dogs now and it has been very difficult to work through. The vet was like- yeah, that happens. Sigh. She is good friends with my mothers Maltese and I am very happy about that. She responds well to most small dogs- it is the big dogs she has a problem with. I have photos of her walking calmly along with a very large dog that she was friends with before the attack but now...it is just not the same. We have a thunder short, we purchased a sentry calming plug in but for us she is fine at home so we have discontinued its use. We also have the sentry calming spray to spray on her clothes and bedding- lavender, chamomile and mom dog pheramones...or something like that? And the 'stop that' spray by sentry, which you do not spray on them but nearby and it makes a short loud noise to startle them and has the calming spray in it. That was somewhat effective in stopping her negative response (our goal is to simply walk by and ignore, she has a vendetta since the attack). I also feel that the spray was calming on her clothes and bedding. I like the thunder shirt. The chews we use are Ark naturals happy traveler chews. They are strong smelling (like a dog likes) and very effective. If I feed them to her more often than occasionally (like our camping trip this weekend had a lot of people and dogs so I tried to give them to her each day we were there) she will deny them. She will eat them when it is a more occasional stress management tactic (which by the way is more normal- they are not our every day go to use! )

[Namor]

Going through a re-training and all has been good. Taking him out every 2-3 hours. Left today for almost 5 hours and all was good. We did have a visitor today so I put Deuce on a leash and let him greet the visitor outside and then come into the house with him. He seemed a bit calmer with that approach. He only wanted Charlie's attention to pet him. We then took him to potty and left the house. I know it was calm in the house and he probably slept as evident by the crumpled blanket on the top of the sofa. Praise and treat. We played outside for about and hour or more and he seems happy. He watched us plant pansies. He gets fed and get's his treat dessert. I have to read him out when It's time for us to eat and he retreats to the top of the sofa to watch and sleep. So far so good without grandchildren. I will try the shirt when they come and see what happens in the front hall. I just love my little man!!!

[Maximo]

Happy to hear you are making progress. My younger boy Teddy has the urge to pee whenever he gets excited/anxious. Visitors to the house and doorbell ringing, passers by, are also high on our list for nervous excitement. We use pads, but Teddy was 100% outdoor trained before he came to us.

For visits with your grandchildren, if all else fails, I would try the belly band to see if it curbs Deuce's desire to nervous pee.

You asked about Rescue Remedy in your other thread -- I haven't tried it myself, but know a few YT members who have had moderate success with it for thunderstorm fears. It doesn't cure the anxiety, but reduces it like the Thundershirt.

[Namor]

No visitors or grandkids this week and Deuce has been excellent. Having some folks over later on this week so we will see how this goes. I will use the thunder shirt for that one. We are on a 3- 4 hour schedule + if he asks to go out. With last at 10-11 PM and First at about 7 a.m.

[Namor]

We are still doing great. Had visitors but he was the perfect gentleman. No children yet.

[Namor]

No children at the house yet but I have had adults over several times. We had a pee incident in the front hall when a guest was here for dinner and that guest had a dog at home. We're thinking that may be a catalyst for Deuce's pee in the front hall.

Just yesterday we had 8 adults over. He did wear his thunder shirt and a belly band but he was perfect. Initially a bit weird because of the clothing but soon got over it and enjoyed having company. Once he was satisfied that everyone thought he was cute he found his favorite place on the back of the couch and watched the action. So far so good.

The kids come on the weekend of the 21st with their yorkie and two children. That will be the true test!

[beyoutful]

HI, I am new to this forum. A week and a half ago we adopted a 7 year old unneutered Yorkie named Olie. He's a sweet boy. He was supposedly house trained with a doggie door. We live where it is impossible to have a doggie door so we have been taking him outside on a leash. He's apparently been trained not to bark in the house so he doesn't tell us when he has to go, he just kind of goes to the steps at times. The first full day we had him he did not go poopoo. I was concerned about that because he had eaten food and had treats. The 2nd day he did go poopoo and it was 3 big logs which I felt were quite large for a little dog. He also wasn't eating his food unless we hand fed him. I didn't like that idea of hand feeding him each time. He has lost all of his front teeth so he has to lick the food up. The next day he went poopoo it was also large and he started scooting on the floor. I knew he was constipated. He also decided to go poopoo in our bedroom even after being taken out very often and I had actually walked him around our yard 2 times over 20 minutes each. I have now confined him to the living area. Kitchen and living room are one big room with a couch in between.Then he did well for a day but the day after he went poopoo and peed in our kitchen. He isn't left alone ever except that particular time my husband and I were talking and I thought he had gone in to eat and drink. (We also changed his food to a very good food with pumpkin and chickpeas to help with his constipation and it has helped and now he likes it and eats out of his bowl.) My dilemma is how do I get him to not poopoo and pee in the house? We take him out often and especially when he looks at the stairs or goes to them or if he's sniffing around I take him right out. I also bought some really good small treats that he likes and I have decided when he goes outside to poopoo, immediately afterwards calling him good boy, praise him and I give him a treat. Am I doing the right thing? I saw where people have bell trained their dog to let them know when they have to go. I will have to read how to do that. So what would you do to "retrain" this sweet boy to let us know when he has to go potty and to do it outside? I was hoping a 7 year old wouldn't have to be potty trained. That's why we chose an older dog over a puppy! I was reading about Deuce and his issues. This is very helpful!

[Namor]

Your poor little guy is dealing with a new family and new environment so it's tough for him. Glad to see you got the food situation nailed. That's progress. Pee and Poop Ugghh!!!! I tried the bell for Deuce when he was a puppy but he was a bit high strung to begin with and was too afraid of it. I have thought Of trying it again. I'm sure you read by progress notes so I'm discovering some of his problem is perhaps anxiety but It looks like if someone has a dog it's a trigger. Your problem is a new environment. I think you should post your situation on a new thread. There are lots of folks on here who are EXPERTS!!!!! They are so great!

PS. Today we came back to the old house and he's unsure of this. I had to put his thunder shirt on him and he calmed down and wants me to hold him. He never does that! Change just freaks him out. Sometimes me too!