Ok, you are doing it all wrong. I agree with one of the posters. If she is not potty trained at 2 years old, don't blame the breed, blame the trainer.
I will guarantee that she does not know she is being bad. She knows that when you come home, she is in trouble. She does not know why, but she knows she is because she gets yelled out everytime you come home to her, so that is why she is runs and hides.
If you are disciplining her after she has already gone, then you are wasting your energy, because you are not teaching her a thing. This is why she is not "getting it", because you are NOT potty training her. You must catch her in the act, or you can forget about it.
Also, a dog develops their preference of surface to Pee and Poo on at a very early age. If she is preferring the house, rug, concrete over the grass, it's because she has been trained to pee and poo on these surfaces (whether she has been actively trained it does not matter. If she was allowed to pee on these surfaces, then the preference was developed.) So to "undo" this preference is going to take a lot of hard work and diligence on your part.
It may take many many months, before she gets it right, so you need to be patient. But this is what I suggest:
1. Never, ever, ever, keep her out of your eye site for one second that she is allowed free range of the house. That means you will need to follow her where ever she goes, or you will need to have her tethered to you, or confined (when you can't watch her every move).
2. Take her outside on a leash and take her to the grass. Make one area specific for her "potty area". (you may need to spray it with some potty spray to stimulate her to go.) Also carry some poo out there so she can sniff it. Dogs need to sniff poo to stimulate them to go poo.
Repeat the "go Potty" or "go Potty Poo" or whatever name you want to give it. While she is on the leash, keep her in this area until she goes. Treat her immediately. Don't treat her when you go back inside, treat her outside as soon as she goes. Praise her like you are having a party!
You may need to develop a schedule, like every 1 -1 1/2 hours or after she wakes up from a nap or 15 to 20 minutes after eating.
3. No free feeding. Get her feeding schedule to 1 to 2 times a day only!
4. No water after 8pm. (this should help to not have to go in the middle of the night, however, since this habit has already been formed, You just may have to reconcile yourself that 3am relieving is a fact of your life.)
5. You will need to take her out on the leash to go potty every single time, rain or shine and you will have to be out there with her. So make sure you have an umbrella near by. You stay out there with her until she goes, no matter how long it takes no matter what the weather.
6. Never leave her unattended when you are not there. Confine her to the crate even for the one hour you are gone for an errand.
7. Just say "no" to potty pads. If you really want her to learn to go outside you will have to do away with those so as not to send her mixed messages.
8. When she has an accident, and you will know as soon as it is happening because you have your eagle eye on her and she is tethered to you, you will state "NO!" very sharply, pick her up and carry her outside to the grass to finish up. You will treat her immediately!! and Praise her.
9. If you don't catch her in the act, ignor the mistake! Yes ignor it! (I mean clean it up with a Odor Neutralizer like Simple Solution, but no punishment). After all, it's your fault she had the mistake, not hers. She is only doing what comes natural and it's up to you to train her what you want. Dogs will not associate a punishment hours, mintues, seconds after an act. They only associate that when you are mad, you rub her nose in poo or pee, they are not quite sure why you do this and they are definitely not associating the poo and pee with your anger. The discipline has to come a the instant the error is in process.
Good Luck. Be nice and kind to your dog and she will want to please you. |