Desperately Need Help - Family is Getting Annoyed
 

I bring Stewie to my mom's house about twice a week when I visit. He is pee pad trained and I put his pad in the kitchen behind the kitchen table when I get there. Well, lately he has been peeing next to it or around it and it is really annoying my mom. Last night he followed her in the basement and peed on the floor. She told me that he is not going to be welcome over anymore until he learns to go outside.

I really want to teach him to go outside, but it is really going to be a huge chore. I cannot just let him out the back door and wait for him because of the set-up of our yard. We have two German Shepards next door who bark incessantly, especially if we are in the yard. Stewie gets nervous and won't go potty. It will be annoying to have a dog peeing on a paper for 15 years, too and I realize that.

Also, I am at work on most days so he is alone for sometimes up to 7 hours without anyone there to let him outside. I feel like I NEED to have a paper in the kitchen where he is confined while I'm gone.

A plus is that he already KNOWS he can go outside. If I walk him to the park or wherever and tell him to "make potty" he'll go #1 and #2 pretty much on command if he has to go.

Any suggestion or encouragement would be welcome. Thanks.

Hi Kristy! Sounds like your mom isn't a dog lover! I think I just wouldn't take him over there anymore. I agree with you that he needs a wee wee pad if you're gone 7 hours in a row! Lexy is starting to go outside, but I still keep a pad by her crate at night so she can go if she has to, and in the day if I'm at work. She is still having accidents, but we're working on it!

How about a reward system? If you are at your Mom's, and Stewie pees in the RIGHT place, reward him with a treat he likes. We use a small bin (like a cat litter bin) and put the pee pad in that. It seems to work well, and we just layer the pads when one is used. Although we do leave it outside, so I can't vouch for the smell of it. If we are gone for extended period, we do bring in his pee pad and bin inside.

I think it just takes time (yes, yes, I always say that) and if he's not there all the time, he may not be "used" to it. I think he'll get it sooner or later, he looks like a smart pup. :)

Its weird because she absolutely adores him. She loves all animals. She coddles him and stuff and calls him her grandson. Leaving him at home when I visit is not an option because I have a really good relationship with my mom and I am not going to come home from work and leave him again to go over there. I totally agree with her though. He needs to go outside when I am home to take him out. Its disgusting to me and expensive that I am buying pee pads and keeping them throughout the house. He steps in his puddle and tracks it everywhere.

I just don't know how to train him to be an inside outside dog.

How old is he? Gracie (RIP) didn't get it well until a year old or so. Even then there are acidents, but they are much fewer and farther between!

Six and a half months.

I would try walking him outside before going into your mom's house. We're gone most of the day too at work and have to leave Maddie in her play pen with papers and a pad. Naturally she has to go in there during the day but we make sure to walk her once when we wake up and once we're home we walk her every 90 minutes or less to keep accidents to a minimum.

Tom

I would use a belly band just in case> :)

This is my vote too! I use a bellyband on Hefner whenever I take him to someone's home or out to a business. I would rather be safe than sorry. I put a sanitary napkin in it. It's great and they are actually quite cute and it doen't bother him at all. It is usually hidden by whatever shirt he is wearing.

I agree! I swear, it took Chester almost 2 years for him to not have accidents in the house anymore. I still have to watch him when it rains outside. Even though I don't mind him going on the concrete (which is covered), he still won't go pee. Irritates me!

Now Gracie, she still goes in the kitchen and not on the pee pad anymore :mad:

i was having a hard time too with toby inside.......... now he KNOWS to go uotside and we leave the door open 24 7 for him to go our on his own..... HOWEVER, when we are at my moms house and my aunt comes over iwht the twin cousins she always SHUTS EVERYTHING, and then she gets upset that my dog peed and the twins are playing in it :confused: exscuse me????? I understand she wants the babies safe but SERIOUSLY, dont rag on me everytime for things when it is NOT TOBY's fault!!! (this instance i am referring too, toby had peed in fron tof the front door, he had tried to tell her he wanted to go out but she didnt take a hint) family is frustrating........ i vote for bellyband, now i know that i really need to watch toby when the twins are over, but otherwise i let him do his own thing

Fasteddie beat me to it. I would suggest the reward system first since being an indoor outdoor dog is what you really do want from Stewie. If all else fails then go for the belly band.

thanks everyone. I tried to keep up with taking him outside today, but a few times he had beat me to it and went on the pee pad. I can't complain though, right? At least he didn't go on the carpet. I have not yet gotten the three belly-bands I ordered from Rena at barkindog (come to think of it, I haven't gotten the order I place before then either. hmm...)

Anyway, when I did take him out in the yard after he'd been sniffing the pad, he woudln't go. I kept telling him to "make potty", but the useless dogs next door kept barking up a storm and he just sat there barking back. Very annoyed by them (and their owner). Back to the drawing board.

If you need belly bands now (and it sounds like you do) I always buy from United Yorkie Rescue. http://shop.unitedyorkierescue.org/main.cfm is the URL for the Yorkie Shoppe. It only takes 3 days to get your order.

I had gotten my belly bands on eBay. Here's one...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...382947642&rd=1

Maggie is three months old and 90% housebroken. I always take her out on a leash, even though our property if fenced. The reason is that when she is finished doing her business, I pick her up and bring her back into the house. The second reason is so that I can protect her. We too have very large dogs next door, 5 of them. They act like they can eat chain link fence. Bless her little heart, they would almost scare the pee out of her. I kept reassuring her that it's okay. I know it's okay because I'm on the other end of the leash. I guess I'm lucky, she never would use the wee wee pads. I tried them and she just preferred to go outside. Fine with me. That was my intent anyway. I just wish she would use a pad when it's raining. Rain, sleet, snow or shine--she doesn't care. Anyway, the big dogs don't scare her anymore. She just ignores them. I don't know if it's because she knows they can't get to her, or because I have told her many a time that it's okay. Good Luck with your baby.

Coco and pee pads
 

My little Coco is about 3 months and she's about 90% potty trained on the puppy pads. I think animals instinctivelly will go outside but it's the indoor puppy pad training that's hard. My little Coco likes to pee every 30 minutes, because she drinks a lot of water and has a lot of energy. So running around so much gets her tiny bladder working. So every 25 minutes or so I place her on the pad and she tries to run and I bring her back on it. She just looks at me and says, "fine have it your way" and pees right on it. Other times she just goes on it by herself when I'm not paying attention. But for the most part I'm always following her and keeping my eye on her. If I see her sniffing a lot,I bring her immediately to the puppy pad. If she goes on the carpet, I let the puppy pad soak it up so she can smell it on there next time. I also clean the carpets a lot so she doesn't go in the same places on there. Once the scent is gone, she won't remember that that's where she went last. I am very much a strict mama about potty trianing. While I don't get mad at her for accidents, because she is just a baby, I do say a nice stern NO! and clap my hands, when I see her squat. I quickly rush her to the pad. It's usually too late but it's the idea I want her to learn. I hope this helped. It's ok Stewiesmom, my mom is the same way. Loves her but also loves her carpets to be clean.

I would try putting the pad in some sort of bin like FastEddie said, if you continue taking the pads to her house. It might be that Stewies really excited when he goes to Grandma's and doesn't have time to make sure he's actually on the pad. If you put it in some type of box/bin he will have to get inside and he will definately be on the pad. We got a container at Wal-mart that is like 4 inches high and its meant for storage. We got it on the aisle with all the rubbermaid storage boxes and stuff. Her pads are actually just a little big and go up on the sides a little but if she's in the box going, she's going on the pad. Sometimes she would walk off in the middle of going or not be completely on the pad but this fixed that.

Here's what I have done:
every time she has slept, eaten or played I take her outside for a walk of 20 minutes. I bring treats and everytime she pees or poops I give her one followed by "Gooooood dog, you're such a gooooood dog" and big smile :)
I walk her as the first thing in the morning and as the last thing before I go to sleep. I walk her as soon as I get home - and after 3 months she was hoursebroke :)
Now I just let her out into the garden at the times where I would have walked her - she does the rest :)

I do take her for a walk now and again - she loves to snif around the neighbourhood and it is much more challinging for her to snif than to stay around the house all day :)

My Cheri used to do that - I take her outside before going in the house.