Help with my dog!

11 years ago

Hello!!! I'm at my wits with my loving Shih zhu! He's 3 years old and has been house trained since we have had him. Never had an accident in the house. Well I remodeled my office abt 2 weeks ago and that when the problems started. His cage and potty pads are in my office. I move his cage to the same side as his potty pads. He's had 7 accidents since we change his spot. He will not go on his potty pad. He peed near the paint, on my vase, near his cage...everywhere but his potty pads. I sternly yelled at him and caged him and told him that was not where he was suppose to go. Now...he will hold his poop and pee for more than 24 hours and refuses to go. I moved his cage back hoping that will help. When he went once on the pad, I rewarded him and praised him. But then he went back to peeing on my floor. We kept putting him by the bad and even caged that area off. He wouldn't go. As soon as we let b out, he peed and pooped on my floor. I don't know what to do!!! This has been going on 2 weeks and I can't take it anymore. Meh use to have freedom throughout the house but now he's caged unless we put him in the area by his pads. I don't know what to do

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Comments (5)

christine1950
11 years ago
Is there any reason why you dont take your dog outside?
annzgw
11 years ago
He really wasn't house trained (to go outdoors), he was trained to go on a potty pad (on the floor) and now he is confused because you rearranged the room, he no longer has his regular potty area and no one trained him to go in a new potty pad area. Scolding him and keeping him crated is just making things worse since he really doesn't know why he's being punished.

I suggest you start from scratch and train him as though he's a new puppy that has never been in the house. If you're not going to take him outside, then start by setting up his bed/crate-without-door and potty pads within a small gated area. It would also help to place a small amount of his urine/poop on the new potty pad so that he is drawn to that area. Feed him within the enclosure and when you see him pee/poop give lots of praise. You could let him out of the gated area for short periods only AFTER you've seen him peep/poop on the pad. After some play time, place him back within the gated area. Keep doing this until you feel he is trained to use the potty pad. The change isn't going to happen in a couple of days so be prepared for accidents when he's outside his enclosure. When he has an accident don't yell at him........just pick him up and put him back in the gated area.

If you want to protect the rest of the flooring within the gated area, lay down a tarp and put his bed, potty pad and food bowls on top of the tarp.

This post was edited by annz on Wed, Dec 10, 14 at 13:08
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mazer415
11 years ago
You are basically teaching the dog to potty inside your place, your dog should be walked for 15 minutes minimum everyday every two hours, until he gets it, use positive reinforcement training, by repeating a command like pp outside WHILE your dog is peeing, then praise him like he just brought you a bag with a thousand dollars in it, same with going number two, your dog should be potty trained in no time. Good luck
User
11 years ago
Many dogs are hard wired to not eliminate near their den. That trait is a survival mechanism, does not draw predators to the den.

Move either the cage or pad across the room. Think logically---no problems until you put the cage/pad close together.
annzgw
11 years ago
Good catch handymac! I totally missed the statement "I move his cage to the same side as his potty pads". I thought they were both in the same area.
Hopefully going back to the original setup works but the dog may still need some positive training and reinforcement.