Hi everyone, i'm new here I am having problems housebreaking my 9 month old boston terrier. Last month I put my 16 year old Peke, Ollie to sleep. A gal i do daycare for asked me if i would like her 8 month old boston. She told me that he had been crated the majority of the time and she just didnt like him. Truthfully i wasnt ready for another dog but i felt bad for him and the situation. Max is very very sweet. He has no health problems, is energetic, gets along great with my other small dog Sophie. My 6 year old loves him and Max adores him. Hes wonderful except for the housebreaking problem. He is neutered. She crated him all the time. She worked full time and was gone a lot. She would come home and he would have peed and pooped in the kennel. Im guessing because she left him alone for so long. Ive kenneled him only a few times when he first came, for short periods of time, less than 30 minutes. When i came home each time he had pottied in the kennel. Im thinking it has become a habit for him? My other dog is totally housebroken. If i leave the door open Max always goes out. If the door is closed he will go to the door if im home. If i shut the door and run to the store, maybe 30 minutes, he always potties in the house. My son went to the bathroom today and shut his bedroom door with Max in there, maybe 2 minutes. Max peed on the floor. I've housebroken small dogs before, i know it can be difficult but honestly im very consistent and i've never really had a problem. I'm sort of at a loss about what to do. I cant kennel him because he potties in the kennel, i try not to leave alone but have to sometimes. I feel like this is a separation/anxiety issue maybe? I would sure appreciate any advice you might have. Thank you
Hello - you will probably get far better advice than I can give you regarding house-training from people more expert than I, but may I please ask you why you linked "dog", "kennel", "door" and "dogs" to Petco and the items they sell?
It is possible that he hasn't settled properly yet. Do try to not show that you are disappointed when he fails - just clean up thoroughly with a biological product, and let it go. If you think that Max cannot hold his pee, it might be a good idea to take a urine sample to the vet, and make sure that there is no health reason for his continual wetting. Assuming that there are no health abnormalities. I would go back to square one and treat him just as if he was a three month old puppy. Let him out after every sleep, play activity, meal or drink, and stand with him until he 'goes'. Give the process a name, (I use Quickie and Poopoo), and when he does oblige, act as if you had won a lottery and really go over the top with praise. Keep one or two small but special treats in your pocket as a reward. Boston's are a smart breed, and he is still a youngster, so there is no reason why he should be difficult to train. Consistency is the key. You need to create the conditions so that he is not able to fail.
I didn't intentionally. I noticed that some words were highlighted when i finished typing it out but didn't know why. I didn't try to click on them. Sorry!
Thank you for your response I don't reprimand him when it happens. He's very very sweet and loveable I'm being very consistent with him but wish i could kennel him when I have to leave occasionally. I work from home so I'm there almost all the time which helps I'm sure. Thank you again for your advice
Perhaps it was just a pure fluke. I wish I knew how to link words in a post to advertisements such as you seem to have done. It could come in handy if I knew how to do it! Anyhow, @CaroleC has hopefully given you the advice you need, so hopefully your dog will be easy to house-train if you follow her advice.
You could try putting his bed inside a crate or a puppy pen, but leaving the door open so he doesn't feel that he has no escape. Encourage him to use this arrangement by feeding him in there, and giving him items that he has to settle down to chew. Chewing has a calming effect for a dog.If he starts to relax, you could begin to try closing the door for brief periods, while he has the chew to distract him. Hopefully you can begin to build on this. If he is completely traumatised by a crate, you could restrict the area that he has access to with a baby gate - which should help with the house training anyway. He may accept being confined in, eg. a kitchen, without needing the crate.
