boss_owner
Boxer Pal
I could really use some advice here, because I am running out of ideas. Appologies, that this is so long, but I'd rather give all the info up front...
I now have 2 dogs, both boxer mixes. I've had my boy dog, Boss, since he was 4 weeks old and it took only 2 weeks to house train him and there have been no accidents since, and its been 1.5 years. Two months ago I adopted an adult dog (about his age) from the shelter, Bonnie. She is a wonderful dog, but it seems like she has never been in a house before mine. They though that she was out in the wild for all that time until a shelter caught her. She was only in the shelter for 6 days before I picked her up, so I doubt that had a major impact on her.
I have been trying to housetrain her for 2 months now, and it is not working. The small progress that I've been able to make is in the past week she only goes #1 in the kitchen (where I now have lock both of them in) every other night, and doesn't go at all the rest of the nights. During the day though, she goes all over my house even if she was walked before I go to work. If I leave the backdoor open (which is not practical when it gets colder), she "goes" on the deck instead. I have a gated deck, so I am not worried about her running off, but leaving my house unlocked makes me uneasy to say the least. Crating her is not an option, because she freaks whenever she is closed in (took me 1.5 months for her to be ok in the kitchen, but only when she has company), she also has "gone" on her bed and by her dinner plate a number of times when she had many other choices. Also, how would she feel being locked up and having my boy running around all over?
I am so confused as to what to do. I have an hour commute, but my roomate are coordinating the schedules so the dogs are alone for no more then 8 hours a day. Yet even on weekends if I don't take her out every 2 hours, she goes in the house or on the deck, so I don't really think its the number of hours so much.... I've housetrained lots of puppies before and its always been very quick, but this is my first adult dog experience.
She clearly understands that going in the house or on the deck is bad. There is no doubt about that, and when she does it she looks guilty and asks for forgiveness. I also know that she can hold it, but seems to choose otherwise. Over the last week, whenever I walk them, Bonnie now attacks Boss whenever he "goes", but only after she's gone in the house doing the same thing. So if she went #1 in the house, next time I take them out, she attacks him if he is going #1, but not #2, and so on. So I am thinking that he must do something to her when she "goes" in the house to try to correct her behavior?
Overall, we are all getting along wonderfully and this is the only issue that has been hanging over us and is putting a major strain onto the household. Bonnie, is a phenomenal, smart and good natured dog, which is why I am so confused as to what is going on. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I could try next?
I now have 2 dogs, both boxer mixes. I've had my boy dog, Boss, since he was 4 weeks old and it took only 2 weeks to house train him and there have been no accidents since, and its been 1.5 years. Two months ago I adopted an adult dog (about his age) from the shelter, Bonnie. She is a wonderful dog, but it seems like she has never been in a house before mine. They though that she was out in the wild for all that time until a shelter caught her. She was only in the shelter for 6 days before I picked her up, so I doubt that had a major impact on her.
I have been trying to housetrain her for 2 months now, and it is not working. The small progress that I've been able to make is in the past week she only goes #1 in the kitchen (where I now have lock both of them in) every other night, and doesn't go at all the rest of the nights. During the day though, she goes all over my house even if she was walked before I go to work. If I leave the backdoor open (which is not practical when it gets colder), she "goes" on the deck instead. I have a gated deck, so I am not worried about her running off, but leaving my house unlocked makes me uneasy to say the least. Crating her is not an option, because she freaks whenever she is closed in (took me 1.5 months for her to be ok in the kitchen, but only when she has company), she also has "gone" on her bed and by her dinner plate a number of times when she had many other choices. Also, how would she feel being locked up and having my boy running around all over?
I am so confused as to what to do. I have an hour commute, but my roomate are coordinating the schedules so the dogs are alone for no more then 8 hours a day. Yet even on weekends if I don't take her out every 2 hours, she goes in the house or on the deck, so I don't really think its the number of hours so much.... I've housetrained lots of puppies before and its always been very quick, but this is my first adult dog experience.
She clearly understands that going in the house or on the deck is bad. There is no doubt about that, and when she does it she looks guilty and asks for forgiveness. I also know that she can hold it, but seems to choose otherwise. Over the last week, whenever I walk them, Bonnie now attacks Boss whenever he "goes", but only after she's gone in the house doing the same thing. So if she went #1 in the house, next time I take them out, she attacks him if he is going #1, but not #2, and so on. So I am thinking that he must do something to her when she "goes" in the house to try to correct her behavior?
Overall, we are all getting along wonderfully and this is the only issue that has been hanging over us and is putting a major strain onto the household. Bonnie, is a phenomenal, smart and good natured dog, which is why I am so confused as to what is going on. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I could try next?