TysonCheeto
Completely Boxer Crazy
I really would just go back to potty training 101 and treat this like an 8 week old puppy learning for the first time. The only difference is you obviously don't have to let her out as frequently but otherwise I'd do the same stuff with rewarding, tethering, and keeping a very watchful eye on her to interrupt accidents.
Sometimes you have to do the "mean" stuff if you want to get to your desired goal, if it's a chaotic time of day and she hasn't been potty in a while, she will survive being in her crate with a Kong or bully stick or something for a short period.
My Doberman was 14 months old when I got her and was not housebroken. She was trained to go potty inside (she had a large kennel with a bed area and a bathroom area) and literally did not go outside AT ALL during the winter. She really had no concept of going to the bathroom on grass, we had to wait her out FOREVER before she finally would, and lots of times she'd pee in her crate, or when I brought her to work with me she would pee/poop in her run. Basically... I had my work cut out for meSo she got the puppy treatment. We were outside like every hour if I could manage it. Treats and praise and playtime every time she got it right. No free roaming in the house, crated during dinner time or while I showered or at other "can't pay attention to dog" times. I only remember like 2 accidents she had actually in the house (like, outside of her crate) but I was VERY on top of her every move to prevent them.
And seriously, within 2 weeks she was trained. No longer had accidents in her crate, much faster about going to the grass and peeing, started going to the door when she needed to go out.... so it certainly CAN be done with lots of consistency. I know we had some advantage because she didn't have a history of pottying inside THIS house, but she certainly had a preference towards wanting to potty anywhere except outside.
As far as teaching a signal, with my guys I would take them outside pretty much anytime they acknowledged the back door. If they walked up to it or looked outside it or even made glances at it from far away... "need to go outside??" and out we'd go. If they didn't go potty, that's cool; and if they did, WOOHOO PARTY. I think that most dogs are probably not going to make the straight connection that they should sit or wait at the door. But a dog making a quick sweep past the back door might be wanting to go outside, and not sure how else to communicate that. So from the beginning I just assume that any interaction with the door means my dog wants to go outside, and then they start to learn as well that those interactions are what get them outside. Their signaling becomes stronger at that point in my experience, I guess once they become more sure that their communication is working (ie, Cajun used to just make one really quick, unsure sweep past the door in the beginning, and with time now she will pace in front of the door or just stand in front of it).
What I DIDN'T want to do is ignore something that might be my dog trying to signal to me. So while it seemed silly to run outside every time my dog looked at the door
I think this is exactly what I'm going to implement starting today. I know know know...without a doubt, I need to gain some tough skin towards Arabella. She came pretty quickly after we lost Tyson and she filled a huge void, and the loss was so new when we got her, I think we probably let her get away with wayyyy to much.she has done so great with other things in the training dept. But I can completely see my role in this with the potty. Which I guess I didn't totally acknowledge until I started posting it into words
.Tyson was a super easy pup to train. Almost every time we sat down to eat dinner there he would be...sitting by the door like "yep...I need to go" and most of the time he wanted out to play LOL, but thinking back I would LOVE Arabella to do that!!! Even if it is a false alarm!!!
I really think Arabella from the beginning always was going to be a bit more of a challenge. Just because she is so easily distracted and spastic, LOL. It takes a lot to get her to focus...but bring out the treats and she won't look away from you and willing to do whatever you want
.... So she CAN do it....I thought a lot this morning about it and there has been so much good advise. I definitely see some things that need to change, but ultimately going back to the basics , I think is the only way to go. Which all of the kids are back in school so it gives me a good chunk of the day to really work with this... And wow about Cajun , that sounds like she definitely had re learn everything...that's amazing you had her trained so quickly... I really hope this makes a difference for Arabella. We really were doing all these things when Arabella was younger... And at times it was like "yes!!!! She's got it!!!!" And then she would completely revert back... So I just really hope consistently is the key. I thought we had been, but I just need to make it my mission now LOL....
I agree about the crate thing when its chaos time, its not helping her any if its just setting her back.... I really do think with my heart with her.... Its bad LOL. Were pretty tough on our human kids of what we expect of them, and the rules but miss Bella.... Somehow squeezed in and took my heart.... And I have a really tough time with "tough love" with her....Bentley too!!!! He's on eye drops right now, and I hate to do it!!! Because he is such a sweetheart. He never gives us any trouble, ever. He's my big old angle dog that came to us a bit fearful but he's so perfect....but when we do the drops, he just sits there. Doesn't move, lets you do it...then afterwards acts like he's been punished !!! :( .. I'm such a softie with them!!!!! But Arabella definitely needs to get this potty thing down.... So hopefully soon we will have this under control!!!!!! Not much of anything with her is easy
... She's pretty headstrong, so I hope along with going back to the basics , and finding things that work with her, that she can get it..
