# Pretending to pee for treats



## Yorkie Terror (Oct 16, 2007)

My Yorkshire Terrier is about 19 weeks old now, and finally going to toilet in the right place (well when it suits her). The trouble is she has of course learned that going in the right place gets her a treat, so she now pretends to use her toilet all day long for treats.

Most of the day yesterday consisted of her jumping in and out of the litter box and walking over to me expecting a treat and its getting very annoying! Basically she will jump in there, wait for me to look at her (as I check to see if she's really going or not) then run over to me and sit and wait. Then she just lies down for a while in front of me (she does this thinking it will work) and when I ignore her and she gets nothing she will try it all over again and head back to the litter tray.

She has even absolutely forced her wee out to get a treat, she behaves as though we starve her. Its always a tiny piddle as she doesn't really need to go and she shakes a bit and her ears wobble as she forces this pee out. You can tell when she has really gone though as she gets excited and knows the treat is coming. She doesn't have a urine infection by the way, it's all about the treats. Even when she does a poo its not even out of her butt properly before she rushes over to me. She starts it in the tray and half the time finishes as she's legging it over to me in desperation for a treat. She licks her lips whilst staring at me with utter impatiance, she's the greediest creature i've ever known!

I thought if I tell her NO when she fakes it she'll stop using the tray, so I just try ignoring her, but its happening all day long as all she thinks about is her stomach. What can I do?


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## Dogstar (May 11, 2007)

I'd absolutely keep rewarding her for squeezing out absolutely anything, because this makes it easier to put it on a command later once you transition to her going outdoors. Ditto with the pretending- it shows she's got at least SOME of the idea.


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## Annamarie (Oct 14, 2007)

my min pin did this as well. in fact now that he's over a year old sometimes if he wants a treat he'll go outside, hide behind the shed, then come in and pretend he's just gone pee and do a happy dance expecting his treat.

you'll have to start weaning her off the treats for peeing, that's what we did. we started making a huge fuss over him when he went to the bathroom and giving him a treat only once a day, then none at all (for peeing). 

on a side note, are you going to want her to use the litter forever? if not i would highly suggest it's time for outdoor potty training.


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## Westhighlander (Sep 28, 2007)

At 19 weeks that's really good for a yorkie. She seems to get the litter box thing so you have definitely trained her well. Try higher value rewards for long pees and just praise for "fake" ones.


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## gizmobaby (Apr 30, 2007)

I reward my dog when he pees at the right places, but I don't do it ALL the time, because I don't want him to think that's the purpose of it. As time progresses, I just do fewer treats each time until I stopped treating him. Of course, now and then to continue enforcing it, I give him random treats.


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## hattrickinc (Nov 23, 2007)

I agree with above, my puppy still does tiiiiiny pee drops (AS IF THOSE REALLY COUNT!) on his pee pads and expects a treat.. I would HATE to see his training go backwards, so I give him a tiny piece of a treat.. still works..


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## Yorkie Terror (Oct 16, 2007)

Hi, thanks for your help and advice everyone. We are going to give her a treat for the first time in the day she uses the tray now and just praise otherwise. It's gotten to the point where if she sees someone else eating she will run to the tray and stand in there thinking she will get the food (she never gets it though!).


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## Dogstar (May 11, 2007)

Here's the thing.

Your puppy is 19 weeks old. She's doing EXTRAORDINARILY well for a yorkie. Most of them are incredibly difficult to housebreak. I would keep using the treats, every time, for two main reasons. 

Firstly, that she's squatting and squeezing out a few drops tells you she's got the basic idea of going on command and when you tell her to. This means, when it's cold and you want to go in, you'll (eventually) be able to tell her to go and rush back inside and be relatively certain she got at least her immediate needs out of the way. Now, obviously, you don't need to reward when she doesn't pee in the box- but I would reward every time she does and IGNORE all behavior to do with the box that isn't peeing or pooping. The standing in the tray behavior will extinguish as she realizes she never gets treats for it. 

Secondly, as independent as Yorkies are, I think that it's really helpful to phase out treats slowly. In a skill as essential and basic (since she's going in a litterbox, you don't hvae to carry the treats on you) as potty training, I don't see any reason at all to begin phasing them out before the dog is really, really, really reliable- as in, 100% of the time goes to the box independently and uses it. I'm curious why you're so eager to phase out the treats, too. What are you using for treats? I'd be using a tiny (pea-sized) piece of dog food- probably not her regular food though, I'd use something like cut-up pieces of Natural Balance rolled dog food or frozen Biljac. With treats that size and nutritional value, you don't have to worry about her filling up on treats and not eating her real food, or anything like that, they're low in fat, and it makes sense. 

The other thing about the squatting is that it's modelling a good habit. Dogs, in general, aren't great at big sneaky plans. (Individuals excepted.) One of the things that behaviorists use in conditioning is that a dog's body language can really effect his behavior- it's basically biofeedback. Her squatting "I need to pee" body language, is going to influence her to ACTUALLY pee, even if it's just a drop or two. That's okay! At this age, she's probably NOT got the bladder control to er, stop and start- if she's squatting, there's probably nothing in there.  So keep treating it- it's one more opportunity for her to learn "Doing the right thing is good."


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## cshellenberger (Dec 2, 2006)

IGNORE the pretending, walk away, only treating when her butt comes off the ground after relieving. You then need to taper off the treats and become a slot machine instead of a vending machine.


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## Dogstar (May 11, 2007)

Carla- the reason I would hesitate to do that is just that this pup is young yet, and I would worry that the owners would miss some of the real pees.


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## Newport (Dec 22, 2007)

My dog used to go to his water dish and then go straight to the door. I guess he figured it went through him without a stop. I always got a chuckle when he did this.


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