# frustrated with 6 month puppy "accidents"



## glm777 (Jul 25, 2011)

I need some advice please. My 6 month old Aussie Shepherd mix has done very well with potty training. We have trained her to go to the door when we ask her if she needs to "go potty". But 2 things still frustrate me:
1. she does not go to the door when she needs to go - she only goes to the door when 
WE ask her if she needs to go
2. she has had several accidents on my bed! Today she has been outside several times - for potty, playtime,, for a walk. Each time she has peed outside but yet 10 minutes ago I found a puddle on my bed! We recently started to allow her to sleep in my room on the bed rather than in the crate since she was doing so well with her potty training. When can I expect her to stop having these accidents? We praise her with touch and treats when she goes potty outside but what should I do when I find she has an accident in the house - on my bed? 
Thank you for any advice you can give me - my $2700 sleep number bed is completely ruined!


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## Cracker (May 25, 2009)

A puppy cannot really be expected to be fully housetrained and "house safe" until a year or so of age. Growth spurts, learning curves, regressions all occur. You may want to have her urine checked to ensure she is not suffering from a UTI. But either way, back to the crate and supervision. When you are ready to allow more freedom, make it one room at a time and gradually increase her freedom. 
As for the go potty cue...she doesn't go to the door because you don't use the cue..simple as that. She's not ready to tell you she needs to go, many dogs have difficulty with that part of the equation, and since she has 'somewhere else' to go...she does. Until she learns that outside is the only place TO GO, it's up to you. This is why supervision is so important, ensuring that mistakes don't happen..so that the habit of going outside is strengthened. 
I'm sorry about your bed.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Just a note about the bed--my mom had an old cat with kidney disease who peed (frequently) on her Sleep Number bed. After the cat passed away she called the company to ask if she could buy a new topper, and they sent her one for free because she had the bed for so long. So call the company. . .even if they don't send it free they'll sell you one and it'll be way cheaper than a whole new mattress.


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## LenaCara (May 11, 2011)

I have mattress protectors on all of my beds and Josie has definitely peed on ours a few times. Now that she is mostly trained, I bought a new one to make sure the smell is completely gone. I noticed her doing the nesting behavior on a fluffy bed I bought for her as well then she just stopped and peed. When I thought back I realized that she often did this on our bed before we found her accidents. So I got rid of her fluffy bed and I pull the blankets off of ours every morning. She hasn’t had an accident in quite a while. I also trained her to ring chimes when she wants to go out. I hung them on the door itself so that she knows that sound means the door is opening. She hears it when my SO is heading out to smoke and she races over. She also rings it on her own when she has to go, and sometimes when she doesn’t.


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## iheartmarcus (Jul 27, 2011)

glm777 said:


> 1. she does not go to the door when she needs to go - she only goes to the door when
> WE ask her if she needs to go


Hmmmm, maybe go back to praising the crap out of her and giving her treats whenever she goes outside? That's all I did to potty train my puppy, and he will run to the door and sit there and look at me. When he does this, 4 out of 5 times he needs to potty when I take him outside. This may work if your puppy is super food motivated like mine is. Oh, I also make him "sit" whenever we go outside, so if he lies down by the door, I know he's just chilling there. But if he sits, then he either needs to or wants to go outside; usually he needs to.



glm777 said:


> 2. she has had several accidents on my bed! Today she has been outside several times - for potty, playtime,, for a walk. Each time she has peed outside but yet 10 minutes ago I found a puddle on my bed! We recently started to allow her to sleep in my room on the bed rather than in the crate since she was doing so well with her potty training. When can I expect her to stop having these accidents? We praise her with touch and treats when she goes potty outside but what should I do when I find she has an accident in the house - on my bed?


This might be because you did not get rid of all the urine odor from your bed. My puppy had an accident on his dog bed once, and I sprayed the crap out of it with the enzymatic cleaner (which you must use!) after soaking up all the pee. After it dried, I was just bringing it back inside and set it down for a second when my puppy went over, sniffed it, and proceeded to pee on it. I guess the smell didn't get removed completely, so that attracted him to pee there again. Since a dog bed is hard enough to clean, I would imagine you have residual odor on your bed and maybe that contributes to her continually peeing on your bed since the odor designates it as the potty place.


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