# HELP. 2 year old cocker spaniel still pottys in the house :(



## jvalentine0589 (Oct 17, 2012)

Hi there!

I currently have a neutered male cocker spaniel, 2 years old named Spencer. He is a awesome dog minus a few little things. I lived in a apartment for a year and a half of his life and cage training him when you lived on the 8th floor was such a difficult task. He would have to go by the time he was ready to come out when I'd wake up that I'd have to carry him in the elevator when we got in because he would sometimes go in the elevator. 

Well, I ended up moving to a house, where now he understands the bell concept on the back door and I'm able to just let him outside when hes got to go, however, he is so stubborn. He will ring the bell to go outside, he goes to the bathroom and he comes in and I say good boy (still to this day because I'm trying to hard to teach him) and about an hour later, he'll take a huge pee on the floor with no warning. He won't ring the bell, or even give me this look like he has to go.Then he knows he did bad and will go sit in the corner so we know he did something bad... After he pees, we usually tell him bad boy, put him BACK outside, and then when he comes in put him in the kennel... I just don't understand what were doing wrong...  Like, it's so frustrating because I feel like I'm not doing a good job at training my dog.. and I can't even bring him to others houses because I'm so afraid he's going to pee on their carpets or something.. 

I am just stuck on a rock here because I don't know if I should try professional training or something, but then I don't even know if they have potty training classes for grown dogs... 

Please, any advice as to what I should do would be amazing. He's an amazing companion, and I would do anything for him :redface:
(he's a huge bed hog!)


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## doxiemommy (Dec 18, 2009)

A couple thoughts: 

- Anytime you move it's a good idea to do a review of potty training. The smells of the new house are different. There are new sounds, and, plus, he now gets to go outside. So, it's a good idea to go back to the basics.
- Changing the plan (from how he was potty trained in the apartment) to how you want him to go now (in the house) is confusing to a dog. So, yes, it can make potty training hard.

I did not chose to use a bell. I know lots of people do, and it works for them. But, my dogs are so trick and treat motivated (meaning they like to do tricks for treats) that I figured they would ring the bell all the time, just to be performing, and also to get to go out and try to sneak some play time in.

So, maybe the bell isn't working for you. It sounds like he rings the bell to go out, pee, and get a treat. But, he's not all that concerned about emptying his bladder all the way. He's more motivated by going out, peeing (performing, in a way) to get a treat.

I would take him out on a schedule, more often than you're doing now. And, don't give him any freedom until he proves he's potty trained. Don't let him out of your sight, especially about an hour after coming inside from doing the "mini pee".

Dogs don't have a sense of guilt. So, he doesn't run to the corner because he knows he's done something wrong. It's just not how dogs think. However, they do know how to read our behavior and our emotions. So, if you are upset, in the least, when you find his accident, he can tell. And, he may use an "appeasement" behavior. This is just a way to say "whatever you're mad about, I am a good dog, I won't cause any problems, please don't be mad at me." However, we humans tend to misinterpret this as guilt.

And, as far as taking him to other people's houses, dogs don't generalize well. So, if you do finally get him to understand he should only pee outside, he will only apply that knowledge to home. You will have to reinforce that at other people's houses, as well, kind of telling him "yep, we go potty outside here, too."


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## Hambonez (Mar 17, 2012)

Are you watching him when he goes outside to make sure he's pottying while he's out there? My dog will ask to go out just cause he likes going outside. He doesn't potty every time he's out there. I'll follow him out, watch him if he's due to go, and once he does if he still wants to go on his squirrel missions in the yard, I'll let him stay out as long as he likes. 

Are you cleaning up every spot he's gone in the house with enzyme cleaner? 

I would go back to treating him like he's never been housebroken. Don't leave him out of arm's reach, take him out frequently, and go out with him and reward him when he goes.


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## Canaqua (Sep 27, 2011)

Agree with Hambonez. 

Are you letting/putting the dog out to go potty or taking the dog out to go potty? If it's the former, switch to the latter. 

Putting her small dogs out in a fenced yard to potty is how my neighbor ran into trouble with her dogs...still not housetrained at several years old. If you just put the dog out, it gets no feedback that pottying outside is a good thing and what you want...the dog happened to be outside and happened to pee there...dog doesn't get the connection, it's just a coincidence. 

I'd start taking the dog out, on a leash, at opportune times for pottying, say "Go Potty" and wait until he goes. When the dog does go potty, praise the the hilt! "Good Potty!!!" Throw a party... "Oh boy, you are the BEST dog ever, yeah for you!!!!" Treat. 

When the dog fully understands that you want peeing and pooping to happen outside, you may be able to just let him out, but I'd stick with accompanied peeing and pooping for a good long while, until the dog is reliable.

It's much, much easier train for what you want than what you don't want. "Good" is very easily defined, because it covers this ONE good thing. "Bad" is harder, it could cover much more, especially if you are a dog and don't speak English...was the "no" because I peed in the house? Was it because I peed in the livingroom and not the diningroom? Was it because I scratched my ear and had nothing to do with the peeing? Everyone is motivated by positive reinforcement (dog, horse, child...I don't attempt to train cats!). I think of housetraining as training the dog to go outside, not training the dog not to go inside. It might seem like a subtle different to us, but the dog understands, "yes" more readily than "no" and it makes potty training go much faster and stay more solid. If you aren't home to say "no", what's to stop the dog from going in the house? If the dog wants to go outside, thinks it can only go outside, it will wait until you are home to give it the "party" when it does.


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## aiw (Jun 16, 2012)

Does the dog pee in your presence or does he sneak away and go in secret or hide? Dogs who have been 'punished' for going inside often learn to hide because instead of picking up 'they don't like it when I pee inside' they learn 'Pee makes them really mad, I must never let them see me go or find the mess'. For my rescue (who arrived home with us that way) we used it to our advantage and leashed him inside. Not being able to sneak away meant he had to let us know to go outside (or we had to let him out when needed) and he slowly learned to pee in front of us in the backyard, at first around a corner, then behind bushes and now in the open, with lots of praise and treats. The leash inside really saved us... after 3 months of cleaning messes we're at 1 month accident free!!

If he goes in front of you then he needs to be within arms length ALWAYS when in the house. You need to catch him before he goes or failing that then in the act, just an interruption not a punishment and rush him outside. He can't learn anything after a few seconds after its happened, he just _looks_ guilty, he doesnt really understand why. Watching like a hawk is a pain but the time invested up front is totally worth it when you spend 1 month or 2 potty training instead of 6 or 8 kindof potty training.


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