# Yet another house training thread - 7 month old Samoyed



## neversummer (Jul 20, 2011)

Sorry if this post will anger some of you for posting another question that has probably been answered ad nauseum, but I'm losing my sanity over here.

I added a samoyed to my family in February, he was at the time 7 or 8 weeks old. He just turned 7 months old on July 15th and is not housebroken. He is usually kept in an 8foot by 14foot tile area when we are home which has a baby gate to prevent him from entering the rest of the house. He is in his crate every night and when we aren't home. 

I have tried -everything- except one thing.

When he's in his crate, he does not pee or poop. He can hold it -for hours-. We're talking 7:30AM to 4PM. No problem. But, case in point: I came home today and took him outside. He peed and got a carrot piece (his favorite treat). We come back inside after a few and I went down the bedroom areas. I come back a half an hour later and he peed -twice-.... Now, keep in mind he went out to pee at 4PM, at 6PM, before I left the house at 7PM, when I got back at 8:45PM, but somehow at 9:15PM he has to pee twice in the house.

*BEFORE YOU SAY IT, I KNOW THE MISTAKE I AM MAKING IS THAT I AM LEAVING HIM OUT OF SIGHT* ... but seriously, a half an hour and he goes twice after he had been outside 5 times in 5 hours? And two additional times in the morning too?

I gave him treats for months every time he went outside. Every time he goes outside he is told how he is the greatest thing to ever grace the earth and/or given a treat, usually a carrot piece. But he does not notify me when he has to pee. Last week, while in the house with us, he ran after my cat and was out of sight for 5 or 8 seconds max, and then he came back. At the end of the night I noticed in those 5 or 8 seconds he walked back to the foyer area where we usually keep him and he peed.

BUT when I get home and let him out of the crate (which is in the foyer), he runs to the back door. I have tried standing there to get him to pee (keep in mind he has held it for over 8 hours) and he WILL NOT GO in my presence. I have not witnessed him pee or poop in that foyer area in months.

But I feel like I'm being negligent if I leave him in his crate whenever my wife or I can't watch him and we are home. It's bad enough I have an extended family of individuals who humanize their animals and think I am backwards and cruel for crating him and feeding him a raw diet, but I have relatives who never took the measures I took and had their dogs trained in a few months, and I know I'm making the fatal flaw of comparing one dog to another. Even my breeder told me he would have been housebroken by 4 or 5 months... here it is over 2 months later and I feel like the only days when he doesn't go in the foyer are when I'm taking him out 8/9 times a day.

And the kicker is, he's such a smart dog otherwise! He is capable of doing more tricks and doing them as well as and as quick as my in-law's two labs and my grandmother's old golden retriever. At 6 or 7 months he is not deviant, he is very obedient, and he is otherwise the BEST dog I could have asked for.

Aside from keeping him in his crate or on a leash with me at all times, is there anything else I'm screwing up? Help restore my sanity or give me some sort of help.

Thanks,

-NS


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## spotted nikes (Feb 7, 2008)

Walk him. Dogs will automatically want to pee where other dogs have peed. Make sure you are cleaning accidents with an enzyme cleaner. Better supervision is needed. Each time he has an accident inside, it teaches him that it's ok.
If he repeatedly needs to pee, have a vet check him for a uti.
If he isn't neutered, he may be trying to mark.


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## neversummer (Jul 20, 2011)

Thanks for the response. I collected a urine sample and brought it to my vet. I'll find out tomorrow afternoon whether it is a UTI or not. The results will tell me if that has to do with his behavior or not.

Have walked him although I don't as often as I should. Have taken him through the neighborhood and to walking trails. He holds his pee until we get to the backyard. My parents confirmed this when they took him. He won't go outside of the yard, except for the tile room of course. 

Could you offer a suggestion for an enzyme cleaner? We've been using 409 or similar product, and a steam mop every so often.

Thanks,


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## spotted nikes (Feb 7, 2008)

neversummer said:


> Thanks for the response. I collected a urine sample and brought it to my vet. I'll find out tomorrow afternoon whether it is a UTI or not. The results will tell me if that has to do with his behavior or not.
> 
> Have walked him although I don't as often as I should. Have taken him through the neighborhood and to walking trails. He holds his pee until we get to the backyard. My parents confirmed this when they took him. He won't go outside of the yard, except for the tile room of course.
> 
> ...


"Kids n Pets" at Walmart, or "Nature's Miracle".

If he has an accident, sop it up and go smear it on the ground where you want him to go. Or if it's poop, put it where you want him to poop. Often dogs will return to where they smell that they have gone before.

Or try finding a friend with another dog, and have them walk with you, or just in front, so it will pee, and your dog will be drawn to wanting to also pee to mark there.


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## Labmom4 (Feb 1, 2011)

Rather than using the crate during the day, how about a tie-down? I have them in all the main rooms of my house and they are a GawdSend! The dog can interact and be with the family, yet he's not able to get into trouble. In this picture, I have ET tied to it with a leash also, but normally, I just hook her to the cable.


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## Niraya (Jun 30, 2011)

Male dogs mark. On that note; When he's outside going potty he will go several times BEFORE/AFTER he actually does go pee. So he will potty several times not just the one time.

And if he's confined to one area all of the time he knows it's -his- territory - he will mark it. If he's outside of his territory he'll mark elsewhere because he's expanding!

Just one question, also; If you're home - why do you keep him confined to an 8x14 foot area and away from the family/out of the rest of the house? =/ Or was I just misunderstanding something here?


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## neversummer (Jul 20, 2011)

He is not completely confined in there all the time. He chases after my two Persian cats and has not demonstrated that he can be given free run of our house all the time, case in point the peeing or the going into the room to pee. Right now as I type this, he is sitting beside me on the couch on the leash... because if he wasn't on the leash he'd be exploring all over and I would not be able to keep track of him. Isn't rule #1 to not let the dog out of your sight? The tile area he is in is about 5 feet from the kitchen where we spend most of our time when at home.


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## Niraya (Jun 30, 2011)

neversummer said:


> He is not completely confined in there all the time. He chases after my two Persian cats and has not demonstrated that he can be given free run of our house all the time, case in point the peeing or the going into the room to pee. Right now as I type this, he is sitting beside me on the couch on the leash... because if he wasn't on the leash he'd be exploring all over and I would not be able to keep track of him. Isn't rule #1 to not let the dog out of your sight? The tile area he is in is about 5 feet from the kitchen where we spend most of our time when at home.


I was not asking to be rude or saying that he deserves free roam. I'm sorry I came off that way!  You are right, never leave him out of your sight.
I only asked because to me it sounded as though he was being penned off in an area that wasn't frequently visited (i.e. a back room and you're out in the living room) and had little socializing.

"He is usually kept in an 8foot by 14foot tile area when we are home which has a baby gate to prevent him from entering the rest of the house. He is in his crate every night and when we aren't home. "

Like I said though, male dogs will go potty several times while they're outside. My mother has her two male Maltese indoor and outdoor trained because they mark (And she has MS and can't always get them outside when they need to go). What we did with them is when we had to clean up an accident we placed the paper towels on a pee-pad so they learned to just go there in the house and then go pee and poop outside when they're taken out.


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