It's raining and my dogs won't "GO" at home...

This can be a serious issue...

I walked my two dogs 3-4 times a day, and they go potty, especially pooping, outside our home. Now, the raining season is here, and we won't have many opportunities to do the walks outside. THEY DON'T GO POTTY IN OUR SMALL YARD EITHER. Any advise or solution to this potentially dangerous problem?

 

Take them for walks in the rain. Or make them stay in the yard until they go potty!

Perhaps you could start working on assigning a command word to the act - like "go potty" or "hurry up" or "do your business." Say it just as they start to go, and then praise when they are finished. Do this over and over again. Then you should be able to use the command to encourage them to go in the yard.

Also, if a particularly tasty treat follows the act, perhaps they will be more obliging about going in the yard?

Many a time I have stood outside with a puppy or foster dog, in the pouring rain or freezing snow, telling them "go potty" and praising them when they are done. I have even held umbrellas over them from time to time, LOL.

Many of my foster dogs have not liked to go out in the rain. I toss them out anyway. I'm a mean mommy. My own dogs have learned to hustle out, do their thing, and get back in. One doesn't mind the rain, but the other hates it.

 

Commands have lost effectiveness as one of them understands the link between walk and potty. He will hold till I take him outside and then he'll drag me for a long walk.

Hmm let me try standing in the yard with them and giving them treats when they go. The boy is stubborn, but the treats may win him over.

Thanks!

 

He will eventually have no choice but to go. When I took Nala on a trip once, she decided she wasn't going to pee in a new place. She wouldn't pee at any of the rest stops I made for her, and she wouldn't pee before bed. I took her out several times and she would NOT go, so I'd bring her back in and take her back out 15 minutes later. Finally I just put her in her crate and went to bed. In the morning, she STILL wouldn't pee!! I gave her breakfast (ever stand outside a hotel with a dog on a leash eating a slab of raw meat and bones?) and she STILL wouldn't pee. I brought her in and then back out in 15 minutes and nothing. Finally I just stood there with her on a short leash and told her to go potty and didn't budge. She did go eventually. Once she went once, all I had to do was take her back to that place and she would go again. We went through it all over again at the site of the conference, LOL.

If you can get one dog to pee, the other may follow. My foster dogs generally figure out what they are supposed to be doing when they have a nice sniff after my dogs.

It sounds like your dogs have trained you nicely to take them for walks in order to go potty. Don't you hate it when that happens?! :roll:

 

Oh, and one other thing. If he learns the connection between treats and potty, then you need to watch and make sure he is actually peeing when he lifts his leg. Some dogs will just squat or lift their leg without actually going, and you THINK they have pottied but they really haven't. LOL. Darn smart animals. :lol:

 

I grind my teeth badly when they play "psychological" games with me. :x But what can I do? My husband always says "that's the way they are" and calls that "personality."

 

What can you do? Don't let them get away with it! You're the boss. It takes time and energy and WORK, but you can train them rather than letting them train you.

That's like the old saying "boys will be boys" which is supposed to mean that you should let your little boys get away with doing things that are wrong because that's how little boys are. I don't believe it!

Our dogs all train us to some extent. You need to choose what you will live with and what you need to change or do YOUR way.

This lady adopted one of my very, very shy foster dogs. She is a really nice person, and gentle almost to a fault. The dog did okay for a while, but I got a call recently saying that she was hiding in her crate all day, wouldn't ever go outside, and eventually would have accidents right in front of the crate.

Huh?! When she hid in her crate at my house and she hadn't been outside for a while, I snapped a leash on her, made her come out, and brought her out to the backyard. Once she was out, she would usually go potty and sometimes stay outside to play a bit.

How can you just let the dog sit in the crate all day?! I know she was probably doing that sugary "Come on, it's okay" coaxing stuff. Now, I baby my dogs, but with a shy dog you can't let the dog think that YOU think there's something to be afraid of. You have to be very matter-of-fact and act as if there's nothing in the world to be afraid of.

She finally got help from a trainer, who told her basically the same thing. They are doing better now.