My puppy is regressing!

Help! I have a little 16 week old pomeranian and it seems she is regressing. When I first got her she learned to be house training very quickly with very few accidents. Now, it seems that she has forgotten everything and I find accidents all over. When I am out of the house for a while I rarely come home to messes, it is more when I am in the house that she does it. I try yelling but she thinks i'm playing, i've tried punishment by blocking her in the kitchen, but i really feel she doesn't understand. What do I do? How do I make her remember her training. Do you think she does it for attention??

Jen

 

It could be attention, it could also be a 'submissive' gesture, it could be over excitement. Your right when you say you think she doesnt understand why she's being punished or if you yell at her, unless you catch her in the act it'll just confuse her. You need to go back to square one, she doesnt do it while your not home, when you come home dont get her excited, if possible ignore her for about 10 minutes then take her outside, keep it all very low key, take some treats with you and as she starts to urinate very calmly give her some praise verbally and as soon as she is finished give her a small treat (something tasty like bologne or chicken and it doesnt need to be any bigger than your fingernail), once your back inside then she can play. If you catch her starting to urinate inside just sternly say NO, then take her outside immediately, have the treats ready, and she doesnt come back in until shes urinated.
One thing that is always a concern with something like this though is to make sure there is no underlying health problem, i.e bladder infection, has she been spayed? although usually with a health problem it will be happening at any time and not just when your home.

 

Dogs commonly do have stages where they seem to forget everything they know. When this happens, you go back to square one and re-teach what they have forgotten. It goes MUCH faster the second (or third) time through.

16 weeks is awfully young to be left unsupervised. Is your dog crate trained? Or can she be confined to a small room with linoleum (like a bathroom or laundry romm) when you are gone?

You need to be extra vigilant when you are home and take her out a LOT and praise her for going outside. Go out with her every time so you can praise her.

Do not yell at her or punish her when she has an accident. Accidents are YOUR fault for allowing it to occur - not hers. Unless you catch her in the act, you are just confusing and scaring her. If you do catch her in the act, make a loud noise to startle her, pick her up and take her outside. If she finishes outside - praise praise praise!

 

Hi there
Nothing left to say
All you need is in the previous two answers.
Best of luck

 

my pommy was house broken at one point when i first got her..now she refuses to go outsede..i can take her for a walk and she will do nothing monet we get into the house she pees right infront of me

 

Just curious, how old is she? how long since she wont go outside? did the weather (rain, snow etc) scare her? My whippet never wanted to go if it was raining.

 

A lot of dogs will have accidents on occasion..

A lot of dogs will have accidents on occasion..especiallly small ones. My dog, is 9 1/2 months old, and doesn't like to go outside in the evenings when it's dark. (she's chicken) She would ocassionally pee inside, but only in the evenings, after dark.
So now, I go outside with her around 7:30, and again right before bedtime, and that seems to have solved that issue.

Once in awhile, after she has been at the groomers, she'll have an accident....but I think it is from the stress of having her daily routine changed.

Sometimes they just need to be reminded that they have to go outside.