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Our last dog, Zelda, who died two years ago, suddenly forgot that she was supposed to pee outside when she was about 10 years old. I finally gave up and started throwing down those pee pads you can buy nowadays. I always put the pads in our ceramic-tiled foyer, thinking it was more forgiving of pee than the laminate in the family room/kitchen area.
Fast forward to the past couple of days with our new pup, Atticus. For the first six days he was with us he had only one accident which occurred within minutes of arriving home with him for the first time after a twelve-hour drive. Understandable! Over the next seven days he had not ONE accident, and had even begun ringing the bell to be let out to poop!
Then, Tuesday, while I was eating dinner, he peed in the ONE spot that was not in my line of vision (obscured by the table I was eating at.) And since then he has peed AND pooped four times in/near the foyer. The last two times I was watching like a hawk but he didn't do the usual "sniff, circle" thing, just walked to the foyer and started to pee. When I saw it, I yelped a NO~!, ran and picked him up, realized IMMEDIATELY that I should NOT have "yelped" or scared him in any way, cradled him and used my "nice voice" saying "let's go potty outside!" over and over as I carried him to the yard. (And he did finish pottying in the yard.) I said to my daughter, "Well, maybe he's picking up on the scent of Zelda's overflow pee (the pee pads didn't always absorb all she let out), but at least he knows POOP goes in the yard.
Ha. In the last 36 hours he's pooped in or right next to the foyer three times. The last time was after he had been in the front yard with me for three hours while I weeded the garden. He was on a leash that allowed him to explore a roughly 12' radius from where I was working, and he enjoyed himself tremendously, but never peed or pooped the whole time. When I finished up I knew that he probably had to "go" and had just not done so because he'd never been in the front yard before and was too excited/distracted. So I picked him up, carried him through the house and into the back yard and set him down, saying "Go potty!" Which he did. GOOD BOY, Atticus! (Much praise!) I really thought he probably needed to poop, too, so I left him in the back yard (but left the door to the house open) while I went to the front yard to gather his food and water bowls. I was gone less than two minutes and when I walked back in he had come back in the house and was pooping right next to the foyer again!
ACK! Did I totally blow it by "yelping" and scooping him up those two times?!?!?!? Is he still smelling Zelda's pee in the grout between the tiles in the foyer? (And if so, what product can I buy to obliterate it?) I know that one of the biggest keys to speedy housebreaking is to simply never let them have the opportunity to do it inside, but I really do watch him like a hawk... he's simply not giving the usual warning signs at all. (He does the usual sniff/circle outside, but there is literally NO warning inside.) I really don't want to have to crate him 24/7 less potty breaks, so would appreciate any advice anyone has to offer.
AnnA
Fast forward to the past couple of days with our new pup, Atticus. For the first six days he was with us he had only one accident which occurred within minutes of arriving home with him for the first time after a twelve-hour drive. Understandable! Over the next seven days he had not ONE accident, and had even begun ringing the bell to be let out to poop!
Then, Tuesday, while I was eating dinner, he peed in the ONE spot that was not in my line of vision (obscured by the table I was eating at.) And since then he has peed AND pooped four times in/near the foyer. The last two times I was watching like a hawk but he didn't do the usual "sniff, circle" thing, just walked to the foyer and started to pee. When I saw it, I yelped a NO~!, ran and picked him up, realized IMMEDIATELY that I should NOT have "yelped" or scared him in any way, cradled him and used my "nice voice" saying "let's go potty outside!" over and over as I carried him to the yard. (And he did finish pottying in the yard.) I said to my daughter, "Well, maybe he's picking up on the scent of Zelda's overflow pee (the pee pads didn't always absorb all she let out), but at least he knows POOP goes in the yard.
Ha. In the last 36 hours he's pooped in or right next to the foyer three times. The last time was after he had been in the front yard with me for three hours while I weeded the garden. He was on a leash that allowed him to explore a roughly 12' radius from where I was working, and he enjoyed himself tremendously, but never peed or pooped the whole time. When I finished up I knew that he probably had to "go" and had just not done so because he'd never been in the front yard before and was too excited/distracted. So I picked him up, carried him through the house and into the back yard and set him down, saying "Go potty!" Which he did. GOOD BOY, Atticus! (Much praise!) I really thought he probably needed to poop, too, so I left him in the back yard (but left the door to the house open) while I went to the front yard to gather his food and water bowls. I was gone less than two minutes and when I walked back in he had come back in the house and was pooping right next to the foyer again!
ACK! Did I totally blow it by "yelping" and scooping him up those two times?!?!?!? Is he still smelling Zelda's pee in the grout between the tiles in the foyer? (And if so, what product can I buy to obliterate it?) I know that one of the biggest keys to speedy housebreaking is to simply never let them have the opportunity to do it inside, but I really do watch him like a hawk... he's simply not giving the usual warning signs at all. (He does the usual sniff/circle outside, but there is literally NO warning inside.) I really don't want to have to crate him 24/7 less potty breaks, so would appreciate any advice anyone has to offer.
AnnA
