poodle potty training

[tsn6186]

I have a 7 month old female toy poodle, who is not housebroken yet. I got her when she was 9 weeks & started crate training her @ 11 weeks old. She holds it all night & I take her out in the morning (5:00am), when I get up. I bring her in & give her a treat (she loves them), then it's back in the crate, when I go to work. She is in her crate for about 9 hours, while I am at work, as soon as I get home (4:00pm), I let her out again. She will pee & poop outside, when she comes in I give her another treat. She stays out of her crate until I go to bed around 10:00pm, I take her out again. She did ok in the beginning, she NEVER pottied in her crate. But she would potty in the house, after I took her out & she had pottied outside too. I have scolled her & nothing works. A month or so ago, she started pooping in her crate, not everyday, but 4-5 times. She has even pottied in my daughters room several times. Does anyone have any suggestions or can anyone recommend a good training book. I would love to leave her out during the day, but I do not want to pick up poop everyday, when I get home. PLEASE HELP!!!! Thanks Tena

[opokki]

When you let her outside do you go out there with her so that you can praise her the second she has finished going in the "right" place? If she just recently started pooping in the crate and only does it sometimes I would imagine that she really must not be able to hold it those days. Do have her on a feeding schedule? Have you recently changed brands of food? Do you have a friend or family member that might be able to come mid day and let her outside once while you are at work?
I would not consider leaving her out during the day until she is fully house broken otherwise, she may never be fully house broken. Also, whenever she is allowed free roam of the house you should keep your eyes on her at all times so that you can prevent her from having any accidents inside.
I bought an awesome book called "Potty Training is Possible" from Petsmart for about $5.
Here is a link that you might also find helpful: http://www.cuhumane.org/topics/housebr.html

[tsn6186]

Thanks for the info. I do go out with most days, but she never goes in the same place. She will usually pee very quick, but pooping takes alot of concentration & sniffing to find the right place. My husband is an EMT & is off during the week at some point, he will let her out to potty. But she still does not tell us when she needs to go. She is a very picky eater & will not eat all her food at one time. She eats a little at atime all day. I have changed food, that may be part of the problem. I try to keep a close eye on her when she roaming the house, but sometimes I get busy & that seems to be the time she pottys. Almost like she's trying to get my attention. Thanks for the book info.

[dog_ma]

Hi Tena:
I had similar issues with my dog. He had some incidents in his crate that I tend to think were from nervousness. I hated the thought of him being in there with that dog doo for any period of time and finally just left him out one day for a couple of hours. He did fine. I left him longer and longer and he did fine. I would take him out in the morning and he'd do his business (both) and go back to bed. One day my mom came home to find he'd pooped inside. He started not wanting to poop in the morning, just do a quick pee and run back in the house. He pooped inside twice and I finally started making him go for a walk in the morning before I went to work. He poops without fail and has not gone in the house since. The walks have been great for me as well. He sometimes has a hard time finding a place to poop too, like your pup but he always poops on our walk. He still doesn't really tell us when he has to go out. The only sign he gives is he acts sort of hyper and weird, like he can't settle down. If you ask him if he wants to go out he spaz's and runs to the door. It's kind of funny. Good luck with your poodle pup. I'm sure you will find a system that works for you all. BTW, I give my dog a treat as soon as he poops and tell him good boy, poop outside. I try to stress the outside.

[tsn6186]

Thanks Tammy,

Maybe I'll try the walks too, but my pupply too spaz's when you ask her if she needs to potty. Maybe that's an early sign. She has been doing better the past couple of days, no accidents in her crate or inside.

Thanks again Tena

[Wolat]

another thing u can try is to give her only limited access to the house. keep her either in one room or tied to you (so u can't not supervise). as she proves to you that she doesn't have accidents you can increase the area she's allowed until she has the whole house. poodles are very intelligent and very active. she may indeed need walking, and going outside is one of a dog's favorite activities =) .
goodluck,
-Jossie

[tsn6186]

Thanks Jossie,

I'll give it a try.

Tena

[GoldenDad]

Okay try to imagine this. You get left in a room for nine hours a day that is only big enough for you to turn around in and sleep in. And while in there you have to hold your "stuff" until some else lets you out. Sounds pretty nasty doesn't it? Now what would you do if suddenly you got let out for longer than usual and allowed to roam a bit?

First I would say your dog is getting sick of being in there for so long and wants out more often. This could explain the defecation while inside the crate. Your dog is saying, "I want out of here! And to show you how much I dislike it in here I'm going to poop in here!" Second is after spending so much time in the crate your dog may have no idea about proper house manners or has lost the use of them. Also letting her out may be causing confusion. Suddenly you're giving her more freedom and she doesn't know what to do with it. Too much freedom too soon can be as detrimental to a dog as it is to a teenager.

Try this. Let her out but keep her within your sight at ALL times. She probably won't dare to poop while your watching. Make sure to reinforce or teach her what her boundaries are.

Also there is a post on here somewhere about litter training your dog that I posted a while ago which you may find helpful, especially if you're crate training. If you need help please feel free to email me.

GD :)