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hexed posted 11/17/2013 20:22 PM

I have 2 dogs.

One of them is a now 3 year old english pointer. We got her when she was a year old. She has never been very well house trained. She's fine in her crate but if we don't let her out the second she asks she will go in the house.

She is a VERY sensitive slightly weird dog. I really need some help with this. One of the challenges is that we don't have a consistent household schedule and it's almost impossible to have one. If we don't let her out of the crate except when she goes outside there's no problem but I'm not OK with that. Our dogs are generally allowed out of their crates when we are home.

Does anyone have any tips or tricks? Let me know if you need more info. I prefer non-physical training methods with this dog. She goes into a shell if you even look at her in a harsh tone of voice

Crushed1 posted 11/17/2013 20:39 PM

I've got two Chihuahuas and they were both adults, 5 and 3 y/o, when I started using this method and it has worked very well, no accidents at all! . Of course, a pointer is a larger dog, so I don't know if this will work with your dog but you could try it.

There are some puppy training pads, you can get them at WalMart, and I get them at my grocery store also. They're 2' x 2'. The first time I used one, I put a piece of poop on it, so they knew what it was for, and then voiced to them what it was for. They immediately began using it. They also go outside, but it's not always convenient, so the pads have been the best help ever. Good luck!

metamorphisis posted 11/17/2013 20:44 PM

I can only speak from puppy training which I just did. I suppose it couldn't hurt to just start from square one with her.
I was taking him out every 15-20 minutes for weeks. I kid you not. I set an alarm and out we went. Every time he woke and cried at night too. Your dog has the bladder capacity so I'd maybe try every hour.
I used the same phrase every single time "Let's get busy" (in retrospect, I'd have picked something less annoying had I know I was going to say it 8 kabillion times a day ). Anyway.. anytime we were in the house he was on his leash, on the end of my arm. If I went anywhere, he walked there with me. There was no opportunity to sneak off and pee because I could see his very very subtle signs. It trained us together. Big thanks to DS for the leash tip because prior to that I was losing my mind taking him out only to have him pee the second I turned my back in the house.
Then when we were out.. no other interaction but "Get busy Charlie Brown" and then a huge dancing, squealing praise party when he did. So much affection that I looked like a lunatic. No really.. an absolute lunatic.

It worked. He gets it. And we haven't had an accident in about a month and a half with a five and a half month old dog. However, the classical conditioning went a little too far because now he won't "get busy" without an audience. Preferably me.
Seriously. You send him out and he waits and cries until I come out and then he pees.

Anyway.. I think if you just go back to basics and retrain her you'll have the best results. . I also don't go for harsh training methods. Reward the behaviour you want consistently and you get great results.