# Why Won't Shayna Use the Pee Pad Anymore?



## brendaman (Mar 7, 2006)

We are so frustrated by Shayna’s inconsistent housebreaking regimen. She doesn’t seem to like the pee pad, so we’ve been taking her outside. But now that the weather is so cold with lots of snow, we want to try her again on the pee pad. We’ve never put away the pee pads, it just sits there unsued. We’ve had them in in the same locations, that is, in the bathrooms. We live in a four-story townhouse, and we’ve put pee pads in the bathroom of three of the 4 floors. 

BACKGROUND: Shayna is now 15 months old. Since she was a puppy, we've trained her to go both outside and on pee pads. She really was already trained to go outside by the breeder. When she was 7 months old, there was a 2 week period when she "got it", and went on the pee pad when she was unable to go outside (usually when left alone in the house). Then of course she had to be fixed and when she healed that’s when all the trouble started, and Shayna seemed to have housebreaking accidents. Of course, we took these accidents to be our fault and started the housebreak training again, monitoring her more closely. I also was more diligent about taking her outside. 

Now Shayna is down to perhaps one “accident” per week – mostly poo on the rug. We just cannot leave her to run free so we puppygate her to one of the bathrooms. This is how we trained her initially. It’s a good-sized bathroom where we put pee pads on one side and then her crate with a bed inside. Another side of the bathroom has her water. We usually do not feed her in the bathroom, but when she’s finicky and doesn’t want to eat, we leave the food in the bathroom with her. When she was a puppy, we would puppygate her until she went and then reward her with treats and praise. This is how she learned to use the pee pad. Do they really unlearn things? Or did my diligence in taking her outside to eliminate trained her to be an outside-only dog. Shayna has not used the pee pad in months.

Our dog trainer (who has known Shayna since she was a puppy) has been helping us all through our housebreaking. He's as perplexed as we are. Since she was a puppy, we’ve trained her to go when we say, “get busy”. She seems to listen to this command outside, but it does not work inside on the pee pad. We’ve tried one of these sprays so that Shayna can smell urine on the pee pad. We tried to put Shayna's poo on the pee pad (poo that she did outside or one of her "accidents"), so that she can see or smell it on the pee pad. We tried puppygating her in the bathroom first thing in the morning. You would think she would have to use the pee pads then. Well, she wouldn’t. Even after we fed her, she wouldn’t go. I would leave her in there until noon. Once, I kept her puppygated until 4PM, but again I felt so bad that I took her out and she could no longer hold her pee and she peed by the front door (Poor baby!). I didn’t want to keep her puppygated all day, but I had thought this was a battle of wills. So I guess, my will gave in.

The trainer has suggested that I use a kitty litter pan, so that Shayna can differentiate between the pee pad and the rug. He has also suggested giving her 1/2 of a kiddie suppository, so that Shayna will be forced to poo on the pee pad in the bathroom. Just when we've decided that she will eliminate only outside, our dog sitter, who was watching her for a couple of nights, tells us that Shayna used the pee pad in her house this past weekend! Last night, we puppygated her to the kitchen while we had dinner, and we put a pee pad on the kitchen floor. She went!! Should I just put it there until Shayna gets used to the sensation of using pee pads? I don't really like the thought of having pee pads (with wastes!) in the kitchen.

Sorry for this long-winded, rambling story, but we're at our wits' end. Shayna is not a slow learner. She’s learned so many things so quickly. For example, I taught her how to put her head down in just one morning! And she seemed to have been trained on the pee pad and we had two wonderful weeks when she seemed completely housebroken. Has anyone else faced such housebreaking regression from their dog? 

I often read about those of you who have housebroken your little ones as young puppies and am quite envious. Everyone, including our trainer, keeps telling us how difficult Maltese are to housebreak. Will she take a few more months, and I'll have that wonderfully housebroken dog by the Spring (she'll be 1.5 years by then)???


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## camfan (Oct 30, 2006)

> We are so frustrated by Shayna’s inconsistent housebreaking regimen. She doesn’t seem to like the pee pad, so we’ve been taking her outside. But now that the weather is so cold with lots of snow, we want to try her again on the pee pad. We’ve never put away the pee pads, it just sits there unsued. We’ve had them in in the same locations, that is, in the bathrooms. We live in a four-story townhouse, and we’ve put pee pads in the bathroom of three of the 4 floors.
> 
> BACKGROUND: Shayna is now 15 months old. Since she was a puppy, we've trained her to go both outside and on pee pads. She really was already trained to go outside by the breeder. When she was 7 months old, there was a 2 week period when she "got it", and went on the pee pad when she was unable to go outside (usually when left alone in the house). Then of course she had to be fixed and when she healed that’s when all the trouble started, and Shayna seemed to have housebreaking accidents. Of course, we took these accidents to be our fault and started the housebreak training again, monitoring her more closely. I also was more diligent about taking her outside.
> 
> ...


Ollie is the same, exact way. Minus the accidents because I take him out even when it's -25 below with wind chill. Honestly, I say bite the bullet and just take her outside--no, it's not convenient to have to shovel a little area outside on the grass and then freeze your hiney off, but you can do it. It's not going to bother her--obviously she doesn't like going inside and doesn't NEED to, so she won't! This is my conclusion with Ollie as well. As for the accidents it's probably because I think when they are young they just lose their inhibitions for whatever reason--distracted, hyper, overtired, etc. etc. and just go where ever. Ollie does that sometimes. I'd just take her outside and be done with it! Good luck!!


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## precious paws (Jun 7, 2006)

I think you should take Shayna outside if thats where she is trained to go. 

I sure don't like the idea of giving her a suppository to make her go inside.


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## Deanna (Jan 14, 2005)

I think she simple prefers to go outside. I think part of it may be because the puppy pad is in her "den", since she has to be contained during the day she thinks of that area as her den- and therefore won't go in her living space. If she were to have a larger area, with the pee pad kept further away she might use it. 

It routinely gets to be -20 to - 45 here and my guys only use the potty outside. Molly had one accident when it was -46, but that was because it was so cold she couldn't stand outside any longer! 

I tihnk for most people the puppy pad is for their ease, not for the pup's- not that there is anything wrong with that, I woud love it if my two would use pee pads, but I don't think it's part of a natural instinct for dogs. I think for many dogs the pad only confuses them.

How I trained my two-- 

Every single time we went outside it was on a leash, to go potty- then right back inside. For 2 weeks they were not allowed outside unless it was to potty. When they went potty I praised them and gave them a treat. Wilson has never had an accident since, Molly has had 2- both were when we were having severe cold and snow. 

Good luck!


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