# YAPP (Yet Another Potty Problem)



## PDX97229 (Aug 24, 2012)

We have two Maltese. A brother and his sister. She is 11 months old and he is almost 2 years old. He is great. We have a Porch Potty on our covered deck and he rings the Bells we have dangling from the door knob. He will not go in the house...GREAT! His sister knows that it is the place to go as she sees him use it and she gets a treat when she goes there too. 

Here is the problem. She goes in the house all the time. I know about crate training, but she will hold it as long as we watch her. We can bring her out on the covered deck and she usually will not go. When we bring her in (even if we just leave her out there), she will wait for us to stop watching her and within SECONDS she will go in 1 of several places in the house. When we do catch her and put her in a crate, she seems fine with that. We have no idea what to do. I had heard that dogs do not "spite" their owners, but this is getting bad!

She knows where to go.
She loves getting a treat if she goes there, but if not that is OK too.
When we do catch her going in the house and put her in the crate she just lies down and seems OK with it.

So, if a crate teaches her to hold it, it is not required. She can hold it for a long time. She also seems OK with being in the crate. I think her problem is that she is too mellow. Anything is OK with her. She is such a sweet dog other than this Potty Problem that we just can't seem to resolve!
As I said above, watching her does not help at all!


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## IzzysBellasMom (Jan 16, 2013)

First thing I would do is, if she doesn't go when you have her out on the deck, when you bring her back in, she needs to go to the crate first, then back out on the deck until she does go. Many recommend 30 minute intervals - 30 minutes in the crate - 10 minutes outside to do her business, if nothing, back to 30 minutes in the crate - 10 minutes outside, etc. It's like you have to not give her the chance to go inside. She doesn't get to play until she goes. This should help teach her inside is not where you potty. And make sure if she is having accidents inside that you clean it with something especially for pet urine. It really does make a difference.


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## eiksaa (Jun 8, 2012)

Agreed. Putting her in the crate after she had done it already isn't going to help. She might actually think of that as punishment. 

Keep at it. Put her in the crate as soon as you come back inside and try in 10-15 minutes. What helped us was maintaining an Excel sheet with Gustave's elimination patterns. Once we could see his schedule properly, it was easy from then on. 


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## mdbflorida (Feb 28, 2013)

Sometimes they are shy. You might want to leave her on the porch for a little longer and walk away or turn your back! I have had dogs in the past where they had to go behind a bush where you could not see them. But the crate is the best.


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## Ladysmom (Oct 19, 2004)

The smell is attracting her back to those spots in your house where she is pottying. You need to get a black light and some enzyme cleaner and treat all the spots, then shampoo the carpet or even better, have it professionally done.

She also has way too much freedom. Until housebroken, dogs should not have the run of the house. If you can't watch her with 100% of your attention she needs to either be crated or confined to a pen. Try leashing her to you when she is out so you can keep an eye on her.

Not sure how a porch potty works, but she may not want to use the same one her brother uses. You may have to get another one or two. Some dogs will not reuse a potty. My prissy little Lady would not pee on a previously used pad. Some dogs will not pee and poop on the same pad. Since you have two dogs, it may take a little work to figure out the potty situation.


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## IzzysBellasMom (Jan 16, 2013)

Ladysmom said:


> Not sure how a porch potty works, but she may not want to use the same one her brother uses. You may have to get another one or two. Some dogs will not reuse a potty. My prissy little Lady would not pee on a previously used pad. Some dogs will not pee and poop on the same pad. Since you have two dogs, it may take a little work to figure out the potty situation.


 
That is a great comment, I never thought of that before, but when my 2 go outside, they never poop in the same place, if they smell each others poop, they move to a different spot in the yard.


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## PDX97229 (Aug 24, 2012)

Thank you all. Well, she does use the Porch Potty and, in fact will go when she sees her brother go. Since we free feed, it is a little hard to tell just when she needs to go. She went OK today, and then went on the floor. Yesterday I started yelling at her when she did it and she hated that. She crawled up to me and would not leave my side!

Good tips everyone, and we will see how this can be resolved!


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## pammy4501 (Aug 8, 2007)

eiksaa said:


> Agreed. Putting her in the crate after she had done it already isn't going to help. She might actually think of that as punishment.
> 
> Keep at it. Put her in the crate as soon as you come back inside and try in 10-15 minutes. What helped us was maintaining an Excel sheet with Gustave's elimination patterns. Once we could see his schedule properly, it was easy from then on.
> 
> ...


:smrofl::smrofl: Sorry...Aastha! Only you would excel spread sheet your doggie potty habits!! I love it!!!!


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## Ladysmom (Oct 19, 2004)

PDX97229 said:


> Thank you all. Well, she does use the Porch Potty and, in fact will go when she sees her brother go. Since we free feed, it is a little hard to tell just when she needs to go. She went OK today, and then went on the floor. Yesterday I started yelling at her when she did it and she hated that. She crawled up to me and would not leave my side!
> 
> Good tips everyone, and we will see how this can be resolved!


Yelling is absolutely the worst thing you can do as a dog will often associate yelling with actually going potty, not *where* she is going potty. That will make her more likely to try to sneak away to potty.

I'd suggest using a rolled up newspaper. Every time she potties where she isn't supposed to, hit yourself on the head with the newspaper and repeat three times, *"I forgot to watch my dog, I forgot to watch my dog, I forgot to watch my dog"! *


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## CorkieYorkie (Apr 10, 2012)

PDX97229 said:


> Thank you all. Well, she does use the Porch Potty and, in fact will go when she sees her brother go. Since we free feed, it is a little hard to tell just when she needs to go. She went OK today, and then went on the floor. Yesterday I started yelling at her when she did it and she hated that. She crawled up to me and would not leave my side!
> 
> Good tips everyone, and we will see how this can be resolved!


You may want to try scheduled feedings instead of free feeding if you can; the more scheduled mine's meals are, the more predictable their potties are! :thumbsup:

Also LOL at the spreadsheet idea, but that is clever!! :thumbsup:


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## PDX97229 (Aug 24, 2012)

Ladysmom said:


> Yelling is absolutely the worst thing you can do as a dog will often associate yelling with actually going potty, not *where* she is going potty. That will make her more likely to try to sneak away to potty.
> 
> I'd suggest using a rolled up newspaper. Every time she potties where she isn't supposed to, hit yourself on the head with the newspaper and repeat three times, *"I forgot to watch my dog, I forgot to watch my dog, I forgot to watch my dog"! *


No problem I only did that twice and it was not loud. I had already decided to not do that. OH, and we do have clean carpet as we bought a Bissell Yikes! and a BIG full sized carpet shampoer/cleaner. We also use Bac-Out to clean the spot(s).


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## eiksaa (Jun 8, 2012)

pammy4501 said:


> :smrofl::smrofl: Sorry...Aastha! Only you would excel spread sheet your doggie potty habits!! I love it!!!!


Hahaha. No comment. :|


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