# Please help. What am I doing wrong??



## coreena1969 (Feb 20, 2006)

I have a 7 mo. male. He was 2 mos when I got him. I started him off in a 4x4 kennel because I have a female maltese as well (she was potty trained in a month) . In the kennel, I had a dog bed, food/water and a pee box. He would go pee/poop on the floor, near the food bowl and in his dog bed...I thought it was instinct to not eliminate near food or where they sleep. He now does not go tho the bathroom in the kennel (I keep them in the kennel when I am at work and when I get home, I let them out) I will let them outside and he will go outside, no matter how long I leave him outside (I am watching him) he will still go inside as well. I let him out every 1/2 hour when I am home. He is now starting to go on the couch, carpet, whenever he gets the urge. I have tried letting him know I am not happy and show him where he should go. He now will go to the bathroom, eat his poop before I can correct his behavior. I think he knows this is not acceptable because whenever I see what he has done and call him, he goes to the corner and tries to hide his face. I never hit him! I figured that since he was not going in his crate any more, if he slept with me in my bed he wouldnt pee because he sleeps there as well. It was going good for a couple of weeks but last night, I rolled over and my hand felt something wet. I know he wasn't just marking because it had soaked thru the blanket, sheets and into the mattress. Last week, after I took him out when I got home from work, I went up to my room to change and when I turned around, he was pooping on my bed. I had just let him out in the yard...I am fed up and am starting to think I need to give him to someone who stays at home and can devote more time to pottytraining because I cant deal anymore. Can you please give me any advise?? Am I doing something wrong? Are there some dogs that can never be potty trained? I dont want to get upset with him if I am not going about this the right way.


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## Guest (Aug 28, 2006)

You certainly do have a problem, but think it can be straightened out with time and patience!! Yes, I know your patience is getting thin!!. I have never used pads for any our Malteses, have nothing against them, we just like training outside. It is a pain with the weather, putting on coats etc., but our dogs got used to it, we got used to it and their mission was accomplished. We had Fritz put to sleep when he was 7n yrs old. He had cushings desease. Now we have Tucker. He is 2 yrs old. As a puppy he started messing in the house. As soon as we saw him do it, we took him by the mess and sternly said "NO" Then we gave him a swat on the rear with a rolled up newspaper and took him outside. Sometimes he went again, sometimes not. If he went, we praised him, padded him on the head and wheb we went in he got a treat. If he did not go, we took him in and he got nothing, no treat NO HOLLERING!! It took him a few weeks to catch on, but finally he got good about going outside. He has a cable he runs on, so we do not have to actually go out with him, but watch him from inside. You want to make sure there are no other animals around when you let him out. Perhaps you could take your female out with him and they could go together!! Sure is worth a try. If we go away for a few hours, Tucker goes in his crate. Just a towel to lie on. No food, water or toys. He is good about holding it, not to say he has been good all the time. We have gone as long as 10 hours, and he still has held it. Just before we go out the door, we walk him around the house to be sure he has gone all the potty he can. When we come home the first thing we do is let him out. Perhaps if you try a few different things with both dogs something will "click" and you will be on the right track. Good Luck!!!


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## Bonnie's Mommie (Mar 2, 2006)

Let's see, for starters, NEVER hit your dog, not 'even' with a newspaper. Second, NEVER leave your dog for 10 hours without food or water. Third, simply ignore the previous post (richard). This poster does nothing but stir up trouble.

Now, persistence and consistency is the key to training. Others may have more solid advice than that, but do yourself a favor and thoroughly clean, with a urine removing cleanser, all the spots he has gone in (what's his name by the way?).

If you don't get other posts, do a search on potty training, there are a lot of great threads on this that should be able to help you. But, I'm sure others will join in, this is a great site with a lot of knowledgeable people.



Just please, to reiterate, DON'T HIT YOUR DOG.


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## precious paws (Jun 7, 2006)

Hitting a dog is Wrong. Whoever reads this PLEASE do not HIT, "Swat", or "Spank" your dog. 

Also, Denying a dog food and water in my opinion is very CRUEL. Sometimes I don't understand why some people have dogs. I feel so sorry for animals that are treated poorly.


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## Suz & the Fluffs (Mar 11, 2006)

> You certainly do have a problem, but think it can be straightened out with time and patience!! Yes, I know your patience is getting thin!!. I have never used pads for any our Malteses, have nothing against them, we just like training outside. It is a pain with the weather, putting on coats etc., but our dogs got used to it, we got used to it and their mission was accomplished. We had Fritz put to sleep when he was 7n yrs old. He had cushings desease. Now we have Tucker. He is 2 yrs old. As a puppy he started messing in the house. As soon as we saw him do it, we took him by the mess and sternly said "NO" Then we gave him a swat on the rear with a rolled up newspaper and took him outside. Sometimes he went again, sometimes not. If he went, we praised him, padded him on the head and wheb we went in he got a treat. If he did not go, we took him in and he got nothing, no treat NO HOLLERING!! It took him a few weeks to catch on, but finally he got good about going outside. He has a cable he runs on, so we do not have to actually go out with him, but watch him from inside. You want to make sure there are no other animals around when you let him out. Perhaps you could take your female out with him and they could go together!! Sure is worth a try. If we go away for a few hours, Tucker goes in his crate. Just a towel to lie on. No food, water or toys. He is good about holding it, not to say he has been good all the time. We have gone as long as 10 hours, and he still has held it. Just before we go out the door, we walk him around the house to be sure he has gone all the potty he can. When we come home the first thing we do is let him out. Perhaps if you try a few different things with both dogs something will "click" and you will be on the right track. Good Luck!!![/B]


Enough already!!! Puhlease. Lets take a vote...if you want Richard banned say yes. LOL For serious you don't belong here with all these caring people like myself who love and cherious my doggy daugther.

*Ok on to the real subject at hand!!! Make sure you are giving your dog a small treat it likes everytime it does the right thing.*


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## I found nemo (Feb 23, 2006)

> You certainly do have a problem, but think it can be straightened out with time and patience!! Yes, I know your patience is getting thin!!. I have never used pads for any our Malteses, have nothing against them, we just like training outside. It is a pain with the weather, putting on coats etc., but our dogs got used to it, we got used to it and their mission was accomplished. We had Fritz put to sleep when he was 7n yrs old. He had cushings desease. Now we have Tucker. He is 2 yrs old. As a puppy he started messing in the house. As soon as we saw him do it, we took him by the mess and sternly said "NO" Then we gave him a swat on the rear with a rolled up newspaper and took him outside. Sometimes he went again, sometimes not. If he went, we praised him, padded him on the head and wheb we went in he got a treat. If he did not go, we took him in and he got nothing, no treat NO HOLLERING!! It took him a few weeks to catch on, but finally he got good about going outside. He has a cable he runs on, so we do not have to actually go out with him, but watch him from inside. You want to make sure there are no other animals around when you let him out. Perhaps you could take your female out with him and they could go together!! Sure is worth a try. If we go away for a few hours, Tucker goes in his crate. Just a towel to lie on. No food, water or toys. He is good about holding it, not to say he has been good all the time. We have gone as long as 10 hours, and he still has held it. Just before we go out the door, we walk him around the house to be sure he has gone all the potty he can. When we come home the first thing we do is let him out. Perhaps if you try a few different things with both dogs something will "click" and you will be on the right track. Good Luck!!![/B]




Like the Buttercup says, I will continue to























































Andrea~


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## TheButtercup (Mar 3, 2005)

> Like the Buttercup says, I will continue to
> 
> 
> 
> ...


rotflol andrea! wanna split a supersize bottle of advil for that impending headache???? heck, you can have it... i've got a margarita here...want one of those instead??

ann marie and the buttercup, both driven to drink by people who hit their dogs.


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## KimKarr (Feb 4, 2006)

Can I have one, Ann Marie?? I'm DRIVEN.


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## I found nemo (Feb 23, 2006)

I'll take 2, but three would really do it...





















Then I'll be in happy/land..[attachment=11826:attachment]


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## bek74 (Jun 26, 2006)

I agree NEVER EVER HIT your dog, not ever, Do not EVER deny your dog food and water, not EVER.
Do a search and PM Steve (max & Rocky), he is THE BEST at toilet training problems, if anyone can help he is the man. PM him.


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## barb (Apr 3, 2006)

> Perhaps you could take your female out with him and they could go together!! Sure is worth a try. If we go away for a few hours, Tucker goes in his crate. Just a towel to lie on. No food, water or toys. He is good about holding it, not to say he has been good all the time. We have gone as long as 10 hours, and he still has held it. Just before we go out the door, we walk him around the house to be sure he has gone all the potty he can. When we come home the first thing we do is let him out. Perhaps if you try a few different things with both dogs something will "click" and you will be on the right track. Good Luck!!![/B]


Forget the newspaper thing, everyone knows that's WACKY, no one is going to do that anyway. I really question the validity of all this, you probably do not even have a dog. But if you do, PLEASE tell me you do NOT leave a little maltese 10 HOURS without* food or water. * Tell me you are just writing this to annoy everyone, and get them going. My dog is very small. I am sitting here looking at her tiny little face. She is lying on top of my desk sleeping while I am on the computer. She had a very busy weekend. We did some Halloween shopping yesterday and today. She went with us everywhere. She loves people. She had a bath and went to puppy school this morning. She went outside while my husband was working in the yard ran around and got all muddy. There is NO WAY I could let a dog this small go *10 hours * without *food or water.* Obviously they have to be alone sometime, but you can't leave them without *food or water.*Would you like to go without *food or water * for over 10 hours???? Are you seeing a pattern here. If not maybe I should get a newspaper and hit you in the head with it.

Sorry for getting off track. We have been taking Roxie to school at pet smart. The lady is very good. She always asks us about potty training and other problems. Maybe you could get someone to help you. The idea of keeping them confined to a small area that you can control seems to be the best to me. That way if they do have an accident at least it won't be so aggravating. It probably seems mean but it is better than getting mad and frustrated. Roxie took a little longer to learn than I would have liked, but she was better when I really kept her confined the kitchen & family room. She occasionally has an accident, but sometimes that is my fault, and it is usually when she is in the back of the house and can't make it. It is usually a poop accident, which is easier to clean to me. The trainer said to really clean the spots with natures miracle or something like that, so they won't keep going back. Maybe he could sleep in a crate elevated next to your bed, so you would know if he needed to go out. We do that also. You probably know all this stuff anyway. but I think I would get someone to help me before I gave up. I know it is aggravating. Let us know if anything works.


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## barb (Apr 3, 2006)

OK Richard, lets pretend you are for real, which I kind of doubt. You did say a couple of nice things in your post. But don't you think you would have accomplished the same thing by taking him outside and praising, but skipping the hitting part. Dogs don't understand why you are doing that. Do you ever let your dog run free. You mention you keep him in a crate without food or water (poor dog) and you take him outside on a cable. Can't you stay out there? Why do you like having a dog. (assuming you do, but I think not)


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## MySugarBaby (Jun 28, 2006)

Alright, this is what you need to do...

You do have a crate which is good and will make training easier and faster.
I just need to clarify, he does not go to the bathroom inside of his crate, correct?? If he does you will have to solve that problem first, so if he does, please let me know.

First thing in the morning, take him outside to go to the bathroom. Once he is outside in the potty area, give him a command such as "go potty" this will help with future training. Keep him outside for only 10 minutes, 15 being the absolute most time he spends outside going potty. If you keep him out longer, he will totally forget what is he suppose to be doing and will defeat the whole purpose of training him. Once he goes, make a huge deal out of it. Praise him and reward him. Do what ever works best for him. With mine they get immediate praise and we play a very quick running game.

As a bonus to seal the deal, when he goes he gets his free time to play, romp and be with you inside the house once he has gone. 
If he does not go in that time frame, take him back in side and put him back in the crate. Try again in 10 to 15 minutes. Keep doing this until he finally goes.
Once he figures out that he does not get out of the crate to play and have fun unless he goes to the bathroom first, training will becoming really easy and fast. They pick up on this really quick.

Until he is trained, do not let him out of your site, this will just give him an opportunity to have an accident. If you are going into another room, either take him with you or put him in the crate. If you are watching tv and you don't have your attention on him 100%, put him in his crate. You have to watch him like a hawk, keeping a constant eye on him.

This next part is very important. Keep a schedule of your dog's bathroom habits. Keep track of how many hours go by before he can't hold it and needs let out, how many times he is let out a day, how many times he pees and poops. For example, my Trixie, needs let out every 5 hours, except at night where she can hold it longer. She gets let out 3 times a day. She poops and pees in the morning and at night and during the middle of the day she only pees. From this I know, that I cannot let her out to play until she does both, pees and poops, in the morning and at night. From this I also know if she is not let out to go potty every 5 hours,except at night, she is very likely to have an accident.
It will take a few days for you to find a solid schedule to work on. If you can figure out his schedule and keep up with it, you will have very few to no accidents. At this point I would say they are well trained, or rather you and your dog are well trained, but not completely there yet.

*Keep in mind that younger puppies need to go out more frequently. They need to go after the eat/drink, 
play and wake up from a nap. 

Now it is important that everytime you take your dog outside to go potty that you use a command to tell him what he suppose to do. He will soon recognize what the meaning of the command means and will know what is expected of him when you say the command, it also makes it faster since he knows what he has to do.
Also, right before you take him out, as you are at the door ready to step out, ask your dog "do you got to go potty" or a similiar phrase. Now make sure he hears you, say it in a high pitched happy/excited voice, and make sure that when you say it, you are getting his attention. 
After awhile, it won't be something that he learns right away as it takes alot of time, he will be able to give you a sign that he has to go out when you ask this question as he will recognize what it means. From there all you have to do is ask him if he has to go out or he will get your attention to tell you or show you a sign that he has to go out. At this point they are completely trained, they will not have accidents because if they have to go, they will find a way of letting you know.

I have trained all of my dogs and several other's dogs this way and it is guranteed to work if you follow the instructions correctly. Every dog can be trained, it is just a matter of finding what works and this does work. Patience, time, consistency, and praise/positive reinforcement are the keys to having a successful and happy house trained dog.

I think I have covered everything, there might be something I missed. Good luck with training, let me know how it goes. If you have any questions or need any more help, please don't hestitate to ask!!


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## Terri (Jan 26, 2005)

> You certainly do have a problem, but think it can be straightened out with time and patience!! Yes, I know your patience is getting thin!!. I have never used pads for any our Malteses, have nothing against them, we just like training outside. It is a pain with the weather, putting on coats etc., but our dogs got used to it, we got used to it and their mission was accomplished. We had Fritz put to sleep when he was 7n yrs old. He had cushings desease. Now we have Tucker. He is 2 yrs old. As a puppy he started messing in the house. As soon as we saw him do it, we took him by the mess and sternly said "NO" Then we gave him a swat on the rear with a rolled up newspaper and took him outside. Sometimes he went again, sometimes not. If he went, we praised him, padded him on the head and wheb we went in he got a treat. If he did not go, we took him in and he got nothing, no treat NO HOLLERING!! It took him a few weeks to catch on, but finally he got good about going outside. He has a cable he runs on, so we do not have to actually go out with him, but watch him from inside. You want to make sure there are no other animals around when you let him out. Perhaps you could take your female out with him and they could go together!! Sure is worth a try. If we go away for a few hours, Tucker goes in his crate. Just a towel to lie on. No food, water or toys. He is good about holding it, not to say he has been good all the time. We have gone as long as 10 hours, and he still has held it. Just before we go out the door, we walk him around the house to be sure he has gone all the potty he can. When we come home the first thing we do is let him out. Perhaps if you try a few different things with both dogs something will "click" and you will be on the right track. Good Luck!!![/B]


Obviously Richard has potty issues! Could it be he still has rubber sheets on his bed?


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## I found nemo (Feb 23, 2006)

> > index.php?act=findpost&pid=245331
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You go girl!!!! ROFL...



Andrea~


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## Deanna (Jan 14, 2005)

> I have a 7 mo. male. He was 2 mos when I got him. I started him off in a 4x4 kennel because I have a female maltese as well (she was potty trained in a month) . In the kennel, I had a dog bed, food/water and a pee box. He would go pee/poop on the floor, near the food bowl and in his dog bed...I thought it was instinct to not eliminate near food or where they sleep. He now does not go tho the bathroom in the kennel (I keep them in the kennel when I am at work and when I get home, I let them out) I will let them outside and he will go outside, no matter how long I leave him outside (I am watching him) he will still go inside as well. I let him out every 1/2 hour when I am home. He is now starting to go on the couch, carpet, whenever he gets the urge. I have tried letting him know I am not happy and show him where he should go. He now will go to the bathroom, eat his poop before I can correct his behavior. I think he knows this is not acceptable because whenever I see what he has done and call him, he goes to the corner and tries to hide his face. I never hit him! I figured that since he was not going in his crate any more, if he slept with me in my bed he wouldnt pee because he sleeps there as well. It was going good for a couple of weeks but last night, I rolled over and my hand felt something wet. I know he wasn't just marking because it had soaked thru the blanket, sheets and into the mattress. Last week, after I took him out when I got home from work, I went up to my room to change and when I turned around, he was pooping on my bed. I had just let him out in the yard...I am fed up and am starting to think I need to give him to someone who stays at home and can devote more time to pottytraining because I cant deal anymore. Can you please give me any advise?? Am I doing something wrong? Are there some dogs that can never be potty trained? I dont want to get upset with him if I am not going about this the right way.[/B]


We had a really hard time house training our rescue Malt, Wilson. He was 18 months when he got him and had always been in a dog run- so he could go wherever he wanted. 

For some reason he didn't like going on the grass, and sometimes would refuse to even walk onto the grass. I would pick him up and put him on the grass, and say "go potty", but he would just run back to the backdoor and wait! I have no idea why he hates grass so much, but it was sure annoying! Giving him treats didn't work- if he felt the need to go inside he would go inside- and he has never once told me he needs to go outside! 

Clicker training is what has done it for us. I bought a clicker at PetSmart, and started using it when he went on the grass, when he had an accident in the house- I just cleaned it up and didn't say anything. So now, when he goes potty outside I click the clicker and say "Wilson- good potty!". He hasn't had an accident for _months_. 

Good luck!!!


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## coreena1969 (Feb 20, 2006)

*Thank you * all for your suggestions. Hopefully, with your advise, Jack and I on the right track really soon...


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## k/c mom (Oct 9, 2004)

> If we go away for a few hours, Tucker goes in his crate. Just a towel to lie on. No food, water or toys. He is good about holding it, not to say he has been good all the time. We have gone as long as 10 hours, and he still has held it. Just before we go out the door, we walk him around the house to be sure he has gone all the potty he can. When we come home the first thing we do is let him out. Perhaps if you try a few different things with both dogs something will "click" and you will be on the right track. Good Luck!!![/B]


Richard, what you are doing to your Malt is cruel. Why don't _you_ try going for 10 hours without food, water, or using the bathroom. I doubt you would find it very pleasant. Your Malt deserves better treatment than what you describe he is getting.


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## Max & Rocky (May 20, 2004)

I know that I'm a little late to this thread, but for anyone who might be interested, I'm going to briefly go through what I think needs to be done. It's not going to be easy coreena1969...but thanks for coming here and asking.

The first thing you are going to need to do is to get your home cleaned in some fashion such that all scent traces are gone or neutralized. Simple detergent and water helps, but it truly does not remove all scent traces. Don't quote me on this exact number, but a dog's nose is 1000s of times more sensitive than yours or mine. So what smells perfectly clean to you reeks of pee smell to your dog. When your dog smells that scent, it thinks "I went here before so I'll go here again". You 

Male dogs are possibly even more genetically wired for this sort of thing than females... We have two boys and one rescue girl and you can always tell when the two boys are looking for a pee spot as their nose is on the ground and working...

Also, buy a portable black light. Dried pee stains are not easy to find... but if you turn that black light on in a otherwise dark room, you will see the stain areas light up. Also the bad news is that carpets with pads underneath or anything super absorbent are somewhere between difficult to impossible to really get clean. I'm sure some people will disagree but I would go so far as to say that those of us with indoor dogs, like Maltese, should have at least a substantial portion of our home in something other than carpet. There are going to be accidents and we have to bee able to get rid of the scent. We redid the entire downstairs in tile (with some oriental rugs in each room) before we ever got Max & Rocky. Subsequent to that, we installed wood floors upstairs in the bedrooms and common area with tile in the bathroom shower areas. We put small throw rugs around the vanity and toilet area... We now have a little rescue girl plus Max and Rocky. After we got Coco, we started having more frequent accidents at night... but they just about always occur on the throw rugs which can easily get thrown into the washer.

Now for a clarification on the idea behind crate training... A crate is very small place to put your dog for limited periods of time. In your case, you said your crate was 4ft x 4ft. In my terminology, that is a pen and not a crate. Whatever the case, it is far too large, which I think you have discovered... A crate should be large enough for the dog to stand up and move a little... but that is it. If the dog can easily turn around, it may be too large for what I term a crate.

Now, the purpose of a crate is to transport the dog *OR* teach the dog not to eliminate whenever the urge to do so comes up. You never confine a dog to a crate for 8 or 10 hours a day... If you do this, there will be accidents and because the crate is so small, the dog will not be able to get away from it ... so in effect, you are teaching the dog to become used to being soiled and this is *NOT* what you want. I also don't use the crate very much anymore, since, at least in our situation, once the dog acquires the ability to hold its potty urges for 8 or 10 hours, we just don't need to use the crate.

If you need to confine a dog for 8 or 10 hours or more, a pen is what you need. A pen is clearly larger than a crate and it has enough space to accommodate food, water, and a potty area. When the boys were very small and being trained, if the potty area was 2 foot away from where they were, they were happy.... so it does not take much space. I prefer the pens that sit on the floor and are made up of snap together plastic segments so you can make just about any size you want. Baby stores usually sell them for less $$$ than pet stores do. You can put the dog's crate inside the pen to give it a nice protected place to sleep.

As someone else has said, these guys are very much into routines and schedules. When they first get up, maybe 30 to 45 minutes after they get up, after intensive play, during walks, etc. Hopefully you have noticed some of these routines by now. You will need to incorporate whatever the routine is into your routine. My wife would normally take the boys back downstairs for a potty break in the morning after she dried her hair... There were a few times she was a little slow and we had a mess to clean up as a result... Also, our night time routine is such that we have to open our pool gate and let everyone into the pool area... As strange as it may sound to you or I, we developed that habit a couple summers ago and if I were to try and get them to do something different now, I would be setting everyone up for a failure if I tried to change the routine now.

When he pees (or poops) where you want him to, act excited and praise him lavishly. When he has an accident, do not punish... with the possible exception of if you actually catch him in the act, there is nothing wrong with a loud *NO *as you immediately pick him up and get him outside. Also, he doesn't "know" he is doing anything wrong when he pees or poops inside. You say that you think he knows he is doing something wrong when he has an accident. Trust me... he doesn't. But these guys are amazingly perceptive and able to pick up on little differences in how you act in order to determine your mood. In fact, your pup spends just about its entire waking life looking at you and trying to gage how you feel and your mood. When they do that 24/7, they get to be pretty good at it!!

You also mentioned that you are having trouble getting him to potty outside... There are two things which come to mind. No dog can go on a walk of more than a couple blocks without going to the potty. So for those problem times of the day, consider just making it a routine to put the harness and leash on and go for a walk.

Another thing to look at is do an INTERNET search on the term "pee post". It's a little corny but when we were first potty training, we bought several of these things which looked like little fire hydrants. They have a pee like scent and they stick in the ground and present a vertical surface which no dog can resist walking past without sniffing and peeing on. Especially, a male dog.

Also, has your Malt been neutered? If not, get him neutered ASAP. All male dogs, especially dominate ones, instinctively want their scent to be, in effect, on top of other dog scents. So at least part of what you are seeing could be the result of marking... Having him neutered does not assure that he will not make, but it does greatly reduce it, especially if it is done before he gets used to the pee while lifting the leg maneuver.

There may be other things I have overlooked, but if I think of it, I'll try to add on later. Good luck.


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