How Did You Train To Potty In A Specific Area?

[Guest Tiptons_Mom]

Okay, so it's me again about this dedicated potty area.

 

In my previous posting, I asked if anyone had a specific potty area, how big, what did you use for the surface etc, but now my question is, how did you train them to use it?

 

I have two boys, one will, if I take him on the leash (when I KNOW he has to go like first outing in the am) he will pee in there. If I walk him around the yard some an lead him back there when I can see that he is about start pooping I can usually get him to poop there but my second hound....

NO WAY. He will go into the area, may even sniff around, but does not "go" there. When I take him out on the leash he will just stand there and look at me. I have stood there for more than 20 mins on first turnout when I KNOW he has to be bursting and he wont go.

 

If I let him off the leash, he will go around find a spot and pee.

 

I am getting frustrated, since I really love the idea of the potty area, as it would be much easier to keep the yard clean, not to mention that I spent and entire Weekend rearranging the yard, digging up grass and hauling 12 bags of mulch through the house into the yard.

 

The area is 8' X 8' with about 4 inches of mulch as the surface. The potty area is not fenced in (the yard is) but it is clearly defined by the edging used to hold in the mulch.

 

Any suggestions on how to train this would be appreciated.

[Guest Wasserbuffel]

I bought some wooden stakes and cheap plastic fencing. I fenced in her spot and locked (leash clip zip tied to the "gate") her in at each turnout until she went. After about a month or so she would return to her fenced area to go even if she had access to the rest of the lawn. Now I've got the fence situated so that she can't get anywhere but her area from the back door unless I let her (mostly for safety reasons as I don't want her slipping down the hill when the grass is wet and she decides to zoom).

 

Two years later and she'll always return to her yard to poop, but will occasionally pee elsewhere in the yard; which isn't a problem to me.

[OwnedBySummer]

My previous dogs were area trained. My female trained better than the male but I also started her as a very young dog and the male was about 10 when we got him. I haven't officially area trained Summer as she has chosen her own spot and poops there consistently. So I figured, what the heck. It's not the spot *I* would have chosen but it's a perfectly adequate spot. I pick up after every poop anyway so, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter for me. The peeing, though, THAT I really should put some effort into. I don't care for the yellow spots in the lawn.

 

As to how to train for this... I would leash mine, take them to the designated area and walk around in it until they went. Praise praise praise. Then they'd get released into the rest of the yard. Should they slip up and eliminate anywhere else, my disappointment was evident and they didn't like that. The young female trained in just a few months. The old boy took about... oh, a year and a half?

[Guest DragonflyDM]

Whenver your dog gets where you want him to go potty, put his paw in some warm water, while running the sink faucet!! Then tell him to think of waterfalls. J/K

[Guest Tiptons_Mom]

Whenver your dog gets where you want him to go potty, put his paw in some warm water, while running the sink faucet!! Then tell him to think of waterfalls. J/K

 

Would be great if it were that easy, wouldn't it.

Thanks for the chuckle.

[Guest thecoyotesgrin]

I am so glad someone asked this. I will be living with my Auggie in a Apartment complex and I hope him to be eventually 'spot trained'...

Edited March 14, 2012 by thecoyotesgrin

[Fruitycake]

There is also the possibility that your one dog, like some (many) cats, has a substrate preference and does not like the mulch. We had a dog who was so extremely strongly trained that no matter what she would NOT potty on sidewalks/cement/pavement. If we knew that what she was aiming to drop was "not ready yet" all we had to do was keep her off grass and she wouldn't drop it. Although she was a dog that really responded to walks by pottying a LOT. Our joke was that she would poop food she hadn't even eaten yet - given a long enough walk and an opportunity to walk in the grass.

 

I second the idea of even a temporary fencing option around the potty area. He goes in, you watch him like a hawk and only let him out after potty has been accomplished. Preferably after a little bit of exercise to get things moving. A gentle "good boy" as he's accomplishing what you want might help things along.

[DocsDoctor]

As these are males it would probably help to import something upright that they can 'mark'. I do remember I am sure reading on this forum that in American training kennels they keep traffic cones in the turnout pens for this purpose... could you maybe get hold of a traffic cone?!?

 

You can also buy plastic marking sticks, impregnated with some kind of smelly stuff, from pet shops. Have to say I tried one of these for Doc and he wasn't interested, probably because it was a few months after adoption and he had already found his own pee-spots in the garden, so I passed it on to someone with a new puppy to housetrain.

 

For the pooping, it might help to bring in a poop done elsewhere and leave it in the area for a while to help them get the message, in the way that people do with puppies that have been brought up using those indoor training pads.

 

Good luck!

[3greytjoys]

The area is 8' X 8' with about 4 inches of mulch as the surface. The potty area is not fenced in (the yard is) but it is clearly defined by the edging used to hold in the mulch.

 

All the dogs I've trained to use a designated dog potty area have been leashed for initial training. In another case (another house) we placed a temporary fence around the hounds potty area, and stayed outside with them to praise (and release) when they eliminated.

 

Ex-pens work great with their ready-made gates, but cheap, rolled, plastic garden fencing with plastic free-standing posts (or fence posts) would work fine in your fully fenced yard.

 

I'm curious what type of mulch you used?

[Guest HHHounds]

We have trained our hounds to use one area of the yard - with pine straw in it. Long term leash training with monitored potty break follow up keep them in the specified area. We have a beautiful backyard with no yellow spots or poop. It is work, but worth it to us.

[Guest Tiptons_Mom]

The area is 8' X 8' with about 4 inches of mulch as the surface. The potty area is not fenced in (the yard is) but it is clearly defined by the edging used to hold in the mulch.

 

All the dogs I've trained to use a designated dog potty area have been leashed for initial training. In another case (another house) we placed a temporary fence around the hounds potty area, and stayed outside with them to praise (and release) when they eliminated.

 

Ex-pens work great with their ready-made gates, but cheap, rolled, plastic garden fencing with plastic free-standing posts (or fence posts) would work fine in your fully fenced yard.

 

I'm curious what type of mulch you used?

 

I used plain black mulch, nothing fancy, but it is a finer shred, that seemed softer to walk on than the bark mulch.

[3greytjoys]

I'm curious what type of mulch you used?

 

I used plain black mulch, nothing fancy, but it is a finer shred, that seemed softer to walk on than the bark mulch.

 

I'm not sure how many dark mulches are sold across the U.S., but please make sure it is not cocoa mulch. (Cocoa mulch is toxic to dogs.)

 

A good little splinter test: If you handle the mulch with your bare hands and don't get splinters, the dog's paws should be okay too. Good to check their paws periodically anyway. (The only mulch I could find with little to no splintering was "tumbled" playground bark.)

 

After using your mulch for a few months, please let us know how you like the dark mulch. (Ours is the lightest color mulch for easier night time clean-up, but it all gets a little darker when wet anyway. Yours might be easier for day time clean up than ours.)

 

Good luck with training.

[Guest Tiptons_Mom]

I'm curious what type of mulch you used?

 

I used plain black mulch, nothing fancy, but it is a finer shred, that seemed softer to walk on than the bark mulch.

 

I'm not sure how many dark mulches are sold across the U.S., but please make sure it is not cocoa mulch. (Cocoa mulch is toxic to dogs.)

 

A good little splinter test: If you handle the mulch with your bare hands and don't get splinters, the dog's paws should be okay too. Good to check their paws periodically anyway. (The only mulch I could find with little to no splintering was "tumbled" playground bark.)

 

After using your mulch for a few months, please let us know how you like the dark mulch. (Ours is the lightest color mulch for easier night time clean-up, but it all gets a little darker when wet anyway. Yours might be easier for day time clean up than ours.)

 

Good luck with training.

 

We have been having some luck with Duncan the past two days, and the dark mulch works really well for the clean up. I used black because the rest of my yard's gardens are mulched in black so I just stuck with that so it was kind of uniform. I was concerned about the mulch to poop color contrast but it hasn't been an issue.

[3greytjoys]

Congratulations on your training success with Duncan so far!

 

Glad the color contrast is working well too. Thank you for the follow-up.

[Guest Giselle]

Are both of your dogs males? Intact or neutered?

 

I just finished a bunch of literature review on dog olfaction for our research proposal, and I spent more hours than I care to admit reading about dog olfaction + dog marking >_>

 

Basically, my thoughts are: It could be that one of your hounds doesn't want to countermark the other's scent due to their social/status relationships. I'd recommend giving them two distinct and separate potty areas.

 

ETA: One helpful hint would be to look at their tail base position when they sniff each other's urine. Let me know if you find anything interesting!

Edited March 24, 2012 by Giselle

[Guest june]

I'm lucky and I know it. My girls all potty at the point furthest from the house; a strip about 6 ft wide along the back fence. I say I know I'm lucky because I am dog-sitting this week and I've had to police the whole yard from our visitors.

[Guest Tiptons_Mom]

Update:

 

I took the advice of those that suggested fencing the area (at least temporarily) and I am happy to report that this has proven to be succesful.

Duncan who was already doing well with just the leash method has been doing even better and Tipton who was really holding out, finally succumb and has been doing both 1 and 2 on turnouts.

 

I am hoping that with a few months of this method they will be trained to go there whenever nature calls.