Getting Dog Up For Last Turnout

[Guest itsagreytlife]

This started a couple months ago. About 99.9% of the time, Selah refuses to get up off her bed for her last turnout. I know this can't be too uncommon with greys, but I searched the forums and didn't come up with anything specific.

 

We've always had "last call" around 9-9:30pm. And then up to bed. She is pretty active most days since I'm at home (following me up & downstairs, walks, errands, backyrd, etc.), and usually conks out on her bed ds around 7:30-8:00pm. Every so often she'll follow me up to our bedroom and conk out up there. She is a total velcro girl all day, but at that time in the evening she is "Ms. Independent!" and not only will she not go outside, she doesn't go upstairs with us when we go to bed. She'll lie downstairs in the dark for quite some time before she decides to drag herself up to (her other) bed. That part is fine. Its just the turnout thing that is a problem. I used to be able to bribe her with chicken jerky but she is now on the Z/D diet and can't eat anything except that kibble and its corresponding treats (blah). When I try to entice her with it, she looks up lazily at me as if to say, "Is that all ya' got?!"

 

I think I've tried everything (including having my husband ring the doorbell ). One night I let her be, thinking maybe she just doesn't need to go that late--her last potty had been a little before 7pm. Well, that morning I was rewarded with a 4am sweet whiney wakeup call. Not optimal. (She's usually "conked" by 7:30 and taking her before she "conks" results in the very early wakeup call.) I do not want to drag her up and I will not bribe her with delectables she cannot eat. And honestly, how many times will the doorbell work before she ignores that? (Just joking-I only did that once.)

 

So I'm open to suggestions...perhaps there is nothing else I can do, except be prepared for the 4am wakeup whine?

 

Here's a pic of Ms. Snoozy Q when she's not so snoozy:

[Trihounds]

Not uncommon!

 

How about putting her collar / leash on and ensuring she gets up....walk her to the door, then out? It's a safer way than either picking her up or grabbing her collar, etc. But yes, they are lazy....

[GreyTzu]

You are the boss, make her get up and go outside.

 

Danger tries to do this and I simply make him get off his ass and get out the door.

[Guest Eyeblaura]

Enzo has done this too, he hasn't ever gotten us up in the middle of the night and he has a bladder of steel so I don't know if he would. That being said I have never not let him go out for the last turn out. I have 2 kids who don't always let me sleep all night I don't need a dog waking me up too I have had to physically bring him downstairs by his collar before when he won't come down on his own. Maybe he's learned he won't get off the hook because *knock wood* he hasn't done it in awhile.

[gracegirl]

You are the boss, make her get up and go outside.

 

Danger tries to do this and I simply make him get off his ass and get out the door.

 

Typically one of our three will refuse last call. Since we've had each of them over 5 years we know them well enough to physically make them get up. (A poke to the butt or taking them by the collar.) Otherwise I'd suggest clipping the leash on and going out. Use the same word (outside, move, get) and hopefully soon it will become habit.

[Ragsysmum]

I wouldn't let any of mine refuse to get up and move when I asked them to.....you never know if you might need them to move in a hurry for some reason. If she is likely to grumble if you make her move, I would clip a lead on and make her go out until she does a wee at least. After a couple of times she will get the message I am sure, and start to get up and go out for a last toilet break more quickly. No way I would be having to get up in the early hours to let mine out unless of course the dog was too old or sick to last the night.

[phall]

A number of years ago when our sweet girl, Sara, was with us, she would do this. When she first came home to us at age 8 (she was a bounce), she started doing this. Nothing could convince her to go out - treats, bribes for rides in the car, putting her leash on and dragging her out, etc. Finally, I decided to see what would happen if I didn't put her out for last call. (Most times she had been out earlier in the evening). She never, never had an accident in the house. I left it to her - if she really didn't want to go out this last time, I didn't force her. It was never a problem.

 

Pat

[JohnF]

Peggy will do this if it is wet and windy out. What motivates her with the outside is stray cats and hedgehogs so if I rattle the keys and go open the door she usually ventures out to check for 'invaders' and does 'potty stuff' as an afterthought.

[Guest june]

"'nite-time-potty-thing" are the magic words at our house. I don't give many treats, but they always get one after last potty break. One of mine still will drag her feet, but will eventually come because she knows she won't get a treat unless she goes out. Only took one time of the others getting treats without her for her to go to the door

[Feisty49]

Good suggestions above. If I want Annie Bella to do something, I leash her up, have the "let's go" attitude in my demeanor and leash action, and that usually does the trick. Fortunately, Annie Bella can go 10 to 12 hours at night without peeing and sometimes the "problem" is getting her to come downstairs in the morning to do the first morning P&P.

 

For instance, last night we got back from a walk at 6:30 PM, during which she left lots of peemail. She then zonked out on her bed, not even getting up to go upstairs with me (though sometime during the night she did 'cause she was in my bedroom this morning). At 6:10 AM, I'm up and starting coffee downstairs, and she's still snoozing. I've got a busy day, and so does she because we're visiting friends, so I called her down at 6:20, but it took 4 insistent "Annie Bella, come," before her head appeared at the top of the stairs and she trotted down, yawning.

[GeorgeofNE]

You are the boss, make her get up and go outside.

 

Danger tries to do this and I simply make him get off his ass and get out the door.

 

 

Exactly. Snap on her leash and give her a cheery, "Let's go" and if she doesn't, give her a little tug and release, and put on your I Mean It voice!

[Yamaha_gurl]

Instead of the leash, you can try wiggling your foot gently under her butt...my Bella jumps up so fast, then again she's an odd ball and doesn't like people feet touching her

[Guest itsagreytlife]

You are the boss, make her get up and go outside.

 

Danger tries to do this and I simply make him get off his ass and get out the door.

 

 

Exactly. Snap on her leash and give her a cheery, "Let's go" and if she doesn't, give her a little tug and release, and put on your I Mean It voice!

 

Ok then. This is exactly what I do (anyone who knows me knows I am definitely not shy about being in charge of the animals.) I hook her up to leash, say "outside," like always, or whatever, & she wil not move. I tug, unleash, leash, & do it again with my I Mean It Voice and nothing. I don't want to tug her too much--I heard I could damage her throat or something. But that's the only thing that works--pulling her up and dragging her off until she comes willingly. Then praise her effusively, treat her right outside the door and tell her to get busy. Seems a bit extreme, but if that's what I gotta do, okay. I too insist on being the one in charge, but she doesn't seem to get the point after doing this every night. I know she hates it cuz she gives a yelp like I'm cutting her neck off. I also have a kid as well as several cats, one which is senile and tends to be very needy thru the night. Need all the sleep I can get. Thx for the replies.

[Feisty49]

You are the boss, make her get up and go outside.

 

Danger tries to do this and I simply make him get off his ass and get out the door.

 

 

Exactly. Snap on her leash and give her a cheery, "Let's go" and if she doesn't, give her a little tug and release, and put on your I Mean It voice!

 

Ok then. This is exactly what I do (anyone who knows me knows I am definitely not shy about being in charge of the animals.) I hook her up to leash, say "outside," like always, or whatever, & she wil not move. I tug, unleash, leash, & do it again with my I Mean It Voice and nothing. I don't want to tug her too much--I heard I could damage her throat or something. But that's the only thing that works--pulling her up and dragging her off until she comes willingly. Then praise her effusively, treat her right outside the door and tell her to get busy. Seems a bit extreme, but if that's what I gotta do, okay. I too insist on being the one in charge, but she doesn't seem to get the point after doing this every night. I know she hates it cuz she gives a yelp like I'm cutting her neck off. I also have a kid as well as several cats, one which is senile and tends to be very needy thru the night. Need all the sleep I can get. Thx for the replies.

 

To lend you support here, not relating to peeing but relating to doing what SHE wants to do: My Annie Bella is known for stopping and sky watching. I am firm. I am insistent. I am The Mom. Yah right. She will move, but I have to walk to her, take her chin in my hand, look into her eyes and say, "Annie, move.. now!" And that usually does it. Occasionally I have to give her a push on her shoulder area to get the feet unglued. I know your Grey is laying down so you can't give him a push, but I just want to let you know that I understand sometimes no matter what, our in-charge voice is not enough (and anybody with teenagers can relate ).

[MaryJane]

So common with all the new fosters that I had - last potty was always tough ...

 

I never let them get away with it because they probably wouldn't be able to hold it through the night since our early morning call was between 6 to 7am so they needed to get out at 10pm or so. I would usually either put the leash on them or stand there with my "I mean it voice" and say "time for pee" and point to the door. If I needed to resort to the leash, it was usually only for a few days and then they would usually get up with no problem after that.

[winnie]

Sorry for the laugh, but this sounds so much like our greyhound Celeste. She is our youngest dog, but takes L-A-Z-Y to another level. We used to have to nudge her out of bed and drag her butt outside. She figured it out soon enough. Still, sometimes she'll just stand at the top of the stairs and not go down - we just stand behind her waving a leg - call it the "motivator" like they use in that game show Wipe Out.

[NeylasMom]

 

Ok then. This is exactly what I do (anyone who knows me knows I am definitely not shy about being in charge of the animals.) I hook her up to leash, say "outside," like always, or whatever, & she wil not move. I tug, unleash, leash, & do it again with my I Mean It Voice and nothing. I don't want to tug her too much--I heard I could damage her throat or something. But that's the only thing that works--pulling her up and dragging her off until she comes willingly. Then praise her effusively, treat her right outside the door and tell her to get busy. Seems a bit extreme, but if that's what I gotta do, okay. I too insist on being the one in charge, but she doesn't seem to get the point after doing this every night. I know she hates it cuz she gives a yelp like I'm cutting her neck off. I also have a kid as well as several cats, one which is senile and tends to be very needy thru the night. Need all the sleep I can get. Thx for the replies.

If she's yelping, you're hurting her. How is that an acceptable solution?

 

Why don't you try training her to go outside when asked at another time of day? Pick a specific cue and give it when you know she'll listen, then reward heavily. You could try doing it in the morning before she's had breakfast and have her work for her kibble that way since she's on a restricted diet. Work in short sessions when she's hungry and motivated and do multiple repeats until she has the cue really solid. Then use it at bedtime. You'll want to reinforce for her coming to the cue periodically from now until eternity, but if you do, then the one time a day that you really need it, she'll respond even if she's not hungry.

 

I would also try to find a treat that is motivating that she can eat. Z/D is a chicken based diet, can she not have cooked chicken breast cut into tiny little pieces?

[EnzaFerrari]

I find walking over to the cookie jar will get Enza up off the sofa in a heart beat.

[PrairieProf]

I routinely get Beth up for "last call" with a few spoonfuls of yogurt, much easier than dragging her or trying to tip her off the bed, so I see your issue. However, assuming Selah eats the Z/D for her meals willingly, I can't imagine a grey that won't get up for food even if it's not an exciting treat. Beth is very conditioned to the sound of a spoon clanking on her metal bowl as I put the yogurt in -- she can be in a dead sleep but will be trotting into the kitchen within ten seconds when she hears it ... I'm sure if I were giving her an extra treat of kibble rather than the yogurt, it would still work if I did it that way -- but not necessarily if I were just waving a handful of kibble in front of her as she lay on the bed. So in other words, let her hear that she's getting an additional feeding; feed her a bit less earlier on if that helps.

 

(Z/D is NOT chicken based, or whatever it comes from originally it uses hydrolyzed protein and nothing with regular protein of any kind can be substituted, so the OP is correct here.)

Edited April 18, 2012 by PrairieProf

[Beachbum1]

Last night, when Taylor wouldn't get up, I tried the leash.....nothing.

Then I put my hands under his shoulders and went to lift him up a little......head hung down....tongue on the floor.

LOL......like picking up a very long sack of potatoes!

We'll see how tonight goes.

[christinepi]

One thing that nobody's addressed so far is that you wrote this has been a recent thing (last two months). How long have you had her? Did she go out ok before? If so, what may have changed? Could this be medical (doesn't sound like it, but...)? Behavioral? At any rate, there could be an explanation other than stubbornness, is all I'm saying.

[turbotaina]

Ok then. This is exactly what I do (anyone who knows me knows I am definitely not shy about being in charge of the animals.) I hook her up to leash, say "outside," like always, or whatever, & she wil not move. I tug, unleash, leash, & do it again with my I Mean It Voice and nothing. I don't want to tug her too much--I heard I could damage her throat or something. But that's the only thing that works--pulling her up and dragging her off until she comes willingly. Then praise her effusively, treat her right outside the door and tell her to get busy. Seems a bit extreme, but if that's what I gotta do, okay. I too insist on being the one in charge, but she doesn't seem to get the point after doing this every night. I know she hates it cuz she gives a yelp like I'm cutting her neck off. I also have a kid as well as several cats, one which is senile and tends to be very needy thru the night. Need all the sleep I can get. Thx for the replies.

If she's yelping, you're hurting her. How is that an acceptable solution?

 

Why don't you try training her to go outside when asked at another time of day? Pick a specific cue and give it when you know she'll listen, then reward heavily. You could try doing it in the morning before she's had breakfast and have her work for her kibble that way since she's on a restricted diet. Work in short sessions when she's hungry and motivated and do multiple repeats until she has the cue really solid. Then use it at bedtime. You'll want to reinforce for her coming to the cue periodically from now until eternity, but if you do, then the one time a day that you really need it, she'll respond even if she's not hungry.

 

I would also try to find a treat that is motivating that she can eat. Z/D is a chicken based diet, can she not have cooked chicken breast cut into tiny little pieces?

 

Yep, what Jen said. You need to train her first and eventually it'll become habit for her, no matter what time she's asked.

[NeylasMom]

I'm just going to add one thing - consider what's going on from your dog's perspective at this point. You call her to go out and then what follows is her being leashed, unleashed, tugged on, yelled at, tugged on some more so much that it hurts and she cries out, etc. You could very easily be creating a vicious cycle where now she's just shutting down when you come over with the leash because all of this bad stuff is about to happen and she doesn't actually know what you want her to DO.

[Guest Tequila]

I can relate!

 

Tequila will often hesitate to get up for last potty break. Here is what works for us: First, I'll clap my hands (that's my way of telling her I'm serious). Clap! Clap! And a "Let's GO!" If she refuses to budge, I'll clap louder and faster. (it saves the voice, less yelling! ) And if that doesn't work, I'll do the previously mentioned "gentle wiggling of a foot under her backside." That always causes her to jump up.

 

I don't know if you mentioned having a treat waiting, when she returns? I know you said she's on a special diet, and could only use certain things to "bribe" her to get up....but do you give a treat when she returns from her bathroom break? I leave a cookie (it's a Nutro Natural Choice Tartar Control Dog Biscuit actually...but I tell her it's a cookie, and she believes me... because she believes everything I tell her ) on her bed...and she RUNS back to get the cookie! So even when she's really being lazy, the thought of having a cookie as a "reward" after her potty break is usually enough to get her to go outside.

 

Try the hand clapping thing maybe?

[GeorgeofNE]

Ok then. This is exactly what I do (anyone who knows me knows I am definitely not shy about being in charge of the animals.) I hook her up to leash, say "outside," like always, or whatever, & she wil not move. I tug, unleash, leash, & do it again with my I Mean It Voice and nothing. I don't want to tug her too much--I heard I could damage her throat or something. But that's the only thing that works--pulling her up and dragging her off until she comes willingly. Then praise her effusively, treat her right outside the door and tell her to get busy. Seems a bit extreme, but if that's what I gotta do, okay. I too insist on being the one in charge, but she doesn't seem to get the point after doing this every night. I know she hates it cuz she gives a yelp like I'm cutting her neck off. I also have a kid as well as several cats, one which is senile and tends to be very needy thru the night. Need all the sleep I can get. Thx for the replies.

If she's yelping, you're hurting her. How is that an acceptable solution?

 

 

 

Or she's a drama queen!