Inevitable Doolin potty training post

[ramonaghan]

Boys: they are different.  

I have read through many threads and would like to get thoughts on whether there's anything we could or should be doing differently to get Doolin into a routine. He's had a few accidents overnight despite multiple opportunities to go throughout the day. We're only 17 days in, and I absolutely realize this boy has had a lot of change in a short time (last race in late April, adopted in late May, owner died, and we adopted him in late June), so the answer may well be "time and patience" and that's fine!

Our ideal schedule (AKA what always worked for Sweep):

7:00–7:30: Breakfast and a 20-30 min walk depending on temps (will increase length in fall)
Noonish: Potty break and treat
4:00–4:30: Dinner and a 15-20 min walk depending on temps (will increase length in fall)
6:30: Dental treat, optional potty break
9:30–10: Last out, bedtime cookie

What's actually happening:

5–6a: Doolin whiiiiiiiines and paces, Rachel goes downstairs when he is quiet, takes him out, he doesn't do anything.
6–7: Repeat above.
7:30: Breakfast and 20-30 min walk. Multiple pees and 1 or 2 poops.
8–4: Napping with periodic outings to the backyard. He may or may not pee and almost never poops.
4–4:30: Dinner and a 15-20 min walk, usually several pees.
6:30: Dental treat, optional potty break.
9:30: Pry him out of bed, try to get him to pee/poop with mixed results.
12–1a: Pace and whine, Rachel goes downstairs when he is quiet, takes him out. Sometimes a pee or poop, sometimes not. 

I slept on the couch downstairs the first two weeks to be with him. Our one stair training session seemed to scare him to death, so we've set that aside for now. That means he's not sleeping in our bedroom. He settles for bedtime easily and doesn't complain when we go upstairs for the night. But I'd really like to avoid the midnight and 5am unproductive outings. I really try not to reinforce the whining and wait until he's quiet for a minute before checking on him, and I try not to make a fuss over him in the wee hours (no pun intended). We also have an Adaptil diffuser plugged in where he sleeps.  

He has been fearful of the backyard at night since the 4th (and 3rd...and 5th...and 6th ). I took him out the front door last night and around the block and that worked much better. I was optimistic because he peed four times and pooped on that outing. Still, he'd filled his belly band when he woke me pacing at 1am.

His last out at the kennel was at 7:30pm and first out was 6am. So do I just ignore him overnight? It's like he has a hollow leg until the middle of the night.  At Miss Jan's suggestion, yesterday we left a belly band on him all day and removed it only when he went outside. He doesn't have accidents during the day, but this will hopefully help him make the association. 

Thank you if you made it this far! He is the *sweetest* chattery boy, but this whole housebreaking thing is new territory for us. 

Obligatory pretzel leg photo.

Edited July 11, 2022 by ramonaghan
clarity

[Jerilyn]

I'm no help for most of this, but are you putting potties on a cue? Like when he goes, "good boy go pee", "good boy go poop".  Obviously you can't make him go, but I find it's a good reminder about what they are supposed to be doing instead of just wandering around out there. At least you can try to get him to go when he's out there.  Good luck!

[ramonaghan]

2 minutes ago, Jerilyn said:

I'm no help for most of this, but are you putting potties on a cue? Like when he goes, "good boy go pee", "good boy go poop".  Obviously you can't make him go, but I find it's a good reminder about what they are supposed to be doing instead of just wandering around out there. At least you can try to get him to go when he's out there.  Good luck!

Yep! We always say "go potty" and super-happy "good boy!" when he does. 

[HeyRunDog]

Might be totally wrong but I wonder if there is something in the dental chew that acts as a diuretic or makes the dog thirsty so they drink more with obvious results several hours later?

 

[Jasmine]

My boy used to whine in the night to go out and we just ignored him. Our routine is:

8am walk & wee /poo (breakfast aftee)

1pm 10 min walk for wees (but often doesn't go toilet)

6pm walk usually wee and poo (dinner after)

10.30pm 10 min walk for wee 

 

Since the first few we eks we've had no mess in the house and he only whines now if he really has to go. I would ignore the nighttime calls if I were you. I also wouldn't worry about him not being in your bedroom. I think that's a super American thing because everyone here I know in Ireland has their dog sleep in the kitchen or living room. How anyone who let's their dog sleep in the bedroom gets romantic I will never know!!!

[ramonaghan]

7 minutes ago, Jasmine said:

Since the first few we eks we've had no mess in the house and he only whines now if he really has to go. I would ignore the nighttime calls if I were you. I also wouldn't worry about him not being in your bedroom. I think that's a super American thing because everyone here I know in Ireland has their dog sleep in the kitchen or living room. How anyone who let's their dog sleep in the bedroom gets romantic I will never know!!!

Thanks! I've been ignoring the whining and I'm happy to report he's slept until 6 a.m. the past couple of days. Although he had filled his belly band yesterday morning, it was dry this morning!  I think it's starting to click for him. Another Greytalker suggested a licky mat at bedtime for some mental exercise and I think that's helped as well.

Since he doesn't seem to mind sleeping downstairs, I think we'll just stick with that. Our girl slept downstairs the last couple of years when she wouldn't/couldn't do the stairs anymore, so we've gotten rather used to that anyway. 

[gracegirl]

I think the licky mat helps calm some anxiety in dogs as well, so some brain work plus anxiety relief is a good combo. Keep it up pal. Learning stairs is next.