We have a 12 month old Bichon Frise Female Puppy. She is as a rule house trained, but we have problems. I find her infuriating although I'm sure it's our fault. I take her out for a walk first thing on a morning & last thing at night at which time she does a wee & poo.
My wife when she has chance takes her out during the day. However if she is in the garden she generally doesn't wee & definitely never poos. She has been in the garden most of this afternoon & as soon as we bring her indoors she wees in the kitchen (when no-one is looking). I want to get away from her weeing & pooing on walks so have been trying to stand in the garden while she does her business. I stood there for an hour & nothing, put the lead on started the walk & she produced straight away.
The problem with walking her & pooing is that she never lets us no she needs to go out.
We started doing the walking because we were standing in the garden for hours with her when we first got her & she never did anything & we thought that the exercise of a walk would get her going.
She always soiled her cage from first getting her & this has only just stopped.
So I need to know how can we get her back on track? I know that it's harder with an older dog. I know about rewarding her with treats but she won't go at all to give her the reward.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance...

hi

i undertsand you completely - our border collie wasnt fully house trained til she was nearly 13 months - and she would also dirty her cage. we found in the end her problem was due to inconsitancy - my partner worked shifts so come home at differnt times - but as soon as my partner came home they got let out - this was a different time each day so she didnt know when she was going out. As soon as we identified the problem she learnt very quickly.

my advice to you would be have a strict plan for her when she eats, when she sleeps, what time you take her out etc.... also maybe section a bit of your garden off for her - so its hers - and i know this might sound a bit disgusting bit next time she does a poo in the house instead of throwing it away put in her the part of the garden you want her to go to the toliet and maybe with her smell out there she might get the hint????

hope some of this helps - and it improves soon,

susie and the gang

__________________
Theres nothing better than coming home to hugs and kisses.....

http://drawn-to-animals.webs.com - pet portrait artist

hi,
i am currently house training my new 8 week old rottie pup vegas, so i completely know what you mean. it can be very frustrating!

even though you have got an older dog, you can still revert back to toilet training sprays, the simple solution toileting spray will help her toilet outside. just spray it on the ground and when she smells it she will want to go to the toilet. make sure she sniffs it, if she doesnt, just be patient and when she goes for a wee praise her and then reward her with a treat. you can continue doing this when you let her out to toilet, this may take a few times for her as it will be all new again, but dont worry she will get it. just remember positive reinforcement and treats when she does what you want her to do. when she knows to wee outside and she gets a treat then she will eventually do poos outside as well, again when she does this use positive reinforcement!

she will eventuall get it again, you just need to be consistent and patient with her. if she sees you are unhappy and frustrated when she is outside in the garden not doing what you want her to do, then she will learn that the garden is not a good place and she wont go to the toilet because of this. try to be calm and assertive and try not to get frustrated with her, she will learn quicker if you are on a good level when you take her out!

hope this helps, let me know how she gets on.
if you need any more help then please ask and i will try my best to help!

Hello, I have a bichon who is 4 months old. I also have the problem that although she will go outside I have to make sure she is outside when she needs to be. I have taken her for walks at times and she has peed on her return so this is what i did..... In the very beginning i got a diary and put down when she fed and then when she peed and pooed - this is helpful as you then have some idea about her body and how long it takes her to go to the toilet. With my puppy I find that about 2 hours after eating she will poo. She will poo and pee in the morning although it can take up to half an hour for her to do her morning poo which is sometimes done in the house if i cant watch her in the garden (the wee comes pretty quickly). She is also crate trained but it might be an idea to completely clean and flush out any smells which she associates with going to the toilet or using a smaller crate - sometimes if they are too big there is enough room to pee poo and sleep!
I am not saying that i have solved the problem and I am now investing in some 'poochie bells' you can order them on line, they have a website for more information. The point of them is to get you dog to ring them when they want to go out to the toilet. Mind you in your case you need to make sure she is going in the garden. When I have calculated times, waited for a poo and been rewarded, as the dog is going i have a word to associate - my word is 'busy busy' and she gets lots of praise and treats - rather like a doggie jackpot! You can also you a clicker to mark the correct behaviour which goes after the word. I hope that eventually she will go on command but i do get the idea that at least she knows what i am asking her to do. I hope that some of my ramblings help. I have also been told that for some dogs it can take months to house train and some bichons can be stubborn in this area. Patience, perserverance and i have to say that puppy training classes helped also.

Thanks for the advice everyone...sorry I didn't reply earlier I lost my login & lost all my emails.

She is now house trained although she gives no indication of when she wants to go she's only been once in the house (on a brand new carpet fitted hours earlier) in the last couple of months.

I just take her for walks & she does it first thing in the morning & last thing at night. If we're in the garden which isn't much this year with the weather she goes as & when.

I'll look at the poochie bells as she is easy to train in every other department.