My 6 month old puppy is resistant to house training, how can I correct the situation?
I have a male 6 month old Siberian Husky puppy. I am in the navy and work from 5-1500 or so. When I first got him he would pee and poop in his kennel and have no issue frolicking in it. After a few weeks he stopped doing it. I expected it considering his age and how long he was in a crate for, and did not punish him or anything. I would give him a bath and then clean his kennel. After a few weeks he stopped doing that and also stopped wasting in the house (which he was also doing when I first got him. No big I understand I have to teach him). Then we got a new dog. And basically had to start from square one because they are roughly a month apart and the new puppy made him start wasting inside the house again. After we re-trained them both. We got into a routine. And the routine worked until recently. My husky has issues from time to time but the Australian Shepherd is totally house broken. But basically until recently Link (my husky) might piddle on the carpet and I would correct it. Now he piddles in the house.
Examples of this are as such:
I leave him alone in my room and he will piddle on the carpet (I believe this to be separation anxiety because he does it not only in my room but if it’s just him and the other dog in the house and I go to grab something from my truck he will do it) so I believe I know this reason. And I will be working with him to correct it.
When I go into the living room after just letting them inside (because they spend a lot of time outside playing) and I know for a fact he just wasted in both ways quite a bit. I’ll go into another room or turn my back on him for a few minutes and turn around and he's piddled on the hardwood. Or wasted on it. Or he has one area in the living room he constantly is peeing. Now I do clean up where he has peed. I use a combination of oxyclean and natures miracle. Hot water. And let it soak for a minute because of the carpet pad. But he always seems to do it a lot in that area.
The one I think that angers me the most is when he comes into the kitchen or the living room where I am and then looks at me and then starts peeing.
I really don’t know what else to do. I’ve tried rewarding him, I’ve tried aversive training. I just really am at my wits end. I don’t want to get rid of him. But eventually I’m going to live in an apartment not a big house. And I don’t want this to be a problem then. He also has a large tendency to chew on everything even though he has plenty of chew toys and knows what to chew on and not to.
His wasting schedule is as such:
Wake up in the morning, let him out of his kennel, he goes downstairs and waits at the backdoor. I open the door. He goes outside and pee's sometimes wastes. If he doesn’t waste immediately. I call him back in. Feed him, then let him outside again. Usually he wastes then.
From that point on he gets let out roughly every 1-2 hours throughout the day. If he’s not outside already. When its night time towards the end of the evening. He gets fed again and same routine. Let outside right after and usually wastes and pees. I stop giving him water around this point to prevent kennel accidents. It’s usually 2-3 hours before I go to sleep at this point so I will let him outside just before sleep. He pees and then goes to his kennel.
Yet despite a pretty flexible and yet normal schedule and routine. He will still come in and waste when I’m not looking or pee as he walks or pee after looking at me in one spot. Now if this is some cry for attention I don’t understand because he gets attention galore. We have roughly 5 or so people in my house. And they all pet and play with him. Including myself.
I really am at my wits end. And I hate to say it but unless I find a better route. I have electronic collars on the way from amazon. They have a beep (Very loud) vibrate. And shock function. And I will train him with it if I must. I don’t like having to punish him. But he knows when he does it that it makes me angry. Because he does it right in front of me. And as soon as I say no or go to let him outside he immediately bolts from me to go hide either in his kennel or in a corner.
Please somebody help me. This is the one and only problem I’m having with him. I can train him not to chew on things or to behave about plenty of stuff but he just will not stop wasting inside and I’m at my wits end.
Thank you.
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Considering he bolts from you and pees in front of you, it seems to me he may be doing it so you are NOT pissed off anymore!
With the behaviour of hiding from you, and the amount of people around him who pet him all the time, he may just be overwhelmed, and you are seeing submissive urination. Ad there are a lot of strategies in dog-training, I will leave you with this keyword, so you can look up the strategy that fits into your preferred training-method :).
Addition for this special case:
I just remembered your military background! So, some additional hints:
Try being aware of your body posture: standing straight up, shoulders wide, chest directly towards the puppy may intimidate him. If you do that, try standing sideways, bend down a little, in general, make yourself a bit smaller.
Something similar with your tone of voice: I would imagine that you normally use a deep, loud, carrying voice? This will be intimidating to a puppy, even if incredibly useful on a navy ship. When dealing with your puppy, adopt a more quiet, higher-pitched voice.
It may be useful to know how you greet the puppy when coming home. Try to be absolutely DELIGHTED to see him: kneel down, use a high voice. If he has already made a mess while you where away, DON'T react to that. I know that will possibly be the hardest part, but your puppy will not be able to understand that you are angry because he pooped on the floor a while ago, he will just realise "The boss is angry, better appease him!"
Also: make sure everyone on your house is on the same page at treating your puppy as you are: the more consistent and predictable the humans around him are, the easier it will be for the puppy to be calm and NOT afraid.
I am not sure you can add any more direct training, but perhaps someone else can chime in on that :).
Oh, and when you ARE angry at your puppy: try taking a mental step back from that and remind yourself of these things:
He is just a puppy
He really really wants to please you
to him, you are very intimidating
and very confusing.
I hope that will work or at least help a bit :).
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