Will she ever get it? (toilet training)

[GinnyB]

I'm starting to wonder if Elsie will ever be trustworthy in the toilet department 

She is 11 months old now and although, on the whole, she is clean and dry, I can by no means claim to have her fully trained. She's just done a poo in the middle of the kitchen, despite the fact that I have the door open at all times. I had thought that she was clean until one day last week when she left me a deposit and now this one today. I make sure she goes out into the garden every hour and I do stay with her till she has had a wee and I take her out for walks twice a day.

I'm struggling to know what more I can do. Mali was fully clean and dry within weeks of coming home 
In so many ways, Elsie is a much better behaved dog than Mali, I can trust her anywhere offlead and her recall is wonderful. I'm getting to the end of my tether with the toilet training though. Any suggestions?

[Ninasmum]

One of my girls, Nina, was similar to Elsie.    She was about the same age as Elsie is now before it finally sunk in.    They all do eventually 'get it' in the end though, its just some puppies do take a lot longer than others. 

Also, just crossed my mind....has Elsie had her 1st season yet?  Its just sometimes this could also be related...if she is coming into her 1st season it can upset them slightly    I'm sure Nina had a little spell of this just before her 1st one at 14/15 months.

[GinnyB]

Well that's a relief. OH convinced me that Elsie would pick it up even faster tha Mali because she had her to learn from 

Both Elsie and Mali were spayed before their first season so I can't blame that, sadly.

I'm sure that spending almost a month in kennels when I was stuck overseas due to the ash cloud didn't help. She was weeing every ten minutes after we got her home (or at least it seemed to be that often) but it did settle down after a few days. I just wish it would click sooner than later so that I can be confident of leaving her at home for an hour or so.

[Ninasmum]

I also thought the same as your OH.  As Nina was the youngest, then logically i thought she would copy the older dogs but no its not the case. 

Of course i forgot you were the lady stuck in Dubai....i think that probably explains it.    Elsie probably got used to doing her wees/poos in the kennels, so it will take a little time for her to settle back in.

Glad you got home safely....it must have been a huge relief. 

[GinnyB]

Massive relief! I'm trying to avoid putting them back in for a while - I've even ducked out of a family wedding reception next weekend so that I can keep them with us. 

[Nicola]

I think it's just a matter of time and perseverance really, some of them are definitely a lot slower to house train, Caoimhe's just on 15 months old now and she's still not 100% reliable, she definitely didn't learn anything from Tilly and Rodaidh on that score. I think her having been kennelled for a while before I got her and then being down at the gundog kennels periodically hasn't helped her house training. She's made huge progress in the last couple of months, she's definitely getting there but she still has the odd accident. I've stopped crating her as she was peeing on her (changed every day) blankets in the crate almost every night and sometimes pooing as well, she's much better now that she's sleeping in the kitchen with Rodaidh although she will still often just go on the kitchen floor if she doesn't get out by 7am (only pee though, not poo). I was going to mention the season thing as well as that definitely affects her. I know she's capable of holding it - if I let her sleep with me she'll happily snooze until 9 or 10am but if she's in the kitchen she has to get out by 7

[GinnyB]

Thanks for that, Nicola, it was very reassuring to read. I think I should count my blessings in a way. Elsie is crated in my room at night and she's never wet or soiled in there. I'd like to allow her to just have her bed in the room as Mali does but I wouldn't be able to trust her out of the crate. As it is, she wakes around 6ish to go to the loo and then comes back to sleep on the bed with Mali and me.

I think that as with all things, we need to know that it's not just our dog who is struggling with a certain issue. That's why this place is so good, without this site I would only have Mali to compare Elsie with and that was never gooing to be reassuring 

Thanks again x

[Maria n Dennis]

My OH also thought that having Dennis to show him the toilet training ropes that he would get the hang of it quickly , Sadly this is not the case at all and some days it really dosnt feel like we are ever going to get there. Douglas is 9 month old now and has days where he has no accidents , but has days where he will wee anywhere despite going out every 30 mins to an hour and will even wee when hes just had one outside and he comes in and does another. I keep telling myself to just stick with it and we WILL get there 

[GinnyB]

That's great to hear.... if you're me 

I'm sure they do it on purpose sometimes