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How can I get my dog to stop peeing before we're actually out the door?
We have a 3 and a half month old border collie and she is a great listener and very easy to train. We were quickly able to housebreak her and barring the occasional excitement induced dribble, she's great...with one exception. On occasion she will get timid when it's time to go out. She often will end up peeing either in the doorway or in the hall on the way out of the building. We're very diligent in making sure she gets outside regularly and she shows no signs of being uncomfortable or distressed prior to the point where we tell her we're going outside. She looks at us sheepishly, has the accident and attempts to run away. We give her a stern no and when we get outside and she goes again, we praise her and make a big to do about it. I know she gets it because you can tell by her body language that she's aware she's doing something we won't like. But she just keeps on doing it. This is her only behavioral problem so it's an obstacle that we can't wait to overcome. The vet ruled out a UTI (which we didn't think it was anyways). It bears mentioning that this is a relatively recent development with her. She never did this until about 2 weeks ago. We're always with her and nothing traumatic is in her past. I was concerned that maybe she was trying to avoid going outside for some reason, but she's as happy as can be once we get out there.
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Member 996791
on Jul 13th 2010
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Okay, drop the stern 'no.' The urinating could be fear induced- you mention that she acts timid when it's time to go out. Ignore messes that happen in the house; praise and feed for messes outisde. If you say 'no' or otherwise punish the dog, you're setting yourself up to fail.
With her breed and your description of her behavior, I'd bet money she's peeing out of fear- submissive peeing. Her body language doesn't say that she's aware she's doing something that you don't like, it's saying that she is afraid of you.
What happens is that if she ever, ever gets punished for using the bathroom, she isn't associating it with where the mess was but with the mess itself. Punishing her for pottying in the wrong place just makes her afraid to potty; she doesn't know when you're going to be happy and when you're going to punish her.
Check out the book New Dog, Old Tricks by Ian Dunbar or stop by the Dogster behavior forum for more advice
Member 844504
answered on 7/14/10.
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My oldest dog Hector did this exact same thing. Here is what worked for us. Sounds a bit corny, but it did the trick.
When he peed in the doorway or in the garage before making it all the way outside, I would say "uh oh" in a down but not harsh voice, more like a dissapointed voice. I would stop the walk and clean up the mess while he watched, so he would understand the dissapointment. Then we began to make a game of it, I would act excited to go out, and repeat, "hurry, hurry" and kind of run in place. Hector would be excited and want to keep up with me, so he hurried to stay near me, and when we cleared the "no zone" I would relax and say, "okay, we made it." where he would then get interested in the outside events and smells and do his business. He got high praises for doing so.
It took about 4 days, before this habit was broken, but we did it everytime we went out, many times a day.
So make a game of it, and see if it works for your dog too.
Good luck!!
Hector
answered on 7/14/10.
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