Expert: Jill Connor, Ph.D. - 1/21/2008

Question
My husband and I have a male shnoodle he is 7 months old and we are
having a problem with him going #2 on the pee pads we have put down in
our house. We have one in our down stairs bathroom and one upstairs in
our room. He goes pee on them regularly, but he will only go #2 in our
upstairs hallway. We even bought a steam cleaner with the enzyme stuff to
get the smell of old pee out of that area, but it has not seamed to
work.  We are at the end of our robe and sick of tripping on poo. It has
become something we just look for in the morning.  Anything you say
would only help at this point. Thank you!!
Kelsey"


Answer
The "wee wee" pad is chemically treated to attract urination.  Defecation is an entirely different matter.  There is no indication to the dog that this is also the place to defecate.  One large problem of housetraining a dog to such articles is that the dog often generalizes it to mean that anywhere in his living space is OK to use.  You might want to extinguish all indoor elimination but, at 7 months of age, his behavior to urinating indoors is pretty well set and taking this behavior outside will require a lot of patience and some weeks of effort, although it CAN be done successfully.  Pooping outdoors (or in designated areas indoors) is often the very last thing that falls into place when a dog is being housetrained.  Even pups who are rock solid about urinating outdoors will have poop related mistakes indoors.

The first obvious solution to this problem is to prevent the dog from gaining access to the place in the hallway he seems to have chosen for defecation.  Dogs do habitually return to the same general area to defecate, even outdoors.  A 7 month old puppy is far too immature to be allowed full run of any living space without his owners' supervision, so confining him to your room (where there is a pad) and not allowing him access to the rest of the house unless he is under your supervision will prevent him from making this "mistake" again.  You can also remove the poop and place it on, or near, the pad in the hope of persuading him that this is the appropriate location.  You need to observe when this biological urge occurs.  Unfortunately, when using indoor space for a dog's elimination, it is not possible to accompany him at the appointed time because he is being allowed to urinate at will and is not on leash outside with you on the other end with a treat.  You must quietly, and not obviously, observe his appropriate defecation there and then lavishly praise him every single time.  Once a dog makes the connection between its behavior and praise/food reward, the dog will eliminate that behavior when it is not rewarded.  This will take time and patience.  Remember, you chose to allow this puppy to eliminate indoors rather than outdoors.  This is not his fault.  Use patience and loving kindness and in a few months your problem will be solved.