Expert: Alan J Turner, SATS LL1 - 12/23/2007

Question
My 10-month old Malti-poo has been trained to pee outside but she will not poop anywhere but in the house on a rug by the back door or on the rug in the dining room.  I take her outside 20 or 30 minutes after she eats and stand around forever but she will not poop outside.  When I bring her in, the minute I look away she has pooped in the house.  I do not scold her, since I did not catch her in the act.  I pick it up while she is watching me and then we go outside and I drop it on the grass.  All the time I am repeating "outside" so she will somehow make the connection.  This has been going on for months.  When she was a very young puppy she would do it outside, though she wasn't ever actually house-broken.  I have had many dogs but none as slow to learn as this one.  I have a lot of patience, but my husband doesn't and says we are going to be picking up her poop until she dies from old age. HELP!

Answer
Hi Claudia,
Thanks for writing. The fact that she urinates outside is great! It's much more difficult to fix that - simply because they usually have access to water all day and urinate more often.

Here's an excerpt from my book in progress. Following the excerpt are some suggestions for you.

"Potty-Area-Conditioning
Contrary to popular beliefs, the process of housetraining is largely governed by a natural occurring, classical conditioning process. I propose we assign a more accurate, 21st century, label for house training. Let’s name it pottyarea-conditioning!

All of your actions will alter the natural process of pottyarea-conditioning.  

It’s your choice. You can hasten the process, delay the process or unknowingly teach (condition) your dog to eliminate inside.

If one always provides their dog the opportunity to eliminate in desired locations and never ever gives the pup access to eliminate in undesirable locations, potty-area -conditioning will occur without any other input from people.

The dog will associate the desirable areas with the internal relief gained by elimination. The dog will naturally seek out the desired location.

The type of flooring or ground cover is an important dynamic for potty-area- conditioning.

Many people report their dogs often choose to eliminate on a specific types of ground coverings.  This is because a “conditioned” dog automatically seeks out the same type of area that he used most often in the past.

For example, if your pup is always led to a gravel parking lot, he will seek out gravel-like surfaces whenever he feels the pressures associated with the need to eliminate. If he is always led to grassy areas, he will develop a natural preference for grassy areas. An unsupervised dog that eliminates inside your house will naturally form associations with the soiled areas. He will return there to eliminate next time he feels the pressure. Yikes!"

OK, here are some tips. Don't let her out of your sight when she is due to have a bowel movement. Keep a log of feeding and elimination so you'll learn when she is likely to need to defecate.

Place all meals on a schedule - no free feeding. Place her food down, allow her a few minutes to eat and then take up the bowl (with any leftover food). Don't worry if she doesn't eat it the first time or so. She'll soon start eating when you put it down.

Check the quality of ingredients in her food. If her food contains corn products, wheat, or by-products she'll likely defecate more often than if you use higher quality food that do not contain those ingredients.

If you do catch her, don't scold her. That will not teach her about choice of location. She's used that spot so much that she "knows" the location is safe. If you scold her, she'll recognize that it's only unsafe to go there when you are nearby. She'll get real good at hiding to defecate.

Take her outside to potty when you know it's time for her to defecate. You may as well use the fact that she is conditioned to go on the rug to your favor. Place that same rug outside where you want her to go.

The bottom line is she has become conditioned to use the rug because you let it happen- sorry if that seems harsh, but it's true.

In addition, she's become conditioned to that area inside. Prevent her from visiting the rug area inside. Either tether her to your waist or use an exercise pen or other fence-like device to block off the area.

Did you use a crate to train her? Get out the crate. That's the only place she can be alone inside- unless she has just defecated.

I like what you do when you pick it up. Instead of saying "outside", label the poop with one word. When you notice it inside, let her watch, say "poop" and then pick it up. Hold it so she can sniff it and say "poop, this is poop". Walk outside, pat the ground and say "poop", then drop the feces and say "poop" again.

Good Luck! Thanks for writing. Happy New Year!
Alan J Turner
http://howsbentley.com