Need help housebreaking 3-yo toy poodle

Hi everyone - this is my first post. I'm very desperate to housebreak my female toy poodle Jessie who is now 3 years old and still pees and poops in the house. I'm not new to dogs - my husband and I had a cockerspaniel and my husband also had a terrier mix and neither had housebreaking issues. We also have a 3 year old male Maltese Toby who we got a couple of months before Jessie and he's completely housebroken. So we don't know what we are doing wrong with her!

The situation is basically that as long as she's in her crate or in a confined small space (like our den) with a family member, she's fine. But I can't seem to get her in a routine like with Toby where I let him out 4 times per day and walk him once and that's it. She will pee outside and then pee again inside an hour later if I leave her alone.

So basically she's either in her crate all day and night and out when she can be closely supervised. I have an irregular work schedule and some days she's out quite a bit (with me) and other days she's mostly in her crate whining. Doesn't seem like much of a life for a young dog and I feel bad about it. But she hasn't made the connection that her business only goes outside. We can have had 100% success by me brining her out after her crate time, then after a month, I run to answer the phone and she's had an accident.

I can tell that she hates to be outside in anything but the sunniest, nicest weather - she lifts up her legs to walk in the snow, wet grass, her tail is between her legs when it rains. Yet I still take her out.

I can't afford to hire someone to help me, but I'm open to any other suggestions.

Thank you,

Coffeelover64

how long your dog doing this??.. you really have to take some time to train your dog..

Thanks jacko. Do you have any suggestions?

She's always been doing this. I have spent a lot of time attempting to train her. And I tried the method where I leash her to me, and she's either in her crate, attached to me or with me (or husband) in our den (where she doesn't do her business as long as we are there). She's also been very successful in two sets of obedience classes. I'm not sure what else to try - or is this her life - crate - leash- den? We've successfully housebroken 3 other dogs. I'm not sure why we aren't successful with her.

Here's the sticky about potty training:
http://www.chazhound.com/forums/t4679/

I know it's a long thread but there are lots of good ideas in it if you read all the way through. Good luck!

Thanks lizzybeth - I've read the thread (been lurking here for over a year). That's where I learned about tying her leash to my belt and keeping her with me at all times. We've already got a consistent schedule of eating, and going potty, this has pretty much been the same since I got them. I've tried tweaking a few things but basically they go out 6 times per day. I'm outside every time throwing her a praise party - though I don't use treats.

Basically I can prevent accidents by just keeping our current routine but when will she be able to live in our house like a typical house dog? like Toby? who is hanging out with all of us, on the sofa watching TV with the kids and doing normal doggie indoor stuff. What we are doing with Jessie is not transferring to her being able to control herself with more freedom.

A few of our family and friends have commented that it seems that her natural tendency is to pee and poop way too many times per day. If she had it her way she would pee 3 tablespoons 10 times per day. I asked the vet about this, wanting to know if she had a medical problem - but she said that Jessie was healthy, but told me that some small dogs can never be reliably housebroken. Gee thanks.

Well thats a hard one. No two dogs are exactly the same.
Maybe she is different & special requiring more time to adapt.

Yes, vets are always a great source of knowledge about training.... not.

How many times do you feed her per day? Do you leave food and/or water out all the time?

She eats twice per day. She gobbles her food up really quickly so none sits out. They have a bowl of water at all times except when crated.

Here is her routine:

6am eat & outside

9 am outside

12 pm outside

3 pm outside

6pm eat and outside

9pm out

Your best bet probley is to just treat like she's a puppy. Meaning you take her out every hour or every other hour. After each meal and after each nap and play session. Eventually she will pick it up. Its just gonna take some work.

I adopted my Cocker Spaniel when she was alittle over a year old. She had been a puppymill rescue and so of course she lived outside before I got her. People really questioned wether I would be able to house train her. But I did using the process above and she caught on in time. Now she is nearly four and completely house trained.

That vet is wrong. Small dogs can be house broken just like big dogs except they have a smaller bladder, even for their size.

I agree with PixieSticks. Every hour on the hour. Give her a high value treat and lots of praise the second she finishes peeing outside. Start adding a cue "Go Potty" when she just starts to squat to pee. You'll have to spend more time playing with or working on some obedience in between times. She sounds stressed being locked up so much. Get that crate associated with a more fun time. Feed her in there, give her some good toys/treats in there.

Later, once you see a pattern of which trips outside are non-productive, you can eliminate those extra trips. But for now, every hour.

Be sure to give her mental and physical exercise/fun to lessen any stress she may have. Stress can screw up house breaking. Training should be non-stressful....positive methods.

Puppies are hard and I know it's hard to supervise them so constantly. But that is what it takes. You must prevent accidents inside because the longer she goes on doing it, the harder it is to train her. Outside must become the ONLY place that pays off...the only place that works....It works by #1....it's really great outside because of some high, high value, tasty treat and loads of praise. And #2....it works best because inside doesn't work at all because there will be no opportunity TO pee/poo inside.

Use Nature's Miracle or some other enzematic cleaner to clean up past boo boos.

Thanks to both of you. I think you are both telling me the same thing - start all over and retrain her like a puppy. That is good idea. I'm going to start this and I'll report back how it goes.

Yes, but she's 3 years old!

I should not have used the word, "puppies." I should have used the words, "un-house broken." LOL. Same difference. Ya gotta keep 'em from going indoors. If a mistake is made, it is not their fault because they aren't trained. Don't punish dogs for going inside. It can make for some bad side effects, such as...they won't go in front of you, like when on a leash or they will simply hide it. It doesn't teach them that going inside is the "wrong" thing to do. It just teaches them that going in front of humans is dangerous. Going inside when humans aren't present is safe. Or maybe that one place inside is dangerous, so I'll try the back bed room...maybe that is the place to go. Or this other place. They're still guessing at this point when they have so many options. So, make only one option....outdoors. (it's not rebellion or stubborness. It's simply within the cognitive abilities of dogs)

Yes! Natures Miracle should definately be used to clean up spots she usually has her accidents. Even if you have cleaned up right after her accidents with anouther cleaner still going over that area with the Natures miracle.

Is she only having "accidents" when you leave her alone (not talking about in the crate because you said she was fine in there)? Ie. when you leave the room, leave the house, aren't paying attention to her etc.

I know this may sound opposite to what everyone else has said but I see that you take them out every 3 hours then they spend 15 hours inside I assume crated. Maybe you are taking her out to oftenand she never has to go bad enough to want to finish except first thing in the am. Do her accidents happen later inthe day or in the morning? I would try extending some of the times so she needs to go more. Just my thoughts.