Okay so I have an outdoor kennel attached to a low-hanging window for my dog to go poo when I'm gone at work. She can get in and out the window via a doggy door, and has no problems understanding the concept, in fact has been trained within very few repetitions to go in and out on command. She also will go out there sometimes on her own.
The problem is she views the kennel as a place NOT to poo, but the area in front of the usual doors as the place TO poo, or any other random corner of the indoor room. She's been confined to the cement-floored room which attaches to both the doors and the kennel for this reason.
I'm trying to train her to use that kennel by not taking her outside where she wants... by waiting until she can't hold it any more, then rewarding her when she goes in the correct location, she should understand the concept enough to go use the kennel if she has to poo while I'm at work, right? Wrong! It's been over a week and I'm soooooo stuck! Her usual routine now is to go out into the kennel (on her own), pace around, come back in, pace around, go out, come in, come to me, go to the big doors and lay down. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. If I leave the room for even 5 minutes she has an accident inside the house, but if I stick around she'll hold it and hold it all day long and into the night if she can. So how do I make the outdoor kennel feel more outdoorsy than inside the house?
She has no problems reaching the kennel, as she goes there on her own with no prompting, and can also go on command (I even call it "outside" to try to teach her it's where to go poo). It's not too small, as it's 6'x10' which is considered MUCH too large for the type of kennel where you train them NOT to poo in. She's able to jog around in it and stand up on her hind legs. Its floor is concrete (outside the window is an enclosed patio, which the kennel was put inside to keep her from marking what's stored out there). But inside the house is concrete too. Being an enclosed patio, there's a sort of a roof, but inside has a roof too, there are ventilated walls, but inside has walls too. She has no problems going outside in the grass, sadly few problems going inside the house, but will hold until the point of bursting rather than go in the kennel.
So how do I make it more appealing to her??
I've tried bringing in pieces of sod from outside. I've tried spreading wood shavings. I have several appropriately sized objects out there, filled with sand, to lure her to marking them. I've tried spraying store-bought scents that are supposed to entice dogs to mark over them. For God's sake, I've even dabbled fox urine out there! (She rolled in that, btw). She HAS gone out there before due to not being able to hold it any longer, so her own scent is out there too, and each time she goes out there I praise her. I've done both extremes of praising, from the ecstatic to the smile and a 'tinkle treat.' She knows what tinkle treats are because I only ever give them to her when she does her business outside in the grass where she was taught to go. Now I give them to her when she goes in the kennel, the few times that she has. If taken outside to the grass, or if I leave her unattended inside the house, she'll do #1 4-7 times a day and usually #2 in the afternoon, maybe the evening. If confined to the kennel, she'll hold BOTH until a little past midnight... once she held both until 3:30am of the next day! If I'm in the room with her that leads to the kennel and she can freely enter and leave it on her own, she does the above-mentioned process of going in and out the kennel (thru the window), going to and from the big doors, pacing around, whining... she eventually starts sniffing around at the big doors and I shoo her to the kennel, telling her to "go outside," "go tinkle," and she goes out there and paces but comes back inside still not emptied, and begins sniffing at the big doors again, only to be shoo'd back out there again...
What am I missing? What can I do to make the OUTSIDE kennel more appealing for poo than inside the house? It's not the outdoor elements that bother her, as she has no problems going on the grass outside. It's also not something about the space that scares her to be in it, as she'll go out there just to sniff the wind or sit sometimes.
Please help me.
The problem is she views the kennel as a place NOT to poo, but the area in front of the usual doors as the place TO poo, or any other random corner of the indoor room. She's been confined to the cement-floored room which attaches to both the doors and the kennel for this reason.
I'm trying to train her to use that kennel by not taking her outside where she wants... by waiting until she can't hold it any more, then rewarding her when she goes in the correct location, she should understand the concept enough to go use the kennel if she has to poo while I'm at work, right? Wrong! It's been over a week and I'm soooooo stuck! Her usual routine now is to go out into the kennel (on her own), pace around, come back in, pace around, go out, come in, come to me, go to the big doors and lay down. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. If I leave the room for even 5 minutes she has an accident inside the house, but if I stick around she'll hold it and hold it all day long and into the night if she can. So how do I make the outdoor kennel feel more outdoorsy than inside the house?
She has no problems reaching the kennel, as she goes there on her own with no prompting, and can also go on command (I even call it "outside" to try to teach her it's where to go poo). It's not too small, as it's 6'x10' which is considered MUCH too large for the type of kennel where you train them NOT to poo in. She's able to jog around in it and stand up on her hind legs. Its floor is concrete (outside the window is an enclosed patio, which the kennel was put inside to keep her from marking what's stored out there). But inside the house is concrete too. Being an enclosed patio, there's a sort of a roof, but inside has a roof too, there are ventilated walls, but inside has walls too. She has no problems going outside in the grass, sadly few problems going inside the house, but will hold until the point of bursting rather than go in the kennel.
So how do I make it more appealing to her??
I've tried bringing in pieces of sod from outside. I've tried spreading wood shavings. I have several appropriately sized objects out there, filled with sand, to lure her to marking them. I've tried spraying store-bought scents that are supposed to entice dogs to mark over them. For God's sake, I've even dabbled fox urine out there! (She rolled in that, btw). She HAS gone out there before due to not being able to hold it any longer, so her own scent is out there too, and each time she goes out there I praise her. I've done both extremes of praising, from the ecstatic to the smile and a 'tinkle treat.' She knows what tinkle treats are because I only ever give them to her when she does her business outside in the grass where she was taught to go. Now I give them to her when she goes in the kennel, the few times that she has. If taken outside to the grass, or if I leave her unattended inside the house, she'll do #1 4-7 times a day and usually #2 in the afternoon, maybe the evening. If confined to the kennel, she'll hold BOTH until a little past midnight... once she held both until 3:30am of the next day! If I'm in the room with her that leads to the kennel and she can freely enter and leave it on her own, she does the above-mentioned process of going in and out the kennel (thru the window), going to and from the big doors, pacing around, whining... she eventually starts sniffing around at the big doors and I shoo her to the kennel, telling her to "go outside," "go tinkle," and she goes out there and paces but comes back inside still not emptied, and begins sniffing at the big doors again, only to be shoo'd back out there again...
What am I missing? What can I do to make the OUTSIDE kennel more appealing for poo than inside the house? It's not the outdoor elements that bother her, as she has no problems going on the grass outside. It's also not something about the space that scares her to be in it, as she'll go out there just to sniff the wind or sit sometimes.
Please help me.
