[Moriah]

Submissive peeing is not a conscious thing that she can control. You control it. Don't bend over her and don't look directly at her--turn your head away and use your peripheral vision. Open the crate standing sideways away from it with your head turned away. If in a bind, shut your eyes!! instead of looking at her.

If you want to be with her sit on the floor and shut your eyes or keep your head turned away. She is still a puppy, but if you want control don't pick her up, have a leash on her and turn your back to her to pick up the leash. She may eat the leash, so only have it on her when you are supervising.

Okay, now!!! Break it down. What is it you MOST want. Not go in the crate? Then anything else goes. She goes anywhere else in the house--Stay Neutral. Take treats outside and give her treats every time she goes to the bathroom.

Make the crate really small. Put items in the crate she cannot eat or get hurt with. Make just room for her. But you have to set an alarm at night and get up and let her out to go outside. You have to set an alarm for early in the morning to let her out to go outside. You cannot leave her in the crate all day while you are at work. She has to be let out at intervals.

This is fixable. But all of it is on you. You know that she gets it if she pees just before entering in the crate or when she comes out of it. When she looks up at you saying, "See, I am not peeing in my crate." Praise her, she's doing her best. Go from there. What's the next thing you want?

 

[Stevenzachsmom]

I can't say anything, except repeat what has already been said....

1. Get her checked for a UTI, NOW - not at her next check up.

2. Limit her water intake. (I have said this repeatedly.)

3. Move the crate off the carpet. If you have no tiled area in your house, purchase a linoleum remnant and put it under the crate.

4. Stop yelling at the puppy. You are only reinforcing the submissive peeing.

5. Respond to your puppy, when she wakes you telling you her crate is soiled. By leaving her in a soiled crate for 45 minutes, you are teaching her that a soiled crate is acceptable. My pup cried when her crate was soiled, I immediately got up, whisked her outside, cleaned her crate and put her back in. Very soon, she was crying BEFORE her crate was soiled and pottied outside. Soon, she was sleeping through the night.

6. Ignore the submissive peeing. Grab an old beach towel. Bundle her up. Carry her to the grass. I don't care if she only has two drops left. Praise, praise, praise!

7. If you can't dedicate the time she needs, or have the patience she deserves, rehome her.

 

[Dainerra]

also, bear in mind that your wife's inattention have taught her to potty in the house. She has also taught this puppy that peeing in her crate and laying in the mess is simply the way life is in your home. Your yelling has taught her that scary things happen when she's pees. So you have a lot of work and trust building before you can hope to get her reliable in the house.

 

[Dainerra]

I have no experience with submission urination but my pup is 16 weeks so we are in the final stages of potty training. As long as I let her out every 2-3 hours she will typically hold it. We have an accident maybe every 2-3 days at this point, which to me is not that much considering we were having multiple ones every day at 8 weeks. When she has an accident, I grab her by the scruff, bring her to it, put her nose near it and sternly tell her "No, this is not where we pee. Bad dog." And then I put her outside. I don't scare her, I just give her a stern talking to. It has worked in the past for me with other dogs and it seems to be working so far. My puppy goes out around 9 pm for the final pee of the night and she is crated until about 6 am. She has not gone out at night for at least 2-3 weeks. Just for comparison.

Around 10 weeks I had a weird morning with her where it seemed obvious to me that she was blatantly having accidents. I was taking her out every ten minutes and rationing her water even. I got really frustrated, wondering what this stubborn little puppy was trying to communicate to me, so I called my breeder. She's been breeding GSDs for like 20 years. We discussed the situation and she concluded that my puppy was frustrated by having too many boundaries. I was putting her on a leash to go potty because she was running off eating things she wasn't supposed to in the yard. We were actively playing and training during the day, but maybe too much. She suggested I find a safe way for the puppy to explore the yard more freely and let her just be a puppy. I eased way up on her "training" (formal and informal) and saw a huge improvement immediately. Not sure that would work for you but I guess it's food for thought if it seems like it might apply. Do you have a breeder you can call for advice?

Also, maybe ask your wife to ease up a bit? I'm a clean freak so potty training is awful for me too, but the puppy might be picking up on the pressure your wife is putting on you. You might be over reacting because of the pressure you feel from her. 5 months is still a very young puppy!

Did you tell the breeder your method of "correcting" her for pottying inside? That teaches the dog absolutely nothing except that you get angry. She doesn't equate it with the fact that she pottied there.

 

[Thecowboysgirl]

I have no experience with submission urination but my pup is 16 weeks so we are in the final stages of potty training. As long as I let her out every 2-3 hours she will typically hold it. We have an accident maybe every 2-3 days at this point, which to me is not that much considering we were having multiple ones every day at 8 weeks. When she has an accident, I grab her by the scruff, bring her to it, put her nose near it and sternly tell her "No, this is not where we pee. Bad dog." And then I put her outside. I don't scare her, I just give her a stern talking to. It has worked in the past for me with other dogs and it seems to be working so far.



Please dont stick your puppy's face in the mess by the scruff...

If you are taking the puppy TO the pee, that means you weren't there to interrupt the pee and that is your mistake, not puppy.

I don't know of anyone who advocates this method anymore....

 

[InControlK9]

I have no experience with submission urination but my pup is 16 weeks so we are in the final stages of potty training. As long as I let her out every 2-3 hours she will typically hold it. We have an accident maybe every 2-3 days at this point, which to me is not that much considering we were having multiple ones every day at 8 weeks. When she has an accident, I grab her by the scruff, bring her to it, put her nose near it and sternly tell her "No, this is not where we pee. Bad dog." And then I put her outside. I don't scare her, I just give her a stern talking to. It has worked in the past for me with other dogs and it seems to be working so far. My puppy goes out around 9 pm for the final pee of the night and she is crated until about 6 am. She has not gone out at night for at least 2-3 weeks. Just for comparison.

Around 10 weeks I had a weird morning with her where it seemed obvious to me that she was blatantly having accidents. I was taking her out every ten minutes and rationing her water even. I got really frustrated, wondering what this stubborn little puppy was trying to communicate to me, so I called my breeder. She's been breeding GSDs for like 20 years. We discussed the situation and she concluded that my puppy was frustrated by having too many boundaries. I was putting her on a leash to go potty because she was running off eating things she wasn't supposed to in the yard. We were actively playing and training during the day, but maybe too much. She suggested I find a safe way for the puppy to explore the yard more freely and let her just be a puppy. I eased way up on her "training" (formal and informal) and saw a huge improvement immediately. Not sure that would work for you but I guess it's food for thought if it seems like it might apply. Do you have a breeder you can call for advice?

Also, maybe ask your wife to ease up a bit? I'm a clean freak so potty training is awful for me too, but the puppy might be picking up on the pressure your wife is putting on you. You might be over reacting because of the pressure you feel from her. 5 months is still a very young puppy!

thanks this post was very encouraging... Well today has been her best day so far since being here...I left her leash on in the house and attached it to a door so she couldn't go all over the whole room but could still get around.. the main reason I did this was just so when its time to take her out I can just grab the leash and go without having to try to put it on here without her peeing... it has been a success... she had 1 potty mistake in the house when she got excited as I was putting her food bowl down... I felt myself about to yell but I caught myself... I just acted like it never happened and to my surprise when she went outside to potty she didn't lay flat on the ground.. I feel today has been very successful... I won't be yelling anymore that didn't help at all

I haven't had her in her crate at all yet since I made this post earlier today... so she haven't urinated on herself she stayed clean all day lol... i wonder if she will keep this up tonight? I have relatives in town that's staying the night with me until friday so I hope she is on her best behavior ...would be embarrassing for her to be soaked in urine and smelling up the house.. Not sure what im going to do when its time to go to bed... will really suck to have to keep getting up through out the night to keep taking her out... the last time she had water was around 6:45pm its now 9:45... im not giving anymore water tonight

 

[InControlK9]

Submissive peeing is not a conscious thing that she can control. You control it. Don't bend over her and don't look directly at her--turn your head away and use your peripheral vision. Open the crate standing sideways away from it with your head turned away. If in a bind, shut your eyes!! instead of looking at her.

If you want to be with her sit on the floor and shut your eyes or keep your head turned away. She is still a puppy, but if you want control don't pick her up, have a leash on her and turn your back to her to pick up the leash. She may eat the leash, so only have it on her when you are supervising.

Okay, now!!! Break it down. What is it you MOST want. Not go in the crate? Then anything else goes. She goes anywhere else in the house--Stay Neutral. Take treats outside and give her treats every time she goes to the bathroom.

Make the crate really small. Put items in the crate she cannot eat or get hurt with. Make just room for her. But you have to set an alarm at night and get up and let her out to go outside. You have to set an alarm for early in the morning to let her out to go outside. You cannot leave her in the crate all day while you are at work. She has to be let out at intervals.

This is fixable. But all of it is on you. You know that she gets it if she pees just before entering in the crate or when she comes out of it. When she looks up at you saying, "See, I am not peeing in my crate." Praise her, she's doing her best. Go from there. What's the next thing you want?

Thanks Moriah! I'll be working on it.. so far today has been a great day.. if every day was like today until she is older my wife and I would both be happy campers ...I'm just hoping tonight isn't a train wreck when its time for bed and getting up in the morning... my alarm is set though

 

[Julian G]

Well this may take all day for you. I would walk her for as long as it takes for her to pee. I remember one time it took me like 4-5 hours. Once she pees or poops outside just jackpot her with treats. Cheese works GREAT. Have her drink a lot, wait a maybe 20 minutes, go outside and be ready to be there for hours. It may take forever but go on grass, they naturally like to pee on grass. When she does (she will, its a matter of how good your patience is, may take all day) praise her with baby voices and cheese, like 10 pieces.

 

[InControlK9]

cheese? I can feed her cheese? I've been trying to stay away from anything humans eat and only give her grain free food.. I guess I could try it but I would have to do some research on that.. don't want to mess up her bowls

 

[Jax08]

Cheese as a reward is not going to hurt her.

 

[maxtmill]

we've already gone thru a gallon of nature's miracle.. have to buy some more..




any time I pick her up she will start peeing while in the air and it gets everywhere in the house... so I've been trying to avoid picking her up




she use to be out all the time and only crated at night.. in the beginning when she was doing good.. but as she started submissive urinating more.... then we started crating more... which only made things worse

as far as the day... I don't really have a strict schedule anymore like I did when I first got her... I just take her out every 3hrs now instead of 2 because I read somewhere a dog can hold it for the amount of hrs of their age (2 months/2hrs 3months/3hrs etc.)

Ill wake up around 9am while I'm laying in bed I can hear her barking in the crate... so im thinking... great she peed in the crate again and now she's laying in it.. I might as well just lay here another hr before dealing with this

9:45ish ill get up.. take her out hose her down with water dry her off.. clean the tray, clean the cage clean the carpet which at this point as urine from her splashing it around in the crate.. feed her... then either put her back in the kennel and take her out 2 hrs later (i use to leave her out but now I have her in the kennel more to try to reduce the urine in the house) and I repeat that process til around 5.. then ill take her for a walk and let the kids play with her... feed her for the last time around 6... and take her for another walk around 10pm.. so aside from the walk at 5 ...when she play with the kids and walk/run at 10.. she is pretty much kept in the crate


I think I'm going to go back to leaving her out because she was doing better then.. and I have to motivate myself to get back to my original schedule.. I use to take her for walks 3x a day and leave her out she did better then

I read that when you wake up, you hear her barking in her crate, but you just lay there, figuring she already Peed? She may be barking to be taken out!

 

[Thecowboysgirl]

OP you said you don't want to have to keep getting up with her in the night. A stitch in time saves nine. Get her out of that crate to potty.

If she pees the crate she has to be in it and that is teaching her to tolerate contact with her own mess, you DON'T want that. If you really crack down now, you can turn this arou d for the rest of her life. Skip steps now or quit too soon and she could potentially have problems for the rest of her life.

It is great news that you had some good progress today. Keep it up. Don't skimp. Don't let yourself fall back intp bad habits. Have a heart to heart with your wife. I have had to do it with my husband...

 

[Ripley2016]

Personally, I wouldn't give ten pieces of cheese as a reward. That much dairy is not good for the tummy especially for a puppy. I use the Blue Training Bits or I give pieces of cooked chicken or ground beef. Also, my breeder advised me that it's a lot for a puppy to think about, to pee on a leash. If you're having trouble getting her to pee on leash that could be it.

 

[Ripley2016]

I've had dogs my whole life and the one dog I never potty-trained this way wasn't reliably trained for years. I didn't use this method for a couple of weeks after bringing my pup home. I only use it if the pee is fresh and I know I just missed it or I catch her in the act which is the majority of the time since I'm a stay at home mom and home with my puppy supervising her all day. The moment I started doing it, with both my current puppy and my last one, they immediately showed improvement in going outside. I'm effectively communicating with my puppy whether you believe it or not. She's 16 weeks and almost fully trained. I would agree that if you missed it by say 30 minutes or more then your dog would miss the point. Didn't realize I'd have to defend myself on a thread for a question I didn't ask. It's the same thing with kids. Everyone has an opinion on what is the right and wrong way to raise your dog and if you're not doing it the way someone else is, your way is inferior. Sigh.

 

[Stevenzachsmom]

Personally, I wouldn't give ten pieces of cheese as a reward. That much dairy is not good for the tummy especially for a puppy. I use the Blue Training Bits or I give pieces of cooked chicken or ground beef. Also, my breeder advised me that it's a lot for a puppy to think about, to pee on a leash. If you're having trouble getting her to pee on leash that could be it.

Ripley, no offense, but I disagree with your breeder's advice. First to stick your pups' face in his mess and now to take the pup off leash to potty? Bad advice. I have housebroken 2 pups in recent years, so it is all very fresh in my mind.

The reason the pup is on leash is because:

A. The pup is taken to his designated area to potty.

B. The puppy is not distracted, thinking it is play time.

C. You are right there to ensure the pup actually goes potty and to give immediate praise.

D. Heaven forbid the pup is a poo eater, but you are right there to clean it up and prevent it from happening.

When I take my pup out on leash to potty, we are not going for a walk. We go to the spot I want my dog to use as his potty area for the rest of his life. I keep my pup focused on the purpose at hand. The phrases I repeat are, "Go potty" and "Hurry up." As adult dogs, I can allow them to walk into the yard off leash. They immediately go to the designated area and potty.

OP. Don't take short-cuts. I know this has already been mentioned to you. Get it right the first time. Mistakes are setbacks. Mistakes confuse the puppy. Mistakes are your fault, not the puppys'. Take the time to do it right and you will be rewarded with success.

 

[Stevenzachsmom]

I've had dogs my whole life and the one dog I never potty-trained this way wasn't reliably trained for years. I didn't use this method for a couple of weeks after bringing my pup home. I only use it if the pee is fresh and I know I just missed it or I catch her in the act which is the majority of the time since I'm a stay at home mom and home with my puppy supervising her all day. The moment I started doing it, with both my current puppy and my last one, they immediately showed improvement in going outside. I'm effectively communicating with my puppy whether you believe it or not. She's 16 weeks and almost fully trained. I would agree that if you missed it by say 30 minutes or more then your dog would miss the point. Didn't realize I'd have to defend myself on a thread for a question I didn't ask. It's the same thing with kids. Everyone has an opinion on what is the right and wrong way to raise your dog and if you're not doing it the way someone else is, your way is inferior. Sigh.

Sticking the pups' face in it, is very old school and very wrong. Almost fully trained at 16 weeks is not so great. There is no such thing as 'almost'. The dog is housebroken or it's not. Every mistake is back to square one. Sorry, but your way is inferior and I do not want other members to read your advice and think it is a good idea.

 

[Ripley2016]

Ripley, no offense, but I disagree with your breeder's advice. First to stick your pups' face in his mess and now to take the pup off leash to potty? Bad advice. I have housebroken 2 pups in recent years, so it is all very fresh in my mind.

The reason the pup is on leash is because:

A. The pup is taken to his designated area to potty.

B. The puppy is not distracted, thinking it is play time.

C. You are right there to ensure the pup actually goes potty and to give immediate praise.

D. Heaven forbid the pup is a poo eater, but you are right there to clean it up and prevent it from happening.

When I take my pup out on leash to potty, we are not going for a walk. We go to the spot I want my dog to use as his potty area for the rest of his life. I keep my pup focused on the purpose at hand. The phrases I repeat are, "Go potty" and "Hurry up." As adult dogs, I can allow them to walk into the yard off leash. They immediately go to the designated area and potty.

OP. Don't take short-cuts. I know this has already been mentioned to you. Get it right the first time. Mistakes are setbacks. Mistakes confuse the puppy. Mistakes are your fault, not the puppys'. Take the time to do it right and you will be rewarded with success.

I agree that putting a puppy on a leash to pee has advantages. I was doing that too. In my case, my puppy went from peeing in the grass when I took her outside, to no longer going when she was on leash. So I took her off leash and she started to go outside again. I'm simply giving the OP ideas for troubleshooting.

 

[Ripley2016]

Sticking the pups' face in it, is very old school and very wrong. Almost fully trained at 16 weeks is not so great. There is no such thing as 'almost'. The dog is housebroken or it's not. Every mistake is back to square one. Sorry, but your way is inferior and I do not want other members to read your advice and think it is a good idea.

"Every mistake is back to square one?" On what planet? When you go from having ten accidents a day to one every few days gradually decreasing, you are making progress.

Old school doesn't mean bad. The new school is not always right. Sorry if you guys disagree, but I have a good pup who is pretty well behaved for a puppy and is doing just fine with this method.

 

[Stevenzachsmom]

I have two dogs - one is a hound mix. He was tougher to train than my shepherd. On my hound forum, there were a group of us who had puppies. We would count how many days with no accidents. One accident and we started counting all over again - until there were no more accidents. Then, the dog was housebroken.

If you are happy with how your housebreaking is progressing, that's fine. Mine were fully housebroken by 16 weeks. No accidents. And I never stuck their faces in it.

You are satisfied, so that is all that matters. But, I will continue to post that sticking a pups' face in it is not good advice, so the OP sees it and doesn't decide to do it too.

Best of luck to you. I'm sure your pup is lovely. Enjoy!

 

[Julian G]

cheese? I can feed her cheese? I've been trying to stay away from anything humans eat and only give her grain free food.. I guess I could try it but I would have to do some research on that.. don't want to mess up her bowls

I have been feeding cheese to dogs for decades. Your user name and problem with potty training is a bit ironic I just noticed it:grin2:.
I think you are doing something wrong and probably don't even notice it. How long do you crate her? Just stick to what I said earlier. Take her outside for a LONG time, again it might take all day so be ready for it. Go in the grass, let her sniff around, eventually she will go potty. As soon as she does just jackpot her with treats and praise and belly rubs. The good thing is that 12 weeks is still very young. I remember a particular situation when I was training my brothers dog, I took him out all week, I would be outside for 4-5 hours and as soon as we got inside the house he would potty. I gave a firm NO, picked him up and ran back outside. He got the point eventually. It takes time for them to get comfortable with the outdoors. Make sure you spend a lot of time outside, play outside, feed her outside. This is no reason to get rid of the dog because it's not a huge problem in my opinion. It's like with children, some kids are potty trained at 3, some at 5, some at 6. You wouldn't give the kid up for adoption if he takes longer would you?

Stick with it, it will get better. It always does.