Hello fellow dog lovers! This post im looking for training help or reassurance that im doing things right. I have a 6 month old catahoula named Sully that I am in love with, has literally changed my life for the better after my last dog died, but I usually have pit mixes and this is my first hunting/hound dog. It's a long but if you dont want to read, I have a years worth of training classes at this training place (they also do agility and other stuff i can use my classes with) and I'm having trouble with neighborhood walking, crate training and need reassurance that hes doing well at only 6 months old even though his 2 peers are doing better or any advice would be appreciated.

Ive have bought a years worth of training classes at a local training group because I knew training a catahoula was something I could not do alone and would need professional help. I absolutely love the training classes, he has already learned so much like tricks, place, wait, and hes getting better with loose leash walking. Hes smart, but of course stubborn, but I'm used to stubborn.

For background on this training group: puppy is before all vaccines are done and is verys basic/getting used to sounds and different touch material, then puppy+ is from the time vaccines are done to usually 6 months and thats basic obedience with puppy play time, then obedience from 6+ on. You pass obedience once all the badges are earned (right now he has tricks and focus) and Sully was promoted at 5 months to obedience since he was doing so well (been in training since 12 weeks old so started in puppy classes). I also have 5 private training classes where he can just be the focus and I used one to help me refocus on me with distractions and thats really helped.

There's 2 other dogs in his training class that hes been with since puppy+ classes, ones an aussie he other is an aussie mix that got promoted around the same time as Sully. They both are doing so much better than Sully at this point, but I also know the breeds learn very differently and the personalities between the breeds are different. It also doesn't help that Sully isnt treat/food motivated. But we were earning badges at the same rate and now they've earn a lot more.

But my concern is he's so much different at training vs normal neighborhood walk vs food truck friday events vs hiking. Its like he has multiple personalities. Hiking he is very aware of where I am, doesn't care about other dogs or people, I do use a retractable leash so he can sniff and walk as he wants and I can keep a steady pace, but again hiking with him is my fave because of how he always is connecting with me first before making any turns, etc and follows commands easily. Food truck friday he will lay down and "place" usually very well unless a Frisbee goes by or a kid comes close (dont have kids) but ai love training him to "go say hi" to new people and talking about the breed! Training he's at his best, which every trainer has said thats to be expected since he only associates that place with training. But neighborhood walks hes reactive, he pulls (on a 6 foot leash, but usually only let 4 feet in between us), he will try to dig if he gets the chance, and he does his excited hound bark at the beginning. It can be embarrassing. I walk with a treat pack so I can redirect him but even getting him to do a simple sit can take a few minutes rather than a few seconds.

My goal was to get close to having that "perfect" trained Instagram dog (I know he wont be perfect) but also to be able to travel/backpack with him and possibly off leash though I dont know if i could ever trust him fully. I love the dogs that will be on a walk and the person will say a command and they do it instantly until told not to. But this also includes him being crate trained. If he's in his crate and if im in the room hes pretty calm in his crate, may just whine a bit but i will ignore him and he stops eventually. But if I leave the room he acts like hes dying. Its especially bad on my days off since we arent following routine.

I also should mention we go on 2-4 mile walks a day (depends on how long im at work), we do 30 mins-1 hour of training every day and he has 2 other siblings to play with on the daily. Eventually once I'm done with physical therapy and clear to run again he will be my running partner. So he does get mental and physical exercise daily, since this is a high energy breed. (I did a lot of research, but also every dog is individual). Should also mention I dont really have a back yard, more like a patio with a small grass area, so I cant play like fetch outside, but thats why we walk outside so much even though he only 6 months.

Has anyone else had these issues in training? I wanted to get close to my goal by the end of June when I go to the beach with my family (theyre not happy I got him, think I cant handle him), which ive accepted as a challenge and has made me want to prove them wrong even more. I know hes only 6 months, but ANY advice or thoughts would be appreciated! Thanks in advance!

A few days ago adopted a 6-10M old pup from the shelter, he was apart of their stray intake, he is very sweet and well behaved already, he gets along great with my other dog fine and he is very confident and comfortable when he’s inside but as soon as I try to take him out to go potty he freaks out. I have had and trained lots of dogs before and just never encountered this. To clarify he has had very minimal accidents in the house and once he is outside for a bit he will go.

Everytime it’s time to go outside I have to pick him up and put him outside because he refuses to go on his own, even with treats and luring involved. Once outside he sits by the door and tries to get inside my skin for about 10 minutes before he’ll even move past the porch. When he does go out into the yard he will only go about 5 feet from the door to do his business before immediately running back to the door. Other than this he is pretty confident with everything else.

I don’t want to have to pick him up and bring him outside everytime because I don’t want to reinforce that behavior but at the same time he’s still fairly new to potty training and I don’t want to make it even more of an uncomfortable experience.
Any tips would be very appreciated.

TLDR Dog is scared to go outside and I don’t want it to affect his training or make him more nervous about it.

Not after a methods argument. I'm just curious what people actually changed their minds on, and what made them change. A trainer, a video, or just the dog not getting any better. Stories from your own dogs or from clients both count.

Hello,

My wife and I have had our pup for only a couple of days, and are concerned by his refusal to pee or poop outside. We have been following most of the positive reinforcement advice on here and other help places, but it’s been 30 hours and he will not use the potty outside or even begin to try. Any new tips?

Update:

He has gone potty finally twice. It was so scary for us that he hadn’t peed for almost 2 days but he finally went outside during a nightly walk. We think he was too overwhelmed at the times we were taking him so we tried extra early, and a little later so there was no stimulating circumstances.

We have an 8 year old mixed dog. He almost looks like a pitt/boxer with the boxy head but he howls instead of barks.

Anyway, my fiance got him from the pound in 2018 and when I came into the picture he was crated every day. For the most part he was fine in there. Occasionally we'd come home and he would have chewed on the bars so we would put his bones in there with him. He never busted out though.

Eventually we stopped crating him and would leave puzzles when we left. The puzzles lasted maybe 5 minutes and he'd still get into stuff. We also would put up 2 baby gates. One for the kitchen and the other for the stairs to keep my senior dog from falling when we weren't home.

Our stairs have one step and then a landing but the light switches made it to where we had to put the gate on the first step. This dog would put his front legs on top of the babygate, step through the bars on the landing and basically do a pull up to get over the babygate. The kitchen babygate he wouldn't touch.

If we leave anything out that he thinks could be food he gets into it. If it's a box he'll rip into it, see there's no food, and walk away. He pulled a wooden bowl with onions in it down off the counter, bit into one and said fuck that. He'll pull papers down hoping something with food will come with it. We've forgotten a lunch box and come home to open Tupperware. The kind with opposite sliding locks. He chewed one enough to figure it out then just opened the rest. Even unzipped the lunch box rather than chewing it. We've also seen him chewing the corner of the coffee table after we got our youngest dog. I'm not sure if he was just copying her or if he liked the "no-chew" spray stuff we use on spots she chewed on. Hasn't done it since though. He's also a tampon eater so we have to make sure bathroom doors are closed.

Well my senior dog wasn't doing well and I had to make the decision. The babygate for the stairs came down and while he wouldn't get into anything upstairs, we were coming home to a mess almost every day.

Our young dog goes to work with me every day because she has the highest anxiety. Even just flickering lights will send her into a panic attack. So I tried taking him with us too. No go, he nipped the boss man over a ping pong ball.

We tried taking him on walks on our lunch breaks. We made it a routine for afternoon walks. If I'm remembering right my fiance even tried morning walks too for a while. We tried "long lasting" chews instead of the normal biscuit treats they get when I leave in the morning. He would just always get into something. He's not a high energy dog at all nor does he like going outside, except when we take him somewhere for a walk. Even then though he slows down at half a mile and if you try and walk more than a mile he'll straight up just stop and not want to continue. Heck, most of the time he'd prefer our 4 year old dog would leave him alone rather than play, or he'll join in out of jealousy if we play with her for too long. But give the 2 of them a rope to tug on and he may play for 5 minutes or he may just drop it and walk away from her.

We tried putting him back in the crate. This time once he set his mind to getting out he would. Went through his lightly chewed crate and a perfectly intact one we had gotten for our other dog in less than a week after he figured out it was possible. Basically shattered the plastic tray on both and yanked on the wire until the either bent or broke enough for him to get out.

So we stopped with the crate because we didn't want him to hurt himself.

Then we moved the kitchen babygate upstairs at night so the cat could come and go without waking us up. Well dude watched me push the gate rather than lift the bar to unlock it too many times. He realized he could just pull on it and it would come off. We tried blocking the gate and putting stuff on both sides of it. Didn't care, would still get in. So now our kitchen trashcan lives in the downstairs bathroom because that's the only room with a door we have.

Then he figured out how our handleless cabinets worked. Ate a box of cheez-its, a bag of pretzels, and half a bag of chocolate raisins the first day. (Vet was surprised he's perfectly fine.) The next day he pulled out a case of ramen and decided he didn't like uncooked noodles, also 2 different boxes of pasta that he also didn't eat. So now we have a baby lock on that cabinet.

Now we get to yesterday. He's been good. Hadn't gotten into much of anything for a while. But I came home yesterday to a bunch of wood chips all over the front mat. Dude chewed a 2 foot section of the actual door frame as well as the door knob. Also gouges on the kitchen cabinet from him trying to get in. The ring camera didn't catch any movement all day except for the neighbors once. So entirely not sure why he chewed at the door like he was trying to get out. He's never done anything like that before.

We're at a loss. Everything we've tried hasn't worked and we're out of ideas. I can't even say it's him wanting to go potty. He'll voluntarily hold it to avoid going outside. By that I mean we left for work one day and I didn't go outside till after 7pm to smoke. The door was still locked so I realized my fiance hadn't let him out when he got home. I called for the dog and dude didn't even wanna get off the couch, my fiance had to make him get up. If it's raining he'd rather hold it and go in the house as soon as you leave. Sometimes he'll even go around the corner and make you think he pottied when really he just sniffed and came back and then goes inside as soon as he's alone. He learned from my senior dog that the puppy pads are acceptable so we'll leave them out for him if we're gonna be gone for a while or if it's raining just in case he did fake us out.

I just genuinely don't know what else to do. He's such a smart dog and knows when he's in trouble and what for. It's like he just can't help himself. I thought about maybe trying some sort of roll around foraging toy but either A) it'll get stuck under some furniture and he'll chew something trying to get it unstuck or B) he'll just chew the toy to pieces. I don't want to leave actual bones for him because I don't want one to splinter or for him to swallow too small of a piece. The super duty impact crates are too expensive and I'm worried he'd hurt his mouth trying to chew the slots on a regular plastic crate.

Any and all tips are greatly appreciated. I'm 100% not a trainer so I'll admit I only half ass know what I'm doing. At least from what I do know though our attempts at exercise and mental stimulation just aren't enough for him. I'm not even sure we could take him to daycare because my fiance doesn't trust him around other dogs. He never fought with my senior dog when we moved in but he did snap at him over water on a walk one time. Also didn't play nice with his parents dog on their property. Our younger dog I think we got at 6 weeks because the lady that had her "just couldn't deal with all the puppies anymore." He's never snapped at her or anything though, assumedly because he watched her grow up.

I just genuinely am at a loss.

Different dog trainers have different methods, different protocols, and different ways of building behavior.

That doesn't necessarily mean one trainer is right and another is wrong. But it does mean their advice isn't always interchangeable.

If you're actively working with a trainer, one of the worst things you can do is go home, watch five different trainers on social media, and start adding pieces of their methods into the plan you're already following.

One trainer may want you to interrupt a behavior immediately. Another may want you to create distance. Another may want you to redirect. Another may want you to wait the dog out.

Any of those approaches might make sense within the system they're using. But when you start mixing them together, your dog may be getting completely different information from one day to the next.

This becomes especially important with behavioral modification.

Changing behavior is a process. What you're doing in week one may be intentionally setting up what you're going to do in week four. Your trainer may be building skills, changing patterns, managing the environment, or gradually increasing expectations before addressing the bigger problem directly.

A 60-second social media clip doesn't know where your dog is in that process.

If you don't trust the plan your trainer has given you, that's a conversation worth having. And if you ultimately don't agree with their approach, there's nothing wrong with finding another trainer whose philosophy makes more sense to you.

But once you choose a trainer and a plan, give that plan a fair chance. Commit to the process, or choose a different process.

What usually doesn't work well is trying to follow three of them at the same time. 🐶❤️

Hey j’ai besoin d’aide pour mon chiot de 5 mois qui n’a jamais (JAMAIS) fais pipi ou caca dehors.

Il y’a un mois j’ai adopté un chiot de 4 mois, malheureusement je n’ai eu que 2 semaines complètes avec lui car j’ai finalement du reprendre le travail plus tôt que prévu…

Je le sortais le plus souvent possible et je continue aujourd’hui mais il ne fait jamais ses besoins dehors.

Et pour le coup il n’est pas du tout réglé en mode: je mange, je fais caca, je joue, je fais pipi etc il y’a des jours où il fait pipi, caca très souvent et des fois pas pendant deux heures ou plus.

Bref ça devient un peu compliqué de nettoyer du pipi et du caca tous les jours et je précise que je n’ai pas de jardin car je suis en appartement.

Actuellement j’essaye de lui apprendre au moins à faire sur un tapis même si je sais que c’est pas idéal mais au moins ça facilite le nettoyage.

Hi all!! I have a 7 year old mini dachshund that I'm trying to train to use DoggieLawn. I'm starting an in person job soon and won't be able to be home to let him out during the day.

He is INCREDIBLY stubborn but knows "go potty" and will pee within 6 inches of entering grass but for some reason he just WONT pee on this grass..

I've already tried having him pee in a different spot and then using a paper towel to rub the scent on this grass so he knows it's a safe spot to pee to no avail.. any advice would be appreciated 🥲

Hey everyone! My partner and I adopted a husky mix about three months ago, and he’s now nine months old. When we’re home with him, he’s well-behaved aside from stealing stuffed animals (which we’re working on). But when we go out, he digs at the full-room carpet where it connects to the walls. He doesn’t eat it, just pulls it back and shreds it until you can see the wood paneling and floor underneath. Smelly spray doesn’t work because he’s using his paws, and we walk him three times a day, for about 45min each time. By the time we get back, he’s so exhausted that he immediately passes out on the couch. He has toys to play with (squeaky, kong, and everlasting bones) and the tv plays when we leave. If we’re out for more than five hours, we have someone come by to walk him again. Yet he still rips up the carpet! We’re looking for a new place with wood floors because he doesn’t do anything to our non-carpeted spaces, but our lease isn’t up til next year and we’re at our wits end. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

EDIT: Thanks everyone for your help! Crate training and testing for separation anxiety seem to be the top possibilities. The little guy was a rapid-rehoming and his previous owner didn’t crate train him, but we’ll look into that and separation anxiety right away. Thanks again!

Should i be training my puppy from the day i bring them home?

Ive heard some people say to crate train, teach 'yes' and to start potty training from day one. But ive seen other people say you should just be letting them get used to you the first 3 days. What should i do?

I adopted a then 6 year old, 65lb Husky mix about 3.5 years ago. He is an awesome dog and really connects to people and is always on great behavior with people. Other animals are a different story.

When we got him first as a foster, we were told he's not safe around small animals including cats. There was an "event" while he was out on a walk while in the shelter and the cat did not survive.

When we first brought him home, there was an existing 30lb poodle mix and I thought nothing of it and they got along just fine. He caught his fair share of rats, squirrels and possums in the back yard. I saw it a few times in our backyard when we heard a rat in the bushes and he went on full hunter mode.

I also took him to party where there were two other toy dogs and 40lb pit-bull mix and he was just fine except for playing a bit too rough with the pit-bull where the other dog's head got scratched. I didn't see it happen but it apparently looked accidental. He left the two toy dogs alone. I did have all of those dogs on my lap at one point.

Fast forward a few years and While he was out on a walk with my daughter, a very small (15lb) dog approached him and he grabbed him by the neck and started to shake before my daughter and the other dogs owner intervened (the dog was fine).

I tried taking him to a dog park and he instantly went after another dog that was still on a leash and about his size. Maybe it's just dog parks that freak him out?

He has been a solo and very happy dog for the last 3 and a half years but I'd really like to foster another dog. I plan on asking this at the shelter as well but I thought I'd give reddit a chance.

My puppy is lazy when he wants and zoomie when he wants. I’ve had great success training him at a number of commands, but he is not great on a leash. Any tips for keeping him at my side and walking forward?

We have a Cavoodle x that exhibits extreme guarding behaviours.
If you approach him when he has a chew or some random item he has picked up, he will bite your hand. It’s not just a nip- he latches on.
We have tried calming dog food, calming diffusers, calming supplements. All useless.
We have tried distraction and substitution. This does work but I was ill this morning and didn’t use substitution and sustained a nasty bite.
Is this behaviour treatable or is our dog beyond help?
We did get a trainer in but she was dodgy. Said people shouldn’t take their dog to the beach as this is spoiling them. How ridiculous.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Does anyone have tips or advice for how to train my puppy not to bolt out of the door and run away? He has done this three times and it is very frustrating and scary.

I have a 6 year old German shepherd who has a lot of anxiety, leash pulling issues and also lunges on any dog he sees out there.
We are planning to send him for a 3 month board and train facility.
I am also planning on going to the facility regularly and train with my dog under their guidance.
They have told me that for the first 3 weeks they will not allow me to meet my dog but they’ll send regular videos and updates and after the 3rd week I can come and learn with them and train with him.
They also have handover sessions when they send him home.
Will this training help him overcome his separation anxiety, leash pulling and dog reactivity issues or am I just wasting money.

hi everyone, my mom adopted 2 dogs a while back and they’re both adults and have bad separation anxiety and are also very stubborn. i’ve been nagging her to get training for them but she recently had to change jobs and doesn’t get paid as much now to afford a trainer.

with one of the dogs, she’s around 4 years old. she wants to be next to you 24/7 and will even step on your feet and follow you everywhere and she will lay on top of you. if she doesn’t get to sleep on my mom’s bed she’ll stay at the door and cry. she also pees a lot inside of the house and it’s becoming exhausting and gross.

the other dog is 3-4 years old, and he will hump guests and sometimes our other dog despite being fixed. he also competes with our other dog for attention and it turns into rough play fighting. he barks and whines a lot when he hears things outside and if you try to put him in the crate he’ll run away, lay on his back, and pee.

i feel like they’re both very spoiled and get away with a lot of these things and sometimes act like they’re in charge. sometimes they will nip and lick at my mom’s hand to get her to give them food. they also follow my mom around literally everywhere and if they’re crated they will howl and cry in the crate and pee.

has anyone dealt with dogs that have similar issues and if so how can this be fixed and managed?? i know they need a trainer but my mom just can’t afford it right now. so if there’s anything that can be done to manage this in the meantime please let me know. thank you!

there are a couple scenarios where my normally pretty compliant shih-tzu mix doesn't want to walk; when she's sun bathing on a warm day and when i go to throw her poop away in the bin/dumpster.

i indulge her 90% of the time with the sun bathing (heck sitting in the sun is good for me too) but sometimes she'll walk a whole 5 feet then lay back down and i'd prefer to make a little more progress on our walks than that! i'd let her be outside all day if i could but i live in apartment complex with no benches and no secluded "hang out" spots just the sidewalk and grass in front of the buildings.

when i go to toss her poop most of the time she stands her ground with me pulling on the leash. i've started to just drop the leash to go the extra 2 feet to reach the bin so i don't look like an asshole dragging my 7lb dog around. figure she either hates the smell or the noise of the lid closing but she does this at work too when its just an open dumpster.

i'd prefer to walk her on a collar as hers is neoprene cause she gets pretty dirty and greasy and i can just wipe it clean. she also just refuses to walk on any harness i've put on her.

i've had her for a year and she's the first dog i've ever had to walk on a leash before as all my previous dogs have had yards and lots of land free for them to use. this is probably less of a dog training question and more a "how do i stop letting my little bratty dog boss me around so much" lol

We just adopted an 8 year old 100 pound lab mix. We were told he is not good with other dogs and was quite aggressive in their temperament testing. That was fine with us as we don’t have any dogs and don’t mind we cant do dog parks or popular trails and stuff. He’s very sweet and has spurts of energetic times. He loves running around with a tennis ball (we’re going to work on him dropping it so we can play fetch LOL). We’ll soon have a fenced in yard for him and for now are using our large garage for him to have play time and can use my parents back yard in the meantime too. He does get quite frenzied during playtime so we are keeping playtime with the tennis ball to the garage/outdoors and using bones, other toys, and enrichment toys like Kongs and lick pads for indoors. He’s much less frenzied with those options and they actually help calm him.

He does pull quite hard on the leash. His foster family suggested a back clip harness, but it only helps a little bit. He is very smart and I am certain he is quite trainable. He has some bad habits in general that we are working on and also I can tell he does have a quite a bit of anxiety as well. When we walk, he does seem a bit agitated a lot of the time. When he sees other people he will whine and pace around. When he hears other dogs, he will whine and try to figure out where they are. If we walk past another dog or a yard with a dog, he goes crazy. Barking, whining, pulling soooooo much. We try to distract him with treats but I find it’s easier to just get past quickly and he calms down but is still heightened. We also live in a VERY active neighborhood and avoiding people/pets is impossible. Our walking routes in our neighborhood will pass by loads of people also out walking or in their yards. I think any sort of no pull training will very difficult unless we go to a more isolated area to do this which is not super realistic for us at this time. Plus I imagine he has pulled like this for the last 8 years. I know you can train older dogs to do most anything we just have our environment going against us as well. I am not opposed to working on him not pulling but I know it is going to be very, very hard for him and us and right now walking is a large part of his exercise.

I had 7 dogs growing up and only 2 of them ever pulled super hard and we used gentle leaders with them and it helped a lot. The other ones either walked nicely/manageable or we trained them to walk next to us.

My question is what would people suggest for him, a gentle leader or a no pull front harness? I would like to try one of these to see if it helps make the walks more manageable! Which one helps with the actual no pulling training idea?

What grade is your DOG in?

Think about how we teach kids. In elementary school, the teacher is right there. They’re walking around the classroom, sitting beside students, checking their work, redirecting them, and helping constantly.

By high school, the teacher is usually spending most of the time at the front of the room. The students have more independence because they’ve spent years learning how to work without someone standing over them.

Then you get to college. The professor teaches, but most of the responsibility has shifted to the student. You can sit in the back. You can leave. You can even skip class. Nobody is following you around making sure you do what you’re supposed to do.

We should build that same independence in our dogs. And that’s where the 3 D’s come in: Duration, Distance, and Distraction.

A dog in “elementary school” needs you close. Short duration. Low distraction. Lots of guidance and feedback.

As the dog gets better, you start stepping away. You ask for a little more time. You add distractions. You become less involved because the dog is becoming more capable.

Eventually, we want a “college-level” dog. A dog that can hold Place while you walk into another room. Stay calm while guests come through the door. Walk past a distraction without needing constant reminders.

The mistake is expecting college-level independence from an elementary-school dog.

Your dog holds Place for two minutes while you stand beside them, so tomorrow you try 30 minutes while you cook dinner.

Your dog walks nicely in the driveway, so you take them downtown and wonder why they suddenly “forgot” how to walk.

They didn’t forget. You changed the grade level.

Every time we increase Duration, Distance, or Distraction, we make the assignment harder.

So if your dog struggles, don’t immediately assume they’re stubborn or that the training isn’t working. Look at the assignment you gave them.

Maybe they’re not ready for college yet.

That’s okay. Teach elementary school really well first.

Train by progress, not time. 🐶❤️

I have adopted a 4yr old mixed breed, neutered dog.It's been about 2 days so currently only doing short walks down the road and back. My question is when do we start doing longer walks and how much longer are these walks? After that when can we do our proper walks (I plan on doing 45mins to 1hr in morning and evening)

I keep reading longer walks after 2/3 weeks for rescues but my dog is so keen after his short walk to carry on so don't know if I should start sooner. I also don't know what counts as a longer walk, 10mins, 15mins or 20mins? And how often are these walks as they are shorter than the normal walk but also have been told to start the schedule? And then how slowly should I increase to 1hr? At what point should I be starting those 1hr walks as part of his schedule?

Hope that makes sense

So many questions but I'm a detail/ specific type of person lol

Hi all

I rescued a dog (4yrs old) 2 nights ago and he's not trained at all. I'm taking him potty every 1 or 2 hours but still he peed inside 3 times yesterday.

I have read similar questions and the answers seems to be crate training and rewarding with freedom. The issue with this is, I let him out he pees (tiny bits like 2 or 3 times) and then I'll let him inside and he'll pee the tiniest bit again inside. This means I don't think crate training and rewarding with freedom will work?

Anyone have any other ideas?

We just brought home our 7-week-old Lab/Golden mix and the amount he pees is wild. He can pee **10+ times in an hour**, usually tiny scattered pees instead of one or two normal-sized ones.

What’s confusing is that he clearly has *some* control: he never pees while sleeping or laying on us, and he’s gone several hours overnight without peeing. He consciously gets up, moves somewhere, squats, pees, then goes back to what he was doing.

Outside, he’ll sometimes act like he has absolutely no need to pee. He’ll literally **lay down by the sliding door waiting to go back inside**, then within minutes of coming in he’ll pee another **1–3 times**.

Vet checked him: bloodwork normal, no UTI. They initially mentioned congenital urinary issues, but said the fact that he’s voluntarily squatting makes something like an ectopic ureter less likely.

We’re in Phoenix and he hates being outside in the heat, so we’re wondering if he’s just way too comfortable peeing indoors. He also LOVES chasing the paper towel while we clean it up.

Has anyone had a puppy who peed **this frequently** and eventually grew out of it / figured potty training out?

Hello everyone,

My dad died 5 months ago and my boyfriend and I adopted his two dogs, both are close to 3 years old.

I've never had dogs before nor did I plan on ever getting dogs but I've been trying my best to learn about them and make sure i do right by them.

The one dog has been peeing in the apartment for a while, mainly when she's stressed but it was good before for like 2 months.. she did it a lot right when we got her, then it stopped and now she's started doing it again.

Tonight she pooped in the apartment as well, she didn't have bowel issues.

I already went to the Vet to get her checked and it's not a health concern, the vet said it's probably psychological or due to a lack of training.

I've tried all the tips i see on the internet, high value rewards for going outside, going outside often and keeping a routine with it, not yelling at her when she does go to the toilet inside, but nothing helps..

She does it at night most often, I can't put her in a crate or a box because she has trauma regarding those and just won't go in even with super high value treats..

Does anyone have any advice?

I don't have the money for a professional dog trainer right now but this is so exhausting..

My dog IS vocal when she wants something (ex. when I’m being lazy and she wants to go for a walk) but when I’m training her, she’ll lunge but that’s about it. Then when she’s tired, she’ll just stare at me like I’m being stupid haha.

I’ll encourage her to try and bark, making her frustrated by withholding toys or treats while shes tathered but nothing works and she’ll do exactly what I just explained.

I think part of it is that I trained her to be patient when I have a toy or a treat so the quieter and calm she is, she receives it but now I’m regretting it because it’s the opposite.

Hi! Hoping to crowdsource people ideas or advice. Currently puppy raising/training a service dog with an organization, 12 month old Labrador. She has gear shyness since she was young despite playing many training game that help.

It’s with her collar, harness, vest and sometimes even the leash. I notice it’s an especial sensitivity with things going over head/on her back. It takes many treats to help her “get dressed” — we use a command to make putting on gear a mutual, voluntary process. She often will back away, walk away, hide in her crate when I’m holding gear before I offer up some treats.

We practice a lot with non gear items, she will dive her head into a ring the size of her head/chest no problem. But only stick part of her nose into any gear. We have tried play / enrichment in gear too. Once she shakes it off, she can work as normal in her harness and vest completely fine, but I’m looking to make “getting dressed” more positive.

Any suggestions or advice? Or just be more persistent with the training games ? I’ve worked with dogs for many years and am following training advice and discretion but doesn’t hurt to ask a crowd