Hi There,

We adopted a dog from the Animal shelter last Saturday. He is a Border Collie mix anywhere from 6 months to a year old.

So far he is GREAT. Too Great.

The only problem we are having is he will not do his duty in the yard. He only does it during a long walk.

Last night he woke us up twice, we let him in the yard. He went under the deck where we have River Rocks and Diaherra twice, once at 1:00AM and again at 3:00AM. He has NEVER urinated in the yard.

We want him to do both in the yard.

Any Ideas??

Thanks

Bob

It is quite possible the original owner trained him to potty only on walks, and not in the yard (some folks prefer that). Anyway, I recommend putting the leash on him, and accompany him into the yard to potty. For one thing, it might simulate a walk for him, helping him to relax, and for another, it will keep him from crawling under and hiding in inaccessible places. When he does finally go in the yard, praise him and let him know he did the right thing. It may take a week or two for him to become comfortable pottying in the yard. When we got our dog as a puppy, our yard wasn't fenced, so we had to leash her to take her out. When we did get a fence, she had a hard time going off-leash, and even then, it took two weeks for her to go by herself, without supervision!

[mightymite]

Originally Posted by bobg1234

Hi There,

We adopted a dog from the Animal shelter last Saturday. He is a Border Collie mix anywhere from 6 months to a year old.

So far he is GREAT. Too Great.

The only problem we are having is he will not do his duty in the yard. He only does it during a long walk.

Last night he woke us up twice, we let him in the yard. He went under the deck where we have River Rocks and Diaherra twice, once at 1:00AM and again at 3:00AM. He has NEVER urinated in the yard.

We want him to do both in the yard.

Any Ideas??

Thanks

Bob

He may not know it is OK to go outside. Put a day aside, and in this warm summer weather- spend the day with him in your backyard. He will have to go eventually, when he does, reward him and act like he just won a medal of honor. Give him an extra special treat. LEAVE ALL BATHROOM ACTIVITIE WHERE THEY FALL.. You want him to mark your backyard. Then go inside. In a few hours, go outside again and repeat the process. Keep making a fuss each time he relieves himself in your backyard - he'll get it.

It's very possible as well that this dog was never given the opportunity to relieve itself on grass. He might have only had access to a concrete patio or garden rocks.. When I lived in a condo, my female Chihuahua had zero access to grass, period. So every time she went potty outside it was on garden rocks. It took awhile before we moved into a house with a yard for her to become comfortable with relieving herself on grass.


Anyway, the previous posters made great suggestions. Just continue to be consistent and patient with him. Reward him appropriately once he accomplishes the task you've required of him.

Hey there bobg, I see you posted this about a month ago. How is it going now with your dog and the yard? I'm interested to know what you have tried so far and if anything has worked? I just adopted a dog about 3 weeks ago and she is afraid of the grass. Sometimes I have to pick her up and set her down in the middle of the back yard - sometimes she'll sniff around and go potty, sometimes it takes a LOT of coaxing and sometimes she won't go at all when I know she needs to (if she hasn't gone in a lonnng while kinda thing). If she does do her business, she BOLTS to the sidewalk when she's done as if that grass is on fire! Her little paws seem to be okay, as far as I can tell. So I'm interested in seeing what others have done that are in or once were in my situation.