Re-potty training Lab!?? HELP! :)

seeyaintheam · 05-18-2010

My family has a 6 month old Lab, he's been potty trained once before. We got an electric fence for him (when he was 4 months of age), since it wasn't fair for him to stay inside all day. He was doing great with potty training before that , but after that he was becoming slack. Or maybe it was our family. He will come inside after hours outside and "use" our floor. I am completely stumped on what to do! I love this little puppy and I really want to keep him. It just seems all of a sudden, within the past month! Any ideas? Please ask if there's any more info you need about this.

Lunareclipse · 05-19-2010

Maybe he's scared to go outside for fear of being shocked. I tie Buster out on a 30 foot tether. If you have a doggy door, then you can tether him close to the door so he can still go in and out as he wishes. Electric fenses don't exactly encourage puppies to go outside.

Todd · 05-19-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lunareclipse

Maybe he's scared to go outside for fear of being shocked. I tie Buster out on a 30 foot tether. If you have a doggy door, then you can tether him close to the door so he can still go in and out as he wishes. Electric fenses don't exactly encourage puppies to go outside.

I agree. (OP)... I'm assuming you don't have a fenced in backyard, correct? How does the dog act while it's in the yard? Fearful at all?

seeyaintheam · 05-19-2010

He loves going outside! He is almost reluctant to come inside. Trust me he doesn’t have a fear of getting shocked, he’s gotten loose 5 times. My parents are about to get rid of him, I really like him and I want to keep him. Would retraining him from "scratch" be a good idea? Or would that totally mess with him?

GSDS4Life · 05-19-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by seeyaintheam

My family has a 6 month old Lab, he's been potty trained once before. We got an electric fence for him (when he was 4 months of age), since it wasn't fair for him to stay inside all day. He was doing great with potty training before that , but after that he was becoming slack. Or maybe it was our family. He will come inside after hours outside and "use" our floor. I am completely stumped on what to do! I love this little puppy and I really want to keep him. It just seems all of a sudden, within the past month! Any ideas? Please ask if there's any more info you need about this.

First off, a 4 month old with a shock collar is just wrong in my eyes. Second, you say it's unfair for him to be inside all day. What is unfair is him being left outside alone for hours. Leaving a pup/dog outside unsupervisd for hours is actually asking for trouble. Anyone can steal him. Or poison him. Sorry if this sounds harsh. But I believe in being safe then sorry. And an electric fence will not prevent dogs or other animals from coming into your yard.

The way I see this is, he is outside alone all day. So this means he can go potty whenever he feels like it. So when he comes in, he thinks the same. So to be honest, this is not his fault.

Quote:

Originally Posted by seeyaintheam

He loves going outside! He is almost reluctant to come inside. Trust me he doesn’t have a fear of getting shocked, he’s gotten loose 5 times. My parents are about to get rid of him, I really like him and I want to keep him. Would retraining him from "scratch" be a good idea? Or would that totally mess with him?

Having him get loose 5 times should tell you something. Unfortunately the 6th time he may not be lucky.

Yes you can retrain him from scratch. But this would mean not leaving him out alone all day.

Todd · 05-20-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by GSDS4Life

First off, a 4 month old with a shock collar is just wrong in my eyes. Second, you say it's unfair for him to be inside all day. What is unfair is him being left outside alone for hours. Leaving a pup/dog outside unsupervisd for hours is actually asking for trouble. Anyone can steal him. Or poison him. Sorry if this sounds harsh. But I believe in being safe then sorry. And an electric fence will not prevent dogs or other animals from coming into your yard.

The way I see this is, he is outside alone all day. So this means he can go potty whenever he feels like it. So when he comes in, he thinks the same. So to be honest, this is not his fault.

Having him get loose 5 times should tell you something. Unfortunately the 6th time he may not be lucky.

Yes you can retrain him from scratch. But this would mean not leaving him out alone all day.

You make some very interesting points. It is not fair to leave him out all day long alone. Not much different than beingleft inside all day, and as you suggested this can be dangerous. This teaches him he can go potty whenever like you are saying, so this is obviously the issue. He is only 6 months so he hasn't been potty trained for too long. Not long enough to know to never go inside with being left outside all day. If you're going to leave him out for extended periods of time, which I wouldn't recommend but people do do it, I wouldn't until he is older than a year. This was his potty training should be reinforced and he won't be too confused. Still not a good idea though. Start from scratch as you did before and stop leaving him out all day. Make sure to take him on plenty of walks as well/running time. If you leave him at home, this will depend on who's home and when. A crate may be useful, but no more than 4 hrs per day tops. Make sure he doesn't have the run of the house at this age at least and there is nothing he can get into that could be harmful. Main thing is to potty train him like you did before because it sounds as though it was successful.

One more question of clarification. Has he been fixed? If not his hormones could be kicking in and he is starting tomark the house as his territory. This is common in unfixed males. He didn't do it before because he wasn't mature enough physically. Let us know.

reeskujo · 05-21-2010

I agree with everyone here but let me also add it's not unusual for puppies to regress in potty training especially when there has been a change in their enviorment or routine...Your puppy is also at an age where socialization especially with the family is critical and he's not getting that being outside alone all day...That is also one of the quickest ways to make a dog agrressive because of the lack of human contact as well as the boredom and frustration they feel.

Evevn when I've had a fenced yard my pups were walked on a leash in the yard to go potty and then when they were done they were aloud off leash to play...This teaches them that they're out there to potty first and then play.

Once they have regressed in potty training you will have to start over from the begining..As the other members have stated he's not been potty trained that long if he's only 6 months old...In fact a lot of puppies are not completely trained until that age..

It's also very dangerous for him to be outside alone and with noone watching him for that amount of time....

Even as adults when my dogs are out in the yard we check on them at least every 15 -20 minutes.

Also if he's escaped through an electric fence that means he's determined to get out and it's most likely because he needs more excersize and socialization...I would suggest putting him on a long tie-out...Let me also say that shock collars on a puppy that age is a recipe for making him agressive....He does not yet understand why he's being made to feel pain when he's roaming in his own territory and not to offend you but I'm not a fan of shock collars to begin with and imo they're just plain cruel on a puppy..

There are plenty of websites that can give you info on how to train a dog the boundries of it's yard.