So, it's another Benny thread!
We got Benny a little over a month ago. We've been working on his training and he's done well with most things! He now gets into his crate, sits, and lays on command. He loves the cat and they are best buds. We are working on heel and come, which he somewhat understands, and we're working on him listening on command when we have new and exciting people over.
We
Benny.
Well... except for his pooping issue.
We've been getting used to each other's schedules. At first he wasn't pooping at all but after a few days he did. Then he was only pooping once a day- morning or night. It seems random. Every now and then he poops twice a day; again, it seems random. We feed him the same amount once a night now and things have settled out some.
Except for the fact that he won't poop in the yard. He likes to go in the house. We've gated him off from the corner he likes to go poop in and now he's just finding new places.
The thing is, if we take him for walks around the streets and neighborhood he'll poop outside but he absolutely refuses to do so in our yard. We don't have a backyard I can let him out in by himself to go so on the leash and in front it has to be. He pees in the yard but he just won't take a shit.
The obvious solution is to walk him around the neighborhood but we're trying to get him to use our yard because of my schedule. When Quid starts deploying I'll be taking care of the dog solo and if I work a night shift I'm not home till sometime between 11PM-12AM. If Benny hadn't pooped that morning I'm really not comfortable walking all around the streets that late, even though it's not a terribly unsafe neighborhood.
Or sometimes it's raining.
I'm not sure what the hell else to do.
He pees in the front. We reinforce him with treats. We decided our new tactic the past few days was to not talk him for long walks and instead walking him all around the house, front and back, multiple times a day. I've been out there 10 minutes or more with him at a time so he can get his exercise and maybe work his poop out. Nope. He refuses to go. He didn't poop for two whole days of this before he finally couldn't hold it any longer and did it right behind my husband's computer chair... while he was sitting there.
This morning after two 15+ minutes periods a piece of being outside in the yards and peeing he wouldn't poop. And then when I was up taking my shower he did it in the living room.
I'm not sure how to properly take care of this. He won't poop in his crate so now it's back into the crate when we're not near him/home. I feel bad for him but I'm tired of dealing of this. He likes the crate! He's like "Oh, look, time for a nap!" when he's misbehaving and goes in there.
What do we do?
tl;dr: Dog will poop around the neighborhood and inside my house but not in our yard. He pees in the yard fine. Taking him for walks around streets is not optimal at 12 AM when I am alone. How do we get him to poop in the yard?
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There's also crate training, although that's usually more generalized.
I recommend training him to shit on command. I know a woman who has trained her dog to shit when a bag is placed behind it, so she doesn't event need to grab it.
Once he knows that he's supposed to poop on the paper, move it closer and closer to the door, then finally outside.
............Just not OUR yard. He absolutely refuses. I've run him around, then taken him out and he won't poop in our yard. He feels the need to go streets over to shit.
We do reward him when he poops outside... but he hasn't in our yard in the entire month we've had him so I can't reward it. He knows pooping in the house is bad. He looks terrified every time we find a pile.
Also, he's crate trained. He goes in on command, he stays in at night and when we're not home. We were hoping to not have to keep him in there though. It was awesome when he wasn't peeing or pooping indoors for a few weeks and we could let him stay out but once we were limiting his options of where we'd take him to shit he refuses to do it... and eventually can't hold it any longer and shit inside. Now it's back in the crate when we can't watch him.
did you just advise someone to shit in their own back yard to train a dog by example?
Yes he did, and encouraged them to film it and post it on youtube. I suspect it might be advice somewhat along the lines of "look at the dumb things people do when they take questionable advice from internet forums." Not just the pooping (which is indecent and might get one arrested), but more specifically the youtubing.
OP, I have two thoughts. One is "seeding" your yard - i.e. put your dog's poop in the yard (don't let him see you do it) and let him see it there. Whether it's from inside or around the block, he needs to know it's OK to put it there. He might get the message just from that and move on and be a good dog.
The second is to be more hardcore with the crate training. If you can't supervise him, he's in the crate. That means if you're in the shower, he's in the crate. If you're not at home and your BF is (insert intense concentration computer activity here, i.e. raiding or doing a mission op), the dog is in the crate or on a leash in sight of the responsible party. When he starts to poop, interrupt him and take him outside, next to the planted poop, and wait for him to complete the transaction. Then throw a party for him, give him treats, etc.
Let the dog out.
Simply put your schedule does not work for your dog, and although training is the long term solution in the short term it's your schedule that needs to change to create more opportunities to train. Dogs learn through operant conditioning very quickly but you have to train when the situation is at hand. If you can't catch your dog attempting to... then you can't effectively punish and train.
Also, walk him longer when you walk him. I've noticed with my dog he usually doesn't poop until we've turned around and are on the 2nd half of the walk. Sometimes he doesn't poop until we're like 5 blocks away from home. I take him on 1/2 hour walks. My dog much prefers to shit in other peoples yards over mine own; if you want him to poop in a compressed timespan in a specific location you will need to do a lot of training and re-inforcement.
I've heard of getting them to poop on command, though that training usually starts immediately, like starting when you first get the pup/dog, and it helps to set the training initially if you take them to a specific spot everytime.
Try that.
Also every time he poops inside it is setting back your training. He needs to be crated if you aren't actively interacting with him. It kind of sucks but it works. If you have a pretty good idea of when he needs to poop, go outside and slowly walk back and forth in your yard for 5 minutes (wear a watch). If he doesn't poop take him back inside and put him in his crate. The first time wait until the next time you would normally take him outside and do the same thing. Subsequently you probably want to give him opportunities to poop more frequently. When he does poop take him for a long walk around the neighborhood and leave him out of his crate inside. Repeat until he seems to be comfortable pooping in your yard, it will likely only take once or twice for him to understand that it is okay.
That's sort of what we tried with only walking him around our specific yard and the little bastard refused to poop until he couldn't hold it anymore. (2.5 days later).
I'm going to try the seeding first. I was talking to a coworker who also happened to train dogs professionally before (the more you know!) and she thought seeding would be a good new alternative since he's being so stubborn. I don't think any of the neighborhood dogs shit in our yard either so he probably doesn't think it's a proper spot to go?
And we don't feed him in the yard. He gets fed inside.
He usually only poops once or twice a day.
And he never poops directly in front of us. We'll be home but he used to slink over to the dining room corner so we've trained him not to go in there. Then he did poop right behind my husband but I think he simply couldn't hold it any longer and was desperate seeing as he refused to go for 2.5 days despite ample opportunities outside.
We'll see how this goes! The next time he does it, either inside or out I'll move it into our yard for a day at a time. (I always have to pick it up at night since we don't know when the lawn maintainence people are coming that week).
They just mow and trim trees and bushes. We get in trouble is there's poop/obstructions/stuff int the yard that interferes. No sprays.
Don't do this unless you want an infected dog nose.
Which is actually why the two St. Bernards don't poop in the house anymore.
Or anywhere else
Except for puppy heaven.
i assume he is male, it could be a scenting issue, what you need to do is when he goes to the toilet put the excrement in a spot in the yard, pick one inconspicuous spot that re - inforces his boundries and teaches him where exactly to go. In a hunting breed say Bloodhound Setter or Basset for example you have to completely get rid of all scents of his pee and poo from around the house, bleach, detol pet de scenter whatever you usualy use to break this cycle of pooing where he smells that he has done it before. On days when you are at home after feeding leave him outside and keep an eye out until he does his business then thank him tell him he is good and reward him, when he goes to the toilet inside scold him because positive re inforcement doesnt work alone. I am not saying to hit him but give out to him and put both him and his poo outside for awhile to think about it. It is very easy to train a dog this way all my shepherds are house trained although my mother makes me put them outside because they shead a lot.[PHP][/PHP]
I am not preaching at you simply trying to offer advice, I dont mean any Insult by it.
Being outside with him like that should be good. Plus he already snuck off and pooped in the house when I went into the bathroom so I've moved it outside to the front where I want him to go and every time we got out today I'm taking him over there. We'll see how this goes for the next few days!
I really hope this post is a joke.
What breed is benny?