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PIT BULL HOUSE TRAINING Wetting in the house really falls into two categories – not house trained: ie: getting up to wee on the floor, or marking: scenting bedding, sofas, beds etc. If you feel the problem is because she’s not house trained then the training programme is pretty simple and in most cases very effective. Firstly, form a routine for her so she knows exactly when she’s expected to go outside to the toilet. First thing in the morning (even if there is already a puddle in the kitchen), after she’s eaten, lunch time, tea time and before bed. Go outside with her so you can praise her when she “performs”. Decide on an emptying command like " wee wee ", "shee shee", hurry up or whatever you are comfortable with and on the first visit to the garden just use this command as she squats to wee, then lots of praise and a treat. All accidents in the house to be completely ignored, clean with bleach or disinfectant or spray over with Wash and Get Off Spray On the second trip start the command as soon as you are in the garden (or the area of the garden you want her to use), keep using the command until she squats – and then loads and loads and loads of praise. In most cases you can house train within a week or 2 simply because she works out that weeing makes you happy and gets her a treat – by ignoring the accidents in the house she will work out that this happiness only occurs outside, punishing her for weeing inside carries 2 risks – 1) she sees the telling off as attention and subsequently uses weeing in the house to get attention or 2) learns that it’s actually dangerous to wee in your presence and then you’ll never get her to wee outside when you’re around. Dogs that have previously lived out side have two issues to deal with, firstly – going out the back door last thing at night risks having the door shut behind them, we want them to do their last wee but the dog doesn’t know that – she thinks she’s being put out for the night so refuses to go. Dogs that have lived outside have no concept of where the right and wrong places are so the praise and ignore method will usually work, simply because it brings them praise. It can take a while to get that first wee so you can issue that first command, but once the behaviour has been reinforced and the dog associates the command with the act - it doesn’t usually take the dog long to work out what happened and what gets the praise. The second problem is marking, this is deliberately marking bedding that she thinks should be hers, this can be her own bed but also the other dog, your bed, the sofa or worse other people’s houses. If the problem is limited to just her own bed, firstly rule out a UTI (frequent efforts to wee with little or no result) and sometimes dribbling just a little cider vinegar into the drinking water will deal with any low level infection or mild cystitis . If you are confident she is marking, ie: clean bedding is immediately wetted then you can try and combat this by having 2 layers of bedding, when you wash the bedding only wash the top layer, put the clean layer on the bottom and bring the bottom layer to the top – this keeps the bed scented and should prevent her from marking it – spraying the bedding with wash and get off will also help deter her from weeing where you don’t want her to. A very useful tool in housetraining is the crate. Crates are useful for two reasons, firstly, it confines the dog to a small area whilst you are not around, this makes life much easier when it comes to clean ups and it is pointless letting an un-housetrained dog have free access to the house if you know she’s going to pee – besides crating a dog for a few hours or over night is no more cruel then putting a baby in a cot or a play pen. Secondly, many dogs don’t like fouling where they sleep There is a lesser risk that she will mess in her bed, but in severe cases removing all bedding from the bottom of the crate for a few nights is usually sufficient as it reinforces the fact that they are stuck with it until morning when you come and let them out. Again, ignore the mess, take the dog straight outside, use the emptying command and then issue tones of praise for doing it in the right place. There is a third more serious problem and that is incontinence cause through a medical issue, spayed bitches often lose bladder control slightly and there is a syrup available from the vet that will help BUT this syrup can make bitches aggressive so we don’t usually advice you use this unless absolutely necessary. The second medical issue is a spinal problem, most notably hemi vertebrae which will cause loss of bladder control or spina bifida, both need xrays to confirm and really are worse case scenarios, hemi vertebrae (or butterfly vertebrae) is the most likely of the two and is sadly more common than it should be in brachycephalic breeds. It’s also worth noting that bitches in season almost always wee in the house, they become prone to infection whilst in season so a UTI or mild cystitis is not unusual – again in mild cases dribble cider vinegar into the drinking water but in severe cases (blood stained urine) she will need a course of anti biotics. They also wee in the house when so show other dogs that they’re ready to mate (an invitation to the males and a warning to the bitches), if your dog was previously a brood bitch or has been used for breeding she will have already associated being in season with being mated and will be giving out the signals to any boys in the area that may be available. |
