Poopy Problems

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Archived Message

Poopy Problems - Help!
by Carrie
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
Poopy Problems - Help! Okay, here goes. . . Although Sophie is 99% paper-trained when going #1, but #2 is a different story. We just cannot get her to go on the paper. Once she eats, we wait 15-20 minutes and sit with her, sometimes as long as an hour by the pad and she will not poop! As soon as we let her go, she goes on the carpet. It used to be that she would go in a corner, behind furniture or something, but now she is going somewhat near (within a 4 foot diameter) of the wee pad. If we pick up the poop and place it on the pad, she will not pee on the pad. So, we tried placing two pads near eachother thinking she would go #1 on one and #2 on the other, but to no avail! When we catch her in the act, we pick her up and place her on the pad and say the magic words. However, in the process, the poopie has fallen out somewhere along the way! Then she just looks at us and tilts her head to the side looking confused! I am home with her most of the day with the exception of a few hours in the morning, but do not want to put her on a leash because I am afraid that she will be underfoot. She rarely, if ever goes pee on the pad in the kitchen when she is confined and prefers to wait it out until she is released to go on the pad by the front door. So, I don't believe confining her to one room would work. If I keep her in her crate, she will whine the entire time and scratch to get out. I don't know what to do -- the pee-training was so easy, she mastered that art in only four days, but it has been 8 weeks and the pooping is still a problem. We will begin puppy obedience class that will also address housebreaking, but that doesn't begin for another month. Any suggestions until then? ANY help would be appreciated! Thanx!

DISCUSSION:

Is it possible Sophie would do better if she were trained to go outside? Maybe she just doesn't like going #2 near where she knows she'll have to go back to in order to go #1. It is just a guess. And if you want to train her to go on wee wee pads, you probably don't want to try the outside option. Maybe separating the #1 pad and the #2 pad further apart would help???
Sandee M.

Carrie, puppies sometimes need the stimulation of play or a walk before they can poop, even if it's just for a couple of minutes. You may want to start over somewhat with her crate training. Believe it or not, the puppy classes will help her alot since she will gain self confidence and look up to you as her leader. It'll make the training process much easier. Good luck!
anne

Yes, outside would be my ultimate goal any other year but this one! We live in a semi-arid desert region in CA, but the rain has just hit us so hard this year. We live less than an hour away from all the flood areas, so my Sophie would look something like my kitchen mop everytime we went out! [ggg] I'd like to do both, but for now am focusing on only paper training and Sophie is focusing more on carpet training!
Carrie

Carrie, We live in the East Bay area of San Francisco and have gotten alot of rain. We trained Dexe,r now 9 months, to go out from the beginning. When he gets really wet, I dry him with the dryer. Otherwise a towel does the trick. He does have a shorter puppy cut. It is better than poop in the house and if you don't break the habit now you are telling him he is in charge! I am on my second maltese and I know this from poor past mistakes with my first one. Since you are home most of the day it should be an easy habit to break but will take time. We use one of the puppy pens on a grassy area and he now loves going out. Good luck Linda and Dexter
Linda King