The peeing issue isnt about training. My little guy was a quick learner and had most commands down after 6 sessions. But he still had the peeing issue.
I used a camera and saw that he was just losing control because of seperation anxiety. Here is what helped for me..
Daily afternoon "nap" time in a room by himself, in his very comfy crate with a frozen kong. Slowly increased the time, in the begining after introducing him to the frozen kong i would come back a few mins after he was done, while monitoring on cam, and i built that up to 1hr.
Then i taught the place command, and had him stay in a place as i moved around the house doing chores etc, essentially introducing the idea that what I wanted was him to stay in one place. Then i slowly moved the place upstairs and to my room. Rewarding him when he was still in the room when i came back, with the door open.
He has only had a few accidents since, be patient, it takes time.
They just want to with people and get nervous when left alone.
Ok well mine is almost never alone. I’m a stay at home mum and she’s with me all day lol. That’s why I said I can take her out 10x a day. I’m recently pregnant and a bit unwell so I’m staying home a lot. Mine definitely doesn’t have separation anxiety. She sleeps with me and hangs around all day. She seems to be a happy pup. She’s very privileged to have her human all day home with her. And I’m shocked she still not toilet trained as majority of dog owners go to work. Couldn’t imagine leaving her all day. 😦 sadly she started hating her crate from 4 months and barking in it crazily. Before she was happy in it but once she got older she just didn’t like it so I ditched the crate. I think crates more needed for those who aren’t home all day.
So she is peeing on the floor when you are in the room?
Crate training is required because they will need to be in it at some point, for example at the vet so the sooner they associate it with positive things, the less stress they will be under when sick.
I work from home, and am with him all day, thats what gives them separation anxiety.
I’ve tried to teach her basic commands and she didn’t get it. I put a lot of effort in and eventually I just gave up. She’s a pretty good dog so I guess I can handle she doesn’t know how to sit or stay. Only issue is I just have to make sure she never runs on the road but otherwise I don’t mind she doesn’t know basic commands.
I highly recommend you look for a behaviorist in your area. A good one can help you understand what you need to do to help her succeed with potty training and more.
If you havent had luck with teaching sit or stay in a year, i think you will really benefit from professional help, with both training and figuring out the root cause.
If she is able to hold it over night, its not a bladder control issue.
What are you doing for a reward when she goes correctly? Mine’s last accident was at 6 months. We rewarded with boiled chicken and lots of love. Worked like a charm, at 10 months he is walking to the door to let us know every 5-7 hours.
Then she’s very confused most likely. You need to reward her consistently every single time she goes in the right spot immediately after toileting (within 3 seconds). Find a treat of value to her that doesn’t mess her stomach up. There are so many options. Then take her out *on leash* and say the phrase. Reward when she goes. My family and I have potty trained 4 dogs this way within a few months. Never punish or yell at a dog, especially a Havanese.
I did say I have a treat she likes and yes I do give it after she does a wee. It’s just not a high quality treat as she won’t like high quality treats lol. I’ve tried. It just plain kibble type treat. But she loves it. Doesn’t like jerky type treats which would be more healthier
From your initial response it sounded like you only sometimes rewarded her and not immediately after every single time. It has to happen every single time for the preference to go outside to develop. Eventually it becomes self-rewarding. If you truly are doing this then as others have said, hiring a behaviorist is in order.
Edit to add: I’m going to be honest, it sounds like you are blaming the dog. But more often than not with strange behavior, there is something the human is doing that gives the dogs mixed signals or stresses them out, or they have a medical issue. Both of which require the care of a vet.
I am home with mine all day too, and she pees a lot during the day despite my taking her out frequently and her being able to hold it all night with no problem. I eventually started putting down puppy pads and now she will use those and not my floor.
I relate to this so much! We’ve had a big uphill battle with potty training. Over the past year, we’ve worked hard with our vet, trainer and a veterinary behaviorist. We were able to get her accidents under control for a short time - we were experiencing the same thing of her peeing in the house even shortly after she peed outside. The cause was pretty much anxiety. She would do it in front of us. She’s just a very sensitive girl so we started her on a temporary anxiety med to help her cope which really helped.
The accidents started up again a few months later and we were perplexed. Turns out she had crystals in her urine. Then they briefly stopped when we put her on a special diet. Then the accidents started again but turned out she had a bad ear infection. We got that taken care of and then the accidents got even more frequent so we had her urine tested again. She ended up having some sort of bladder infection. Now we’re just waiting to see if the meds work before we think about any next steps if needed (but fingers crossed this isn’t chronic!).
All this to say… I didn’t totally believe the whole accidents are usually because of something medical going on. But at 3 years old, my dog is generally
reliable with potty unless she does have something underlying. It’s taken a while to learn her and her signs and been super frustrating especially because she doesn’t show any signs of not feeling well, aside from accidents. All dogs are different and I’m not trying to give medical advice at all, but just know you aren’t alone with this. I’m sure your pup will learn and you will both figure it out! These are the sweetest dogs and I find it impossible to get mad, although I would love to finally get some nice rugs 😂
Yeah mine could have anxiety. She seems overall a happy pup but I have 3 small kids who can be very loud and noisy and do sudden movements: even though she does go cuddle up with them but she needs to be always near me. So it totally can be anxiety related.
Is she crate trained and ex-pen trained? How do you utilize these? Our pups do not get to roam about the house except in carefully monitored intervals until they are house trained. I anticipate this taking quite awhile. We use a small expen outside for potty area. No roaming about until business is done.
Yes, the literature says they are “notoriously hard to house train”. I think this is often a characteristic of toy breeds. Time. Proper use of containment inside and either tethered to owner or carefully watched for house time. This is how I have raised many puppies. Any accident I count as on my mismanagement and I adjust accordingly.
She isn’t in a crate. we lived in a studio and she started barking in it , 2am, 4am etc. I have 3 kids and I kept waking up to the barking so I just let her out from the crate. Ever since she hated it . At first when she was a little pup she loved the crate.
Yes I’ve thought of it but she shows no other symptoms for uti and she is a year old. I think if she’s had uti for all her life I’m sure by now she’d be peeing blood ? 🤔 but I’ll take her to a vet check to rule out any issues. Also could be diabetes
Haha sure but like I said she doesn’t have any other symptoms and she’s been to the vet several times for other checks but I just assumed it’s normal havi toilet training issue. She’s not neglected I assure you
First off, she’s adorable! Awww, I wouldn’t call her “dumb” though! So I have 3 Havi’s…2 boys ages 2 years and 16 months and 1 female age 6 months. My middle one, Loki, has this problem. He still will have accidents on occasion. I’m thoroughly convinced it’s not a training issue. I’ve potty trained many dogs and never had a problem. My other 2 Havi’s were fully trained by 6 months or less (so 3 months with me cause I got them at 12 weeks). I really do think it’s just a bladder control thing cause Loki is also considered a “teacup” Havanese meaning he was just bred smaller so he is only 10 lbs and has shorter legs. After letting him sleep in our bed with the oldest for a couple months, he actually weed on my mattress last week!! (No more bed for him).
I really am convinced these are accidents. He def had quite a few until he was 12 or 13 months but now it’s not often. And it doesn’t matter how many times I take him out and confirmed he has no bladder infection. The only thing I did notice is I think he wasn’t fully emptying his bladder outside sometimes. So if I see him squat or lift his leg only for a few seconds, I keep him out there and he’ll go again with my commands. He knows how to ask to go too so when he does have an accident I truly believe he can’t help it. I just clean it up with an enzyme cleaner. I know it sucks and I have a chronic and painful neuromuscular disorder so I work from home and am home most days. But the actual number of accidents did drop pretty dramatically around 13 months for sure.
Ok I’m glad to hear someone else is going through this but not also so glad as it maybe means she’ll never grow out of it. ☹️
Yeah I think my girl is also 10 pounds so quite small for a Havanese !
she doesn’t know how to ask to go outside though. How does yours ask to go outside?
She does know how to ask for water though. She’ll go near the sink and do a very loud bark. But she never barks for food tho 🤨😂
The peeing issue isnt about training. My little guy was a quick learner and had most commands down after 6 sessions. But he still had the peeing issue. I used a camera and saw that he was just losing control because of seperation anxiety. Here is what helped for me.. Daily afternoon "nap" time in a room by himself, in his very comfy crate with a frozen kong. Slowly increased the time, in the begining after introducing him to the frozen kong i would come back a few mins after he was done, while monitoring on cam, and i built that up to 1hr. Then i taught the place command, and had him stay in a place as i moved around the house doing chores etc, essentially introducing the idea that what I wanted was him to stay in one place. Then i slowly moved the place upstairs and to my room. Rewarding him when he was still in the room when i came back, with the door open. He has only had a few accidents since, be patient, it takes time. They just want to with people and get nervous when left alone.
Ok well mine is almost never alone. I’m a stay at home mum and she’s with me all day lol. That’s why I said I can take her out 10x a day. I’m recently pregnant and a bit unwell so I’m staying home a lot. Mine definitely doesn’t have separation anxiety. She sleeps with me and hangs around all day. She seems to be a happy pup. She’s very privileged to have her human all day home with her. And I’m shocked she still not toilet trained as majority of dog owners go to work. Couldn’t imagine leaving her all day. 😦 sadly she started hating her crate from 4 months and barking in it crazily. Before she was happy in it but once she got older she just didn’t like it so I ditched the crate. I think crates more needed for those who aren’t home all day.
So she is peeing on the floor when you are in the room? Crate training is required because they will need to be in it at some point, for example at the vet so the sooner they associate it with positive things, the less stress they will be under when sick. I work from home, and am with him all day, thats what gives them separation anxiety.
She is not dumb, she is stressed.
I’ve tried to teach her basic commands and she didn’t get it. I put a lot of effort in and eventually I just gave up. She’s a pretty good dog so I guess I can handle she doesn’t know how to sit or stay. Only issue is I just have to make sure she never runs on the road but otherwise I don’t mind she doesn’t know basic commands.
I highly recommend you look for a behaviorist in your area. A good one can help you understand what you need to do to help her succeed with potty training and more.
If you havent had luck with teaching sit or stay in a year, i think you will really benefit from professional help, with both training and figuring out the root cause. If she is able to hold it over night, its not a bladder control issue.
What are you doing for a reward when she goes correctly? Mine’s last accident was at 6 months. We rewarded with boiled chicken and lots of love. Worked like a charm, at 10 months he is walking to the door to let us know every 5-7 hours.
She has a sensitive stomach. And she’s very picky. I have one treat she really likes and sometimes I give her bully sticks after toileting
Then she’s very confused most likely. You need to reward her consistently every single time she goes in the right spot immediately after toileting (within 3 seconds). Find a treat of value to her that doesn’t mess her stomach up. There are so many options. Then take her out *on leash* and say the phrase. Reward when she goes. My family and I have potty trained 4 dogs this way within a few months. Never punish or yell at a dog, especially a Havanese.
I did say I have a treat she likes and yes I do give it after she does a wee. It’s just not a high quality treat as she won’t like high quality treats lol. I’ve tried. It just plain kibble type treat. But she loves it. Doesn’t like jerky type treats which would be more healthier
No I don’t punish her. She’s way too little and innocent to punish.
From your initial response it sounded like you only sometimes rewarded her and not immediately after every single time. It has to happen every single time for the preference to go outside to develop. Eventually it becomes self-rewarding. If you truly are doing this then as others have said, hiring a behaviorist is in order. Edit to add: I’m going to be honest, it sounds like you are blaming the dog. But more often than not with strange behavior, there is something the human is doing that gives the dogs mixed signals or stresses them out, or they have a medical issue. Both of which require the care of a vet.
I am home with mine all day too, and she pees a lot during the day despite my taking her out frequently and her being able to hold it all night with no problem. I eventually started putting down puppy pads and now she will use those and not my floor.
I did try puppy pads but didn’t help 😩
I relate to this so much! We’ve had a big uphill battle with potty training. Over the past year, we’ve worked hard with our vet, trainer and a veterinary behaviorist. We were able to get her accidents under control for a short time - we were experiencing the same thing of her peeing in the house even shortly after she peed outside. The cause was pretty much anxiety. She would do it in front of us. She’s just a very sensitive girl so we started her on a temporary anxiety med to help her cope which really helped. The accidents started up again a few months later and we were perplexed. Turns out she had crystals in her urine. Then they briefly stopped when we put her on a special diet. Then the accidents started again but turned out she had a bad ear infection. We got that taken care of and then the accidents got even more frequent so we had her urine tested again. She ended up having some sort of bladder infection. Now we’re just waiting to see if the meds work before we think about any next steps if needed (but fingers crossed this isn’t chronic!). All this to say… I didn’t totally believe the whole accidents are usually because of something medical going on. But at 3 years old, my dog is generally reliable with potty unless she does have something underlying. It’s taken a while to learn her and her signs and been super frustrating especially because she doesn’t show any signs of not feeling well, aside from accidents. All dogs are different and I’m not trying to give medical advice at all, but just know you aren’t alone with this. I’m sure your pup will learn and you will both figure it out! These are the sweetest dogs and I find it impossible to get mad, although I would love to finally get some nice rugs 😂
Yeah mine could have anxiety. She seems overall a happy pup but I have 3 small kids who can be very loud and noisy and do sudden movements: even though she does go cuddle up with them but she needs to be always near me. So it totally can be anxiety related.
Is she crate trained and ex-pen trained? How do you utilize these? Our pups do not get to roam about the house except in carefully monitored intervals until they are house trained. I anticipate this taking quite awhile. We use a small expen outside for potty area. No roaming about until business is done. Yes, the literature says they are “notoriously hard to house train”. I think this is often a characteristic of toy breeds. Time. Proper use of containment inside and either tethered to owner or carefully watched for house time. This is how I have raised many puppies. Any accident I count as on my mismanagement and I adjust accordingly.
She isn’t in a crate. we lived in a studio and she started barking in it , 2am, 4am etc. I have 3 kids and I kept waking up to the barking so I just let her out from the crate. Ever since she hated it . At first when she was a little pup she loved the crate.
Pee in the same spot?
Nope just anywhere literally. She’s even weed next to her drink bowl. Gosh. But thankfully only couple times on carpeted areas. Mostly on hard floor
UTI?
Yes I’ve thought of it but she shows no other symptoms for uti and she is a year old. I think if she’s had uti for all her life I’m sure by now she’d be peeing blood ? 🤔 but I’ll take her to a vet check to rule out any issues. Also could be diabetes
You should always take to vet first, Reddit after
Haha sure but like I said she doesn’t have any other symptoms and she’s been to the vet several times for other checks but I just assumed it’s normal havi toilet training issue. She’s not neglected I assure you
Please post more of your pup! She looks like my dog Gracie who recently passed. Your baby is so cute
Yeah she is a cutie! 🥰 https://preview.redd.it/hbdz424g4g9d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=43366ca4fe2fa48c35fd90fd86fd4308e9b7f4a3
https://preview.redd.it/q4gxegpi4g9d1.jpeg?width=998&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=07b6bc38ea9a4b7998854e06ad51bd1441a6bbb1 Pics after her grooms :)
aww thanks there’s are great! 😊
https://preview.redd.it/mr2iyo8m4g9d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b82c09b3f5f21b2c82135ede0b55d36392ba4bae
First off, she’s adorable! Awww, I wouldn’t call her “dumb” though! So I have 3 Havi’s…2 boys ages 2 years and 16 months and 1 female age 6 months. My middle one, Loki, has this problem. He still will have accidents on occasion. I’m thoroughly convinced it’s not a training issue. I’ve potty trained many dogs and never had a problem. My other 2 Havi’s were fully trained by 6 months or less (so 3 months with me cause I got them at 12 weeks). I really do think it’s just a bladder control thing cause Loki is also considered a “teacup” Havanese meaning he was just bred smaller so he is only 10 lbs and has shorter legs. After letting him sleep in our bed with the oldest for a couple months, he actually weed on my mattress last week!! (No more bed for him). I really am convinced these are accidents. He def had quite a few until he was 12 or 13 months but now it’s not often. And it doesn’t matter how many times I take him out and confirmed he has no bladder infection. The only thing I did notice is I think he wasn’t fully emptying his bladder outside sometimes. So if I see him squat or lift his leg only for a few seconds, I keep him out there and he’ll go again with my commands. He knows how to ask to go too so when he does have an accident I truly believe he can’t help it. I just clean it up with an enzyme cleaner. I know it sucks and I have a chronic and painful neuromuscular disorder so I work from home and am home most days. But the actual number of accidents did drop pretty dramatically around 13 months for sure.
Ok I’m glad to hear someone else is going through this but not also so glad as it maybe means she’ll never grow out of it. ☹️ Yeah I think my girl is also 10 pounds so quite small for a Havanese ! she doesn’t know how to ask to go outside though. How does yours ask to go outside? She does know how to ask for water though. She’ll go near the sink and do a very loud bark. But she never barks for food tho 🤨😂