Peeing in the condo hallway

[Ottis Pocus]

So we've had Ottis for two months and he has worked himself up to a pretty good dog.  Those Pet Smart puppy training classes have helped also (we've only done two out of six but he's learned good commands).  Our ongoing issue is his peeing.  We have him gated in a four by four area, his bed is in one corner, his pee tray is on the other corner.  He uses that pee tray fine when he's in there, when he's not he doesn't know to go in there to use it, he'll just pee in the living room even though we leave his gate wide open so he can go in and out freely.  Yesterday, it hadn't been an hour since he had gone and he squatted in the living room and peed. I don't understand why...overnight he doesnt even wake up to pee. For 9 hours he is in there and he holds it! We live on the third floor in our condo complex and he walks at a snail pace to the elevator and many time he has just squatted and peed on the hallway floor as well.  I pick him up right away and say "No!" and once we're outside and he pees I praise him like crazy.  I would've thought that by the eight week he would get it...my boyfriend sometimes just picks him up and carries him outside, but I don't want him to get used to that especially because he's growing a pound a week.  Maybe I should mention that although he never complains about being in his gated area, I think he'd rather much be roaming in the living room with us at all times and if he's ever playing really rough and biting us we put him in there for time out...I don't thing he fears going in there because usually he'll run in there to get a toy when he wants to play and has no problem with that so he can easily run in there to pee when he has to as well right?  Any suggestions are greatly appreciated, I'm actually considering a belly band but don't know if this will just get another bad habit started.

[Susan & the bullies]

Can you remind us (me) how old he is?

[Ottis Pocus]

He's 16 weeks old Susan. I know that he's still a puppy but we've had him since he was 8 weeks old and we've done a pretty good job at showing him that it's praise all the way when he pees outside and a "No!" when it's in the hallway...maybe he still doesn't get it and I should have more patience

I forgot to mention that my bf and I moved his pee tray outside his area to see if maybe he would go there but he didn't, we finally brought him to the tray and said potties, well after 10 minutes of waiting he laid down and peed...laying down!! He got pee all over his belly lol

[BeachBullyPC]

We live in an apartment where as soon as the front door is open, there is grass and the outdoors and the boys go out there to pee, steps from the door.  A couple of months ago, we stayed at a hotel with PC (before we got MB).  Since opening the door to him means he gets to go out and pee, he squatted on the carpet in the hallway the second I opened the door!  He didn't do it on purpose, that's just what he is used to at home when the door opens!  The concept of walking down the hallway to get outside was very foreign to him.

At 16 weeks, your pup is still young.  During the day, they drink, play, run, etc. which excites their bladder which is why they go more often.  In a rested state (sleeping), most dogs can hold it in much longer. 

And living on the 3rd floor and having to go down an elevator every single time is tough on the little guy and not very conducive to potty training.  A puppy that has to go will go before you make it outside.  Until he's bigger, your best bet is to carry him down to where you want him to go and hope he gets the idea by the time he gets too heavy to carry.

Good luck with him, we took PC out every 1.5-2 hours when he came to us at 8 weeks and by 4.5 months, he was fully housebroken and actually would go to the door to be let out.  But, one of us was home with him 24/7, so he never had an opportunity to go in the house. 

[DaBabaDoo]

PC brings up great points.  He is still young and keep in mind that a lot of bullies have a harder time potty-training than most dogs.  Call it stubborn, I don't know, but Maddy didn't fully get the concept till she was like 6 months old!

How often does Ottis get to go out?  The general rule of thumb with puppies is for every month they are old that's the max hours they can hold their bladder.  So, a 4 month old should only be expected to hold it 4 hours tops.  If you are taking him that often and it's still a problem, maybe try every 2 hours for a while, just till he gets the idea.  And when you take him out, if he doesn't go right away, make him walk outside till he does go, that way he learns that if he wants to go back in he must do his business first.

Also, maybe now is a good time to start incorporating the clicker training method.  I never tried it but everyone I know who has thinks it's great.

[winwinsmom]

JMHO  but they are like babies and haven't learned "muscle" control or how to hold it in.  Give it time, and hopefully he'll learn soon.  Good luck and keep us posted.

[Fenway]

i guess i'm confused by this pee tray. Fen knows that grass=potty. so while is causes issues in the city (mom - there is no grass!!) peeing in the hallway/elevator wasnt an issue for us.

Fen came home at 12 weeks and the breeder had him paper trained. the first few weeks we just had paper by the door and so when he went to the door we knew to wisk him outside (and at that point he was afraid of the stairs so we carried him) and so he also learned to go to the door when he had to go. we also watched him like a hawk for those tell tale signs and took him out every 1.5 hours just to make sure. we both worked, so we had his crate inside a pen with paper and a dog walker at lunch time - i dont know that he ever messed the paper and eventually we stopped putting it in there once shredding it become an activity.

[ksdstny]

he is a baby still. he'll get it. they are all so different. by 5 months harlow was fully trained and using the poochie bells hung on the door. she rings them with her nose when she wants out. she learned that in 2 days. she was crate trained as a young pup, i took her out after she ate, played, slept and when awake every 35 40 minutes. always fun, always praise always reward. we really dont ever crate her anymore.

steeler to a very long time. i'm talking like 7/8 months. he is crate trained and sleeps in his crate still at 14 months. i would trust him hmmmm about 90 percent. my prob is what he chews up STILL. he'll get it. maybe u need to take him out in shorter intervals if the hallway is the go to. also soak up some of the pee with a paper towel and mush it into the ground you want him to go on. might help. dunno.

it'll get better. promise. i really havent found mine to be stubborn just different.

[Oscarsmama]

Just a few thoughts from someone who has three dogs...my maltese only goes on tray and not the litter box next to it (and she won't even walk on grass, let alone piddle on it), my havanese uses a litter box but switched to also going outside too since he suddenly at age 7 developed a marking habit....which is another post.... and Oscar only goes outside.  He doesn't even go on walks because I trained him that walks are for walking not potty time.  He just sits by the door (silently even though there is a bell) if he wants to go out.  We never used paper or anything with Oscar.  He was always crated unless we were actively watching him.  My rule of thumb was to treat the dog as you would a 1 year old (naked and not potty trained) baby. You wouldn't turn your back for a second w/ a baby so you shouldn't do so with the puppy either.  Because of this, he only had one or two accidents and was trained really quickly but he was also almost 13 weeks when we got him from the breeder. 

I think it's pretty difficult to train a dog to do both things at the same time (use the tray/litter box and outside).  I tried that with my hav and potty training was a nightmare until I switched to just the box. Then, no problem.   I understand the idea is you want to have someplace for them to go if you are gone too long but it's just going to make training that much harder, not impossible but much harder.  I also had another bulldog years ago and at first we lived in a condo and then moved to several different houses.  In the beginning, we carried him outside b/c we had the same issue w/ the hallways.  I think the hallways are just filled with too many "smells" and until they are fully trained they just can't help it.  This also made him think that carpeted areas in our condo were ok to use.  Not! So, we changed the carpets and made a smalll potty area on the roof w/ woodchips (we had the penthouse w/ a roof deck) which was much quicker to get to.  Anyway, for the rest of his life he'd only go on wood.  Even when we lived in a houses w/ lots of nice grass...he'd go on the deck or in the flower beds.  It just never occurred to him that it was ok to go on grass.  I guess my point is that dogs are creatures of habit.  Pick the one you want them to have.  Finally, belly bands are good for marking but they aren't going to help much if he's full-on going.  Very messy!  I think most dogs really "get it" between 4 and 6 months so you probably will start to see improvement soon regardless