leash & bathroom

[mhertz17]

Brought home a 15 mo.old rescue Dobe last week. She will not go potty when walking on leash but waits until she is back home in fenced yard and off leash. Needless to say, this is awkward. Anyone else had this situation and how do I get her to potty while on leash? Had many dogs but never any with this quirk.

[Rhiannon]

We show dogs and have that problem sometimes ourselves. I currently have a nine month old female that we brought home a week ago. This is still an issue with her as well. Which is a little tough to overcome. They have to learn how to go on leash because it is just about impossible to let them off leash on showgrounds. But there are solutions that handlers have used. We always walk the dog and tell them potty.......sometimes it has worked for them to get a drink before we go outside on the leash. And this is a situation where patience will eventually pay off. As far as getting them to go on command I have included a link to a web page that is very good about teaching them to eliminate on command.

http://www.dogtrainingbasics.com/Potty%20Training%20Basics.htm

Hopefully this will help you out.....Let us know how she does for you. And remember reward them with treats and praise when it happens.

[mhertz17]

Thanks for the reply and the link. I took her outside this morning early on her leash. I waited and waited but no potty. As soon as I took the leash off, she went. I will study the link and try to be very patient. Difficult to take her anywhere if she will not potty on leash. I take her to a nursing home but she will not potty before going in. All my former dogs were not as modest and would go on leash which is great when visiting places. Thanks again.

[Rhiannon]

Not a problem and I certainly understand modesty in Dobermans. I have to turn my back when I walk my male dobie. He honestly will not go if he sees me looking at him. Some of our babies can have some pretty funny quirks. I truly think he gets embarrassed. :o

[SnuzerDog]

I too have a rescued Dobe, but luckily it was not too difficult to coax him into going at the right time and place. Since my home sits on an extremely small lot in a very close neighborhood, I was not about to let a large dog ruin our small courtyard/garden area. So I had determined in advance of getting the dog that elimination and cleanup would happen on thrice daily walks, in the urban fashion. Here's how I did it:

- First, when we brought him home I had my wife drop myself and Deano off a few blocks from home. I had read that it can be helpful to let a dog 'migrate' with you to it's new home, getting to know it's new neighborhood along the way. This would also be an opportunity for nervous elimination prior to entering our home.
- Second, we did very frequent walks the very first week, to provide as many opportunities for proper eliminations as possible. High praise when the desired result occurs is a MUST!
- Third, you must be extremely watchful for the wrong result and AS SOON AS IT IS BEGINNING TO HAPPEN you must redirect the behavior into the proper location. This is hands down the hardest part; we had a problem with our dog trying to mark a pet rabbit's hutch (in the house). We had to 'set it up' to occur, then sort of wait in the bushes for it to happen. When it did, my wife shrieked at the top of her voice 'NO!' and I immediately leashed Deano and got him outside. And that was the last time that happened!
- Fourth, you can control eliminations through proper feeding/schedule. I feed a higher-end natural food, twice daily, about 2/3 cup each feeding. This produces a medium-sized, firm stool, once a day and keeps his weight steady at about 90lbs, +/- treats. ;) After more than a year of this care, our vet has proclaimed him to be in perfect health and a fine specimen of the breed.

The rescue group folks had told us he was house-broken, but that can mean different things to different people. In this case, the fosters for our dog just let him out into their large backyard to eliminate at his leisure; for us that was not an option so a little re-training was necessary. It wasn't nearly as difficult as house-breaking from scratch, luckily! Good Luck! :)

[RKCM]

I thought this thread was interesting, although old. I had a rescue that we had problems with too. We had to walk her and walk her and she would just refuse to go unless she had a very long lead. I hate flex leads but it was all I could use with her. You couldn't let her off lead at the time because she would climb the fence in a minute, even with me standing right there. I mean she was fast. I've never had a dog do that. We just kept her on lead for about a month and did lots and lots of walking. Eventually, she got over her fear. Climbing the fence took longer. The DPCA had offered a holter thing to prevent the jumping. It was all we could think of because I didn't want her just in a run. After a month, we were able to get enough obedience training to teach her not to jump, recall, and stay. I was always there when she exercised though.

Once, she got over the fence jumping, she was placed in Texas and she loves the agility jumps. She has a job and doesn't climb. Loves her home and will go out on lead or off.

She was a mistreated doberman. She had all her front teeth cut off or worn off. Never seen that. We wondered if she wasn't used as bait or just had worn them down. She was a beautiful red girl but had lots of scars....I always wondered. And she had been bred. Felt so bad for her at the time.

[Dobs4ever]

You really have to start them as puppies and teach them to go on a leash. If you wait til they are older they are already set in their ways and then prefer to go off lead. I start all puppies on leash potty right away so they will be good when they get older. I hate WALKING and WALKING and WALkING waiting for one to go especially if it is raining outside.

[RKCM]

Walking, walking and walking is good for you. LOL.....but I know what you mean. It is simple to lead train a puppy. They usually want to go with you anyway. Much harder when they are older.

[SnuzerDog]

I walk my dog(s, if fostering) three times a day around our neighborhood and have come to enjoy it year-round, except in the absolute nastiest weather. It's recreational for the dogs (mucho sniffing/investigating :D), good exercise for all of us, and I take plenty of time on the late afternoon walk to maximize these benefits. Also great for socialization and obedience refreshers- we meet so many different people, dogs and situations, each offering different opportunities to practice techniques and control.

I've found that food type/portion control combined with a regular schedule will produce regular and predictable eliminations, pretty much regardless of the weather. Keeping this under control has pretty much eliminated (no pun intended :rolleyes:) accidents in our house and has created dogs that look forward to and really enjoy their walks!

Can't recommend enough, get out and stay out! :D