I need help with my 6 month old brittany spaniel

[momoftwinsinwi]

We didn't get her until she was 4 months old and housebreaking was tough because we got her from a friend of DH that had a litter and was "starting them" with pointing for birds and kept them in an outdoor kennel. "Brook" had never been in the house, so I get her about 90% trained and things are going well, and then we get snow with freezing rain on it, and all we do is skate around on it, even I have a hard time breaking through it and she will not poop outside, I've had her out and she "slides around" and plays til I'm just about frozen and then comes in and in a very short time poops near the front door!!! This is so frustrating.....she's had a housebreaking relapse due to the ice/snow and I don't know what to do??? Any ideas??? Has anyone ever had this problem? Thanks in advance!!!

 

[FutureChickenMan]

you can get traction shoes at walmart, petsmart, etc.. but they're pretty spendy.

also, good dog forum for you.

http://www.prodoggroomingsupplies.com/dog-forums/??s=c09d7b49ab16f4554b86f3b14c3c64c5

dog shoes
http://www.petsmart.com/product/ind...g+shoes&kw=booties&parentPage=search&keepsr=1

our dogs love the snow and even run around on the pond.. not sure why they have better traction.

 

[momoftwinsinwi]

Thanks chickenman, I'll check out that forum!! Brook is about 25 pounds and goes out on our pond too, which scares me because she doesn't get that there is an open spot yet, and although the frozen part will hold her, it won't hold my 140 pounds trying to save her dumba(*&& LOL!!! I think I would rather have slop than this frozen snow, and yes, I want to get a pair of cleats for my boots anyway for the ice drags coming up. I'll have to make a trip to gander mountain or maybe I could ask for them for x-mas

 

[apbgv]

This may sound silly but just before you take her out to go #2, put a plain unlit (of course) match in her rectum. I know it sounds terrible but the slight irritation just before going out usually stimulates them to go quickly-old dog show trick. When she goes make sure you have her favorite treats with ya and reward her like she made gold. If she doesn't go keep her leashed to you and the minute she acts like shes gotta go run her out. House training pups in the winter is a pain believe me I have done it more than the avg person but I will work out.

 

[FutureChickenMan]

I had to make some ice shoes last winter. I couldn't see spending 50-100$ on some overshoes. So what I did was took an older pair of snow boots that still had good thick soles on them and put screws in them. I went to the local hardware store and picked up two packets of 3/8" hex head sheet metal screws and screwed them in to the bottoms of the boots. The threads were short enough they didn't come through the inside of the boot and the hex head on the screw worked great on the ice. 50-100$ for overshoes? Obsurd. $1.75 and 15 minutes to put the screws in my boots, now that's a deal.

Our pond is pretty small, and there's rocks I can jump to to reach the other parts of the pond. Our pond is only about 20' in diameter.

 

[FutureChickenMan]

Quote:
Wow never heard of that, what a great tip (no pun intended).

 

[sunnychooks]

A few things that might help:

1. When I housebreak a pup I always take him out on a leash to a SPECIFIC SPOT. I know that with snow and ice this is hard to do, but if you just let her out she will "forget" what she's out there to do. There are so many other interesting things to sniff!

2. Try to teach a command word for her to "go". I use "Hurry Up". Some people say things like "Go Peepee" or "Go Poopy", but I travel alot with my dogs and I feel really stupid saying those other things at rest areas when other people are listening!

3. When she goes, always praise and SOUND HAPPY (ie. "Hooray!!! Good Hurry Up!!)!

4. Have her on a set schedule to eat. If you feed her the same time every day you will be able to know around what time she will have to be taken out.

5. If you use a crate, never use it as a punishment while housebreaking. Have her sleep in it, feed her in it, rest in it (when you cannot watch her), and most importantly, make it a happy place where she will like to be. Give her special treats and toys in her crate that she only gets when she's in there. MOST IMPORTANTLY, don't use the crate for extended time periods. The crate can be a wonderful training aid, but it's important that it is not misused.

6. Take her outside:
a) after she eats
b) after she wakes from a nap
c) first thing in the AM
d) after she plays hard
e) if you see her pacing or circling

7. If she is small enough, pick her up and carry her outside. That way, she will not have an accident on the way out.

The best thing you can do is not to put her in a situation where she is able to have an accident. It's time consuming and lot of work, but when she understands where to go, she will let you know when she needs to.

Hope this helps and Good Luck!

 

[sunnychooks]

Oh, no! Did I misunderstand the post? I thought the problem was with the housebreaking, not the ice!

I've use the "match trick" many times. I've had show dogs that would not poop when they traveled during show weekends and I had to "match" them so that they wouldn't gait funny in the show ring!!!

I also had a sled dog that would stop and poop about a mile from the starting line that I had to "match" before each race (Most of the others learned to poop "on the fly"

) If you do that, just be sure to do it only when you know she HAS to go. Also, if you overuse it, she will get wise to it and not let you near her butt!!!

 

[momoftwinsinwi]

Thanks everyone!!! I really appreciate all the input and will put it to good use

I just fed her dinner so I'll bundle up and take her out 15 min after she's done and watch her closely in that 15 min time period. I knew I could count on my chicken friends!!! Oh yeah, getting to the coop is a treat for me as well, I need a pair of ice skates!! and now we are getting snow on top of the ice!! arghhh!!!

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

cat litter or sand will go a long way to ensure your safety, make a trail of it to your coop. I agree, take the dog out on a leash so she can't run and play till after the deed is done, or she will be way too distracted and you will be freezing. She needs to know there is a task at hand. I use 'hurry up!' too, it works great, and if you always take them to the same spot soon you have only that spot to clean up, not the whole yard. I had up to 7 dogs at once when I was doing trials and I had one area of the yard to clean up, even if they were loose. It seems more natural for the females but the males can do it too if your consistant!