# Need some help please!



## heartofgold (Oct 27, 2007)

We recently took Scout on her first camping trip! She loved it and was a very good girl the entire time but we had one small problem with her. There was a strict rule at the state park that required all dogs to be leashed at all times. It was a good thing we camped during the week when the park was nearly empty because we found out that Scout will NOT pee or poo while leashed. While at our campsite she was tied to a tree on a 15 foot cable and we walked her on a 6 foot leash. We hiked three miles the first day and she held it for eight to nine hours. Finally she started crying or whimpering like she was in pain from holding it. We found a secluded open meadow near our campsite and let her off leash there away from park ranger eyes. The second we let her off leash she went and went and went some more. That poor dog! I felt so bad for her! So, I had to sneak her off to pee and poo every 3-4 hours for four days. Why won't she go while on her lead? We hiked 3-4 miles every day and she does not have a bladder infection (my first thought). She has always had a huge fenced in yard and she has an excellent recal now so she is hardly ever leashed at our lake cottage. How can I train her to pee and poo while on her leash for those times when she must be on one? My husband said not to give in to her and eventually she wont be able to hold it anymore. The only problem is we were in the car quite a bit and what if "it" happened there? Thanks for any help!


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## MyGoldenCharlie (Dec 4, 2007)

A friend's dalmation won't go potty on lead. When we go camping with him, he brings a portable exercise pen for the dogs and sets it up on his campsite. His is 3 ft. high, I think they make them 4 ft. high also. We have been to several campgrounds where he has used the pen, no complaints from the management.


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## Argos' Mom (Jun 2, 2008)

We lived for a short time in the country in the house with a huge yard, but the owner didn't want us to put up a fence. So, we put Argos on a really long lead with a very big stake while outside because he hadn't mastered not running off to go see one of the neighbors dogs. It was so long that I don't think that he realized that he was on one. But, during that autumn the yard flooded due to a lot of rain and that winter we had a blizzard with like 5 ft. drifts. I couldn't risk putting him on the lead and losing him. So, we took him out into the safer areas of the yard with a leash. He would pee but wouldn't poo. It was horrible. I think some dogs are just very funny about how and when they use the bathroom. Even now, Argos doesn't poo on a walk. He waits until we put him in the fenced in yard.


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

Two choices:

Do what your husband suggested - don't give in. She'll go eventually. She won't likely go in the car w/o whining and carrying on first, which is your cue to pull over and let her out! Or, you could get one of those Flexi retractable leads - they come as long as 26' - and hope that that gives her the "personal space" she needs to be quickly comfortable enough to go while leashed.


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## Cam's Mom (Apr 13, 2007)

Stephani, I don't think I've ever disagreed with you before...even mentally! I had a pup like this, born to a litter here in my home. And another male foster dog who had never been out of his own yard, or on a leash! Leashed the young female ended up with urinanry tract infection and some problems with leash fear as a result of holding it. It isn't medically good to make your pup do that. I leash all pups to teach them where I want them to potty. I didn't start with her till after all the other pups had left at 11 weeks. 

I'd work in stages...first if you haven't already, teach her to potty on command. Go with her in the morning when you know she's going ot pee and say go potty right as she squats....and praise, praise, praise. Do this till she'll potty when you say go potty. Treats are good

Next step, when you go out let her drag a six foot leash, and hope she'll still potty with the leash dragging. If you have success, after several days just gently step on the end of the leash while she's peeing. If the leash is too obvious/heavy start with nylon fishing twine, or something else that's lighter.

Several days later, pick the leash up while she's peeing...but no tension.

Work on from there. After a few days you should be able to hold the leash as you head out to pee. Make sure to then follow up by seeing if she will pee in places other than your yard., Out on walks, in fields, in gutters. If she's only ever peed in your yard she may not think it's OK to pee elsewhere, and making her hold it is then a punishment. Remember, you taught her to go out into your yard to pee, and by the sounds of it off leash....but possibly nowhere else. You have to generalise her peeing to anywhere you say "go pee" on or off leash. Took two weeks with Zoe. Her adopters also had problem first time they took her to relatives home. She wouldn't pee in another yard! They had to take her out for a walk on leash!!!! The irony.

Good luck!


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## heartofgold (Oct 27, 2007)

I love the idea of letting Scout go out in her own yard on her lead without me holding onto it. I think that's the best way to go about training her. I just hope it works. Scout does go on command. When it's raining or muddy in the yard I tell her to hurry up and she'll go and come right back in. The same with the lake where we don't have a fence. If I don't have the time to watch her she'll go on command for me so, that's not an issue either. I walk her on leash almost every day and I never really noticed her not going on these short but frequent walks in the neighborhood. I'm also going to try walking my foster dog when I walk Scout. He's such a pain on a leash that it's hard to walk them both together though. Maybe he can show her how to go while leashed. Wish me luck and thanks for the help!


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

Cam's Mom said:


> Stephani, I don't think I've ever disagreed with you before...even mentally! I had a pup like this, born to a litter here in my home. And another male foster dog who had never been out of his own yard, or on a leash! Leashed the young female ended up with urinanry tract infection and some problems with leash fear as a result of holding it. It isn't medically good to make your pup do that. I leash all pups to teach them where I want them to potty. I didn't start with her till after all the other pups had left at 11 weeks.


I suppose that's certainly possible, but I'd think it would be a pretty extreme case, especially if one of the dogs in question developed fear issues associated with the leash from holding.

I think more often than not, it's just an issue of breaking a habit in the dog -- which is generally harder for the human to help do than for the actual dog. I have clients who share the same problem, but who report that if fixes itself the first time they go on vacation and take the dog and don't have any safe options for off-leash potty breaks. The dogs figure it out and pee while leashed, although it usually takes a long while to get that first pee.

While I agree that you don't want a dog to "hold it" for an unusually long time on a regular basis, I think that if a dog has to do it a couple times while he's learning that off-leash peeing is no longer an option, it's not likely to create a medical problem in an otherwise healthy dog. Plenty of dogs are flown internationally (12+ hour trips) w/o going in their crates and do just fine.

But yes, certainly asking a dog to hold it over the long haul could lead to UTIs and possibly even long term kidney issues.


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

BTW, Cam... Your suggested training plan for teaching potty on a leash is great!  

I usually get the call from the client while *on vacation* saying it's been 10 hours and their dog hasn't gone pee yet and there's no safe place for off-leash usage. I tell those clients to be patient and *knock wood* they've all reported an eventual pee. It seems that the first pee is the hardest and then the dog is more willing to be on board with the leashed potty experience.


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## heartofgold (Oct 27, 2007)

Update on Scouts potty training on a leash. Well, things were going great at home. Everytime I let her out I put a short leash on her and let her go out on her own with the leash dangling from her. She went like normal the first day and we never had a problem. I did walk her on a leash with my foster and although he went on every fire hydrant, pole, and tree she never did. She always waits until she gets home to go and only if I'm not holding the leash. We went to the lake this weekend and 90% of the time I was out with her and she was not chained up. The one time she was chained up we left her with my parents when we went away. She was chained for about four hours (right after a long swim and drinking lots of lake water). When my parents brought her in the house they forgot to let her "go" first and she had an accident in the house! She hasn't had an accident in the house since she was 10 weeks old! I told my parents she wouldn't go on a leash but they forgot and couldn't understand why she was whimpering to go outside when she had just come in. They thought she missed me and that's why she had whimpered. UGH! What am I gonna do with her and her strange potty behavior? I would really like to take her camping and other things that require a dog to be leashed but I don't see her giving in any time soon.


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