House Breaking/Help!!!!!!!!

[Lesco]

hello … Our eight month old basenji boy continues to have some accidents in the house ... He will wake up towards dawn and poop in our bedroom ... And continues to have occasional accidents in the house. He is 95 percent housebroken ... But these accidents bum us out. Any advice? We walk him every 3 to 4 hours and let him outside to play often. Thanks.

[etzbseder]

You might try making sure he goes to the bathroom when he is outside and treat him when he does so, so he thinks it's the best place to go.

[tanza]

Is he sleeping in bed with you? Or just loose in the house? I would say that if loose, crate him. Chances are he will wake you up rather then poop in his crate in the morning.

[DebraDownSouth]

Go back to day one. And take heart, he's older and will learn quickly once you stop bad training. :) Yeah, the problem is training not the dog.

Housebreaking fails usually because the people doing it don't put the effort needed. A dog that is not fully (not 80 percent, not 90 percent not even 99.9 percent) housebroken requires that you are watching or confining the dog every single second. The good news is once you do it right, you are pretty much done.

http://www.ehow.co.uk/about_6120814_housebreaking-difficult_.html

1. Keep the dog crated, watching it, or tied to you at all times. When it wakes up, plays and eats, take him out just as you would a young puppy.

2. Use a happy tone to praise when he potties outside. Some don't like using treats, but I think with this age dog it may provide that extra motivation for outside only.

3. Did I mention watch all the time? That's the boring but critical part. Look for signs he has to go. If you know early morning, either move feeding to much later so he doesn't have to go so early or set clock to take out early, or take out much later than you usually do.

Every accident increases the learning to potty in the house. It may be a rough month getting past this, but if you are diligent, you can stop it.

[Andrew]

Don't get discouraged!! I know from experience that even the most poorly housebroken basenji can make a super quick turn around once the right training techniques are consistently applied.
The ex allowed Lola to run around the house as a puppy without supervision. Because nobody responded to her pleas to be taken outside, she stopped asking. She learned to use a specific rug in the house for all of her business.
Lola was 14 months old and not reliably housebroken when I moved out. Within 2 weeks of a regular routine, regular potty breaks with praise, and paying close attention to her signals, she was perfectly housebroken with only a couple of accidents during that time. Consistency is key.

[tanza]

What Andrew said!!! Great post…. Unless there is something medical going on, accidents happen because we "humans" are not paying attention

[sharronhurlbut]

Make sure you use a good cleaner to get rid of the pee/poo smells.
I think often we think its clean, but the dogs can still smell the area, and think, ok,
this is where I go…We had an issue with a b peeing on the bed.
Using an cleaner that breaks up the "matter" was heaven sent to us.