8 Month old English Mastiff WILL NOT potty train...HELP!!!

[jen_mccorkle]

I am at my wits end!! My male English Mastiff is almost 8 months old, 110 lbs, and refuses to completely potty train. I have him on a routine of going out...first thing in the morning I take him to pee and poop, then again when I get home from work, pee after dinner, then pee and poop before bed. However, if I don't open the door fast enough, he'll pee on the floor...he knows it's wrong and if I disciple him, he'll pee even more. If he hears a loud noise or gets spooked (which is VERY easy) he'll 'dribble' on the floor. He NEVER lets me know when he needs to go out, just starts peeing. And these episodes aren't just secluded to one area, he'll full on pee and run around my house, so it's not like one puddle to clean, it's an entire stream around my house. Even in his crate, he would start peeing before I could open the door, so one day I started letting him have free roam with my older dog (4.5 year old rottweiler) and he NEVER has an accident while I'm away so I don't know what the deal is. I never had this issue with my rottie. Any advice, help, suggestions?? PLEASE HELP!!

 

[Sabrina]

maybe it's a health problem- bladder or kidneys...

 

[acoz47]

A doggy door / dog run / back yard . I built the dog run and fenced inside our block wall for maybe 600.00 $$. My dogs have a doggy door into their dog run when its nice outside the have access to the whole yard.

 

[Mickey3696]

I would start with the vet and if everythings clear there I would say its submissive peeing. He need confidence!! Some training and positive reinforcement will help. Try not geting him excited when trying to get him out of his cage. Just calmly without saying anything open the door and walk to the outside door to let him out. If he starts to pee in the wrong place dont walk to him wait till he was stoped then walk over and take him out. While he s outside clean up the mess. It will take some time but it does work!

 

[dogman#1]

Mickey is 100% right. I dont beleive your dog has any internal issues but better safe than sorry. Your dog is showing submissive peeing...I have lots of experience with this. before you go to the crate open the door to go outside, do not make eye contact with the dog at all then open the crate door standing to the side of it. NO Contact with the dog at all! This means no looking, petting, talking around the dog or anything untill he goes outside. Once he is out there (go out there with him, preferably run out there before he goes) let him come to you....no eye contact yet, no talking yet.. Now put the collar and leash on him and take him for a good long walk. Your dog is suffering from under exposure to stimuli (should have been done a long time ago). Walk your dog near traffic, all types of noises, contruction anything you can find...he will try to run, pee, pull, freeze...ignore it and keep walking, if you make a big deal out of it then so will he. if the dog does submissive peeing at any time IGNORE it (I know it's hard) do not touch, talk or look at the dog, walk calmly to the door and go outside waiting for him to follow. go inside clean it....DO NOT TALK to the dog just IGNORE it when he does stuff like this it will go away if you do this right but it will take a while. your dog is potty trained he has some confidence issues that can be overcome with long walks and exposure to stimuli. good luck, looks like you have a very sensitive boy, be VERY gentle with him as he obviously loves you and is showing you that he is submissive to you.

 

[jen_mccorkle]

Thank you everyone for your comments.

Dogman...I've started ignoring his little accidents (even though it's been VERY hard to do) and have started noticing much improvement. I've also started taking him on walks every evening when I get home from work and haven't had any accidents the past few days (knock on wood!!). I never considered him to be submissive to me until over the holidays. My husband has been away for a little of 2 months with his job but was able to come home for 2 weeks during Christmas. The whole time Zeus would test my husband and just be a puppy. All I would have to do is make eye contact and he'd stop everything he was doing and sit down. It's been a slow process but as long as his accidents are less and less frequent, I can definitely live with it.

Once again, thank you everyone for your suggestions. It's slowly but surely helping!

 

[dogman#1]

glad I could help. trust me I know how insane and nerve racking this issue is...take your time, have alot of patience and this WILL work out. keep us informed on how this works out and with his progress.
Thanks

 

[leelee]

Just curious, is he a rescue, how long have you had him? Also is he neutered?

 

[jen_mccorkle]

We got him when he was 3 months old, we've had him for 10 months now, and he's not neutered.

 

[thabean12]

I know how this is i went through this with my Lou. She is a Fila and she would go everywhere in the house even knowing it was wrong. I have always had dogs and never had this problem but she is my first mastiff. After some research i found that Mastiffs seems more prone to getting hurt feelings from being diciplined or yelled at. Makes them nervous and unsure. I tried just a stern "NO" and taking her out to the yard and slowly but surely she stopped. Now she NEVER goes in the house. Not an expert and still would recommend the vet in case there are more serious issues here. But maybe this will help you as well. Good luck!

 

[Diesel2011]

I have a 2 month old EM who is poo trained but will wiz where ever he feels neccesary. drives me effin crazy, im hoping he trains soon. EMs are knucleheads, training takes patience but 8 months is crazy

 

[aphayes96]

Diesel! That sounds so familiar... Grady (10 weeks now) has never pooped in the house. It's like he knows he's supposed to go outside only. Peeing on the other hand is definitely harder. He pees wherever he is although he gives us signs and it's only when I'm preoccupied with the kids usually that he does it. Looking forward to being done and confidant he won't have anymore accidents. Good Luck to you, Jen... I hope you get him trained soon.