Question:

Hi there,

My 2 year old female Jack Russell X is in the habit of only urinating and defecating while on walks. I take her on a short walk first thing in the morning, a big walk when I get home from work and I take her again before bed. She is outside when we are at work but otherwise inside. As far as we are aware she doesn’t go in the back yard. How can I break this routine and get her to go to the toilet in the back yard??

In terms of her background, we adopted her about 3 months ago. She was abused and abandoned and then rescued by some friends, who we adopted her from.

Looking forward to your response. Many thanks, Donna

ANSWER:

Hi Donna,

I understand your plight! My shepherd would never use her own yard and she to came from an abusive home. I have also heard of similar situations happening with kennel dogs – they will not go in their outdoor area but wait to be let out for exercise.

Time will probably take care of the problem on its own but there are a couple of tricks you can try if you want to speed the process up.

Many abused or neglected dogs have a particular type of ground they prefer to ‘go’ on. Do you see a routine with her? I know of a few dogs that would only use grass with a bit of gravel in it, probably because that is what their kennel had in it or some strange thing. If you see she has a preference, cater to it by adding the same look and feel to her yard. Make that area her ‘bathroom’ spot and she will probably always use it versus the rest of the lawn – this is not a bad outcome at all!

Next, wait her out. Encourage her to drink a big bowl of water (add a little low-sodium beef broth to it to make it extra yummy), then put her on her leash and take her out to her bathroom area. Now wait. Eventually she will have to go pee and when she starts to pace or look urgent, encourage her to go pee. Be supportive; say ‘good girl, go pee’ and when she does, let her know she is the smartest, most wonderful dog in the world! Obviously, if she is becoming very uncomfortable and does not look like she is going to give into nature, then take her off the property and let her relieve herself.

My last trick is nearly always a surefire winner – invite your doggy friends over and have them pee all over the yard! This is really mean in the doggy hierarchy as she will be beside herself to cover up all the other doggy scent that is suddenly in her yard but it almost always works too. When she does pee, let her know she is marvelous and that you are not upset with her. This does not help with teaching her she can defecate in the yard but at least it is a first step.

Does anyone else have any suggestions? My shepherd did learn to pee in the yard quite quickly but she was an old girl before she would defecate in her space. This was a frustration but at least it made cleaning up the yard a non-event.

Ann