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  1. #1
    Puppy hallieworthington's Avatar
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    New yard, won't pee

    Help! I've finally hit a brick wall that I never thought I'd have to deal with. My nearly 8 year old lab and I recently moved across town. Our new place has a (slightly overgrown) backyard with a ton of new smells and frequent evening visitors like bunnies and deer. My lab, who has always been great at knowing that outside time is potty time, is refusing to pee in our new yard. We've been here for 5 days and she's peed out there maybe three or four times. It's always been in the morning, when I don't give her the choice. She is still peeing on our walks and is drinking normally, so I don't think it's a health issue. She just won't go.

    At our old place, I usually walked her around 9-9:30pm and then took her back out around 11pm, right before bed. She always immediately did her business then came back in. Here, she refuses. I've even tried putting her leash on and traipsing around the backyard with her for 30 minutes and she still won't pee. Last night, we walked at 8, tried to get her to pee around 11::30 and she wouldn't. So after 45 minutes of repeatedly getting her outside, we went to bed. I got up at 7:30, thinking she must really have to go, and it still took her 20 minutes to find a spot to pee in after sniffing out the entire backyard multiple times.

    I've been trying to space out her bathroom breaks, thinking she may not need to go. But tonight, we walked at 5. She ate dinner and drank water several times (as normal). We spent 20 minutes in the backyard and finally another 15 walking up and down the neighborhood at 11;30pm before she'd go. I did give her lots of praise when she finally went (as I've been doing the last several days anyone she goes outside and making it a HUGE deal when she goes in the yard), but I just don't know what to do.

    I don't want to spend nearly 45 minutes walking her all over that late when I know she doesn't really need that long to go, because I don't feel comfortable walking that late. But I also don't want to make her wait from our 9:30 walk until 8am to go. I'm not sure if she's just distracted by all the smells, isn't comfortable going in our new yard, if the height of the grass is bothering her, or if the fact that there's no other dog pee for her to pee over that's making her not want to go. But all of this started the day we moved. She is not showing any outward signs of stress. As I said, she's still eating and drinking normally, nothing less or more than usual. She has had no behavior changes other than this. And we've never had this issue any other time we have moved. I am out of ideas and in need of suggestions. Has anyone else dealt with this?!

    I'll also add that she knows what "Go Potty" means. At our old place, she'd get to sniffing for a while instead of doing her business, so usually I'd only have to say it once or twice before she'd go. Now it's like she's totally ignoring me when I tell her go potty.

    (Before I get any negative comments, please know that I do care about my dog. It's not just out of convenience I want her to go in our own yard, although that's a big part of it. As a single female living alone, I don't feel comfortable walking my dog through my neighborhood, as family friendly as it is, that late at night. And, although it's several months away, once it starts snowing, I don't like to have her outside for that long of a period of time. I am seeking any potentials for both short and long term purposes).
    Last edited by hallieworthington; 07-06-2016 at 01:43 AM.

  2. #2
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    What about a doggy friend to visit, male or female, so that dog can pee in your yard and she can mark over it? A male might work as well as a girl because where I see pee mail spots the boys use a post or bush and the girls squat. Just a wild idea. Could backfire too, could make her think the yard belongs to that dog but if she sees the dog and plays with it maybe not so much.
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  3. #3
    Senior Dog BaconsMom's Avatar
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    Interesting, I agree with Snowshoe, that is one thing that almost always works. We recently moved as well, and the previous owners had a dog, so bacon has to pee in every spot he smells the other dog's pee. There are a lot of spots on 0.5 Acres!
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  4. #4
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    Maybe once the novelty wears off she'll settle down and decide it's OK to pee out there. She's already gone there a few times so hopefully it will start feeling more like home. Even though she's accustomed to going out for a pee at 11:30 pm, she can probably hold it overnight with no problem. If she's just gone 3 hours previously, she may not have to go enough to force the issue. Maybe if you moved her evening walk a bit later, while it's still summer and stays light later, you won't feel like there's so much time between pees and maybe by the fall she'll feel better about going in her own yard. Of course, there's Sundance's pups who don't like to go in their own yard either, I think.

    Oh man, these crazy dogs! We don't think you're an uncaring owner- there are others whose dogs have had similar issues when moving to a new home. It has only been 5 days so she's still settling in to her new surroundings. And maybe by the fall you'll feel more comfortable walking in the neighborhood when it's a bit later. I've had to go to a nearby hotel when we've lost power during a snow storm for days at a time and Chase is the worst about going someplace new. I would be ouside walking around the darn hotel at midnight in a snow storm because he'd have refused to go all day. They can really test your patience. Ideally, though, I know it would be much easier to have her go in your yard. Good luck and congratulations on your new home!
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  5. #5
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    I agree with Smartrock that she doesn’t have to go badly enough at 11:30 to force the issue. We have a dog door, but we always send ours out around 11:00 for one last pee since often they haven’t been out on their own for a couple hours, but they don’t always pee, and they are good until 8:30 am with no problems on those nights.

    As long as she is otherwise going, so you don’t think it’s a health issue, and she is at least occasionally going in the yard, I wouldn’t force the issue. She’ll go in the yard when she has to badly enough, even if it isn’t quite what she would prefer to do. I suspect over time as she settles in, the reluctance will fade.
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  7. #6
    Senior Dog doubledip1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Annette47 View Post
    As long as she is otherwise going, so you don’t think it’s a health issue, and she is at least occasionally going in the yard, I wouldn’t force the issue. She’ll go in the yard when she has to badly enough, even if it isn’t quite what she would prefer to do. I suspect over time as she settles in, the reluctance will fade.
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  8. #7
    Puppy hallieworthington's Avatar
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    I did have my neighbor from my old apartment bring her dog over last night to try that. We normally walked the dogs together and they were constantly trying to pee over each other. Oliver marked up the yard and she sniffed last night, but made no move. She did go out this morning and it was faster than usual, but I think it was because she really had to go and I was making her stay in the backyard. She seemed very confused though that the second she squatted, I started petting her and giving lots of
    High pitched verbal praise and shoved a cookie in her mouth. She didn't complain, but definitely was confused why mom was making such a big deal about peeing in the yard when she's done it for years 😂.

    I'm going to keep trying what we're doing and give it some more time. At least I can get her to go out first thing, so hopefully if I can get that down, she'll start going more. I just had never had this issue before and I thought I was the only one! But I'm glad to hear other dogs can be picky too, so it's not just bad dog parenting haha

  9. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by hallieworthington View Post

    (Before I get any negative comments, please know that I do care about my dog. It's not just out of convenience I want her to go in our own yard, although that's a big part of it. As a single female living alone, I don't feel comfortable walking my dog through my neighborhood, as family friendly as it is, that late at night. And, although it's several months away, once it starts snowing, I don't like to have her outside for that long of a period of time. I am seeking any potentials for both short and long term purposes).
    Don't feel bad about not wanting to be out at night. I've never been comfortable with that, single or married. My husband does the "after dark" walking (and also the inclement weather walking when the dogs can't go farther than our street anyway). Sunnie goes for Bob in a heartbeat but demands a real walk from me. Nuh uh....not going to the park in the dark or thunderstorms or blizzards.

    Good luck with getting her issue sorted out....hopefully it'll just take getting used to the new place. (Note: we've had Sunnie for almost 7 1/2 years and that hasn't happened for us yet.)

  10. #9
    Puppy hallieworthington's Avatar
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    I'm hoping it'll happen eventually. As crazy as it sounds, I put rocks and mulch that she peed on during our walk in the yard tonight, as well as some of her poop. She sniffed, but wouldn't go. It took two tries to get her to pee when I came in from work, but I'm trying to stand firm on her learning to go in the yard. We just spent 30 minutes walking all over the yard both on and off leash and she won't go. She almost acts confused as to why we're out. But I'm also going to assume that if she truly had to go bad enough, she would. And I know that she'll go in the morning.

    I did have an idea that popped into my head though. I'm wondering if I bought any puppy pee pads to put outside to get her going, if that would work. I have no experience with the pee pads, because we always house trained our dogs to go outside from the start, so I'm not sure if it's a smell or something that makes them pee on it. Any thoughts on that?

    I'm kind of getting desperate. I don't want to take away her daily walks, but she is being stubborn about peeing and is steadfastly refusing to poop out there. I don't want to quit walking her temporarily to make her go, but I also don't know how long she can hold out on this.

  11. #10
    Senior Dog
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    I just went on Amazon to see if they still sold a "urine stake" for potty training...yeah, but one star.

    I found this one review suggestion to be interesting, though, and thought I'd pass it along:

    Suggestion: If you really want your dog to go in just one place your best bet would be to collect your own dogs pee (don't forget to buy rubber gloves, a RubberMaid container w/ a lid, and possibly a face mask for the smell). Then soak some wooden stakes in it for a few days - the longer, the more the stakes will absorb, but watch that the stakes don't start to become too moist - w/ the lid on tight. After a few days, stake them in the spot you want your dog to use. They will be attracted to the high concentration of their own scent and you shouldn't have to do it any more b/c they will go in that spot from then on

 



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