We have an 18 week old puppy who is fantastic at going to the toilet outside. He was able to pick up toilet training really quick and now asks to go outside if he needs the toilet.

However, he will only go to the toilet in our back garden. We have been out for hours and he just won't go.

He will often sniff the ground as if he is looking for somwhere to go, but then moves on without doing something. We have tried walking and being out for hours but he just holds it.

We have started taking him out for a walk as soon as we get up in the morining in the hope that he will be desperate and go, but still no luck.

Can anyone suggest anything that could help us?

Thanks

I cant help but our 2 are the same, happily go in the garden but if i take them for a walk they will hold it in until they get back home.

Cant give any advice sorry, but thought i would let you know your not on your own.

Hi!

I did ask my BC friend who said that she's never experienced it and suggested pretty much the same as I did and what you're already doing.

I have emailed the APDT list though to see if anyone else has any thoughts :)

We had it the other way round for over a year with Molly. She was adamant that she wasn't going to go in the garden and would only go when we took her out for a walk, which is damned inconvenient when it's sleeting at 2am and you need her to have her last wee for the night!

Over the course of the year we took her in the garden in the hopes that she'd go at least 3 or 4 times a day, but in the end I decided that we'd have a couple of days of not going out and get her to the point where she had no choice but to go in the garden. Now although she'd rather go elsewhere and will put off going if she thinks that we're going out (which initially led to a few accidents in the car until we'd got the issues sorted) she will nip out for her first and last wee without having to go out for a walk.

So my suggestion to you would be to take your little one away for the weekend to go and stay with friends or whatever ;)

Both my dogs (one bitch and one dog ) were exactly the same when they were young, they would hang on until they got home and almost flood out the back garden!! However, it seems to be a maturity thing and as they got older they happily wee'd on walks.

Got some good responses from the APDT forum so will forward these to you. And many of them agreed with posters here, it's usually something a male dog will grow out of.

Having only had Eddy from 11 years of age and he's happy to pee anywhere outside and as much as possible, I've not had to worry about this problem!

Thanks for everyone's kind replies.

Today we have tried the tactic of putting the garden out of bounds. Instead we are going for short walks every half an hour. It has taken a long time and most of the day but he has managed an outside wee so we're really proud. Now we're just waiting for the next step.

We are hoping to go and stay with friends this weekend, and provided he can keep this up and get more confident with it we should be able to.

Thanks again for everyone's advice and help.

Fabulous news!

At his age he's doing really well if his toilet training has gone so well. I think that when they start learning that you have to go 'in the garden' that also for some of them means that you go 'only in the garden' when really what you want them to do is to go 'anywhere whilst out'.

When you've got over the going only in the garden thing, then you can start addressing the other idiosyncrasies, like Molly's thing of only going on grass. The garden is now a special case- we have an area of bark chippings under the apple tree for her to go on- it's easy to clear up there.

My springer would only ever do a number 2 behind a bush - so no-one could see!!!!

This could be tricky if there's no bushes around at the time.:hihi:

Funny how humans can be a bit like dogs, isn't it?

This morning he managed to go for a wee outside straight away. I think he has worked out what is going on, and is getting really good at it now. Looks like we will be able to go away at the weekend!

Thanks again to everyone who offered advice.

Fabulous news!

At his age he's doing really well if his toilet training has gone so well. I think that when they start learning that you have to go 'in the garden' that also for some of them means that you go 'only in the garden' when really what you want them to do is to go 'anywhere whilst out'.

When you've got over the going only in the garden thing, then you can start addressing the other idiosyncrasies, like Molly's thing of only going on grass. The garden is now a special case- we have an area of bark chippings under the apple tree for her to go on- it's easy to clear up there. My bold

My Mina's a bit like that, too - she doesn't like piddling on a hard surface, which is awkward as the garden is paved! I had corners taken out of the paving stones so I could plant thyme, etc, to smell nice when you trod on it. She killed them all off! I re-planted a couple of times, but just gave up in the end.

In the end, I gave up and bought her a square of plastic grass, which is in the yard, she's quite happy with that!

Maybe the garden is the place they wish to do their business. To be honest , It is not very nice when walking down the street to see dogs with their hind legs up against someone's gate, care, or garden wall. Or in the grass where kids play. Maybe area's should have fenced off parts designed for dogs to do their business. In the last week I have had to have someone clean my verge 4 times because of dog muck, Not very nice at all.