What's Reverse House Training?!
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Ever heard this term? No? Want to guess what it might mean? The picture above might give you a hint. And, of course, the phrase itself will be helpful in figuring out what it means.
Reverse - in this case, it means the “opposite of something.” The opposite of what you intended to have happen.
House Training - when dogs pee and poop outside.
Wait a minute. The reverse of dogs peeing and pooping outside? That just means they aren’t house trained, right?
Close, but it’s even worse than that. This is what happens when dogs learn to pee or poop while hiding somewhere in your house. They may go under or behind a piece of furniture like the puppy in the photo above. Or they might go to the opposite side of the kitchen island. Or in another room. Or in your bedroom closet.
Why in the world would a dog do such a thing? It must be spite, right? Trying to prove something to me?
It can sure feel that way. But that’s not what’s happened. Unfortunately, for some reason or another, the dog has learned that it’s not safe to pee or poop in front of humans. So, they retreat to a safe place to relieve themselves.
Fear is super easy to install in dogs (and other animals). And installing fear in specific contexts is a fairly common mistake people make. We see our dogs pooping in the living room and we are understandably upset and a bit frantic and our attempts to intervene (running quickly to a dog who’s momentarily immobilized by their activity, sounding upset, waving our arms, grabbing them, etc.) can be pretty scary to a dog. Add in another time or two when the dog pees or poops while you’re not watching and they get the relief they so desire without any negative outcome and voila! They’ve learned their lesson - do it when you’re not around!
See, dogs do what works. It’s just that simple.
Peeing in front of you doesn’t work from their perspective. Peeing in another room when you’re not around works just fine as far as they are concerned.
Congratulations! Just like that, you have successfully Reverse House Trained your dog.
What’s that? You’d like to undo that and teach the dog to relieve themselves outside instead? Oh, okay. That’s doable.
But you’ll need to do it right.
First, no more scary moments. We have to be sure the dog doesn’t see us as dangerous or confusing. So no more:
Frantically interrupting a dog who’s going on the expensive wool rug. Instead, calmly approach and lift them gently while happily saying, “let’s go outside to finish, buddy.” I’ve found that most dogs will stop what they are doing mid-lift and finish up outside. MOST dogs. I’ve had a few who will continue to pee a nice zig-zag pattern all the way through the house and out the door.
No punishment whatsoever. If the dog already went, showing them the poop, swatting them with a newspaper, or “rubbing their noses in it” won’t help. Neither will crating them, scolding them, throwing something at them, or making loud noises. ALL of those are things that people do and that trainers using outdated methods still advise. But those are the things that caused the problem in the first place. There’s absolutely no room for punishment in a house training plan.
Instead, you’ll want to implement a solid house training plan. That could be an entire blog post but here’s a short version:
Don’t allow the dog to go in the house. This means constant observation of an untrained dog. “Observation” does not include watching tv or surfing Facebook while the dog is in the same room. It really means keeping an eye on the dog. This isn’t easy.
Many dogs will choose not to soil their beds. So, using a crate or exercise pen that’s small enough may buy you some time to get things done without watching the dog for a few minutes. If the crate/pen is large enough, they’ll just use one side of it to sleep/play/eat and the other side to pee/poop. So, make it small enough to prevent that. Your pup won’t be in the crate/pen for hours on end, so a smaller confinement area is okay short term.
Practice going outside - and make a big deal of it. To get the dog to go outside, you’ll need impeccable timing. So, pull out your timer (hint: your phone has one - your watch might also). As soon as you see your dog drinking or eating, start the timer for 10 minutes. Go outside when the timer goes off and wait until the dog goes. It might take a little while - you might have a 15 minute pee-er instead of a 10 minute pee-er. But stay out there and wait. Be patient. Walking or other exercise will sometimes get things going. So, go for a walk. But try not to be too distracting - we’re out here to pee, not to play with each other. When she’s gone, make a HUGE (but non-scary) deal out of it. Throw a party. Peeing outside means praise and play and the BEST treats in large quantities (another hint: I try to stay quiet and still WHILE the dog is going - starting the praise and party too soon will interrupt some dogs who find they need to finish once they go back inside).
In addition to going out 10 minutes after eating or drinking, take your dog out at the following times:
Immediately upon waking in the morning or from a nap
After about 10 minutes of vigorous play (whether with you, another dog, or a toy). Interrupt the play if you need to - otherwise, the need to go may sneak up on them and they won’t have time (or bladder control) to hold it.
Once an hour even if none of the above is true.
More often once you’ve learned their routine. I had a client dog staying with me who consistently peed exactly eight minutes after drinking. Not ten. She was going to pee eight minutes after drinking no matter where she was - after learning this, I made sure we were outside seven minutes after drinking.
What might go wrong
Since your dog has already learned that going in front of you is a bad idea, they may be reluctant to go outside while you’re nearby and watching. If it’s safe, you might want to allow the dog more distance with a longer leash. And be very unassuming. Don’t keep repeating “go potty” every few seconds while staring at the dog. Keep a close eye on the dog out of the corner of your eye, but be quiet, and boring.
Your dog will absolutely attempt to sneak off and relieve themselves outside of your sight while in the house. This isn’t stubbornness nor spite - it’s just what they think they are supposed to do. Be kind and gentle. If they succeed in peeing in the house, remind yourself that it’s your fault for not keeping an eye on them and not their fault for needing to pee. Get the dog outside to make sure they are empty. Then, while the dog is being watched by someone else or is safely confined, come back and clean up the mess using a cleaner with enzymes designed for this purpose (dogs will return to places that smell like urine/feces and their noses are a lot better than ours - they can smell residue long after we think we’ve successfully cleaned it with normal household cleaners). I recommend Nature’s Miracle for this.
This will likely take some practice given that you are un-doing something they’ve already learned. It’s faster to train a new behavior than to undo a learned behavior. But it will work.
One last note - don’t beat yourself up. It’s a fairly common mistake to “reverse house train” a dog. I know LOTS of people who have done it. Fortunately, those same people have also un-done this problem with a consistent and non-scary house training plan.
For specific questions, feel free to comment below or check in with your qualified force-free trainer.