My wife and I have come up against an issue that we haven't seen before and are not sure how best to handle.

We have owned a purebred Akita in the past, although it's been awhile. We have also had a prior Akita/Shepherd mix and several other rescues all trained with info from this website. Four months ago we adopted what we think is another Akita/Shepherd mix. She is 4 yrs old and had been with a family claiming severe allergies, hence the adoption. The dog, CJ, lived two different lives with her last family. They had a home in downtown Chicago with absolutely no yard at all. She was mainly confined to one large room because of everyone's allergies. They also have a lake house in Indiana where the dog was put out in the morning and allowed to run free on 60 acres and pretty much do whatever she wanted.

CJ displays a lot of Akita traits in our opinion. The thing we don't know what to do with is potty training. I don't think she was ever trained. The prior owners said she would have accidents in the Chicago home despite being walked 3 blocks to the dog park daily. Since we've had her she has marked a couple of times when we first got her in rooms where we've had dogs go before. That was the only time she ever pee'd inside and it was really our fault for giving her too much freedom too soon. She never pooped inside until last night after she wouldn't go while outside. The outside trips she's had in the last two days have been very, very brief due to the severe cold (-20). She normally gets two long walks every day where she pee's and poops.

She never will go potty in her yard. We have a very small, almost zero lot line yard, not fenced. Whenever we take her out for walks she never goes with any urgency. She will often walk a half mile or more before she goes at all. In this inclement weather she is resisting going at all. When we go out all she wants to do is hunt critters. There is about a foot of snow on the ground so everything looks the same and there are none of the usual places visible. She does not seem to have any preferred places to go. We would like her to toilet in our back yard before going on walks so she'll go in the yard in this bad weather. We've tried just taking her to our preferred spot and waiting but she never goes. She stands and stares at us or looks off to the other yards looking for critters. She is VERY critter motivated. She will go 40 hours without going poop.
She'll wait 24 hours or longer to pee. I've never had a dog hold her bladder and bowel for so long! We feed her quality high protein food, plenty of water, supplement her food with pumpkin and grizzly oil.

Today is another good example. After she pooped in the house last night (she went upstairs to an unused bedroom) we decided to try the yard again today. It is so cold out we don't feel walks are safe. We tried walking but less than a block away she was gingerly lifting her paws like they were freezing. We have her crated and are taking her out about every hour. I've cleared snow off an area in the yard down to the grass and under a tree. She goes out and stares and the road, walks around the path and through the standing snow and doesn't potty. As I write this she hasn't peed in about 30 hours.

When she finally goes we give her lots of praise and high value treats. We just don't know how to win the battle. The "battle" renews each day. We are now not taking her on walks. We're just crating her a lot during the day (we are home) and taking her out frequently to an area about 12 x 30 yards or so, circling and circling until she goes or not. We've stayed out with her (leashed) for up to an hour with no production.

This morning we took her out and she fixated on a squirrel and did nothing else. We brought her inside and she went upstairs and pee'd on the carpet outside my wife's office in the couple of minutes we weren't watching (our fault on that we know).

We know Akita's have a stubborn streak and I wonder if this is just a war of wills. I would really appreciate any suggestions. BTW she has been to the vet to rule out physical issues. Our vet and local trainer don't know what to do.

http://leerburg.com/webboard/thread.php?topic_id=33913&page=1#387145

is a start, but there has also been another thread lately too, addressing a dog who won't go in his yard. I have to run, but I'll try to find it when I get back.

I've tried everything but tethering. A problem is that she holds it until she just can't anymore then she'll go in the area we want. We use the command words while she is going then we mark the finish with "YES" then immediately give high value treats. Then the next day we start all over again and she won't go for a couple of days. So the reinforcement and praise we give her are so far apart it doesn't feel like it's working. When we are outside her primary focus is on looking off into other yards for critters. I don't know how to get her focused on her "business".

We're looking forward to everyone's input!

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

http://leerburg.com/webboard/thread.php?topic_id=33913&page=1#387145

is a start, but there has also been another thread lately too, addressing a dog who won't go in his yard. I have to run, but I'll try to find it when I get back.

Is this perhaps the thread you were thinking of? Some good suggestions here, mixed in with a bit of humor.

http://leerburg.com/webboard/thread.php?topic_id=33678&page=1#383011

Cheri--looked at your thread and yes there are some good ideas. But, we've tried many. She will poop and pee on a walk in no preferred places but not at home in the space we want her to. We've brought her poop home and put it in the area. We had two guest dogs go in the same area to provide other smells. When she got desperate and finally pooped in her yard after 50 hours we did the happy dance, high value treats, then took her for a walk off the property. We even left her poop out for incentive next time.

Next day back to square one. She avoided her prior poops and basically started over. Looking for critters and walking the same path back and forth until we gave up and brought her back inside. We keep her under watch (except for the couple times we messed up) and try again in an hour or two. She holds it so long taking her out every hour seems unnecessary.

I can't find what the matchstick thing is. If someone would post that I'd appreciate it. At this point were willing to try most anything. The vet says she is not impacted so not sure if we should do the suppository thing.

One thing to remember is that walking stimulates peristalsis ( the action of the gut), so if you are just waiting for her to go it could take hours. I don't know how big your yard is but if you wanted her to go in the yard I would take her out there on leash and do a brisk controlled walk ( no looking at squirrels) until she does her business, and it may take a half mile or more of endlessly circling the yard to get her to go, then of course you have an awesome you pooped party.
I am wondering, if because of her previous home she might have some psychological scars related to pooping, in that case you may need to recondition her that its ok to poop. jmho, Good luck.

Edited by Jodi Moen (01/15/2014 09:40 PM)
Edit reason: add

It's a very small yard. Zero lot line. We do walk back and forth not letting her stop and stare. Have even done other training stuff, heal, come, this way, etc. Used a pedometer to measure and we've done a half mile, 30 yards at a time. I'd love to figure out how to recondition her!

I would probably start by focusing on the pooping while she's on walks, praising her while she in the act, and taking off any pressure (trying to get her to go) at home. Chances are she is picking up on the frustration, no matter how subtle, to go and that is creating even further anxiety. I would probably even offer her a treat while she's going. I've been around dogs that were handled badly during housebreaking (I'm not implying you are doing that) who developed anxiety and wouldn't go in the presence of a human, they could hold it for days... and required huge long walks to go BUT once they got over it, where able to go in a normal time frame.
One thing I do with my dogs is I teach them to longe (like a horse) this is them being on lead while they circle me at a walk, trot, or lope. That is how my current dog is trained to go, it is relatively easy to teach and good for a small area. Playing an active game of fetch or whatever for a lengthy time may get things moving and then put her on a leash and do a walk in the yard. Id probably keep her at heel until you get to the chosen spot then allow her a long leash to sniff, if she doesn't go in one or two minutes return to walk at heel. The biggest thing to remember is old habits die hard, this is not going to be fixed in a day or two it will takes weeks if not months. This of course is all jmho, others will have different suggestions.

You need to look at this the same way as you would a new puppy. Go out every half hour or hour. If she doesn't go then bring her back in and crate or tether her.
As mentioned above, your also working with bad habits. That adds to the situation but not necessarily the method of retraining.

I would not feed her unless she eliminates on the leash. I'd crate or tether her 24/7.


If she isn't too scary, I would use a glycerin suppository. Put it in her rectum by the door. Take her out. She will go, maybe it will only be the suppository, but it is the idea. When she goes give her a cooked 1/4 lb of hamburger or a big piece of cooked steak. You have got to make your point clear.

You could also speak to your veterinarian about some Lasix. This is a diuretic which will make her drink water and urinate. You could try that on the weekend, like the suppository, to try to increase her urgency and try to capture a pee on leash that you can reward.

If there is urine in the house that you "mop up" I would sponge some up and place it outdoors on the snow where you want her to go.

I would not walk her for exercise, or play with her, or do anything until she "gets it". With the right reward and a little medical managment to "push her" I think you can get a huge start on this over the weekend. GOOD LUCK!

The great thing is that she is naturally clean. Once she understands what you want I think she'll be perfect !