Dogs potty training dogs?

[bekers71]

Ok. I know it sounds strange but bare with me. LOL

Most of you know we got a new puppy about 2 weeks ago, 4 months old. We named her Asia btw. Up until I got her, Asia had never been inside a house. She was always free to roam the country side. So now I am trying to get her house trained. My other dog, Zoey, comes to me when she has to go potty and makes these weird noises. Zoey and Asia are both locked in the kitchen at night to keep Asia from being lonley and to keep any possible "accidents" on the easy to clean floor. Three nights ago I awoke to Zoey at the gate making her "I gotta go" noise. I was a bit confuse because she had just went before I went to bed. So I get up, put the leashes on both and take them out. Well, while out Zoey sat down and Asia went potty. When Asia was done Zoey headed back inside. I thought to my self that that was odd but oh well. Yesterday some thing similar happened. I took them both out, both peed and came back in. A few minutes later Zoey was in my face needing to go again and again Asia went potty not Zoey. Now today I take them both and Zoey did both bathroom duties while Asia only went pee. Not even 10 minutes later Zoey repeats her behavior and of course Asia pooped. So far Asia has only had 3 accidents in the house, none at night while locked in the kitchen with Zoey.

Now I'm not some rocket scientist, but I'd almost say Zoey is trying to potty train Asia. Any opinions on this behavior? I'd be interested to hear them.

 

[Criosphynx]

Perhaps Asia is antsy and Zoey is picking up on it?

Other than that I'd say its coincedence.

 

[danielle]

I would actually agree with you when I got my new pup my older dog would do his potty whine and even nip at her when she had an accident. I think the trained dog knows exactly what is going on and instinctively displays the behavior to signal the behavior is wrong. I could be wrong, but I noticed the same thing

 

[vetusvates]

Fascinating!

 

[Floof]

Yep... It sounds like Zoey's trying to potty train Asia.. Congrats! Your workload has been cut in half (and then some)! Lol.

My family has had this happen once before. My first dog, Simba (a boxer), would absolutely NOT go potty in the house--he'd rather get a urinary tract infection... And he hated his house being messy. When we got Sammy (age 2 at the time), she completely reverted back to "puppyhood" and lost control of her bowel movements (stress from the family change and new "older brother"?). Simba didn't like it... And he began to potty train her for us, since this was something my family was terrible at--that's why my mom insisted on an ADULT dog! Anyway, Simba single-handedly trained Sammy to go potty outside... Then he trained her to only poo in the half of the yard that we kids didn't use. When he broke a panel out of the wooden fence, he trained her not to leave the yard.

She continued to have the very occasional accident, but, since Simba passed, Sammy has adopted his "rather have a UTI" attitude... It's a shame she isn't as good at potty training other dogs! Now I have to do all the work, and all she does is stare at accidents until someone cleans them up... Lol. =P

My point is, it's very possible for a dog to train another dog. IME, it's rather uncommon, too... Again, I say, CONGRATS! Your dog is taking matters into her own "paws"!! Lol! =)

 

[LBoz]

Becky, that's exactly how it went with my pyre. He was a farm dog and had never been inside when I got him at 6 mo. The other dogs taught him within a day that outside was for potty. I think he may have had two accidents MAX when we got him home, and never again. Never underestimate the power of the pack.