Puppy afraid of rain/water, won't go potty

1 post

I have a three month old Cocker Spaniel who's afraid of rain, and water in general. It's making potty training troublesome. She's been doing well so far, except when it rains. When I take her out she refuses to go and struggles to get back in the house. Then as soon as she gets back in the house she goes. I don't think temperature is a huge factor, because she doesn't mind going out when it's cold and not raining... she just does it fast and runs back in. And she has the same problem when it's raining and not cold. I took her outside to go potty at a friends house while it happened to be raining, I had to pick her up and place her under a giant tree, where she wouldn't get wet from the drops in order for her to go. But we have no trees in our yard! I plan on moving back to Seattle soon. With all the rain there, I'm a bit worried my house will become her personal waste center.

When I give her baths she struggles to get out of the tub. I tried once being in there with her, to see if that might help... she seemed a bit more calm, but still wanted out badly. I give her lots of praise and tell her she's a good puppy when she's in the tub, I even tried giving her treats.

She will go outside after it rains, when the ground is still wet. She doesn't completely like it, but she deals with it. So I'm thinking it's the drops hitting her that's bothering her?

I don't really want to build her a shelter to go potty under when it rains, but I will if I have to. Is there anyway I can get her to like water? Any tips would be helpful!

19 posts

I know this is an old post, but for those who want to replace puppy pee training pads, there is an oranic mulch grass seed that you grow in your house. It comes in already made containers. You just pour warm water in it, cover it, and within a week you'll have grass. It's great because the dogs go on it, it fertilizes the grass for you. I don't smell any odor, and they are cheap to buy. No replacements for the pads, plus it helps save trash. They are called grass4upetpatch and only $25.00/container