You dog isn't stubborn. You are a lousy dog trainer. Put the blame where it belongs. House training is a habit. Nothing more, nothing less. Your dog has the habit of peeing on the carpet. You must teach her a new habit. Get a crate for the dog and she is put in the crate when she is in the house. As long as you don't lock her up for an unreasonable amount of time, she won't soil her crate. Take her out frequently. Stand there and watch her. Praise her when she relieves herself outdoors. Let her play for awhile, then back inside and into the crate. Until she is 100% reliable, never allow her to be loose in the house unless there are eagle eyes on her every second. That means you do not take your eyes off of her. If you can't watch her, place her back in the crate. Do not punish for house accidents. All you are teaching the dog is to hide from you. If she starts to sniff, take her outside. Wait and watch her so you can praise her when she potties outside. Food treats for doing her duty outside work well in teaching it is what you want her to do. You have to prevent her from relieving herself inside. You have to teach her that relieving herself outside pleases you. That is two distinct and separate lessons. If you are diligent, it will take about 2 weeks to have the correct habit firmly established. Although it might take you longer because you have punished your dog for relieving herself, so it will take her longer to tinkle outside when you are watching, for fear that you will punish her. Do not leave her locked up in the crate longer than she can hold it. If you force her to soil her crate, you teach her to relieve herself inside the crate and then you really have a house breaking problem (of your own creation)

Lots of good advice here. I remember my mom telling me that she got me potty trained by telling me that she would buy me pretty little lace panties if I would start using the toilet. She said I started using the toilet and she bought me the pretty panties. hee-hee! I have boys and they take a little longer than girls in general. We pushed our first one too soon and had to back off and let him do it at his own pace. Poor little guy would get constipated and we'd end up using "positories" as he called them to help him. He was about 4 before he was fully trained. Our second son started potty training himself wanting to do everything big brother was doing, then went backwards when son number three was born, but eventually got back on track. Third son copied older brothers but also enjoyed going pee outside in the backyard and once on the garage floor - 'cause it made a loud noise and was funny to him. I think the thing that got my boys to using the potty was watching one of those potty training videos. There was one where the song went, "Now I'm going to the potty, potty . . . Yes, I'm going to the potty, potty, etc." They enjoyed singing that song when they went to the potty and it was just one of those songs I couldn't get out of my head! A friend of mine started laughing at me a couple months ago when I was talking about this subject to someone and started singing that song. She said it was the same video she used for her daughter! Check your local library to see if they have any potty training videos available for check out. We checked this one out for two weeks with my second son since he enjoyed watching it so much!

For some reason, she felt empowered.....and didn't need to control you with the potty issue. For a lot of years, kids learned not to soil their pants well before the age that is the norm these days....do you suppose we have suddenly evolved into a species of creatures with late maturing bladders? Do you suppose your great-great grandmother washed on a washboard the diapers and other clothing, or her children for 4 years?...2 or 3 at a time?....and stoked the fire and made her bread etc? I know my children pottied themselves by 2 years.....and I know my brother and I did.....and I know that my grandmother said her children were trained before 2 ( my brother is 10 years younger....and my grandmother lived with us...so she expressed her opinion.....a lot!) It seems that Freud started the whole "anal retentive" thing. We used to put a child on the potty at 6 months for a little while at a "certain time" each day. If by chance, they performed....the bells and whistles all went off! But...it got them used to the potty....and I used that time to put on my face, brush my teeth and curl my hair. Now it seems we are afraid of scarring a child's psyche by putting them on the potty too young.....but not afraid to give them Karate lessons at 3. A child that has never worn a disposable, nor a pair of waterproof pants will be very uncomfortable when wet. And you'd be surprised at how fast they catch on to how nice it is to always have a warm, dry bottom. I think that after...or about...age 2 it becomes a control issue.....the child is using the potty issue to have some control. I belive it's the same sort of thing that sometimes leads teen age girls with parents who are perfectionists to become anorexic. It's the one area of their life over which they have total control.....when to eat and when to poop. I suggest finding another area of her life to control....like total choice on what to wear.... But....please don't misunderstand.....I wouldn't want to return to the cloth diaper, wash board days for anything!! Linda C

Keep up the "pretty panties" and perhaps put her on the potty every 30 minutes.... And remember....when she does go....the thunder roars! Lights flash! Everyone claps and she gets a "potty treat". She is well old enough...in fact perhaps too old....she is very used to going in her pants. But ditch those plastic super absorbant things....it's way too comfortable to be wet. I was talking this evening to a mother of teen agers about her sisters 2 year old....she was saying both her kids were trained in a weekend....she just put them in regular pants....and they figured it out ( of course they had seen other people using the toilet so they knew what it was for). Her sister is messing with pullups and the rest of the nonsense...they need to see what they're are doing. My daughter has 4 kids....not sure how the oldest figured it out...but every other kid was trained by the other kids in the family...They just told them what to do....and where to do it and expressed extreem distaste when they made a mistake. Linda C