Anybody ever housetrain an older dog before?

[MorelCabin]

I bought my daughter this dog before Christmas...a 2 year old poodle shihtzu cross. She is an amazing dog, but for some reason would not go potty outside. So my daughter gave her to her MIL, wh has had her for two weeks and says she WILL go potty outside but often goes inside if left alone for any period of time, even briefly. MIL thinks perhaps she is an anxiuos kind of dog...and you know the previous owner did tell me she is shy...So I am going to try and take this dog on and see what I can do with it. I am thinking crate training might be my best bet at this point for a quick and effortless ordeal:>) Otherwise this dog is a real weetheart...listens well, likes to snuggle...great with small children and other dogs...there is nothing wrong with her otherwise. Any ideas?

 

[big brown horse]

Is it a small dog?

Sometimes they can be hard to housetrain as adults. We rescued an adult toy poodle a few years ago and we had a very difficult time housetraining him even with a kitty door for him to go in and out of. (And he knew how to go in and out of it.)

Aside from crate training you can try "piddle pads" I know some little dogs like to potty indoors better. Perhaps they feel safer?

(BTW I am in no way an expert!! Just my humble opinion.)

 

[FarmerDenise]

I don't have personal experience on this, but on the tv shows where the trainers come in, they always recommend crate training and frequent trips to the outside.
You might also have the dog checked by a vet, to rule out any health related isues that cause the dog to go to the bathroom inside.

 

[hwillm1977]

If it is mild separation anxiety (happening when people leave) it can be a lot harder to train out of the dog and takes a lot of conditioning...

Crate training has always helped us with dogs that weren't housebroken, we've had everything from 1 year old to 12 years old... a lot of the dogs we get never lived in a house before. It usually doesn't take them long to figure it out.

Crate training can help with separation anxiety too, along with a lot of consistency and patience

Definitely a good idea to have the dog checked by a vet to rule out health issues first.

 

[MorelCabin]

Thanks everyone...I've borrowed a crate...now off to get the dog...wish me luck...she's a real cutie and I really would like to keep her

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

hee hee hee one of the 'problems' with Lucky when we got him from the other family was that he "always peed/pooped in the house." he did it ONCE at our place - the cats totally made fun on him and that was the end of that.

you can imagine what names the called him
;-)

i cant remember if you have other dogs. hopefully the new one will be part of the pack and figure out what they are supposed to do. i always recommend that Ceasar guy - great info and solves a lot of problems at once.

good luck!

 

[big brown horse]

hee hee hee one of the 'problems' with Lucky when we got him from the other family was that he "always peed/pooped in the house." he did it ONCE at our place - the cats totally made fun on him and that was the end of that.

you can imagine what names the called him
;-)

i cant remember if you have other dogs. hopefully the new one will be part of the pack and figure out what they are supposed to do. i always recommend that Ceasar guy - great info and solves a lot of problems at once.

good luck!

Reminds me of a horse I used to have. She was mean as the dickens. I put an English saddle on her once and all the other cowboy horses made fun of her!

 

[Henrietta23]

Yes, I have trained to adult pugs by using crates.
I have to agree that a vet check would be a good idea to rule out urinary tract infection, etc.