Advice house training 3yr old dog

muckety

We have a 3+ yr old rehome female springer who is not housetrained. What is the best way to approach house training - she was raised living in an outside run. When she comes into the house in the evening for a few hours if we are not in the room to catch her she will soil the floor. So far i've tried to ensure that she is fed early - at least an hour before coming in - and I let her out every half hour or so and praise any 'business'.

Also, I've tried to encourage her to do her 'business' in a specific area of the garden - had success with our other dog in this but not with her yet.

Any suggestions?

lorebringer

House training older dogs is much like training a pup - the key is patience and consistency. Having her in the house as much as possible is a start. Then bring her out every hour/two hours (she is older and can hold on longer than a pup) and give her loads of praise when she goes to the toilet outside. It's best if you stand out with her and not just put her out on her own. After a while she will get that it is good to go outside. Treats and your praise are the best reinforcement. This is when you can introduce a command ("toilet", "go pee" etc.) when she is going, she will learn that when you say this to her she is expected to go to the toilet. If you want her to go in a certain area of the garden, stand with her in that area (you could even have her on a long lead) and have a mini party when she goes there. You would really want to wait until she gets the hang of going outside first before you start this.

If she does go in the house, don't shout but show her the pee/poo and give her a firm "no" and out she goes while you clean up. Don't stick her face in the business or go crazy, this is very unpleasant for her and will not get the message home any faster or more efficiently. Also, she may associate going to the toilet infront of you as a bad thing if you punish her too much - which will lead to sneaky pees and very smelly floors! Clean it up with an enzyme cleaner or diluted biological washing powder, this gets rid of any pee/poo smell from the area and she won't be encouraged to go there again. If you catch her going in the house, a firm "no" (don't wait for her to finish, do ti mid pee/poo) and put her outside. She'll get the message that it's bad to go in the house soon enough.

Also, when you are bringing her out - don't carry her, make sure she walks so that she knows where to go if she wants to go out. If you see her asking to go out, give her praise for this too. It shows she is getting the hang of it and you want to reinforce the message. From experience (I foster for a dog rescue), it takes about 2 weeks for them to be house trained (and it's a lot of work for the 2 weeks - consistency is the best method, I cannot stress enough) but there may still be a few pees/poos done inside every so often but this really depends on the dog. Try to have her in the house with you as much as possible, so that you get to go through the motions of toilet training as often as you can. I don't know how many times a day you are feeding, but if you are doing it once perhaps try switching it to the morning or mid day so that by evening she does not have a full belly.

Good luck!