Can you house break a dog that is over a year old?

Question

About five months ago I bought a dog off of craigslist. Its an adorable little 1 1/2 y/o bichon frise. I was told he is housebroken. He so is NOT. I have gotten him up to date with his shots, vet checked, microchipped and we just LOVE him. But I can walk him for an hour and he will pee everywhere, never poop; then come inside and poop and pee. There has to be something I can do here. Please help. I love this dog but today he peed and pooped on my daughters white bed spread(it had fallen on the floor). I don't know how much more of this I can take!

He is neutered and we would NEVER hit him. We adore him; just not his potty issues. He came with a crate but in the 5 months we have had him; he's never gone in it. I am a SAHM so he is out with us. How does crate training work? Thanks!

Answer 1

Toilet Training Your Puppy

Toilet training is hard work. Whether you have a young puppy or an older dog who arrives with little or no understanding of the basic toileting rules, it is going to be tiresome.

But, be comforted. It doesn't last for long! A few weeks of kind, consistent training will ensure that you dog/puppy will be reliably house trained for life (give or take the odd regression when ill etc).

Puppies are particularly demanding as they have very small bladders! This means that they wee all the time! The more they are moving about, the more they wee! Older dogs do not need to urinate as often as puppies, however, when they do have an accident, it takes a lot more clearing up!

The first point about toilet training for puppies is the need for a cage. This has already been mentioned in my article on Crate training. When the puppy is small, the cage has a warm, cosy bed at one end and a pad of newspaper at the other. Water should be available at all times and I recommend a bowl that bolts to the cage to save the mess of puppies that like to play in the water or simply knock it over!

When the puppy is left at night (I leave mine in the cage, in the kitchen) I don't go back until morning. They have the other dogs for company and I feel that it is better to ignore crying (unless the puppy is clearly in serious distress). The puppy is not able to be dry all night and people often take the view that when the puppy cries at 5am, it is because he/she wants to go outside to urinate. My view is that, if the puppy is crying at 5am, he/she has woken up, urinated, then wants attention. If you respond to the crying, he/she will quickly learn that you will come when called. I would rather that the pup learnt to urinate on the newspaper,[they will generally avoid soiling their beds] then go back to sleep until a more civilised hour. [The need to urinate in the night will reduce as the pup grows and the bladder capacity increases].

During the day, toilet training is mainly down to vigilance. Most puppies will give some sign that they want to urinate or defecate. They often walk around purposefully, sniffing the ground and turning in circles. They may become more agitated or they may give no signals and simply squat and wee! Through observation, you will note how often your pup needs to eliminate. Obvious times to expect a puppy to need the toilet are, immediately upon waking, soon after eating and often whilst playing.

Ellie was able to go 2 hours or more without eliminating, when she was resting in her cage but, as soon as she was out and playing around, she needed to go out every 10-15 minutes. It is important that the pup is rewarded for eliminating in the right place as often as possible. You should go out with the pup [if you stay inside, the pup will often refuse to perform and ask to come back in - only to immediately have an accident]. You should stand still and wait, perhaps using a word/phrase that will come to mean "do your business". Eventually he or she will perform, at which you reward madly! Titbits are fine, you can even click and treat if you are clicker training.

The more times you are able to reward your pup for eliminating outside, the quicker your house training will be. There will still be accidents inside and you need to be quick to clear them up. Using an "odour-removing" solution is important as dogs will often choose to go where they went before! If you catch the pup in the act, you can say "no" but punishment is not appropriate as he/she is still learning. If you find the evidence some time later, the pup will have forgotten about it and will not learn by being reprimanded at this late stage!

Eventually you will begin to notice that the puppy does not need to go outside so often and may even be "asking" to go out.[you can teach this separately, if it is something you would like your dog to do]. You will start to be able to let the puppy outside without accompanying him/her and he/she may start to eliminate in response to a cue. You will then reap the rewards of a well house-trained pup.

Note: Older dogs that are not fully housetrained can take longer to train as they have to "unlearn" the wrong behaviour at the same time as learning the right behaviour. You should use the same procedure as with puppies but expect the progress to be slower. Fortunately older dogs do not need to eliminate as often as puppies but you should not be complacent. It is better to take the dog out too often rather than too little!

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Answer 2

Absolutely! Be warned, some Bichons are notorious for having housetraining isses! You probably need to start back at square one which would be having him attached to you most of the time via leash (google 'canine umbillical cord housetraining) and then crate him when you absolutely can not watch him or have him on lead. The best way to teach housetraining is prevention and then catching them in the act. DO NOT rub his nose in the mess and spank him. That is totally counter productive and will only make the behavior worse. Do praise and encourage when he goes out properly. Also, make a lot of grumbling and unhappy noises when cleaning it up, sounds funny, but I swear that works!

Here is a really good link about crate training, it is a long article with housetraining towards the end.
You know your dog the best, so you shoud pick the method of training. Hang in there, it will get better!
http://www.nhahonline.com/housetrain.htm

The second link is a godsend. It is about setting up a schedule for your dog and how that helps with housetraining. I send this to a lot of people who have adopted adult dogs. Good luck- dd

http://www.cavcanine.com/housetraining

p.s. Is he neutered? And does he have a dominant personality? You might need to incorporate obedience training into this "program" so he knows who is in charge!

p.p.s. Oh, so glad to hear he is neutered! and that you would never hit him... you would not believe how many people do that still. It makes me so sad when I get a totally confused/frightened dog in that the owner swears is stupid and untrainable (we're talking border collies here!) and I have them housetrained, crate trained, and doing basic commands in a matter of days. It's all in communication and consistency.

Answer 3

You certainly can nonetheless residence instruct her - it would take a little longer on the grounds that you're re-training, however it can most likely be carried out. In case you crate train her as some persons are suggesting, you're in no way going to have a housetrained dog. If you need her housetrained, you ought to maintain her in the room with you even as you're training so that you would be able to watch her. The proposal is to catch her earlier than she has an accident in the house and teach using positive reinforcement, now not corrections. If she looks restless (circling, nose to the bottom), hasn't been out for really a whilst, woke up from an extended nap, take her out. You must exit with her, say "go pee" and the very 2d she does, supply her tons and plenty of praise and are available proper back in. That way she learns to differentiate between playtime and pee time external. With plenty of reward for right behaviour instead than corrections, dogs gain knowledge of very quickly. Before you begin, you ought to use a particularly excellent cleaner (nothing with ammonia) to get each hint of the smell out where she's gone before or she'll simply maintain going again there. At the same time you are re-coaching and unless she's trustworthy, you fairly do ought to crate her when you are now not dwelling. At night time, it can be your call - best to both crate her or confine her to your room.

Answer 4

Looks like hes not totally housebroken from the details you gave. Or if not, he might be testing you, his new owner, see what you can tolerate, what you can't. He is playing dominant role in your family the minute he steps in.

Definitely able to house break a dog no matter how old is it, no worries about that.

First of all, when you first brought back the dog, you need to pen/cage him up. Give him a specific area to play, sleep. Tolerate the first few nights of whinning and unsleep nights. Its common for all owners.

When a dog first came in, you shouldn't allow him to explore the entire house. Let him know you are the boss, your are the leader. Moreover, dogs sleeps in play pen, dogs won't pee on the place they sleep. This gives you a better control of re-training him for the housebroken. Let him interact with your family through a play pen for at least one week, mark specific a time everyday to bring him for a walk everyday, so that he can get the point he HAS TO pee and poo everytime he gets a chance to go out.

Let him out to play with your family, under your supervision, so that in any case when he tries to pee and poo in house, correct him! "NO!" or clap your hands loudly! or whatever you wnat to get his attention, stand tall and stare at him.(Don't squart down, nor bend down when correcting him, cos body language counts, bending down nor getting close to the dog level will portrays that you are submissive, in that case, they won't listen to you.) Not necessary to hit him at his butt always. Dogs gets the point across straight very quickly especially adult dogs.

Through these few weeks of training, you might be surprise he may even be back to fully housebroken within days. Always play the dominant role in the family, and he will be the sweetest dog you have.

Cheers! ^_^

Answer 5

Crate training isn't bad at all for older dogs. He will still have "accidents" but he should be house broken within a short time. Him going potty on the bedspread had to be no fun, sorry you had to clean that one up! The worst problem I can see you running into with crate training him older is that if he isn't used to being caged at night/when your gone then he may whine and bark for awhile. Don't worry though, he'll be quick to notice it gets him nowhere. =)

Answer 6

Piece of cake. Usually even easier. Especially with a crate. I have four foster dogs on top of my five and I pushed the puppies off to other fosters. Ill take adults any day!!!

Answer 7

With my Shih-Tzu's, I have found a possitive reinforcement approach works extremely wel. Praise and pay all sorts of attention to him when he goes to the bathroom outside. I do a happy "happy pottie dance", and my neighbors think I am a nut. But it is working. Treats often work too as a possitive reinforcement. When he makes a mess in the house, be angry at the mess he has made, NOT the dog. Be angry that you have to clean it up, angrily throw it away. I have thrown it outside, to reinforce that it belongs outside. And also to have his scent outside. If you do that, when you walk him, make sure you take him to the spot where it landed. Believe me, he will know it is his! That may help him to know it belongs outside.
Lastly, you need to remove his scent off all the things he has marked. I mean everything. I use Nature's Miracle and it is a miracle worker. It is an enzyme based cleaner that destroys the urine. But you need to use it a number of times to get his scent completely out. It is available at most pet stores. There are other enzyme based products out there, but I found this works the best. As I said, you will probably need to use it a number of times. It can take up to 2 weeks to work completely. Especialy on rugs. You have to make sure you get the padding urine free also. Let it soak into a rug, then clean it up. You can use it to wash things too. Directions are on the bottle. I have also found that wee-wee pads work wonders in soaking a wet stain up quickly.
One other little thing that I learned, and helps alot is a belly band. It is a band that wraps around your dogs belly, over his little "winkie". You put a disposable pad inside to absorb the urine and save your carpets, furniture floors and bedspreads!
Your other alternative is to crate train your dog. I didn't do that, but it does work extremely well. Get a crate that is just big enough for him to lie down, stand up, and turn around in. Do NOT get one that is too big. That will defeat the whole prupose. They will not go to the bathroom where they sleep. Keep him in the crate at night and when you can't be there to watch him every moment. When you take him out of the crate, take him right outside to go pottie. Use the happy dance, praise and reward when he goes outside. He will have to go sometime, and since he won't go in the crate, he will have no choice but to go outside.
He may have been housebroken, but is now testing you to see what he can and can't do. Bichon's need to know who is the boss. You have to establish that. They can be stubburn, and you have to keep at it. Be firm and let him know you are the boss, not him. He will catch on to what makes you happy and what makes you angry. He probably only wants to make you happy and when he realizes you are the boss, he will comply to your happiness. Time, patience and love work wonders. Don't give up. He is not too old to train.

Answer 8

WOW! Small Breed males are harder to house train, but can be made easier if you get him Neutered.

I can well understand why you are so upset about this. But please don't hit him, because this will only create a battle of the wills.

Answer 9

I years old is young. With a little training and patience, you should not have a problem housebreaking your dog.