How should I handle a 5 yr. old dog that still isn't housebroken?

Question

We have a 5 yr. old Sibe and she isn't housebroken. We adopted her when she was 2. She was abused, then rescued, placed in one foster home and then had to be transferred because of fighting with another dog, then we adopoted her. Needless to say there are some issues. She wasn't well socialized, but she immediately took to my husband and I. We adopoted her under the assumption that she was housebroken. She's not. We have tried so many differnt ways of trying to housebreak her, and we're at our wit's end! We love her to death, but I'm getting tired of having to clean the carpets. She does seem to go through phases of when she'll piddle on the carpets, but its still annoying.

Please help!!

We have taken her to the vet, and she's in top shape, but like I said she's got a lot of behavioral issues, this is just the most vexing of them.

She is crate trained. We have to put her in her crate at night and when we go to bed at night or she'll mess somewhere in the house. I don't have an issue with crating her, but during the day when I'm home she'll just randomly piddle; with no warning or anything, even if she JUST came in from outside and was out there for about a 1/2 hour or so. Its just frustrating.

Answer 1

Sounds like a frustrating problem. This is always harder to correct in an older dog, but not impossible. It will, however, involve motivation on your part. Here is my recommendation:

When you take your dog out of the crate, take him outside until he goes potty. Praise him immediately. Then when he is back inside keep an extremely close eye on him. Whenever you can't be watching him put him in his crate (if you are on the phone or busy with another task where you can't be constantly watching him). This will involve a lot of effort on your part, but this will pay off. As soon as you notice him circling around or sniffing, yell loudly "no" or "eheh!" Anything to distract and startle the dog. Then quickly take him outside to let him go potty. Praise him immediately.

The key is to catch him BEFORE he starts. It's important to crate him when you cannot watch him closely so that he doesn't have an accident that you aren't able to catch. If you are consistant in watching him and startling him before he starts to go inside, he will learn that he needs to go outside everytime.

One additional tip: you may want to consider training your dog to ring a bell when he wants to go outside. This can be a very effective way for your dog to communicate to you that he needs to go outside. This is very easy to teach. Get a bell that can hang from a piece of string and tie it up next to the door. Now everytime you take him outside, help him nose the bell first. He will begin to associate the bell with going outside, and will then begin to nose the bell himself when he wants to go out.

They keys are consistancy and patience! Good luck!

Answer 2

In my opinion, puppy pee pads are a crock of poop. They educate your puppy to potty at the flooring of your condominium without reference to whether or not you progressively transfer them in the direction of the door after which external. Also, if he is a yr, he should not be having injuries in any respect any further. It might be a dominance factor in any other case he without a doubt does now not realize because the pee pads have careworn him. My first doggy we attempted the ' be calm and take her external instantly if there's an twist of fate' and it took her many years to get it. Second dog, the primary pee he had at the flooring he received an excessively loud and frightening verbal correction after which used to be taken external to conclude and praised afterwards. He had not more injuries! As for chewing, it's mainly from boredom. I'm now not announcing something unhealthy approximately your dog elevating however a few puppies want extra endeavor than others and lose interest extra swiftly. He might have got to be crated whilst now not being performed with or watched. Crates generally is a fine comforting situation for a puppy too so long as it's certainly not used for punishment.

Answer 3

You are doing the right thing with crate training. If she pottys in her crate box then it is too big. You'll need to get a smaller one. When she is out of the crate. She needs to be in the same room as you. You have to watch her closly. EVERYTIME she potty's on the carpet imidiatly tell her no and pick her up and take her outside. I took mine out every two hours and when she pottys outside tell her good girl and pet her. She will learn it just takes pataince. Watch her closely!!!

Answer 4

Crate train her, for then she will be there, when you aren't home. As soon as you get home, you take her directly outdoors for a potty break.
As someone else mentioned, a few minutes after feeding/drinking, take her outdoors.

Try to keep her at your side, while indoors (if need be, use a leash).

Eventually, she'll get a clue. Might not 100% housebreak her, but it will cut down on the accidents.

Answer 5

I adopted a dog. We had housebreaking issues. She is getting better. She goes out every couple of hours. I also did the puppy hous breaking with her too. She got it.
For your carpets, get a cleaning solution that is used for animals messes. It has special chemicals that will break down the urine.
Get her out to be social. Walks or maybe a dog park. Try some training classes.
I take my dog to the dog park. She loves it. Her other four legged friend is a cat. Thats why I take her to the park.

Answer 6

To successfully repotty train you have to catch her every single time and not allow accidents to occur without be noticed corrected while in the act and taken outside immediately with praise/reward when she does things right.
Every missed event reinforces that it is okay to potty in the house

Best method for an adult is tether training, continue for a complete month from the last accident before giving freedom

http://www.lhasahappyhomes.org/ht101.htm

The above applies to normal elimination not cause by submissive or excitable urination.

Answer 7

I don't like crate, pad or paper training at all, the dog needs to learn that she isn't allowed to pee inside and that can be a hindrance to training. She needs to learn that grass or dirt is the place to do it. The biggest half of the battle is to get her to understand what you want her to do.

Most dogs will pee or poop within a few minutes of eating or drinking so you need to take them out then and wait there until they go.

Keep her on a leash when you're home and take her outside every 15-20 minutes and give a command, I use "toiley" but whatever suits you and stick to it eventually you're going to catch her doing a pee outside, when she does, reward her with lots of praise and pats and say Good Girl, toiley (use your own command here). You can load her up with drink and then take her on a long walk to give you the opportunity to praise her and develop her consciousness of it.

You will need to watch her closely for circling, sniffing and squatting behaviour and lead her out and if you catch her in the middle of a pee, then say No firmly or Ahhh and lead her outside to finish the job.

Once she starts getting the idea, you can give her access to one room where you are, then you can step up to two rooms, where you're in one and she's in the other so she has to come find you to go out. Once she has the hang of it, then you can let her in more rooms.

You need to look for their signals to know when they want to go out. I would tell my dog "Toiley" and then i'd bark at her. She now barks or huffs and bounces at the back door or at me to let her out. But you can train them to ring a bell hung by the back door, by ringing it when you take her out.

If you have a setback, go back to the start. I have trained many adult rescue dogs using this method (thanks Karen) and all have been successful. One of them was 10 years old so it's not hopeless. The girl I have here was 3 and she got it in just a few days, it took a while for her to understand I didn't want her to pee inside but within a few months, she had it and now she pretty much trains the rescues for me.

If you need more help, then go to the link below, you will need to register but it's worth it. The trainer there (Karen) is so good, her methods teach dogs using gentle methods and she can also give you help with your dogs issues. She is blunt but she is very good and will offer support along the way if you need it. There are many articles and information on the forum you can read through that might help too.

Answer 8

First off do you have a dog cage you should use it for the period of times that you cant watch her ,next start taking her out every two hours tell her to pee and dont let her back in till she at least fakes it , give her a favorite treat and praise and a good rubbing as if your very excited she done it . as she gets good at doing this start expanding the time frame in which you take her out

Answer 9

Once you feed her, take her outside.
As soon as she drinks water, take her outside.
Get her into a routine, that anytime she eats or drinks, she'll assume it's time to go outside.

No matter what you do though, the dog will go inside because they believe it is alright.

Teach her that it is wrong. Don't punish her, if you find pee or feces on your carpet. Only stop her when you catch her doing it. Then immediately take her outside.

Answer 10

Has she been to the vet to rule out a heath problem?