Housetraining 1-year old rescue

[maynard001]

We just rescued a 1-year old female from a local rescue group. The foster family that she was living with said she was housebroken.

While she often goes outside, she's had quite a few accidents in the house as well. It's only been one and a half weeks...are we expecting too much for her to let us know when she has to go out? We take her out every hour or so and she normally goes when outside...but the accidents don't seem to be getting fewer.

She seems to be completely crate-trained. We keep her in the crate overnight and when we're away from the house...she hasn't gone in her crate yet. The accidents only occur when she sneaks off to a quiet part of the house when we're home.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

thanks...

 

[Net45582]

Just like a puppy you will have to keep an eye on her at all times to catch the "I gotta go now" signals. Good luck!

 

[gmacleod]

Treat her as you would a baby puppy Take her out on a regular schedule that gives her opportunities to eliminate a little more frequently than you think she needs - always go with her, praise her wildly for pottying outdoors. And DON'T give her the sort of freedom that will allow her to have accidents indoors. It may seem to be stating the obvious, but your problem is exactly this:

The accidents only occur when she sneaks off to a quiet part of the house when we're home.

A dog that isn't fully housetrained (and she patently is not) should never have the freedom to sneak off anywhere out of your sight. If she does, then she'll pee - end of story. So do as you would with a baby pup - keep her right within your sight at all times. Freedom to roam is for housebroken dogs only. When you simply cannot watch her (you've got to go to the bathroom yourself sometime), then use your crate.

If your house isn't well designed for restricting her to the exact same room as you at all times, you might consider tethering her to you (works well with adults). She cannot sneak off anywhere if physically connected to you

Keep treating her as a baby for housetraining purposes (schedule, praise, always in your sight) and she'll soon catch on. Far quicker than most babies do too.

 

[ladyluck_t]

I would also try Bell training......a quick search on here will give you the information that you need. My puppy was potty trained 100% by 5mo's old with bell training. I use it for all my foster dogs as well (since most come in un-housebroken) and they catch on within 2 weeks (i.e. 100% @ 2wk mark)

It is really easy and quite a "show" when you have non-dog guests And the older dogs catch on much quicker than the puppies (as gmac said)

 

[maynard001]

Thanks for the advice. At a minimum, we'll do a better job of keeping the house closed-off and keeping her in the same room we're in. If it's not possible for short durations during the day we can put her in her crate...she seems not to mind it too much.

I'll also research the Bell Training you mentioned...maybe that's the way to go.

thanks...