What do you do if you have adopted an adult dog who is not house-trained or your well trained adult dog suddenly starts pooping or peeing all over the place? You will need to start all over again. It's not just about re-training the dog, but also a matter of supervising the dog all the time till you feel confident that he or she will be able to hold while they are indoors.
There are several reasons why an adult dog might soil the house or suddenly revert to soiling the house. The primary reason may be medical. To provide relief, take your dog to the vet for a good checkup. Once you figure out that your dog is not suffering from any disease, start re-training him. However, let us find out why your dog may be relieving itself indoors, in the in the first place.
Probable reasons for your dog doing what it should not be doing:
Your dog may housesoil if he is anxious or because he is upset. You might not be home when something scares him, like sudden thunder, which might cause him to have an accident. Your dog may be just playing some naughty game with you! If he doesn't want to wet its cuddly paws in the rain, he may do it just when you are not looking. The most common reason for having accidents may be due to separation anxiety. If he is shredding up furniture, destroying rugs and shoes and house-soiling, only when you are absent, he may be suffering from separation anxiety. There is no point scolding him. It might just make matters worse. What you need to do is make your entry and exit as normal as possible so that your dog stops reacting to them. Don't pay him attention for 30 to 40 minutes before you go out. This will make your dog get accustomed to your absence during the day. Leave a special toy or treat for him when you're away, and don’t react to him when you come home until he’s calmed down and is relaxed. If these don't work, you can ask the vet for a prescription to calm him down. Your dog may not have understood the meaning of housetraining, which is why he messes up sometimes, even when you are at home. You just need to limit him to a room when you aren't home and keep an eye on him when you are. However, don't restrain him in one room for too long.
House-training a Grown-up dog:
You need to observe your dog and his behaviour very closely. Maybe even maintain a diary of where he goes and when. Whether he is going when you are home and also when you are outside; where you are when he goes out or feels the need to. It might be that you keep him in for too long when he needs to relieve himself at regular intervals. House-training your dog is quite similar to house-training your pup. In fact, it should be easier for you because he should be able to hold himself for longer. You can try dog crates, but be careful to introduce him gradually if it's something new for him. Baby gates can be useful too. Dogs don't normally pee or poop where they sleep or eat. What you define as "outside" may be very different from what your dog makes of the same word. His "outside" can be any place beyond the kitchen or his crate. By limiting him to a room, and then gradually extending the area he has access to, you can teach him where he can eliminate and where he can't. Take him for walks to his toilet area regularly, every four hours or so. Keep the walk brief, so that he gets the message, that it is specifically a toilet walk. If he doesn't urinate or defecate, return home and go out again after half an hour. When he does eliminate outside, praise him liberally. When you are home, tie him with a string to your belt, so that you can keep him under constant supervision. This is called the "umbilical cord" connection. If he feels the need to go out at times other than his bathroom walks, he can let you know easily. If you discover an accident after it has happened, don't punish him because he won't know what has made you cross. Besides, that won't stop him from making the same mistake. Clean it up without creating a fuss. If you catch him in the act, you can rush out with him while saying "No" so that he can finish outside. Do not shout at him. That will not help any of you. Try to teach him the word "outside" for such occasions. Once you see your dog responding to the training, you need to gradually lessen your vigilance and start giving him more freedom at home, off the leash. You will still have to keep an eye open to check when he indicates the need to go out, or if he has had an accident again. As added precaution, you can install stretch gates to stop him from going to places like the living room where you might have an expensive carpet. It is also important to not just clean up messes, but also to get rid of the odor immediately to prevent him from going again. You can use products like Nature’s Miracle or Anti-Icky-Poo for this. I am pretty sure that if you practise the above steps for a month, you will have a clean house and a happy well-trained dog very soon.
Nancy Richards has been a dog lover for the past 12 years. She has owned and handled dogs of different ages and have helped many fellow owners in training their dog. DogPottyTrain.com one of her sites has the aim to promote public interest in Dogs and convey by all possible means varied house training techniques for adult dogs and puppies.
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