Housetraining Adult Dogs
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.
Housetraining
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.
Cheers to a successful re-training session!
Nancy Richards
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