House Train Dog- Or Get Rid Oh Her =[ Help!!!!

xx aussie shep love xx · 10-07-2007, 09:37 PM

ok so my austrailian shepherd is still not house trained. we've had her for almost 6 years. is there still hope to get her to stop peeing on the same rugs, (oh and poop too) my dad is threatning to get rid of her next time it happens. is there anyway to train her in a week or two??

the-tenth · 10-07-2007, 09:52 PM

After six years? Probably not. That's a long time of a habit to break in 1 - 2 weeks. Does she have a crate? That would be the first thing I would do. Get her a crate, and don't let her out unless you are standing over top of her. Take her out immediately when you get her out of the crate, and stay out until she goes outside. Then praise her like she just won the lottery, and give her a really good treat. Having an older dog, you might be spending more time wondering around outside, waiting for her to go than you would with a pup, but she's worth it. Make sure the pee\poop spots are cleaned with an enzyme cleaner like Nature's Miracle.

shedog101 · 10-07-2007, 09:52 PM

Question, why haven't you trained your dog? Why would you want to put up with the mess and the smell for so long? Crate train your dog.
Karen

flipgirl · 10-08-2007, 12:12 AM

Shedog101, all aussie shep asked was a question...it's none of your business why she hasn't trained her dog and why she puts up with the smell...the previous poster just suggested crate training so what's the deal?

anyway, aussie shep, I would suggest asking your husband for more time than 1 or 2 weeks as it will take longer for an older dog to learn new tricks! Not impossible but just more difficult. I agree with one-tenth that you crate train her but when you are outside, give her a time limit, let's say 5 minutes for simplicity sake. If she doesn't go in that time, put her back in the crate. She will probably need to go so when she shows the signs, take her out again for 5 minutes. If she still doesn't go, put her back in the crate. Make sure you keep taking her out every hour until you can figure out her schedule. Usually dogs need to pee/poo after eating, playing and sleeping. Also when you are out with her, say "[i]Name, go potty!" in a matter of fact way and keep repeating it. When she does go, praise her like crazy and then go back inside to the crate. AFter a while, she will learn that outside is the place to go. Don't punish her if she has an accident, ignore it or else she will make sure you're not looking when she needs to go. But if you catch her in the middle of a pee/poo, then immediately take her outside to her potty place. When you start to get used to her schedule, you can slowly give her more freedom. She should be in the crate when you're not home so she can't go inside until she is fully and reliably going outside.

A good thing to do as well, is teach her a way to tell you she needs to go outside. What I did with my dog is teach her to knock a toy tambourine when she wants to go outside. My mom had given her the tambourine so I hung it from the doorknob of my patio door. I hung her favourite dolly outside on the other side of the door (you can use a treat too). When she knocked the tambourine, I let her get her dolly. It only took her two times to learn this!! Just make sure you are in control of this because at one point, she was knocking that tambourine every 2 seconds.

Love's_Sophie · 10-08-2007, 12:39 AM

Old dogs CAN learn new "tricks"...been there, retrained, or trained older dogs...however, it can take significantly longer to perfect a new desired behavior; so it takes a bit more patience as well.

I would get a crate for your dog; and unless she is on a leash, next to you, she should be in it when she is inside. No more free reign.

When you do take her out; bring her out every four hours during the day, at the least! And when she goes to the bathroom praise her like she has just won the Westminster! Make going to the bathroom out side a very 'positive' experience for her, so she learns that this is the habit you are desiring of her.

Make sure to keep her active during the day, as well, so that she will want to go to sleep in the kennel at night; unless you are able to crate her in your room, so she is more comfortable.

The biggest thing you need to do is to keep her on the lead inside; unless you keep her from 'failing' she is not going to learn the behavior you want of her; which is to go potty outside.

If you want to, everytime you take her out to go potty, have her ring a bell; hang one by your door, and bait her so that she touches it either with her nose or her paws, or ring it yourself, while asking her "Outside?"

Aussies are smart, so I think you should be able to help her learn; but like I said, if you just let her run loose, you are allowing her to fail...so keep her in a crate, or keep her tied to you (literaly!) so she can't wander off and just "go" where she wants to. When you bring her out, teach her the command "go potty", so that she learns to "go" out doors...

lovemygreys · 10-08-2007, 08:59 AM

Good advice posted on how to house train...I hope you take it, rather than dump a dog that YOU neglected to train properly to begin with.

xx aussie shep love xx · 10-08-2007, 11:21 AM

i do have a crate for her, ive had it for long time. we will try the crate training! thanks

RonE · 10-08-2007, 11:42 AM

It is possible that the OP is very young and Dad, who is giving the ultimatum, should have trained this dog six years ago.

Love's_Sophie · 10-11-2007, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RonE

It is possible that the OP is very young and Dad, who is giving the ultimatum, should have trained this dog six years ago.

Ditto...and she asked for advice, not judgement