Success stories on housebreaking an adult dog?

1 Answer

Answer :

It can be done, but it takes commitment and work. For now, bathroom breaks should all be on-leash. If she’s food oriented, take some treats with you. Walk her outside for as long as it takes until she pees or poops and then immediately give her effusive praise and treats. Do this as many times a day as you can manage. And I mean effusive – if you don’t feel like an idiot, you’re not doing it right. Rather than leaving her outside during the day, you may want to bring her in and crate her while you’re gone. As soon as you get home, put her on a leash, take her outside, and then praise, praise, praise. When she gets the idea, she’ll start voiding as soon as you get outside with her. Reinforce it for a while longer, but you’ll know that she understands at that point. You have to focus on positive training rather than punishing her when she makes a mistake in the house. If you catch her in the act, give a sharp, loud, explosive “No!” and put her outside immediately – anything more than that will just damage the relationship between the two of you. My “rescue” border collie came to me as “house trained” at eight months (not). Depending on the breed, the age, the intelligence, the malleability, the willingness to please…..ah hell, really, it depends on how much work you’re willing to put into this relationship between you and your pet. Any dog can be trained, some just take more work than others. Good luck.

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