Dog (not puppy training) recommendations

stickybean

Could anybody recommend a good website / book for house training a dog. I imagine it is simular to training a puppy, but this is an older dog who has never been trained. Thank U!

Kukey

I would toilet train an older dog as if it was a pup.Keep bringing him outside at regular intervals and praise/ give a treat when he goes to the toilet.Maybe have a quick game with a ball etc as well.Dont feed too late in the day so that he has plenty of time to go to the toilet before bed.:)

BURT DUB

Kukey is pretty much right. Make sure to keep an eye on him during the day...if he starts circling and/or sniffing the floor a lot, get him outside! You can further ensure by putting a 'cue' on his toilet like 'hurry up' or 'do your business' whenever he is doing his business, and lots of praise after. He'll soon get the idea of what you want. If overnight is a problem, think about keeping him in an indoor kennel (crate training) overnight. He won't want to soil where he sleeps. It's not cruel, I swear.

stickybean

Thanks for the advice guys. He is weeing over night, we are trying the newspaper method tonight. He goes to the downstairs utility room at 12 (midnight) and we are up before 7, we have been walking him about 11.30 (just a short 5 minutes around the block to cock his leg) and then a few cuddles, then bed, but the last 3 mornings he has wet.

A friend suggested not leaving water with him at night as he should be sleeping, was concerned to do this in case he was thirsty through the night.

Can you use the crate with an older dog?

Thanks

fatmammycat

Please don 't leave your dog without water, that's a terrible idea.
You can crate train the older dog, but I have little experience of crates so will leave that to those that do. Best of luck!

illicit007

Hi there Sticky. What you need to do is get a crate asap. (A cage big enough that your dog can fit in and turn around and lie down, but that's it.)

I'm not sure about older dogs but I'm pretty sure it's going to be the same. If in your case your dog is peeing at night put it in the cage at night and close cage door so he can't get out. Get up in the morning and your dog will not have peed in it's cage. Because dogs don't like sleeping in their own toilet.

As a side note when my dog was younger sometimes it would have accidents but my breed is known to have a weak bladder until they get older so that's normal. My other breed didn't have this issue. Anyway, if he does have an accident don't fuss about it, maybe say nooo and then clean it out thoroughly. You really don't want your dog getting into the habit of going to the toilet in the cage/crate as this can spell disastor for the crate method. The crate method really is your best defence. However it's rare a dog will toilet in their crate so I highly advice it.

Then, this is the good part, in the morning let your dog out to go to the toilet but first put some treats in your pocket and watch your dog until it goes to the toilet.

Now as your dog is starting to go toilet start saying something over and over like "go toilet go toilet go toilet" until it's finished, then make a big fuss in a good way and say "good toilet yaay good toilet" and give your dog treats and act all excited and major happy like he just did the biggest best thing in the whole wide world.

After a while, when you say to your dog "go toilet" it will actually understand and start to go and take a pee It's really cool.

This is basically the same training method of training a dog to do anything really. If you want to know how to train your dog to do anything else just ask me. My boy understands at least 20+ commands I've lost count.

illicit007

p.s. As a human I notice if I drink lots of liquid after a certain time of night sometimes I have to get up in the middle of the night or very early in the morning to toilet. So it's kind of a good idea, as a human, not to drink after a certain hour if you have this problem. I don't see any harm in taking a dogs water away after a certain hour at night if he's unable to hold it in. At least until he's trained enough you can give water back to him all through the night. Personally my dog is fine to have water out 24/7. Sometimes I hear him drinking some as I'm going up to bed at midnight and he hasn't had a toilet incident for a very long time. I don't think it's animal cruelty or harmful to an animal to deprive it of water for a few hours before bed. It's not like all dogs have a 24/7 supply of fresh water on hand in nature right.

BURT DUB

Check with your vet to see if he has a UTI? An older dog should be able to hold it for 8+ hours.

In the meantime, I agree w illicit007...you can crate train a dog just as a puppy. He won't want to sleep in/near his own mess. If you don't want to invest in a crate, get a baby gate and section off part of the utility room instead. Just leave him enough room to stand, sit, turn and lie down. Keep taking him out last thing, and first thing when you get up. If he is still having accidents after you have contained him, then limit his water in the later evening, but make sure he gets plenty all during the day.