housebreaking question…can you teach an old dog new tricks…?
Posted: March 31st, 2011 | Author: admin | Filed under: Common Questions | Tags: Housebreaking, question...can, teach, Tricks | 5 Comments »my friend has a two year old tea-cup terrier who is still not housebroken. she wants to give the dog to me because she doesn’t have the time to really housebreak her. is it too late for this dog to be trained?
No, it’s never too late. I adopted a 2 year old and house trained her. Try clicker training- it’s very effective, in combination with scheduled feeding and crate training.
Probably not. It sounds like your friend hasn’t spent enough time trying to train the dog. I have to admit that the “tea-cup” part of the sentence worries me. Has the dog been looked at by a vet to make sure that she doesn’t have bladder problems? Is your friend taking into account that the dog’s small size means she can’t hold much??
If you have the time to take her out every two hours or so, she should be just fine with learning a new “trick”.
While I’m no dog expert, I do have some experience here. I adopted my sister’s Jack-Russell when the dog was 1.5 years old (old enough, I suppose). My sister did a horrible job house-training, so for me, it was like starting over. Basically, I did the same thing I did with a puppy. I had to keep her in a cage when gone from the house (no matter how short a time) for maybe 6-9 months and made sure to take her out for potty walks on a consistent basis. I worked hard to fix her bad habits….just like a puppy, she would have have accidents early on. But persistence paid off as now she can go for 10-12 hours without a problem.
In the end, I believe the key is consistency. You need to work to get the dog on a solid schedule. But, I’d bet this would work no matter how old the dog is. Side note….there are a number of websites dedicated to this sort of thing. Do a quick search and I’ll wager you’ll find a few good ones.
I personally don’t think it is ever too late to house train a dog. The first place to start is with a medical evaluation to make sure there are no medical reasons causing this behavior. There are several training methods available to guide you through this process. I like to “crate train” to start with. When you have to leave place the dog in a crate that is big enough for the dog to stand up and turn around in but small enough that she won’t be able to use one side to eliminate. When you are with the dog you can keep her on a leash. “Tethering” the dog to you will help b/c you will know where she is at all times and you will be able to see her cues regarding elimination. Take her out (go with her) use a cue word (example: hurry up) and wait for her to do her thing and praise her and take her back inside with you. When she learns to trust that someone will let her outside to eliminate and you learn her cues, you will be on the road to a house trained pet.
yes of course you can they are like elephants they never forget.