Help! New Dog (Rescue) messing in house

[Limy]

Hi we recently got a rescue dog, girl staffy cross 2.5 years old. She is loopy and mad as a hatter and generally a lovely dog. She has a great temperament and is lovely with our 23 mo DD. We are going to take her to Obedience training classes as she pulls on the lead and the only command she knows is Sit but the only classes we can find in our area do not start until January. I am ok with waiting until then because most of her issues I can live with but I am really struggling with her messing in the house, she does not do it often, and only does it when we are at home with her but it is driving me mad. Yesterday and today she had been out in the garden, came in and then messed in the house. She has four walks a day. Can anybody give me some advice on how to takle this problem and how to disipline her, we have had a rescue dog previously but she was house trained so we have never had to house train a dog and I am unsure how to go about it. Many Thanks Limy

You need to train her like her puppy. Do not whatever you do discipline her for going in the house! This will only make her reluctant to go in front of you. She isn't beong naughty, just doesn't understand where to go.

So, take her out every hour and supervise her. When she goes, heap on the praise and feed her a really tasty treat. Do the same when she goes on a walk. If ahe goes indoors do not react, just clear it up. It won't take long for her to understand where she needs to go.

Carry on with the praise even after she has the idea so it really reinforces it.

Gosh this was a long time ago for us but I used a room of newspaper and then reduced the amount of newspaper until it was just a square by the back door, then you get rid of the newspaper so they sit and wait by the door to be let out

That seemed to work for us, but it's most probably a really outdated method :o

Spicy Pear's advice is excellent. This is how we do housetraining for greyhounds who come in from kennels, and they mostly pick it up in a few days (and are not noted for their brains!!). It's helpful to give them a solid routine too, at least in the early days, so taking out first thing, walks, plus after meals and at regular intervals during the day. Really LAVISH praise and treats when she performs. She will get the idea very quickly. It sounds as though she is nearly there now.

The only thing I'd add is that any sudden changes about weeing in the house should always be checked by a vet as there could be a medical reason e.g. a UTI. Also, when you are cleaning up afterwards, it's worth popping in to PAH for a specialist cleaner, as many cleaners will not remove the smell for the dog. Dog then returns to the same spot as to them the "fragrance" is very inviting! You can also use biological washing powder (depending on surface, obviously) - the enzymes will also remove the smell.

We had the same with one of ours, he came to us 9 years old having been kept in horrific conditions and never really had a normal home life :(

We did what SpicyPear suggests - taking him outside frequently, lots of praise and a treat when he 'went' in the right place. Calmly cleared up any messes inside (though if we caught him 'in the act' we'd try to walk him straight outside), don't fuss or punish. After a few days 'accidents' indoors were infrequent. It was more of a challenge for ours because of his age and condition, a young healthy dog should pick it up easily.

Also, even a previously house-trained dog can sometimes have some accidents after re-homing, until they calm down and get used to the new surroundings and routines, in that case it's just a question of time to settle in.

(oh and Simple Solution cleaning products are the best we tried!)

I have a rescue dog who was about 7 months when we got her, she had never been outside so had been in effect trained to go inside. It has taken a lot longer to train her to go in the garden then it did my other dog who was a few weeks when we got him. We have only recently cracked it and she's been with us for five months, so you may be in for a long haul but with patience you will get there.

One thing that helped us was to feed her in the garden.

Thank you all of your helpful comments, feeling guilty about telling her off now! It makes a lot of sence not telling her off and praising her when she goes outside, a bit like potty training I guess (the next challenge with DD). She really is a lovely dog but obviously has a lot of issues from her past, she does not seem to know how to walk on a lead or have any doggie manners, she also cowars away a lot especially when we have the sweeping brush out poor love but I know with a lot of love and attention we can get her happy and settled. Once again thank you for all of your comments we certainly will be taking your adivce. Limy

This book has been recommended on here a lot and would be very useful. Especially as she's had a rough start, she will respond much better to positive reinforcement than telling off in all aspects of her training. I have a four year old rescue staffie x who came to us with no commands or recall and she has come on leaps and bounds with these types of methods. They really help to build the bond between you and her trust in you, so she does what you say because she wants to, rather than because she is scared of a telling off is she doesn't. Best of luck, and well done for giving her a chance.

I have ordered that book :o