Help with new dog needed

[MyGastIsFlabbered]

We got a dog last weekend, she's 4 years old....I didn't want a puppy because of house training them and assumed a 4 yo would be housetrained. But she's not at all, 10 days later and she never asks to be let out and is just going to the toilet wherever and whenever she needs to. I expected a few accidents when she first settled in, am I being unrealistic to expect some improvement by now?

To be honest I'm getting fed up of poo and wee all over the place. We've been taking her out in the hope of 'catching' her when she needs to go but it's very much hit and miss.

Ideas much appreciated. She's a pug staffie cross if that makes a difference to the advice I'm given.

Didn't the rescue tell you she wasn't house trained

You will have to treat her as if she is a puppy and follow all puppy advice. Take her out every hour, after every playtime, after every snooze and praise praise praise with treats until she gets it.

I'd also start crate training her and I set my alarm for my girl when she was young so I could take her out at 2 and 4.

The people we got her from said she was. It was a private rescue and I've only got the previous owners word for it. I think she was crated a lot and only let out for walks and to go to the toilet, they said she'd bark when she needed to go.

I just feel frustrated, and slightly like I've taken on too much despite owning dogs before.

It's early days and a big upheaval for her. Irrespective of whether she was house trained previously or not I would go back to basics like she was a puppy and take out frequently (after eating, drinking, playing, sleep and frequently in between) and go over board with praise when she does toilet outside. Make sure you clean up the accidents inside with special cleaner to totally get rid of the smell which would otherwise encourage her to toilet there again.

I'm doing all the above so good to know I'm going about it the right way. I hope it won't be much longer though.

Well the good news is she isn't a puppy so she will be able to hold her pee etc. Just be consistent and treat like a puppy for a while until she 'gets it'. As for feeling like you have taken on too much, well that feeling seems perfectly normal (puppies or rescues) at the beginning.

I dedicated about 8 weeks to staring at her constantly when I was training

I basically pretended she was a toddler that I had to be conscious of at ALL times.

How much are you getting her to pee and poo outside? If it's not at least half the time then you're not staring at her enough

I was so fucking tired at one point I cried