We took on a seven year old rescue cocker a few months ago. She came from an unlicensed breeder, so she had a lot to learn about living in a family home. She's come on brilliantly; sleeps well on her own, can be left for a couple of hours and is so loving, chilled and cute. Only one issue; she's mostly got the message about toileting in the house, but not 100%.
First up, she won't go in the garden. We've tried leaving the door open for her and also opening the door at regular intervals to let her out. We've tried her on lead and off lead, stood outside for ages with her, engaging and not engaging. We've tried a piece of astroturf (our garden is all paved) and the door mat she weed on a few times. She just won't go, except on very rare occasions where she's obviously been absolutely desperate. So we have to take her out of the house across the road to a piece of grass where she'll happily immediately relieve herself.
The second issue is that she gives no signals. She doesn't go to the door when she needs to toilet, or even circle or pace. She just drops and goes. So we can't watch out for her telling us we need to take her out.
We take her out regularly, so there are not too many house accidents, but can anyone suggest anything to encourage her to signal/go in the garden when let out?