Re-housetrain an eight-year-old Yorkshire Terrier?

[folofel]

I don't want to go into too much detail here as it's a pretty heartbreaking story.

But, in brief, is it possible to re-house-train a Yorkshire Terrier, aged about 8? She was owned by a relative, who died recently after a long period of mental illnesses.

The dog is a jolly little thing, she was always loved, fed and taken to the vet, and is in great health. But she was allowed to toilet in the house, and we know we cannot rehome her or have another relative take her, without tackling this.

Does anyone have any advice? Could she be trained to use a litter tray? (Is that silly?)

Please be kind.

Hi found this for you.
https://www.hillspet.com/dog-care/training/how-to-potty-train-an-older-dog
Good luck!

Are litter trays not for cats
Try puppy pads around your home for a while and introduce the dog to urine routine it is like happy puppy all over again but I always found yorkies quite trainable x good luck x

I wouldn’t train her to use a litter tray except as a last resort as that equally could make re homing her difficult.

I would act as though she’s a puppy & see if she can learn what is expected, as they do. Keep a close eye on her constantly and take her outside the minute she gives signals like sniffing the floor, suddenly leaving the room you’re in or going round in circles. When she does a wee or poo outside, praise her extravagantly and reward her with a treat.

When she has accidents in the house ignore that behaviour. And Good Luck 🤞

I don't see why not, you can only try!

You'll just need to treat her like a puppy and take her out regularly - praise and reward when she goes out and ignore her when she goes inside.

Please don't use puppy pads or litter trays - they just encourage the behaviour. She's also not a cat and shouldn't be treated like one.

Yes, I'm sure it can be done. Go back to absolute basics, treat her like a new puppy, keep her with you at all times, big praise and treats for weeing outside, clean up indoor accidents with enzyme cleaner without a fuss, and she should pick it up. One thing that really helped us when housetraining an adult dog was giving her a very clear way to ask to go out. We used a little bell hanging by the back door - taught her to ring it with her nose for a treat, then paired it with opening the door, and she soon caught on.

Ok, this sounds possible! Thanks all.

@spiderlight I love your idea of a bell but there are a few other dogs in the house, whose intelligence is matched only by their greed. They'd cop on to that immediately. Imagining the chaos has really cheered me up on a rough day.

I’ve housetrained adult dogs - it’s been very much like doing it with a puppy except you can go out a bit less often… but then you end up waiting out there longer because they’ve better control.

IME they do grasp it quicker than a puppy though so it’s taken a couple of weeks rather than a couple of months for them to get the idea and be pretty reliable.

We retrained a 3 year old Cavalier. My mother spent three months with the dog tied to her, which prevented accidents and she was accompanied on every trip to the garden with a treat for peeing and pooing when there.
Once trained she never had another accident.

It's possible but do bear in mind that yorkies are a breed that are known to be harder to house train. As pp, do the same as if they were a puppy.

Also you might find it easier because you’ve other dogs there - they tend to go where they go a bit.

Not recommending it, cause at the time it was hugely stressful and I don’t know how you’d do it on purpose, but my older dog corrected the newer one for going inside 😐🤣

Should be fine. I have Yorkies & haven’t found them any harder to train than other breeds I’ve had. Just do like others say, treat like a puppy. Having other dogs I’ve always found makes it far easier as if they go out together they usually do as the others do, often on top of someone else’s offering, & they’re all bitches not dogs.