Older Dog Pee/Poop in house - Crate not option

[Tela'sMom]

Hi,

Ok here's the poop. We got our dog from a shelter. She was about 2 years old at the time. We crate trained her and it seemed to work well. She was house trained and turned into the perfect dog for a couple of years. She is now about 5 years old and has started peeing and pooping in the house again. We said ok, we have to train her all over again so out came the crate. The problem is she got really mad one day that we put her in the crate and bit the crate and broke a tooth. It cost us $800 to have the tooth removed and we are scared to death to put her in the crate again. So, does anyone have any ideas on training an older dog without using a crate? We take her out all the time. My husband and I work but my mother is home during the day so it's not that she doesn't have the opportunity. She just refuses to go to the bathroom outside.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks!
Tela's Mom

 

[elegy]

did you mention to the vet about her change in behavior? usually dogs who have been housebroken for several years don't just suddenly change for no good reason.

 

[Zoom]

What kind of dog is she? Have you had any major changes happen recently? Assuming you live somewhere where it's still summer, this is the perfect time to re-housebreak her. Take her outside and leave her out until she does her business. Be armed with lots of tasty treats and go nuts on the praise when she does go outside. Don't let her loose in the house. Since you feel you can't crate her (what type of crate do you have?) keep her leashed to you, or invest in some baby gates and keep her in a smaller area of the house where she can still be in direct eye contact range. If she's near you, she won't have the chance to sneak off and make a mess.

What are you using to clean up her messes? Sometimes if you don't clean up properly, they will smell the prior messes and that cues them to think it's "ok" to go inside. I like using Nature's Miracle myself.

Good luck! I am also assuming that when you took her in to get her tooth fixed you had the vet rule out any other possible medical reason for her sudden regression? Infections, etc.?

 

[Tela'sMom]

Hi,

Thank you for your quick replies! She has no health issues. It's the weirdest thing. She's had this problem for a couple months now but we went camping a couple weeks ago and she had no problem peeing outside but as soon we got back....no peeing outside. It's like she doesn't like the grass or something. I was thinking about getting some sand or gravel or something and put it in an area she used to go in. I will definately purchase some nature's miracle and see if that helps.

 

[Bobsk8]

Isn't $800 a bit much for a tooth extraction. My dentist doesn't charge anywhere near that much

 

[Tela'sMom]

It was her canine (fang tooth?) She's part pit-bull. Huge teeth. Was more like a surgical proceedure.

 

[Rubylove]

It sounds to me as though something has happened outside that has spooked her, and she doesn't feel comfortable - or is just downright afraid - to go out there again.

When you say she doesn't have health problems, is that because this has been verified by a vet or you just think she doesn't because she looks ok? Dogs really are creatures of habit, and it takes something reasonably disruptive to unhinge their potty habits. Usually that's some kind of illness or disorder, after that its something behavioural.

How much do you know of her life before you adopted her? Could be that something outside has triggered a bad experience memory of her days before coming to you, and that could be very hard for you to remedy if you have to guess through every option before you find out what it is.

I would try to create a whole new spot for her to go potty, and start again that way.

 

[oc_spirit]

Have you tried sitting outside with her and waiting it out? She has to go eventually. It may take a day or two so plan on doing this when it''s nice weather out. You also have to stay with ehr so when you catch her in the act you can reward her like crazy!!!! After this, keep her tethered to you so she can''t sneak off and have an accident without you catching her in the act to redirect her outside.

Oh ya and the crate could still be an option, you just have to desensitize her to it. Try getting a new one so it''s a new crate, new smells, new experience. Treat her as if she''s never been in one by starting with small periods of time in there and building up. Also feed all her meals in the crate and give her really yummy treats while she''s in there. A stuffed kong is good too to keep her occupied.

 

[Lukeinva]

Do you clean your yard?? I find that if I havent cleaned my back yard thats when the dogs start going in the house.