Old dog - new tricks - advice please!

Hi guys,

As you may have read elsewhere, chloe is a 2-3yr old rescue westie. We havent got much on her background, other than she was on a puppy farm, kept for breeding.

She is setling in with us nicely - amazing dog. I just need some guidance on where to start with a few of her 'issues'.

At some point, she's been paper trained. She goes to the loo on paper overnight with no problems (apart from eating her poop! LOL)

We just had her speyed on Tuesday so have not been keen to start any training whilst she has been under the weather.

She will go for a walk, or go out for the opportunity to go to the loo about 7-8 times a day. Sometimes she does something and gets lots of praise... other times she does nothing and then has an accident later on.

She can now 'sit' on command and picked that one up quickly.

As she is an older dog, we really dont know what her signals, command words or routine was/is and are finding it difficult to implement any sort of routine.

Chloe comes to work with me so in an ideal world I would love to be able to schedule her walks and her toilet stops throughout the day but at the mo it is all just guess work and a bit hit and miss ....

She's got to have time to learn our ways and us hers .. but I want to start as we mean to go on so as not to confuse her more!

Any advice appreciated, thanks

Sheryl x

I would treat her as you would a pup.

Short training sessions of basic stuff, getting her out every hour and starting to use a command (like Hurry Up) every time she toilets.

I'm sure she will be sorted in no time.

Well done for giving her a home

Thanks
I will give it a really good go because she is an amazing wonderful dog and I want her to have a fresh start with a family that love her. (i just posted her 1st photo I took today!)

Was just about to say almost exactly the same

Hi Sheryl as far as the house training goes I would forget your little dogs age and start again from scratch as you would would a puppy.

What you should aim to achieve with Chloe is to make her realise that going outside is the behaviour you require and it will be rewarded , going in the house won't.

I would start by getting rid of the newspaper then taking Chloe out at the times she is most likely to want to relieve herself, that is first thing in the morning/last thing at night/ straight after food / after play/excitement/when she sniffs the ground and circles/about an hour after she last went out.

I would take some treats with you, small slivers of chicken or cheese and go for a short walk at the times listed above preferably to a place where other dogs have been , their scent and a little exercise will help to prompt Chloe to relieve herself. When she does go give a treat and lots of praise so the whole experience is positive and she will want to repeat it . When she has grasped the idea and always goes outside give the treats randomly then not at all but always give praise so you are continually reinforcing the required behaviour.

You also need to thoroughly clean any previously soiled areas with a none ammonia based cleaner or the scent of previous accidents will prompt Chloe to soil again in the same place (biological washing powder is good for this) .

If Chloe has an accident in the house I would clean it up with no word/no eye contact and never punish her, if you do she will be afraid to relieve herself when you are around and may even eat the evidence (because it becomes associated with an unpleasant experience ).

It is not unusual for dogs which have been kept for breeding or confined to a small area for long periods of time to eat their feces. Dogs naturally keep their sleeping and eating area clean and if they have no alternative but to soil there, eating it is one way to clean it up (and the way any dam keeps her puppies clean).

With patience and consistancy Chloe should soon get into a routine .