Way to Go! Housetraining Rescued Dogs
I may, (paws crossed), have a happy story to tell you about a “need-to-be-rescued dog,” but I’ll wait on that until I have more to report. (Please cross your paws; and no, we won’t be the ones taking it!) Meanwhile, I’m thinking a lot the last few days about house training a dog who has learned to potty where she lives. I thought a throw-back to a post I wrote in 2018 about house training, You Want Me To Pee Where? would be timely.
I wrote it after we got Tootsie, our too-cute-for-words rescued Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, who illustrates the challenge that many have with rescued dogs: It’s not that they haven’t learned where to potty; they learned just fine: “I have learned to potty where I live.” I’ve edited the post a bit to tighten it up, but look forward to you adding your comments and wisdom. Here it is, with requests to the hive to add your experiences about house training a dog who is already “house trained,” because it learned to go in its “house.”
From 11/2018: Wait, you want me to pee outside? In the cold? On the gravel? Even if it’s raining? Whaaaaaaa?
So might say Tootsie, who was rescued by the good people at Lucky Star Cavalier Rescue, thanks to an amazing woman who pulled her, and a multitude of other dogs, from a northern Wisconsin puppy mill.
Through a wonderful moment of serendipity, I’ve just learned the details of Tootsie’s past. She was taken from a puppy mill with large numbers of dogs living in “horrendous conditions.” Most of the dogs lived in a disgustingly filthy barn, but Tootsie was one of a group of Cavaliers who lived on an equally disgusting concrete pad of an old silo, pumping out puppies in spite of serious health concerns. She had to have 21 teeth extracted after she was rescued, because her mouth was a cesspool of infection. Her ears were so badly compromised that they reportedly were dripping green goo. However, her years in an outdoor cage gave her an advantage. Unlike the dogs in the barn, she could see people coming and going, smell fresh air and hear a variety of sounds.
But no wonder her preferred place to urinate was inside the house (home = bathroom), and the concrete slab where we park our cars (cement = toilet). That’s why house training was job one the day we got her. I knew far too well that dogs who grew up eliminating in their own homes take some energy to house train. In Tootsie’s case it didn’t take long–we took her out those first few days about every ten minutes. (Literally. I’m always shocked when people are advised to take a new dog out once an hour. Waaaay too long between trips outside!) She got pieces of chicken for pottying outside, and soon she learned to control her bladder, and urinate and defecate outside. Just recently she began peeing on the concrete again, instead of the gravel driveway, and so back we went to treats as reinforcement. It took two weeks, and she’s back to trotting over the concrete onto the driveway.
Keep in mind that training dogs to eliminate outside of our homes may seem like a trivial problem, but it’s not. House training problems can be serious problems indeed. It is hard to maintain a loving relationship with an individual who poops on your pillow. I can’t count the number of couples I saw whose relationship had degraded into endless fighting about Ginger or Buster, whose urine ruined their oriental carpet, or whose dog ended up going back to the shelter because of house training problems.
(Back to 2025) I should note that friend and colleague Karen London and I wrote a booklet about house training. It’s concise, but here are a few critical things to know if you are in this situation:
*** In the early days, the dog should be outside with you (and you watching to reinforce any pottying), inside with you either on a leash or in a small room with you paying attention ALL THE TIME, or, crated or gated off in an X-pen or small room that is easy to clean up. Many rescued dogs have never been in a crate, and I am an advocate of easing them into them. I myself wouldn’t just shove a dog into a crate and hope for the best; rather, slowly intro your dog to the crate and meanwhile, confine them to an area where they can’t can’t get hurt or do too much damage.
*** Pick a spot outside as the potty area. You can even “season” it by placing a urine-soaked rag or feces in that area. Pay a lot of attention to substrate (gravel does not equal grass does not equal dirt to some dogs) and that it’s in a place you want to have to go to in the middle of the night. In the rain.
*** Go outside more than most books suggest. I go out constantly the first few days as much as every 15 minutes. Yes, it’s tiring. Ah well, it pays off in the long run.
*** Reinforce Reinforce Reinforce. Every time your dog potties outside, wonderful things should happen. Just be sure that your dog defines them as “wonderful.” Exuberant praise might make us feel good, but might be stressful for your dog. Watch the dog carefully-she’ll tell you what she wants most. Food is by far the easiest and the most effective, but the kind of food is important too. Some dogs love chicken, not liver, etc etc. Others want praise and the toss of a toy, or being let back into the house.
*** No punishment, except an “interrupter” if the dog starts to go in the house. I love “Whoops!” and a quick sweep up of the dog (if small), or a trot to the outdoor as soon as possible.
*** Diapers are nice. It can be hard to stop a dog, especially a male, before the urine hits the rug. When we got Skip (who lived outside for 3.5 years and had never been inside a building until he was shipped from Ireland), I could say Whoops the instant he lifted a leg, but the urine was flowing before I got the words out of my mouth. (I originally wrote “. . . but the urine was flowing before I got it out of my mouth.” Oh dear.) A “diaper” worked wonders–and I wonder if it also helped to house train him indirectly. Thoughts anyone?
*** Clean up is key: We define bathrooms by sight (not smell, at least in most places!). Dogs define them by smell, so it is essential to keep the scent of urine out of your house. Make life simple and use one of the commercial products as directed. Or, check here for some home remedies.
By the way, Dogwise, has a more extensive book on housetraining, titled: Hard to House Train: Practical Solutions for Dog Trainers. It is much more extensive than the concise Way to Go!, and is designed to be a “go-to reference guide for trainers who encounter difficult house training cases”. I love the inclusion of lots of case studies, but will admit to wishing there was a bit more about dogs who were indeed “house trained”–as in dogs who learned to eliminate in their houses in neglectful situations. But it’s a valuable resource for trainers; check it out if that includes you.
MEANWHILE, back on the farm: A spring storm blew through last week. We missed most of the drama, (thankfully), but enjoyed this beautiful evening light:
Other joys of spring include these early daffodils, a bit worn after struggling to deal with the erratic temperatures:
I’d say this next photo is also related to spring, but Skip sheds year ’round. It’s like sweeping the beach. The photo below illustrates that brushing Skip is better described as “transferring fur from one mammal to another.” That’s my pants leg in the bottom right corner.
Skip and Maggie got in a good work session a few days ago. You can tell who worked last (and who has the least stamina–Skip’s bad heart means he can’t work very long, but we have a great time together while we can).
I got a shot of the flock before we went back down the hill to the house, and decided it would be fun to play with filters. This is the flock with “Silvertone.” I also loved paying attention to the behavior of the indiviual sheep–some grazing (“oh good, we’re done working for the day”), some staring at me and the dogs (“maybe we’re not done”), and some looking to the left (“could we make it to the gate that leads down to the barn and get our hay yet?”).
Here’s hoping your week would look good in a Silvertone photograph, and that you might add your own wisdom and experiences to the joys of welcoming a dog, who has learned to potty where it lives, into a loving home.
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About the Author
Patricia B. McConnell, PhD, CAAB Emeritus is an applied animal behaviorist who has been working with, studying, and writing about dogs for over twenty-five years. She encourages your participation, believing that your voice adds greatly to its value. She enjoys reading every comment, and adds her own responses when she can.
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Rowan had been an outdoor ranch dog before being dumped at a shelter and finding her way to us. We still remember the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day shortly after we brought her home, when she ate Mike’s shoe, pooped in the living room and stood on the dining room table – all before 7 am. That was when we borrowed an X-pen, and life calmed down considerably. It took more than a month for her to become fully house-reliable. At one point during that time, when she pooped Once Again in the living room, I called the foster coordinator from whom we had adopted her, and whined “It’s like she doesn’t know better!” The foster coordinator gently replied, “Well, she probably doesn’t”. Oops – good point. When we stepped up our game, and didn’t give her more responsibility than she could handle, she learned quickly.
When we had a firecracker debacle at New Years this winter, we learned just how thoroughly she was house-trained. She flatly refused to set foot outdoors, and after 18 hours or so, we finally drove her a couple of blocks away, where she peed and pooped with great relief. (It took about 6 weeks, but she’s finally enjoying the backyard and going for neighborhood walks again).
Oh lordy, poor Rowan! Great idea to drive her somewhere, good on you. (I’m reminded of a dog who would NOT urinated at a sheepdog trial. No grass, just dirt. I actually called the vet and asked how long she could go. It took about 18-20 hours I think. I’m not sure who was more miserable, her or me.
Take the dog out every 10-15 minutes? You obviously don’t live in a third floor apartment or, ahem, work. But then you might say, “Then why get a dog if you don’t have the time to train it?” I’m sure you’ve heard the ol’ dog trainer adage “train the dog in front of you”? Well, we have to counsel the dog owner in front of us, too. And the reality is, most people can’t take their dog outside every 10-15 minutes.
Jeff, I get it. Honestly. (And yeah, I do work, including still at 76, illustrated, in part, by the blog you just read.) But, I truly do get your point, and I sympathize. I was just trying to convey how important it is to prevent accidents by giving the dog as many chances as possible. I appreciate your comment–in the booklet Way to Go, Karen and I talk about when it’s most important to take your dog out–after play, after naps, etc. etc. When I can get some time (lots of other work still to do this morning, sigh), I’ll edit the post, because I get your point absolutely and sincerely appreciate your taking the time to write.
Oh, yes this is a challenge. A recent foster dog of mine not only had littermate syndrome with his 4 siblings and his mom, but all of them pottied where they lived. He was fairly happy in the crate – he slept and ate there, so getting him to accept crate wasn’t a struggle. He seemed unphased about the mountains of poo and rivers of urine that he shared the crate with when I couldn’t get him outside in time. He was terrified of everything outside and didn’t even trust me at first. He was frightened of my dogs. Potty training was about 2 weeks of taking him out extremely often, even at night, and praising him when he went outside (he did love to be told he was such a good boy). Thankfully it was still during the work-from-home pandemic, which helped. He’s nearly 100% reliable now, and happily living in his new home with a cat and a couple of humans (one of which is a man, which was a whole different challenge). All’s well that ends well, even if it meant not sleeping for a week!
Once again, a timely post. I just adopted a ten month old Pitbull. Dumped by his original owner at Chicago Animal Control, he was taken into foster care by the awesome Second City Canine Rescue and was with his foster family for four months. They taught him an impressive list of behaviors, including house manners. Still, his first day here, he started to pee in my family room, stopping and looking ashamed when I jumped up and told him, “Ah, no buddy! We do that outside.” Since then I have been praising and offering a treat when he goes outside. Within days, he was joyously asking to go out, clearly proud of himself that he was doing something right. I’m aware that he already had the basics, and it helps that my boy Jax is leading the way. I’ve had a number of fosters, and each one was different when it came to working on housebreaking. Some were a staggering and exhausting amount of work. It seemed like I could barely sit down before I had to go stand outside and encourage them. Others were easy. Jax was born feral, coming from his birthplace in the woods, to the shelter, then to me. He needed very little positive reinforcement to realize that the correct place to ‘go’ was outside. At nearly nine years old, he has been perfectly housebroken since his first day here. On the opposite end of that spectrum was Dusty (my second foster fail). I adopted her when she was seven and lost her last month at the age of fourteen. Dusty never learned to ask to go out. Since I let everyone out several times a day, she was good unless something disrupted our schedule. The best we accomplished was that she would pee right by the back door. It didn’t happen often, and I accepted that it was entirely my fault for not paying closer attention. My favorite rescue dog housebreaking story is about Lab mix Fletcher… I saw him be thrown out of a car near the airport. He couldn’t have been more than four months old and my guess was he was a Christmas puppy for which the novelty had worn off. He was quite easily housebroken when there was snow on the ground. A very ‘literal’ dog, as the weather warmed, he could be seen frantically searching for a patch of snow to pee on. (With a little encouragement, he did learn that grass was acceptable too.)
Hi Trisha, Trish here! I disagree on one point in your excellent post. I don’t recommend giving a treat as a reward, since some wily dogs have been known to fake it – or to ask to go outside – just to get the treat. instead, I suggest trying to figure out what the dog would like to do – play a little, just get some extra sniffing time or maybe just go back inside (Chihuahuas!). I also use a little intake of breath if I catch them in the act, as it (seems to) temporarily close the sphincter!
Thanks Trish! Always good to hear from you. I agree about varied reinforcement, absolutely, but I do love food as a great attention getter. And I LOVE the “uptake of breath.” Brilliant!
I’m going to share this post with the Customer Care (Adoptions) staff at Oregon Humane Society, where I volunteer. It’s the first time I have seen anyone explain the rescued dog’s perspective. I bet it will help dogs and their new families. Thank you for this, and all that you share!
Thank you for this post and the book recommendation. For our household it couldn’t come at a better time. In August of last year we adopted 2 year old helicopter pooper Tilly, who tended to miss the potty pads more often than not. There is a possibility that aversive methods may have been used on her to remedy this in her last home, because if she missed, she went to hide under the bed and would cower and lip lick when we try to coax her out. To start the potty training, we got bigger pee pads and ignored any mistakes or successes. It took Tilly few weeks to understand that eliminating in our house is not big deal and we get treats when we do it outside. Now she goes potty outside most of the time and uses pee pads without accident.
In September of last year, we also managed to pull 1 year old Ollie from euthanasia list. He was kept in a crate for hours (most of the time peeing and pooping there), never taken for a walk, he was helicopter pooper as well and had few accidents a week inside home outside crate. The first 3 months we kept him in a large room upstairs, as one of our dogs wasn’t sure whether he liked him and we needed to stabilize him, as despite being heavily medicated he kept throwing himself against the kennel door and digger incessantly. We put a huge pee pad upstairs in his and to be fair most of the time he manage to pee on it . Once we finally integrated him, we started potty training. Whilst with my two other dogs, I could be somewhat relaxed, Ollie likes to pee AND mark inside the house. For me it has been a steep learning curve. Ollie still prefers to pee inside the house, but we made progress and he uses the pee pads all the time. Now the weather is getting better, we will be transferring our eliminating endeavors outside. And if we get stuck, now we have two books to consult, so thank you.
Kamila: “Helicopter pooper.” Favorite words of the week. (And what lucky dogs you have to have you!)
An aside. I am amazed at how long a dog can go without going, if you know what I mean. As my puppy Sawyer matured, I decided to show him myself in conformation. (I had never done this before, so he had to put up with my learning curve as well as his own!) In any case, as we went along, he decided that he could pee in places other than his home turf, but he could not poop. I remember one especially challenging weekend in Chicago in January when we spent forty-five minutes at a time walking back and forth in the snow in hopes of encouraging pooping. No go. He and I were very relieved to be home after two poopless days!
Not rescue dogs, but I have come to really appreciate pee pads and washable alternatives as I have got older and the aches and pains have worsened. I deliberately taught Freddy to use a pad in the bathroom in the night when he was a puppy, at first taking him there whenever he woke up in the night and then lifting him down from the bed to trot off to it by himself. I remember the first time he took himself off and did a poo on it in the early hours, and dashed back in huge excitement to tell me to come and see how very clever he had been! I had to get up to go and admire it of course.
As Sophy has got older and her bladder control less reliable she has finally accepted pads as a useful thing too – she sometimes fails to make it to the bathroom but the landing carpet is a lost cause that will get replaced eventually, and mostly she does get to the pad. As the alternative is for me to get up, find a dressing gown, get both dogs down the stairs while creaking down myself, get leads on the dogs and shoes on me, find a torch, take them out to a suitable spot, wait until both have done the needful and then get everyone back up to bed, and Sophy can sometimes need three or four trips a night you can see why I am prepared to accept the minor inconvenience of pads, especially on stormy nights or when there is ice on the ground.
I apologize. Of course you still work, and I appreciate what you do. I should have said you’re are not taking into consideration those that live in a third floor apartment or work, and can’t possibly take their dog out every 10-15 minutes. Yes, as trainers we try to make it easy for our clients to get it right, which includes preventing “accidents”. But, as I wrote, we also have to meet our clients where they are, which is often very busy with work, kids, and a puppy that pees and poops!
Totally get it Jeff, and I really do appreciate your comments. I’m going to edit the post first thing tomorrow morning, because you are absolutely right about taking everyone’s life into consideration. What I should have written was more along the lines of “try to get the dog when you have a lot of time the first few days,” and more about the times to watch for when your dog is most likely to need to potty. (Although I do find that most relevant for puppies… adult “rescue” dogs are harder to anticipate in my experience.)
LOL about all this being about rescues. Yes, I had a beagle rescue who thought it was perfectly fine to go in her crate, and yes we did solve that. Beagle – many many many treats. Bigger problem – my “well-bred” dog who just couldn’t go if she wasn’t at home! 16 hours later and in the middle of the night, she finally peed, so 16 hours became my baseline (seriously!) for how long before I began to worry. Isn’t it wonderful that we love our dogs? I am so grateful for them. . .but.
My clients dog who previous lived in a housekennel for more than 2 years brought his poop inside into his bench when he accidently pooped outside, just to feel ‘at home’ in his kennel.
I got a rescue dog a little more than a year ago. It was December so cold and rainy. And the fence was down due to a tree falling. Poor Timothy was terrified of everything. He had only met 2 people in his first year of life and lived in a kennel where living space = pee/poop space. He was afraid of me, of doorways, and the TV, and everything. I had to corner him to get a leash on him and take him outside and stand in the rain. He hates rain. I use a pee command that, once learned, helps a lot by letting the dog know what I want him to do. My previous dogs have all been outgoing and exuberant. I learned that with Timothy I had to softly croon a “Good boy” when he went outside. He wouldn’t take treats or toys from me for a long time. I kept him on leash with me most of the time, but he was good at finding times to go mark furniture or leave piles of poops in the next room. I went through bottles of the commercial enzyme cleaners. He was mostly going outside after a few weeks (and also taking treats by then) but it was at the 4-month mark that he had his last accident in the house.
I’ve given Way to Go! to more people than I can count, and sent many others to buy their own copies. It is truly the best housetraining guide available.
I learned many years ago reading Barbara Woodhouse’s books, hahaaaa, that it is possible to house train a very young puppy quickly by going outside VERY FREQUENTLY, like every 20 minutes or so, as Trisha says, and literally not taking your eyes off the pup when it is not in its crate. You have 3-5 exhausting days, and then the process is all downhill, you are on the path to success. I never did the treat thing though…I believe the act of relief is the reward, but whatever works! I trained many puppies this way, very successfully and quickly. I notice that people who are more relaxed in this early stage have a more difficult prolonged period of housebreaking, and some of these dogs never do end up being truly reliable.
But my dogs have all been large….are smaller dogs harder to housebreak? I hear this, wondering if it’s true.
Hello Trisha,
Another wonderful post. I also had a Cavalier rescue from Lucky Star who came from the big puppy mill up North. He arrived in 2010 at the age of 4. He was sweet, and my Springer girls loved him. While I didn’t have issues with housebreaking, going out to pee and poop were about the only time he would leave the safety of his crate. I tried many things, but finally decided that he was well fed, clean and safe, so he could stay where he chose…He was with me until 2016 when the CHF so common in this breed became too severe to sustain his little life.
But funny story about my
Take a trip on the ferry from Bellingham WA to Alaska to see how long dogs will hold it in. Dogs are allowed to stay in cars in the hold of the ferry. Owners can go several times a day to feed and potty their dogs in the hold of the ship. As you can imagine there are a lot who say “No way am I going to pee or poop in a moving ship.” The first stop is Petersburg and as I remember it’s a day and a half from Bellingham. I’ve never seen so many signs telling people to pick up after their dogs than at that stop. So many relieved dogs!
This was perfect timing for me Trish! I am babysitting a 2 year old Havanese mix whom I think must be a rescue. Only learned that she was not entirely housed-trained when her owner brought her over before his 3 week trip and placed 2 washable pee pads on top of the bag of food, her bed and her favorite toys! Never a mention about her going on pads in his house! I’m a 24 year border collie owner so dealing with a 2 year old who has not been properly house-trained and was rather wily about it, was challenging for me! Took Pip my 4 year old BC one night to go outside! Spoiled, I am! Anyhoo, after some training this little funny circus dog went 2 And a half days without an accident and I was thrilled but it was short-lived: She went back to peeing and pooing in the bedroom! I closed the doors to the office and bedroom leading her into the garden and always looking for any sign that she needs to go out. She’s also getting lots of exercise and adventures. Oh, she also won’t touch the food get owner brought over for her! She’s probably going to miss it here with all the home-cooked food, access to a yard, ou my very polite dog and our adventures. I’m crossing my fingers she’s done with being an indoor puppy! Thanks so much for your article!
Rescuing Elsa from a horrible puppy mill situation (are there any that aren’t), I learned how valuable frequent outdoor visits were. Poor thing was basically feral in all respects when I brought her home and it took a couple of weeks before she got the hang of it (sadly I wasn’t a very good trainer then, and probably only marginally better these days-my excuse, I’m a human with all the usual shortcomings). Once she got it, she was 100% rock solid and was a rock star. Good thing the carpet where she would go managed to clean up nicely. Having lost her last month, I’d willingly clean up after her again if she were back being loved again. I sure miss her for so many reasons.
Oh damn Tails, I am so so sorry about Elsa. Damn.
I adopted Nelson in 2020. He had spent his first 7 or 8 years in a breeding crate and wasn’t socialized to humans. It’s been a long process but Nelson now accepts petting, will take food from my hand etc. But housebreaking wasn’t going well at all, so Nelson wore a belly band. He had been in my home with five other dogs, all housebroken, but that had not made any impact. Just months ago a small, young terrier came into the picture – Buddy. Buddy is aptly named since he seems to have become Nelson’s emotional support animal. Buddy has taught Nelson to play- play with dogs, toys, chew bones and best of all to toilet outdoors! Nelson is in his twelfth year and finally learning to be a dog. I wouldn’t believe this is I hadn’t witnessed it with my own eyes.
I am interested in Hard to House Train. I have an anxious dog, who has made real progress but will pee on the floor when stressed. Separation anxiety is one of his issues. Behavioral vets, trainers and consistency have all helped. But 4 years later, I still can’t totally trust him. Any experience with deeply anxious dogs and house breaking issues?
Kristi: Bless you for your patience with this dog! Don’t know if you’ve talked to a vet behaviorist about meds, but might be something to discuss. Try https://www.dacvb.org.
I’d also consider working with a vet with of chinese meds experience, maybe https://anshenvet.com. Good luck!
I took home a very fearful shelter dog for a medical foster after she’d been adopted, got away from dog walker, and spent a month on the loose outdoors. The first three days were toileting chaos – she had multiple accidents of both types, and sometimes after a successful pee outdoors, she’d pee again as soon as she got inside. I think she wasn’t in the habit of really emptying her bladder. I learned to keep her with me all the time, take her out several times an hour, and created a ritual of walking a small loop before going in so she’d recognize it was now or never. Each time she peed I said “go pee” as she peed to label the behavior and I’d tell her she was a good girl when she was done. The best thing I did for myself was take thorough notes on feedings, when she drank water, walks, pees, and poops. It gave me an accurate idea of how long she could go after she drank and how often she’d probably go. (It also helped me realize when an accident was my misstep in not getting her out often enough.) We adopted her after 2 months, and 3 months later she still does not go to the door, but instead she comes and finds me – early on I mistook that as very welcome friendliness, but I’ve learned it’s her signal that she needs to go out. I was a slow learner, but the day I joined her on the couch and she jumped all over me and I thought she was playing until she got off the couch and immediately peed on the carpet, is the day I finally really learned the meaning of her happy greeting.
I brought home a shelter dog who was 6 months old and not yet house trained. He had no idea that going outside was the goal. I worked on the special place in the yard, used the best treats, etc. It worked some of the time, but not all.
But he is one smart pooch, and a dog trainer friend suggested the bell at the door plan. Teaching him to ring the bell was so easy, and once he figured out that ringing the bell got him outside he never went in the house again. The next part of the work meant that ringing the bell had to connect to relieving (rather than just going out). It wasn’t long before he figured it out.
Just started reading this blog after coming across a post related to a book I was Googling, and wanted to say – I’ve “apartment trained” (5th floor, been in the city all my life) 3 dogs (2 as puppies, the most recent rescued at 1 after being on a tie-out most his life.) The key points remain: consistency, reinforcement, and watching for signs they need to go.
I’ve always found it helpful teaching a “go potty” command (for peeing, never been able to train them to poop on command lol although I know some service dogs who have got it!), especially for those quick outings when the weather is bad. I know small dogs can be notoriously harder to housebreak at times; I’ve had mostly huskies (again, in an apartment! I’m a little crazy!)
Anyway, love the blog and will be ordering some of your books soon. Thank you for all the insights!
6 years ago I took in a 6 year old Pomeranian who’d already had 2 homes and was headed for the shelter. She was not previously on any kind of schedule, either for feeding or pottying and would just go in the house. There was poop all over the house where she had lived (just left, not cleaned up), undoubtedly pee stains as well. It didn’t take too long to get her on a schedule (though “accidents” still happened). 6 years later she’s much better as she knows the routine and when we’ll be going out. However, she doesn’t tell me if she needs to go between outdoor breaks, which sometimes happens, so she’ll just go in the house. Poop isn’t too bad because she’s raw fed so they are solid and not too stinky or messy, but she’s a “marker” so lifts her rear end up to pee on things. I can’t put anything on the floor, like cardboard boxes, because she’ll mark them. I had set a cooler on the floor in my dining room where our drop down stairs to attic storage are and when I finally went to bring the cooler up into the attic I found that she had marked it multiple times and put permanent stains on my beautiful wide pumpkin pine floors. She has done that on one of our beams and on a leg of a china cabinet, both resulting in similar floor staining. Very frustrating because she’s been outside. BUT compared to when she arrived 6 years ago, I can’t really complain too much. She does like her crate and she sleeps there because I don’t trust her not to get up and potty in the house in the morning before I’m up or ready to go out and she’s in there if I’m going to be gone for any length of time. No pottying in the crate, thank goodness! This is my 1st small dog and the first of many dogs that haven’t been perfectly house trained. My other dog won’t even vomit in the house unless he absolutely can’t hold it. He comes to me licking his lips and in obvious distress so that I’ll take him out and then will even run to his normal potty area before letting it go!
The most loyal dogs I’ve ever had have been rescues.
That initial fear in their eyes during the first hour or two at home—it’s heartbreaking. But more often than not, after just one night’s sleep, they begin to feel safe, and you can see the trust starting to grow.
Yes, rescue dogs can come with challenges: past trauma, nightmares, anxiety, or the need for retraining. But those are small hurdles compared to the unconditional love and loyalty they give in return.
House training might take some patience, but it’s never a reason to overlook a rescue. If you’re looking for a true companion, one who will love you deeply and forever, a rescue dog might just be your perfect match.
I thought I would have this problem with my rescue chihuahua who had never been outside at all before I got her but to my amazement after about a week she started copying my other chihuahua and going outside 90% of the time! So letting your other dogs help is definitely worthwhile too 🙃
For some reason she held on to a penchant to pee on one particular sheepskin rug no matter how much I cleaned it, I presume as it was similar to where she’d learnt to pee before. In the end I just admitted defeat on that one & got rid of the rug & she’s been great since then!
It was soooo helpful to hear that you recommend taking the pup out every 10-15 min. We initially tried to do what the foster mom said was possible: taking our 3 month old dog out every 3-4 hours. That absolutely did not work when he first arrived. We began to think that we were doing something wrong because we needed to go out every 15 min. or so, until we determined his “rhythm.” He is now 4 months old and has transitioned to a much less demanding schedule. Thanks again!