Toilet Training Adult Dogs

[kateykateykatey]

Now that the weather is getting colder, Lil and Scrimp have been sleeping inside overnight. Lil has taken to weeing on a particular mat inside- I don't know if it's because overnight is too long, or because she doesn't know how to let me know she has to get outside for a wee.

Has anyone got any advice?

She's not crated overnight, she has a bed she sleeps on (next to Scrimp's) and afaik sleeps there, though ends up on my bed often enough. The mat where she wees is in a walkway through the kitchen next to the family room where her bed is. She doesn't wee close to either the front or back door, kind of in the middle. This could mean nothing! But I've never dealt with a problem like this, so I'm at a loss.

She's a clever cookie, I can teach her to tell me to let her outside for a wee, but what and how?

ETA: AFAIK at the foster home where she was after the shelter and before I got her she slept inside, and I imagine they would have said "not toilet trained" as they were quite frank about her other habits (pulling, jumping).

Edited April 15, 2008 by kateykateykatey

[kateykateykatey]

So, in an effort to avoid the weeing on the mat (or atleast make the cleanup easier) I put some puppy pads (happened to have them left over! lucky!) on the spot where I've noticed she's urinated before. I also let her out late that night, took her to the grass and told her to "be quick" as she was weeing and praised her for going outside.

I thought we'd won! But she still urinated inside, this time near the back door (on another mat there...we have floorboards and tiles so there's a lot of floor mats!).

We're getting closer to the right spot, but I'm wondering if crating her would help, or if teaching her to alert me to her need to go outside might work better.

She's been inside overnight and not done this, this seems like a new problem that's occuring.

[Rysup]

I have found that adult dogs who wee on mats or beds, tend to always do it IF they need to go. So while, if you are super good and let her out before she is busting, she wont do it, if you sleep in a bit long she will. I would be crate training her overnight, that would be the best way to teach her to hold it, I would think. But I am no expert!

[kateykateykatey]

Yeah, I've been kind of thinking the same thing. Crate training might be the answer, maybe.

Because of her size, I wasn't sure if it was a matter of her just being too little to wait all night, you know? But then, plenty of dogs are small and do, I guess.