My Dachshund & potty behavior

Question
I rescued a dachshund 1.5 years ago who is reportedly 10 yrs old. She is frustrating in one aspect and that is her potty (and sometimes poo) behavior indoors. She has been this way almost all along. I guess she is house trained to some degree, as she will go outdoors but I sometimes have to prompt her. She never EVER gives me any cue (runs to the door, etc) when she needs to go so I have her on a regular schedule. I have a doggy door but she won't use it unless my other dog goes outside; then she may follow him but she still doesn't necessarily use the bathroom out there. And the most annoying is anytime a towel or blanket happens to be on the floor, she will urinate on it every time. Even when I've had her outside for awhile and she's had ample time to potty, she will still come inside and pee on anything that happens to be on the floor if it is a towel or blanket. I have stopped giving her any blanket to lie on due to this. But I know this is behavioral and I don't understand why a 10 year old dog would act this way. Even vets and a trainer I saw about it don't know what the deal could be. Has this ever happened in your experience? Most questions I see about this are about puppies, not older dogs. Thanks for your help.

Answer

Hi Kathleen,

Dachshunds are notoriously hard to house train, that said, given your dog's age you should have your vet rule out the possiblity of a urinary tract infection. A UTI would make it hard for your dog to hold her urine, which would increase the possibility of the kind of accidents you've described.

Once you've ruled out a UTI, your best course of action would be not to give her the run your home any time you can't be supervising her, or if you suspect she didn't do "everything" while outside. If she doesn't have a urinary tract infection, she probably was never successfully house trained.

You can house train a mature dog. You need to be persistent and patient, as your dog has a lifetime of a bad habit to break, as well as her breed disposition to be strong willed and stubborn. You just need to be more strong willed and stubborn than she is!

You house train an adult dog the same way you house break a puppy: By constant supervision, frequent trips outside to prevent accidents in the home, and by not giving the dog the run of your home whenever you can't be watching her like a hawk. If your dog isn't crate trained, you can contain her to part of a room with child gates, or by using an indoor dog pen (such as this: http://www.fetchdog.com/images/medium/H20055_WEB.jpg)

When house training, it's best to leash walk, and not let the dog outside on her own. This is because you can offer praise and reward when you leash walk your dog, which is how a dog learns. The very moment your dog eliminates outside during the walk, praise her and give her a tiny bit of something memorable and irresistible (such as hot dog or cheese). If your dog doesn't do everything she needs to do on her walk, as soon as you get back to the house either crate her or put her in her containment area. Give her another chance to go outside in about 15 minutes, and keep on praising her every time she goes to the bathroom outside! Do not punish or yell at your dog for house training accidents that may occur in your home. For one thing it doesn't work. Your dog needs gentle, consistent, positive help to make a change from indoor to outdoor potty relief. Until your dog is more trustworthy, pick your belongings up from the floor if you know she is going to soil them. Treat areas in your home where your dog has had accidents with an enzymatic cleaner such as Nature's Miracle or Simple Solution, so she won't be attracted back to those areas to soil again.

If you have trouble with the house training regimen, ask your veterinarian or local boarding kennel for a recommendation for dog behavior specialist to help.

You can read more about house training an older dog here:
http://www.cuhumane.org/topics/hseold.html

I hope I've been a help.
Best of luck,

Patti