MADNESS!

Question
dear charlotte,
hope you can help! okay i now have two older dogs passed on from my sister (one female bichon and one male toy poodle). the dogs used to live in the backyard so they never had to toilet train the dogs.

before my sister passed on the two dogs though i had adopted a new puppy who is about 3 months (female toy poodle), i was in the middle of training her when i recieved the two older dogs.

i live in a building and i have no backyard but the flat i live in is quite big. i have a room where i allow them to do their business because i can just wash out the poop and pee down a drain.

the problem is the two older dogs don't understand anything and since my sister used to punish them whenever she saw pee or poo in the house, its made it worse. whenever i see them about to pee or poo i follow them but since they know that they are going to get punished they do it behind my back.

this makes it harder for me to follow the puppy and toilet train her aswell, so basically im making no progress. i walk them two times a day after meals but they don't seem to need it cause after they eat they just automatically go.

could you suggest a way i could possibly get everything organized? thanks a bunch

Answer
What a mess. I would get 3 seperate crates for them, and crate train them, the theory behind this is that no dog will mess in it's bed.

Heres how to crate train, it's the most effective way to toilet train a dog. Even if your not too bothered by the older two, you should crate train your pup to avoid confusion. Honestly since the dogs are older and have been raised the way they were, it will be near impossible to cure, they have no concept of keeping the house clean, since they were outdoor dogs. What a position your in. If nothing resolves I would call in a trainer to work closley with you, because they cant all go on like that.

Ok, heres how to crate train.

http://www.inch.com/~dogs/cratetraining.html