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how to re-train (potty train) an older dog????
I have an 8 year old yorkie-poo who was at one point completely house trained. We moved 2 years ago when I got married and since that day, she's been going potty (pee and poo) in our dining/living room areas. I'm not sure if this was because of the change in environment or if there was an animal there prior to us that she smelled on the carpet. If we're home with her she'll go outside to do her business, but at night and during the day when we're working she'll go in the house.
Our carpet was a disaster... I tried steam-cleaning it, I tried those pet odor things that you use when running the sweeper, I even tried air fresheners/candles to mask the smell.... nothing was working. The carpet was sticky and wet from all the urine, and the smell was turning unbearable. Plus every time I ran the sweeper, all the moisture that was in the padding was being pulled to the surface, making it that much worse. I was embarrassed to let people in my house! So finally I talked my husband into lifting the carpet and putting down laminate flooring, which we're currently about half way done with.
I'm hoping that with the new floors she won't continue to go potty in the house, but I don't have very high hopes right now. I've thought about confining her upstairs while we're not home, but I'm afraid she'll start going in the bedrooms... I've thought about crating her, but she's always had free run of the house and I don't know how well she'll take to being confined.
Any suggestions on how to break her of this bad habit??? I'm open to any and all suggestions at this point!
Re: how to re-train (potty train) an older dog????
The FAQs have some great info on stuff like potty-training, crate training, etc.: https://sites.google.com/site/petsboardfaqs/
Personally, I would treat her like a puppy in terms of re-potty training her. Take her out often when you are home, and praise/treat like crazy for pottying outside to reinforce that behavior. Since it sounds like the real problem is when you're not home or sleeping, I would highly recommend crate training her. If she is not crate trained, read the FAQs on how to start - it's important to create positive associations with the crate and see it as a safe, happy place. I crate trained both of my dogs, and they were crated until they earned their freedom. Both are 100% potty-trained, but one (or both) of them started having accidents right after we got back from an 8-day vacation (probably due to the stress of being boarded that long), so we crated both of them for 1-2 weeks and even tethered them to us while we were home to reinforce their prior potty training. It worked like a charm.
Also, it's very important to clean up any accidents with an enzymatic cleaner such as Nature's Miracle. Many "pet odor" cleaners are not enzymatic so even if you can't smell the pee/poo anymore, the dog can. An enzymatic cleaner fully breaks down the pee/poo so the dog cannot smell it (which is key because if they smell it, they may think it's an ok place to potty).
Be patient and stay consistent. Since she's been doing this for 2 years now, it may be a difficult habit to break, but if you don't allow her opportunities to have accidents (taking her out often, tethering her to you if necessary, crating her when you're not home and at night, etc.), the process should go quicker.