As the old adage goes, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. But is that really true? As your furry companion enters its golden years, it starts to forget its ingrained potty training and starts causing “accidents” all around the house. Fear not, in this article, we will provide tips backed by veterinary experts so that you can challenge the old adage and potty train your dog once more!
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Why Do Older Dogs Need To Be Potty Trained?
Adoption From Animal Shelters: Firstly, the older dog could have been adopted from an animal shelter, and introducing the older dog to a new house environment would undoubtedly mean that it needs potty training once again. Also, older dogs may be more prone to anxiety, leading to anxiety-related actions such as peeing or pooping indoors. Anxiety in older dogs could be due to various factors, such as a sudden change in the house environment or a close family member passing away or moving out.
Declining Physical Health: Old age in dogs may result in achy joints or other health issues, which makes it more difficult for older dogs to get to their designated pee spot in time. Before diving into potty training, a quick check with the vet can rule out any health hiccups and set the stage for a comfortable learning experience.
Old Habits Die Hard: If your older dog has been used to doing their business in a certain way, breaking those habits might take a bit of time and gentle guidance. Understanding these habits is like deciphering a secret code, and it helps you tailor your training approach to their unique personalities.
Should I Potty Train My Dog Indoors Or Outdoors?
When it comes to re-training an older dog’s potty habits, patience is the key. You may not find progress immediately, and it may seem frustrating that your older dog continuously pees in all the wrong places. Accidents are part of the learning process, and it is very important to resist the urge to get upset. Scolding your dog would only bring about negative consequences, as your dog won’t understand scolding but instead will appreciate your reassuring presence when they make mistakes.
When it comes to potty training, there are two schools of thought: outdoor potty training vs indoor potty training. Outdoor training seems like the most logical choice, as it perfectly complements your dog’s walking schedule and saves you the time and trouble to clean up its mess (if it pees and poops at the right places!). However, indoor training is also important, as there will always be cases where you’re not available to bring your dog out when it needs to answer nature’s call. With that being said, this guide will cover both outdoor and indoor potty training tips, so that you would have ease of mind no matter where your dog is!
Understanding A Dog’s Mindset
Dogs do not understand time as well as we do. For example, they do not know what “6 p.m.” or “8 a.m.”. Instead, they have associative or episodic memory, which means that they “remember time” through events that have occurred before. This is probably why your dog wags its tail happily when you start putting on your shoes and grabbing your dog’s leash, because it remembers many episodes where you brought it out on walks after such events occurred! This makes dogs possess an extremely keen sense of routine, which is why establishing a good routine is a surefire way to get your older dog potty trained fast!
Establishing A Good Potty Training Routine
Outdoor Potty Training
It’s important to establish a routine when it comes to outdoor potty training. Set a fixed time for your dog e.g. after breakfast or after dinner. Take your dog out and allow it to relieve itself outside. If your dog doesn’t go, bring your dog back indoors in a supervised area e.g. a dog crate or pee pad. After 10 – 15 minutes, bring your dog outside to try again.
When starting out, patience is key. Many owners often complain that their dogs just refuse to relieve themselves outside, and the moment they come back in, they pee in the house. This is why it’s important to bring your dog into a supervised area immediately after returning back indoors. In these moments, try to remain calm and understand that it takes many repetitions for your dog to understand. If you scold or frighten your dog in these situations, it might actually be detrimental to the dog’s psyche, and it may be less receptive to future trainings, instead resorting to hiding in areas to do its business.
A tip that could help would be to let your dog roam around outside a bit more, as they sometimes need time to sniff around and be completely at ease before relieving themselves. After several repetitions, your dog will realise that most, if not all, of its potty breaks are now done outside, and it will gradually build a routine in its head where it will know to go on potty breaks only when it is outside.
Indoor Potty Training
Indoor potty training may be a little more tricky, as you are now teaching your dog to pee and poop in a specific area in the house as compared to outdoors, where your dog would have more options. However, the trick is to establish a routine similar to outdoors training!
Instead of taking your dog outdoors, you can aim to bring your dog to its designated pee spot every hour. This may take a longer time for your dog to understand that that is its new peeing spot, but the habit of visiting the designated area every hour would eventually imprint on your dog’s memory, and it would be more likely to visit that area on future potty breaks.
If you are using pee pads instead of a dog crate, the general advice is to establish three or four overlapping pee pads covering a wider area, so that your dog has a better chance of hitting its target. As your dog gets familiar with the area, you can aim to cut down the area further more by removing one or two pee pads, until it finally learns to pee in that singular pee pad. If you find your dog missing your pee pad after changinging the setup, be patient and revert the setup back to the original one. It may feel like taking two steps forward and one step back, but slow and steady always wins the race.
Reward-Based Training
Eventually, your dog will have an increased success rate at peeing at your designated location! At this point, it is very important to reward your dog for its good behavior, perhaps with its favourite treat! Positive reinforcement training will greatly aid in your dog linking its good behaviour (peeing in the right place) with reward (dog treats!), which builds a good habit over time.
