New with walking and potty training troubles :)

[lucyana1129]

Hello!
I'm new here. I'm owned by Charlie. He's a double dapple rescue. He is now about 7 years old. I rescued him when he was about 3 or 4. I didn't know much about the breed when I rescued him and quickly found out how stubborn they can be. Potty training has been the worst. To this day he is not fully potty trained and is put in his crate when we leave our house. We have a yorkie that doesn't need to be crated and I feel terrible putting charlie in it. He hates it and barks the whole time. He also has seperation anxiety. Which is understandable considering his old family gave him up. I just wish he knew id never do that. Also, on walks...he barks hysterically at other dogs. I love taking both my furkids for walks but its miserable when they bark like that. Any advice on walking or potty training an older doxie would be great. He pees and poos at night when we r asleep. And would destroy our house if we left and didn't crate hime. We have tried toys, bones to distract him but it doesn't work. We feed them on a regular schedule and they go out all day long plus our hour walk everyday. Please help! Thanks in advance!

 

[DeafDogs]

Welcome! Your dogs are ADORABLE!

I have 2 deaf and sight impaired Double Dapple Mini rescues. Yes they're stubborn and opinionated, but once motivated, they're very eager to learn.

As to house training, you need to go back to basics. Take away all freedom, keep him on a leash or in his crate (when you cant watch him) Take him outside ON A LEASH, armed with his absolute favorite treat or toy (whatever is most rewarding for him) say "go potty" (or whatever command you want to use) then stand still ignoring him completely for 5 minutes, when he goes, THROW A PARTY!!! then un clip his leash and give him some freedom, for awhile. If he does nothing in the five minutes, say "too bad" take him in the house, and put him directly in his crate, try again in half an hour. At this point, you want to completely ignore any accidents, as every accident he has is your fault. I would keep at this for weeks not days, NEVER forget to reward heavily for proper eliminations, and pay 0 attention to him for accidents (no looks, no words, no eye contact).

One of the best rewards for proper elimination is a walk. take him to his toilet, wait for him to do both, throw your party, then say "lets go for a walk!" and out you go immediately for a walk.

Once you've had a few weeks without any accidents, then you can start letting him have a little more freedom when you're home.

I would recommend you read "The Dog Vinci Code" by John Rogerson, it's a great book with a great common sense approach to living with dogs. He goes into great detail on house training, and how dogs think.

As to the barking at other dogs while on a walk, I'll have to address that in another post, I am on my way to bed right now.

 

[DeafDogs]

Ok... walking

I'd want to know a little more about the type and triggers of the reactions, and if your dogs are social when off leash before even trying to give you any advice on helping the walking.