This time last year, I got a four year old female black and tan (Toffee) who has been an absolute joy and delight.
Overall, she’s settled in remarkably well (especially considering she spent her first four years in a kennel with only two humans and 50 other dogs!).
The one major problem has been in housetraining her. Despite no previous training, she seemed to have an instinct at first for knowing that she shouldn’t go in the house. My strategy was to give her so many opportunities to go outside that she wouldn’t need to go inside. I walk her three times a day for about five miles in total, so she gets a lot of exercise and chances to do her business (it’s also become a wonderful pastime for me
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We can go through weeks of no accidents and then hit a bad patch when she’ll pee or poo several nights in succession (it’s usually nights, but sometimes during the day if she’s left alone for awhile). It’s like she loses the plot and has no idea that she’s supposed to wait. :x I've heard that girls like to go on soft surfaces and she does. So I fold up our rugs downstairs when I leave the house. She still occasionally pees or poos on the wood floor. I’ve made a huge effort to clean up the stains very carefully to attempt to remove the odour since I know that can lead to repeats.
We’ve now resorted to locking her into a small bedroom at night with a babygate. She doesn’t seem to mind too much as our bedroom is next door. We’ve also had to cover the carpet in there with a tarpaulin to protect against her occasional accidents.
One of the problems is that I very rarely catch her in the act and my understanding (from books and others’ advice) is that there’s no point in scolding her after the fact. So I have no opportunity to catch the bad behaviour and chastise her. I’ve also never been able to train her to ask to go outside as I understand people do with puppies.
I’m quite worried, not only for the sake of our own furnishings, but because it’s likely to limit where we can take her on holidays, or leave her while we’re away. Any advice would be very welcome!