| When you think of house training a dog, it's usually | | | | important thing to keep in mind is the older dog |
| a puppy that comes to mind. It makes sense to | | | | will take more time an attention to introduce |
| consider house training a part of a puppy's | | | | them to a new routine. When you establish the |
| "growing up stage". Unfortunately for some dogs, | | | | new bathroom routine with your dog, use lots of |
| that just isn't the case. If you adopt a dog or get | | | | encouragement and treats to re-enforce the new |
| a rescue dog, you really don't know how they | | | | behavior. The deliberate new routine will have to |
| were trained as a puppy. Some dogs may have | | | | be practiced regularly which is where patience |
| been outdoor dogs and house training never was | | | | comes in. You can teach old dogs new tricks, so |
| an issue for them. For the previous owner, the | | | | don't get discouraged! |
| accidents the dog had in the house may have | | | | An important thing to keep in mind in the early |
| been treated as "just part of owning a dog". | | | | stages is to keep the amount of change you |
| Perhaps that was the straw that broke the | | | | introduce to the new dog to a minimum until the |
| camels back and made the previous owners get | | | | dog is housebroken. To many new routines or |
| rid of the dog. Whatever the reason, now you're | | | | changes in the dog's environment will only confuse |
| faced with house training your new adult dog. | | | | him and make the training longer. Keep an eye on |
| Older dogs are set in their ways, more so than | | | | your dog to mimic some of his natural routines in |
| puppies. An older dog has a set routine or | | | | the beginning. Once you have the housebreaking |
| behavior that will be hard to break. That doesn't | | | | fixed you can start working on some of his other |
| mean that you can't housebreak an older dog, it | | | | "bad habits". |
| will just take more patience and time. The most | | | | |