House Training Adult Dog??

[luvthemmutts]

Has anyone ever house trained a adult dog?

I'm thinking of adopting a German Shepherd/Saint Bernard mix tomorrow.
I think he has been kept mostly outside.

I'm just wondering how hard it would to be to house train a adult dog?

[Taz_Zoee]

First of all......welcome to Pet Talk!! :)

I'm not sure it would be any different than house training a puppy. Except the fact that puppies "go" more often.
Just keep an eye on the dog at all times and take him/her outside as often as possible. Praise and treat when they potty where they are supposed to go. Do not punish when they go in the house.

There are more detailed things to do, but I'll let someone else get into those details.

Thank you for rescuing a dog. And we always love to see pictures here!! :D

[Glacier]

Just do it like you would a puppy--regular breaks outside, tons of praise when they get it right. Only real difference with an adult dog is that they have more bladder control to start with and can go longer between pee breaks. I think it's easier to housetrain an adult than a puppy, certainly faster!

[Katelf]

I agree. I adopted my dog when she was just over 6 months old. She had no training left at all (if she ever had any). She was trained in a month or so with consistent breaks, praise and patience. One or two accidents were my fault for not reading the signals. She's absolutely perfect now.

Good luck. :D