My dog is very poorly trained (which is entirely my fault) and he keeps using multiple rooms in the house as his personal toilet. Since I do not want to offend my roommates any further, I have to do something about it and fast. I've been looking into crate training but I was wondering if anyone has had any experience training an older dog. (Wikkit is about 7 years old)
Also, does anyone have a crate that would work for a 14 pound dog that they are not using anymore?
If there are other training methods you have experience with, I'd love to hear about those as well.
Dog Crate Training
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Dog Crate Training
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- DollarBill Offline
- Posts: 1282
- Joined: March 7th, 2006, 12:57 pm
- Location: Chicago, IL
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You met Charlie. He's almost 11. When we got him he was 10. He didn't know any commands, and now he can sit, lie down, sit up, roll over, wait (stay), release... and more stuff too. But that stuff is easy. You just train them with food and praise.
It sounds like Wikkit might have some pent up energy, but I guess it never hurts to take them to a vet if this is a new thing. The real trick to getting Charlie to behave was exercise. At least an hour. And then you gotta lay down the rules. You can't give them love until you've done those other two things. They have to know who's boss. And unfortunately for the busy working-man, it's hard to have the kind of time that dogs need you to spend on them.
The two things that made Charlie a more relaxed, happy dog were walking him (correctly), and making him wait for his food until he was relaxed. When you walk them you can't let them pull, and you have to be in front. We basically followed the Cesar Millan method. You can get his books for a really interesting read, and get one of those "Dog training for idiots" books for the easy stuff like potty training and tricks, etc.
I am fascinated by the whole dog training thing, and plan to read other books in the future, but I think those Cesar books are a good place to start. They aren't for dogs, as much as understanding how they think. Or how he thinks they think. But that's the interesting part to me. Enjoy.
It sounds like Wikkit might have some pent up energy, but I guess it never hurts to take them to a vet if this is a new thing. The real trick to getting Charlie to behave was exercise. At least an hour. And then you gotta lay down the rules. You can't give them love until you've done those other two things. They have to know who's boss. And unfortunately for the busy working-man, it's hard to have the kind of time that dogs need you to spend on them.
The two things that made Charlie a more relaxed, happy dog were walking him (correctly), and making him wait for his food until he was relaxed. When you walk them you can't let them pull, and you have to be in front. We basically followed the Cesar Millan method. You can get his books for a really interesting read, and get one of those "Dog training for idiots" books for the easy stuff like potty training and tricks, etc.
I am fascinated by the whole dog training thing, and plan to read other books in the future, but I think those Cesar books are a good place to start. They aren't for dogs, as much as understanding how they think. Or how he thinks they think. But that's the interesting part to me. Enjoy.
They call me Dollar Bill 'cause I always make sense.
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- jentastique Offline
- Posts: 41
- Joined: September 5th, 2007, 7:57 am
You may want to take him to the vet to make sure there is nothing going on in his urinary tract, especially if he is peeing (only) in the house. You also may need to look at how many hours the dog is left inside at a time between potty breaks. An aging dog may have a shortened "hold" time.
Dogs don't want to be "bad" but they will act out if they are sick or ignored. Some will eat your shoes, chew on furinture, and less often take a dump to show you they have an issue.
I am the very last person on the planet to give training advice, my dog does what ever she wants within limitations (its montessouri). However, you may want to contact a rescue org like bluedog or luckymutt and ask their advice since they rehab older dogs that have been left out on chains into dogs that live inside.
Dogs don't want to be "bad" but they will act out if they are sick or ignored. Some will eat your shoes, chew on furinture, and less often take a dump to show you they have an issue.
I am the very last person on the planet to give training advice, my dog does what ever she wants within limitations (its montessouri). However, you may want to contact a rescue org like bluedog or luckymutt and ask their advice since they rehab older dogs that have been left out on chains into dogs that live inside.