[anne h]

I am going to meet a 5yo beaglex that has not lived indoors although has now been in foster care a few weeks and making some progress. What are the chances of completely potty training an older dog, anyone had this experience? anne h

 

[Pop_Rivit]

It's doable, but you'll need a lot of patience. Our lab was about 4 years old when he adopted us. He wasn't housebroken at the time and it took us about 3-4 weeks of training before he was comfortably housebroken.

 

[beagletails]

Well....I have always said I did not understand why people think Beagles are so hard to housebreak. We acquired an adult beagle in Jan 2009 and she also had never even seen the inside of a building/home. The ceiling use to scare her. Obviously she was not housebroken. She had numerous accidents and then started doing very well with it. Unfortunately we disrupted her life by allowing her to be bred with our stud. During the pregnancy everything was fine. Since the pups were born (2 weeks ago) she has regressed and has had about 5 poops and about the same number of peepee accidents. I am sincerely hoping as she starts losing her motherly instinct to protect her pups that she will go back to being trusted in the house because I hate to exclude her when the other 3 are able to roam.

Congratulations on your new pack member and good luck to you. Remember all dogs are different and it may not be difficult for you at all.

 

[ssfbeagle]

Benji was 3 or 4 when we adopted him. Carlo was about 18 months. Both were not completely housbroken for about 3 months after we got them. We got them both in early summer so we could let them outside to relieve themselves. We crate them when we aren't home and that helps so much.

 

[bubbles]

I have always adopted older dogs. Snoopy was about 1-1/2 years old and came to use with NO training. Although she was not as old as the dog you are considering, it can be done. It just takes patience. I would recommend crate training and then if you choose you could wean him/her from that to eventually give free roam of your house or an area in your home.

If you decide to adopt him/her, when you bring the dog home take it immediately to the area that will be the potty. Hopefully if you can get the dog to explore and go, you can give it immediate praise and begin to establish the potty rules.

Good Luck!

 

[Erin]

Our two pups were about 2yrs old when we got them and everyone's right. Crate training works very well and you'll just need patience. We've had our two for nearly 2yrs now and they are free to roam the house. The only time there are accidents is if one is sick and we aren't home.

Congrats if you get your new pack member!

 

[angelaH]

Our two were 6 years old when we got them. Snoopy was partly housetrained but Susi had spent all her time in a laboratory, living in a tiled room with no outside space. Training her was hard but she got there in the end. Took about a year before we could trust her, and several carpets! Even now if she is upset she might have an accident but basically she is fine.Snoopy 'marks' strange places, like hotels!
You have to watch them all the time at the start. The moment they get up open the door and out-even in winter. Good luck, you'll manage it.

 

[Sephly]

its doable, just have lots of patience stick to a method and dont give up.

congrats on the new pup and thanks for adopting an older dog.

 

[AJollyBengali]

Oreo was ~6yrs old when I adopted him and seemed more like an outside dog. I would agree with other that crate training would be good. (obviously patience).

The more consistent your routine of walks and potty times, the faster he'll pick it up. Getting Oreo used to indoors things such as walking on tile and then carpet was more difficult than potty training.