It seems to me she is pee pad trained by the previous owner. She is used to pee in the breeder's house on a pad. She might not understand that when you take her outside, you want her to do her business. It takes a lot of patience and work to potty train older dog (it is possible).
A friend of mine rescued a small mutt when he was 1 year old. He was also pee pad trained but she wants him to do his business outside. She said it takes a lot of patience to finally get him to potty train. She puts him in the crate for 1st 2 weeks when she got him. Every morning at 7 a.m., she'll take him outside and put a pad on the ground and wait till he pee or poo before she takes him in. She'll feed him and after his meal, she'll take him outside for a walk. Before they go inside the house, she'll put a pad on the ground and tell him "go potty". Again, she waits till he did his business, then they go inside the house. She'll let him walk around the kitchen/family area for an hour (that's the time when she eats her breakfast and read her newspaper). After that, she will put him in the crate for 3-4 hours (maximum). She'll take him out again and tell him "go potty". Once he is done with his business, if the weather permits, she will play with him in her yard for a while. Of course, after playing, she makes sure he pees before she let him in the house. Then he is the crate for another few hours. She usually feed him around 6 p.m. (her dinner time too), after his meal, she'll take him outside for a walk again and she repeats the same routine. At around 10 p.m., she'll take him outside for his last business. Then he sleeps in his crate till morning. She did this routine (putting the pee pad on the ground for 2 weeks), then she gradually reduce the pee pads. She said after the 2nd week, he knows once he is outside, he is suppose to do his business. He has been with her for 6 months now. She has reduced his time in the crate shorter and she also leave a pee pad near the door in case he needs to go. So far, he has not had any accident in the house.
I told her about your situation, she said a lot of people thinks it is hard to train older dogs but she said if the dog is 1 or 2 years old, he/she can still learn. However, if the dog is 8 or 9 years old, then it is harder. So there is still hope for your dog. She said it just needs lots of patience if you want to change their habit. However, she said if you love the dog so much, you'll want to take the time to train her rather than giving her back to the breeder. She said you'll also need to spend the same time to train a puppy. The process is the same except you just take the puppy outside and not putting the pad on the ground. She said in fact you need to take puppy outside more often than a grown dog.
Dogs like routine, as long as you repeat the routine with them, they will feel secure and they'll learn fast. Moreover, they don't just pee and poo without showing us signals. The times when they pee are : 1) wake up 2) after a meal, 3) after you play with them. Most grown up dogs only poo once or twice a day (depends how often you feed them). So, if you know their timing, just take the dog out during those time.
My suggestion is if you have the time to train her to do outside, try my friend's suggestion, if you don't have the time, then let her do her business on the pee pad (her old method). Well, I guess if you don't have the pee pad method, then the last option will be give her back to the breeder.
My friend and I hope the above method will help you. |