Way to Go! Housetraining Rescued Dogs

I may, (paws crossed), have a happy story to tell you about a “need-to-be-rescued dog,” but I’ll wait on that until I have more to report. (Please cross your paws; and no, we won’t be the ones taking it!) Meanwhile, I’m thinking a lot the last few days about house training a dog who has learned to potty where she lives. I thought a throw-back to a post I wrote in 2018 about house training, You Want Me To Pee Where? would be timely.

I wrote it after we got Tootsie, our too-cute-for-words rescued Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, who illustrates the challenge that many have with rescued dogs: It’s not that they haven’t learned where to potty; they learned just fine: “I have learned to potty where I live.” I’ve edited the post a bit to tighten it up, but look forward to you adding your comments and wisdom. Here it is, with requests to the hive to add your experiences about house training a dog who is already “house trained,” because it learned to go in its “house.”

From 11/2018: Wait, you want me to pee outside? In the cold? On the gravel? Even if it’s raining? Whaaaaaaa?

So might say Tootsie, who was rescued by the good people at Lucky Star Cavalier Rescue, thanks to an amazing woman who pulled her, and a multitude of other dogs, from a northern Wisconsin puppy mill.

Through a wonderful moment of serendipity, I’ve just learned the details of Tootsie’s past. She was taken from a puppy mill with large numbers of dogs living in “horrendous conditions.” Most of the dogs lived in a disgustingly filthy barn, but Tootsie was one of a group of Cavaliers who lived on an  equally disgusting concrete pad of an old silo, pumping out puppies in spite of serious health concerns. She had to have 21 teeth extracted after she was rescued, because her mouth was a cesspool of infection. Her ears were so badly compromised that they reportedly were dripping green goo. However, her years in an outdoor cage gave her an advantage. Unlike the dogs in the barn, she could see people coming and going, smell fresh air and hear a variety of sounds.

But no wonder her preferred place to urinate was inside the house (home = bathroom), and the concrete slab where we park our cars (cement = toilet). That’s why house training was job one the day we got her. I knew far too well that dogs who grew up eliminating in their own homes take some energy to house train. In Tootsie’s case it didn’t take long–we took her out those first few days about every ten minutes. (Literally. I’m always shocked when people are advised to take a new dog out once an hour.  Waaaay too long between trips outside!) She got pieces of chicken for pottying outside, and soon she learned to control her bladder, and urinate and defecate outside. Just recently she began peeing on the concrete again, instead of the gravel driveway, and so back we went to treats as reinforcement. It took two weeks, and she’s back to trotting over the concrete onto the driveway.

Keep in mind that training dogs to eliminate outside of our homes may seem like a trivial problem, but it’s not. House training problems can be serious problems indeed. It is hard to maintain a loving relationship with an individual who poops on your pillow. I can’t count the number of couples I saw whose relationship had degraded into endless fighting about Ginger or Buster, whose urine ruined their oriental carpet, or whose dog ended up going back to the shelter because of house training problems.

(Back to 2025) I should note that friend and colleague Karen London and I wrote a booklet about house training. It’s concise, but here are a few critical things to know if you are in this situation:

*** In the early days, the dog should be outside with you (and you watching to reinforce any pottying), inside with you either on a leash or in a small room with you paying attention ALL THE TIME, or, crated or gated off in an X-pen or small room that is easy to clean up. Many rescued dogs have never been in a crate, and I am an advocate of easing them into them. I myself wouldn’t just shove a dog into a crate and hope for the best; rather, slowly intro your dog to the crate and meanwhile, confine them to an area where they can’t can’t get hurt or do too much damage.

*** Pick a spot outside as the potty area. You can even “season” it by placing a urine-soaked rag or feces in that area. Pay a lot of attention to substrate (gravel does not equal grass does not equal dirt to some dogs) and that it’s in a place you want to have to go to in the middle of the night. In the rain.

*** Go outside more than most books suggest. I go out constantly the first few days as much as every 15 minutes. Yes, it’s tiring. Ah well, it pays off in the long run.

*** Reinforce Reinforce Reinforce. Every time your dog potties outside, wonderful things should happen. Just be sure that your dog defines them as “wonderful.” Exuberant praise might make us feel good, but might be stressful for your dog. Watch the dog carefully-she’ll tell you what she wants most. Food is by far the easiest and the most effective, but the kind of food is important too. Some dogs love chicken, not liver, etc etc. Others want praise and the toss of a toy, or being let back into the house.

*** No punishment, except an “interrupter” if the dog starts to go in the house. I love “Whoops!” and a quick sweep up of the dog (if small), or a trot to the outdoor as soon as possible.

*** Diapers are nice. It can be hard to stop a dog, especially a male, before the urine hits the rug. When we got Skip (who lived outside for 3.5 years and had never been inside a building until he was shipped from Ireland), I could say Whoops the instant he lifted a leg, but the urine was flowing before I got the words out of my mouth. (I originally wrote “. . . but the urine was flowing before I got it out of my mouth.” Oh dear.) A “diaper” worked wonders–and I wonder if it also helped to house train him indirectly. Thoughts anyone?

*** Clean up is key: We define bathrooms by sight (not smell, at least in most places!). Dogs define them by smell, so it is essential to keep the scent of urine out of your house. Make life simple and use one of the commercial products as directed. Or, check here for some home remedies.

By the way, Dogwise, has a more extensive book on housetraining, titled:  Hard to House Train: Practical Solutions for Dog Trainers.  It is much more extensive than the concise Way to Go!, and is designed to be a “go-to reference guide for trainers who encounter difficult house training cases”. I love the inclusion of lots of case studies, but will admit to wishing there was a bit more about dogs who were indeed “house trained”–as in dogs who learned to eliminate in their houses in neglectful situations. But it’s a valuable resource for trainers; check it out if that includes you.