how much problem is "couldn't be housebroke"? - adopted, now pics!

[SundownWaterfowl]

It could have been that her previous "owners" did not know how to propery housetrain a puppy. Puppies need to be taken out every hour to go to the bathroom, and after eating/drinking and playing. The pup could not have been taken out enough. Also when you have a young pup that you cant watch 24/7, you need to do crate training. They could have been giving him full run of the house. If I did that with our Golden when she was a pup, she would have peed all over also.

 

[patandchickens]

Thanks folks!

So what I'm hearing is that while there are cases where a particular dog genuinely *is* impossible-or-nearly-impossible to housebreak, it is by far the most likely that this one is fairly normal and simply needs a consistant appropriate training regime for it.

Since he is only 5 months old, chances are they spent only 3ish months at it before getting rid of him, which would suggest to me that he is either incredibly horrible (unlikely) or they were not really "into" it in the first place. If he were older and surrendered for the same reason I would worry more. "Peeing on the bed" suggests to me that he was maybe not getting a huge amoutn of supervision, as if he were HERE and not-housebroken he would not be getting a *chance* to pee on any beds

I totally intend on using the crate, and on having him attached to me when he's outside of the crate in the house, until we know his limits/habits... and I am a stay-at-home mom so the supervision and scheduling thing is not a problem. He is not going to be just roaming the house until and unless he has proven himself reliable enough for it. Hopefully that will reduce the amount of accidents.

So after mulling over what y'all are saying, and doing some additional reading, this is seeming pretty doable to me. And his temperament seems really excellent. After talking with my husband about it, we've agreed to go see him again today (or possibly tomorrow first thing, as there are scheduling difficulties, but I will have to talk with the shelter folks when they open at noon today to see what would be the preferred way to do this) and if my husband likes him we will see about adopting him

Will let you know what happens, and THANK YOU very much for all your input and advice,

Pat

 

[fwschrom]

Already said but I will reinforce, CRATE TRAINING. From what you described to me the dog has not been properly trained...

"Well now I have a friend who paid big bucks for a Gordon Setter"

Speaking from past experience setters are VERY stuborn and Gordons are the most stuborn. I wish people would research more and evaluate fairly when picking and selecting dogs, ( or any animal for that matter ).

For instance, I like Corgi Pembrokes. With my corgi comes, a lot of shedding, he can't fix that, my boy is from working dog stock so the instinct to nip at heals is very strong, that we are working on but its hard to break. But I knew ( not my first corgi ) what to expect. I had a chance recently to adopt a Bichon, which I passed on, after research I heard they can be difiicult to housebreak initially ( not a big deal ), and their coat grows continually and the need grooming every six weeks, plain and simple it wasn't the dog for my wife and I. They are sweet dogs, smart but not what I wanted. I make a lifetime commitment to my dogs, my wife is very fussy about a clean house, and bad choices on my part mean I would need to find a good home for it eventually ( I don't take dogs to the animal shelter ).

 

[ducks4you]

Pat, you need a crate large enough for an adult Lab, and you need a plan and you need to know that it will take longer. If you take him and treat him like an 8 week old puppy, you can do it. There are LOADS of articles about puppy house-training. If he's sweet I think he's young enough to make it worth your while.
Regarding the (inevitable) Pee stains and smell, I'll hunt and find a product that I just heard about on a local radio who, invented by a retired (bored) man who had been a carpet cleaner. THe reporter said that it totally takes the odor out of the carpet, and her animals don't return to pee there, again.
AND, you live on a farm, anyway. If he can't be housetrained--though I don't believe he's too old yet, for THAT--you can make him a barnyard dog with a nice pad in the barn.

I think it's fate...or Kismet. Take loads of pics!

 

[australorpchick]

We crate trained our dogs. We got the lab and akita when they were 4 months. The lab has had 1 accident in 3 years and that was DD's fault, because she wouldn't wake up and let him out when he had the runs (I have no idea how she could sleep through the smell). The akita was harder, because she doesn't like to bark, she just stares at you. Our newest addition is 2 years old and was supposedly not housebroken. He's had two accidents, once when he got nervous and another time he marked our fake plant. That was during the first month and we haven't had any other mistakes.

Edited to add:

White vinegar, baking soda and homemade dry laundry soap are a carpet & pet owners best friends.

 

[patandchickens]

Well, we did it! We now have one rather leaky 5 month old yellow lab

His temperament is really just the *best*, and it is seeming to me like his problem is just that his bladder has trouble with excitement. He apparently did not poop in his cage after the first few days at the shelter, and he has not done it in the car or here, yet -- in fact he seems to have a very clear idea of where he wishes to leave his deposits (in the best-possible location for us, too, as it happens) and tows you over there when you take him out if he needs to poo.

He held nearly all his pee for overnight (although he seems to have great difficulty with the ninety seconds between opening the crate and making it out the front door) and was totally-dry in the crate from 8 to 11 while I was out, and despite a small leak on the way to the door he held the great majority of his pee til we were outside. It was a *lot* of pee, too

He is just SUCH a good boy, totally gentle and nonaggressive and just a *tad* bit towards the submissive end of the spectrum but not to the degree of being timid or upset by things. He is learning VERY fast about things like sitting before doors open and after you walk through them. It's going to be a big time-consuming inconvenient nuisance for a while but I really think we can get him straightened out, at least sufficiently so.

DH does not want to keep his original name "Buddy" so we have to find something else that suits him... how hard is it on a dog of this age to change its name? Would it be a lot better to pick something that at least sounds similar, or how much does that matter?

Pics to follow, perhaps this evening.

Thanks everyone,

Pat

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

Hey Pat! This is awesome to hear that he has a new home with you guys! Labs are very smart, and actually the excitement pee thing isn't that unusual for alot of young dogs, and I think he'll get over it pretty quick once he "settles in".

Good luck with him and I hope everything works out! He sounds like an awesome guy!

 

[my3chickens]

Congrats!!!! and thank you for being so kind and rescuing and animal in need from the shelter.

The majority of training issues in dogs isn't their fault it's usually the owners that need to be properly trained. I'm sure you'll have no problem and your new addition to the family will bring you many years of pleasure

SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR PETS. IN THE U.S. A SHELTER ANIMAL IS EUTHANIZED EVERY 6 1/2 SECONDS.

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

DH does not want to keep his original name "Buddy" so we have to find something else that suits him... how hard is it on a dog of this age to change its name? Would it be a lot better to pick something that at least sounds similar, or how much does that matter?

I have done this and it isn't really hard at all. I imported a Dobie from Spain and really hated that he was called "Alfonso"!! I wanted to call him Buck. So I started out "Alfonso-Buck" for about a week every single time I talked to him or called him or anything. The next week I started with "Buck-Alfonso" and after 4-5 days of that I would say "Buck" and only add the Alfonso part if he didn't give me his ear right away. He was learning English at the same time but he still picked up on the Buck part in a hurry once he realized that meant supper time or go outside time.


Congratulations on your new guy!

HTH

Rusty​

 

[fldiver97]

Congrats on the new puppy (I am sure his life just turned into heaven on earth!!!) He deserves a responsible loving home!!

Unless he has a medical reason (most often UTI, rare other abnormalities in his urinary tract/bladder) I think 99.9% of the time even older puppies/adult dogs can be housebroken, in some cases it may require more time and effort. I worked with a rescue group for many years, fostered many dogs, most of them adults. One of my own (except one of the chickens and my geckos all of my pets are rescues) dogs came to me as a 3 y/o that was originally crate broken (greyhound on the racetrack), then adopted and after nearly a year surrendered to rescue. When she came to me she was not house broken. She apparently had some kind of doggie door and no regular schedule. She did not really use the doggie door I guess and started going in the house at times. She took me a bit longer than my fosters to become housebroken again but getting a routine established and crating her for the first couple of weeks made her understand the concept. She never had an accident again. I rarely had to house break dogs under 6 months old, maybe 10 total but again......routine and crate training for a few weeks to a few months always worked. Out first thing in the morning. I feed am and pm for adults and older puppies, so I always (even with my own dogs) let them out before eating and about 5 minutes AFTER eating. In the beginning lots of praise for going potty, always use to words 'go pee' or 'go poop' if they seem to need a little hint. My schedule was at times very crazy, taking call or working different hours so I had to get my dogs to do their business even when it was not their 'normal' schedule. We made it through a few years of irregular hours without any problems. Once they understood what I asked them to do, they were good about it. Now we benefit from the 'on command pee' when the vet needs any urine specimen. Wish I could get the cat to do that

Good luck with your little guy! Oh....as far as name change - I renamed all but one of my rescued dogs and it was never a problem.......