If you have just taken on a rescue griffon/ hound the chances are they will not have had much house training. Most will not have lived indoors at all. They will have had little socialisation and their experience of life will have been living with their pack, probably in some shed in the hills with the opportunity to get out into the countryside once or twice a week. They will have toileted where ever and whenever the need arises. They will not know anything else and it is up to us to show them where we want them to do their business. We really need teach them as if they were new puppies. You should always assume they will need to pee or poop ....
after sleep
after food
after play
after excitement
and often in between these times
Some dogs will be fearful after the complete change of their circumstances, of everything they know, the journey to your home and often of new people arriving or strange noises and this can make them need to empty their bladders.
Dogs will repeat behaviours that are beneficial to them. I have found that encouraging them to go outside for a pee in a happy or excited manner seems to work well, asking them to “go do a pee or tiddle “ ( always use the same terminology ) I also tell them to “hurry up” and when they do their business they get plenty of happy praise and a small high value reward ( sausage, chicken, cheese ) and occasionally feed a number of rewards in a row ( ninja rewards ). Always wait until the dog finishes what he is doing before praising and rewarding otherwise he will second guess you and possibly not finish before coming to get his reward.
If this is done consistently you will find that your dog will quickly learn that peeing/pooping outside is rewarding and will therefore want to repeat this behaviour.
If you want to have him/her doing their business in a particular part of the garden then you could put up some sort of temporary fence so that you can take your dog to this area each time he needs to go out. He will soon get the idea. It is good to have an area of gravel that can easily be hosed down and also saves your lawn from becoming patchy.
If your dog does soil in the house then really only you can be to blame for not supervising, maybe not recognising the signs , maybe being distracted. He does not know any better in the early days. I always monitor all toileting so that I know what has been done and when.
You will find if it is raining often they will not be keen to go outside , however I take them outside and they don't get back in until they have done their business. This really speeds up toilet training if your dog does not like the rain. You will find that they will soon run outside, pee, and then run back in again.
Inevitably there will be indoor accidents and you should never scold your dog for soiling indoors as he does not know any better at this point and this will only damage any trust you have built up as he will be really confused as to why he has been punished . Make sure that doors to bedrooms are closed to prevent the temptation for them to go to another room and do their business.
If there has been an accident mop up as much as you can with kitchen roll, using a sanitising cleaner and then once dry you could steam clean the area to try and remove as much of the scent as possible. You should always limit your dogs access to rooms in your house. Free roaming is asking for trouble until he /she is completely settled and you can trust them 100%... which is totally possible with consistency, kindness and a bit of understanding.
Top tip. Always have rewards easily at hand. The quicker you reward a behaviour (i.e. within a second or two) the easier it is for the dog to understand what the reward is for and will therefore repeat.
Written by "Games based dog trainer"
after sleep
after food
after play
after excitement
and often in between these times
Some dogs will be fearful after the complete change of their circumstances, of everything they know, the journey to your home and often of new people arriving or strange noises and this can make them need to empty their bladders.
Dogs will repeat behaviours that are beneficial to them. I have found that encouraging them to go outside for a pee in a happy or excited manner seems to work well, asking them to “go do a pee or tiddle “ ( always use the same terminology ) I also tell them to “hurry up” and when they do their business they get plenty of happy praise and a small high value reward ( sausage, chicken, cheese ) and occasionally feed a number of rewards in a row ( ninja rewards ). Always wait until the dog finishes what he is doing before praising and rewarding otherwise he will second guess you and possibly not finish before coming to get his reward.
If this is done consistently you will find that your dog will quickly learn that peeing/pooping outside is rewarding and will therefore want to repeat this behaviour.
If you want to have him/her doing their business in a particular part of the garden then you could put up some sort of temporary fence so that you can take your dog to this area each time he needs to go out. He will soon get the idea. It is good to have an area of gravel that can easily be hosed down and also saves your lawn from becoming patchy.
If your dog does soil in the house then really only you can be to blame for not supervising, maybe not recognising the signs , maybe being distracted. He does not know any better in the early days. I always monitor all toileting so that I know what has been done and when.
You will find if it is raining often they will not be keen to go outside , however I take them outside and they don't get back in until they have done their business. This really speeds up toilet training if your dog does not like the rain. You will find that they will soon run outside, pee, and then run back in again.
Inevitably there will be indoor accidents and you should never scold your dog for soiling indoors as he does not know any better at this point and this will only damage any trust you have built up as he will be really confused as to why he has been punished . Make sure that doors to bedrooms are closed to prevent the temptation for them to go to another room and do their business.
If there has been an accident mop up as much as you can with kitchen roll, using a sanitising cleaner and then once dry you could steam clean the area to try and remove as much of the scent as possible. You should always limit your dogs access to rooms in your house. Free roaming is asking for trouble until he /she is completely settled and you can trust them 100%... which is totally possible with consistency, kindness and a bit of understanding.
Top tip. Always have rewards easily at hand. The quicker you reward a behaviour (i.e. within a second or two) the easier it is for the dog to understand what the reward is for and will therefore repeat.
Written by "Games based dog trainer"