Training Older Dogs

Training an older dog who has never lived inside!?

We have jsut adopted a 6 year old dog who has never lived a moment inside. Being naive, I thought she would LOVE to come inside, but of course she is completely freaked out by it. My family and I have had dogs throughout our lives and have never had a dog who only lived outside. Does anyone have any thoughts about how to help our new senior dog get over her fear of inside?!?! Thanks!

Your dog obviously will be scared of inside your house, especially since there are walls, hallways, different smells, and different sounds. Try introducing her to one room of your house at a time. The kitchen is often a good place to start since it is where you probably feed your dog. Make sure the room you keep her in is also the room she sleeps in. (Eventually you can change this, but keeping it in a small space is the best when she doesn’t know the house.) Keep her in the kitchen, letting her out the same door every time you let her out to pee. She will eventually gain confidence in the room, seeing that it is safe and not as scary as she thought. In the week or month (depending on the dog) that she is kept in only a single room, she will start to learn the routine of your family, and also the different sounds that go along with living inside rather than outside. After she seems confident in this one room, start letting her sit with you and your family when you are watching tv, or doing another activity where you are focused mainly in one room. If she wants to explore, praise her for exploring. Be cautious of introducing her to stairs as it is likely she has never seen stairs and may be very nervous of the narrow path she must take to get up or down them.

If you still are having trouble, contact an Obedience Training who will help you build up your dog’s confidence.

Good luck!

Dog Training Tip of the Day-Can Old Dogs Learn New Tricks?