My 12 yr old Grt Pyrenees dog has stopped wanting to go out in the back yard. Can I retrain her at this age?
Question by Becky M: My 12 yr old Grt Pyrenees dog has stopped wanting to go out in the back yard. Can I retrain her at this age?
Ever since her last visit to the groomer about 3 months ago, my dog (Belle – 12 yrs old), acts as if she’s afraid to go out in the back yard. She does have hip dysplasia pretty bad, but is still able to walk on her own. At first she would just barely go out far enough to potty and then come right back in the breeze way (we leave the door open for her to go in and out). Now she has decided she can go #2 both in the breeze way and the house. So far any piddling done inside has truly been an accident, but this problem is not. It’s not a problem with being able to control herself, this is being purposely done. We’ve tried going out in back with her and she just acts very timid and rushes back in as soon as she can. We’ve also put her outside and closed the breezeway door. She just lays right up against the door until we let her back in. None of it makes any sense. She always loved her back yard, was a great protector and not afraid of anything. To our knowledge, nothing traumatic has happened in the yard. What does the groomer have to do with going out in the back yard? Has anyone faced anything like this and what have you done to correct it? Can I retrain her to go outside again at this age?
Best answer:
Answer by got1bigdog
I’m on my second Great Pyrenees and neither of them has been particularly reliable about potty training if left to go out by themselves (or ask to be let out, in our case). The previous one got much worse about it in old age. In both cases, the only way we have been able to keep them from soiling in the house has been to walk them several times a day and keep them out until all functions have been performed – a nuisance in bad weather or when we’re busy, but less trouble than shampooing the rugs! And hey, Pyrs are worth it! Good luck with your old girl. Walking her may be a problem with the hip dysplasia, but more frequent shorter walks might do it. Other than that, you might try putting newspaper down in the breezeway, although to have enough newspaper for a Pyr you’d have to be a true news freak!
What do you think? Answer below!
Tagged with: back • Pyrenees • retrain • stopped • This • wanting • yard.
Filed under: hip dysplasia in dogs treatment
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
She’s a very old dog, for a giant breed. Her faculties are failing. She may have been frightened at the groomer’s because she couldn’t figure out where she was. The best thing is to lead her into the backyard and then stay with her while she does her thing and walk her back. A hand on the side of her head should be enough to lead her out. Old dogs, like old people, can become befuddled in familiar places when their senses go away. She needs to know you’re nearby or she may panic, so stay with her whenever she’s outside just like you did when she was little puppy.
You’re invited to join one of Yahoo’s better pyr groups to discuss this in detail, more than you can do here at YA.
As TK said, she’s old for a pyr. This could be part of the problem.
I recommend you talk to your vet and see if the vet feels it might have been triggered by the visit to the groomer. You might also benefit from a chat with the groomer to see if anything happened. Or talk to the owner / salon manager of the groom shop. You need to be informed if something accidentally happened at the groomer’s that distressed your dog.
As TK stated, go out with your dog and stay with her till she poops. When she does poop outside, you praise her mightily in a very happy voice. You may need to take her out on-leash and take some slivers of chicken or some other exciting small treats to reward her if she poops, or when she’s calm and not trying to race back inside. Make being outside a GOOD thing for her to want to do once again… treats can help you create that atmosphers.
If she poops inside, take your pooper scooper and pick it up, taking it and the dog on her leash outside to an area where you want her to poop. When you pick up the poop, look at it and tell it sternly that it’s “BAD POOP”… then take it and her outside… put the poop where you want her to go… and look at the poop and tell it “GOOD POOP”
This may sound weird, but you’ll be scolding and praising the poop and not the dog. The dog won’t be distressed because you won’t be scolding her. Pyrs are smart, and this will reinforce her understanding that you love HER, and you LOVE having her poop out in the yard. They want to please their owners. She’s likely to start going outside when she realizes once again that this makes YOU happy. -!-
yep just take her out with its favorite treat and say its name