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Recently rescued Poodle/Bichon 8 year old---please help!

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Grammy Starting Member (14) Posted: 8/27/2009 8:48:32 PM	[8] I really do feel sometimes as though I am behind an 8 ball. A month ago I rescued a 8 year old Bichon/Poodle mix. She is so very sweet and unassuming. She had been moved around to and from three states and was fostered by a group in Ohio. I do however believe that she was a puppy mill breeder and does not like walking on grass at all. She doesn't mind stones or concrete. I am having a hard time house training her and she will not "tell" me when she needs to go out. I have to just take her often. Can I paper train her at this late date? What about Ohio's cold and snowy days and pottying? Please help. She is my little shadow and I already love her.

sands904 Contact Me Site Administrator Posted: 8/28/2009 7:00:57 AM	Welcome Grammy! I am so glad to hear you rescued her. That may be the case if she doesn't like the grass. You could try sitting down on the edge of the gravel or concrete by the grass and see if she will walk on the grass if you are down at her level. You may want to try some small treats or pieces of her food to entice her onto the grass and then praise her when she actually steps on it. It will probably take some time for her to come around but by making the grass a good happy place she may learn to like it. As far as potty training...if she is not really trained at this point then I would say you could train her to paper. If you are interested in having her indoor trained I would recommend a device called a WizDoz (http://www.wizdog.com). That is what we use for our small Chipoo because we live in Northern IL and the snow during the winter is taller than she is. It is a plastic tray with a plastic grate. You put newspaper or a puppy pad on the tray and then put the grate on top. It keeps them from walking on the pee directly and the poo can easily be picked up (usually :)). Best of luck to you both!!
Grammy Starting Member (14) Posted: 8/28/2009 10:14:01 AM	Thank you so much for your reply Sands904! Actually she oes do her business in the grass when I walk her. She usually goes rather quickly in the early A.M., but at other times she seems to feel that she is being punished when I put her on the grass. She won't walk to her potty place so I carry her to it and we walk back to the house. During the walking she will vier off the path and "go". Sometimes I take her out for walks and she won't go but goes shortly after bringing her in, (on the carpet). I do believe she was a puppy mill dog as she wasn't spayed until 2007 when she was turned in to the dog pound by a "good samaritan" who "found her walking the streets and couldn't keep her". I was told that this is a common thing done by breeders when a dog has outlived its usefulness, (please don't get me started on this topic or I may need to take another blood pressure pill). If she was a puppy mill dog she was probably raised on concrete or gravel or just keptin her pen. Anyway, those types of dogs find it not unpleasant to go in their living quarters. I will try the puppy pad idea. Is it hard to get them to go on the pads? Thank you so much. I need all the help I can get for her. She is so precious. She gets along with my three cats but she and rhe Calico have issues sometimes. The Calico can be a real WITCH sometimes. Thanks again! Grammy
sands904 Contact Me Site Administrator Posted: 8/28/2009 10:53:46 AM	It sounds like she is just a little unsure of the grass as like you said she probably wasn't ever on it before. (I am with you on the Puppy mill things...terrible people....). It seems like you are doing well with teaching her the grass is not something she needs to be afraid of. It wasn't too hard to train our little ones to go on them, but we did it as puppies and once they had that pretty consistantly they learned to go outside on walks, etc. It took a while for our male (Logan) to get the idea that he could go outside also. When we were out in the yard he would want to go inside to go potty. If she is starting to get it outside you may want to stick with that until she is rather consistant. Trying to train her to both at the same time might confuse her. Let me know how she does! [:D]

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