Hello. My family and i recently added Lilly, a three year old lab to our family. She is a rescue so we dont know any of her history. She has basic commands but we think she may have been kept outside as she doesnt seem to understand that messing in the house is wrong. She does it even when we are in the same room!!. She only goes to the toilet when she is out on her walks and refuses to go in the garden when we let her out last thing at night/ first thing in the morning. If on the rare occasion she does go in the garden we do praise her but it is so rare that i dont think she has linked our praise to going in the garden.
Any suggestions would be gratefully received.
Thanks x

Try treating her like a puppy, let her into the garden on regular intervals. We too had this problem with our rescue as he was kept in a kennel outdoors all his life. Take her into the garden every 1hour 30mins if possible. Stay out there for ten minutes and if she does nothing then don't worry...shorten the time to an hour before she goes out again. When she does do the toilet, play with her, give her a treat, tell her how good she is...but stay in the garden when you do this!

Once she's got into the habit of learning that the garden is a good place to have the loo then stretch out the times you let her out...not drastically but maybe by 15 - 30 mins.

And, if you see her going to have the toilet in the house then stop her! Rush her into the garden! Unless it's too late.

Even though one of my Lab bitches is fully house trained,she will not do her duties in the garden,we have to take her out every three to four hours to our local park,some bitches will not dirty ther own garden,poor thing she must be so confused,if you can just take her to a field near by for ten mins or so ,i know this is a pain going out more often but it may work.Good luck.

Sheila.

thanks for the advice. I think she is a bit confused poor girl!!. We live next door to a local recreation ground and she is taken out regularly but its late at night when it becomes a problem or if we dont have time to walk her straight away in the morning. We were thinking perhaps of using good old newspaper to combat her doing it all over the house?. We are persisting but it takes time.

Firstly, congratulations on your new addition.  You have some work to do here, you will have to treat her as a puppy.  Constantly praise her for doing the right thing.  She most probably is used to living in kennels!  It will take time and a lot of extra effort, more short trips outside than you would normally to give her the idea. You will have to be extra vigilant indoors for a while, the minute she starts to circle or squat, grab her collar and take her in the garden to start........... or finish what she was doing, and then give her a treat and loads of praise. She will get the hang of it, but be prepared for a lot of accidents. I'm so happy that she has a loving home.

We have had a rescue lab before but she was house trained so we have a project on our hands with this one!!!. It doesnt help that she was brought over from Ireland, she probably doesnt have a clue what we are saying!! :)
Your advice does make sense and it is gratefully appreciated. Back to sqaure one with this one i feel.

xx

Quick update, we have just had lilly do her business in the garden!!! Wahoo. I think because it is raining she didnt fancy being out there very long!!!  :) :)