[epilady1960]

I have a 10 year old foster that came from a puppy mill the end of October. Jake was neutered the week of Thanksgiving and I have been trying to potty train him since. I discovered this weekend the reason for the difficulty. He can't hear. He is a basset hound and most likely lost his hearing due to untreated ear infections. He has never been trained to do anything other than breed. What methods have other used to house break a deaf dog?

[lange]

There's a member on here who has many deaf dogs & I believe she also works with a rescue group??..Her name is Dog Forums - View Profile: Deafdogsrule. I haven't seen her post much lately but you can try sending her a private message asking if cshe can come look at your question whenever she has a chance. Good luck!!!

[CorkyMax]

This hint would not make much difference if the dog can hear or not: I assume you want the dog to go outside to do its duty---Take some newspaper with the fresh poo and pee on it and take it outside in a good spot you want your dog to go on. Do this as soon as you catch the dog going in the house or even later if you can't catch in the act--Take the dog (on a leash perhaps) with you to this area you put the newspaper on--Keep repeating and make sure there is this dirtied newspaper there until it gets the idea. LOl, change to new soiled newspaper periodically of course.

[luvmypups]

corky/max has a great piece of advice with the soiled paper! if you need a cue for your dog to know its potty time and he cant hear, try flashing the light switch a few times. before long he will associate the lights flashing with it being time to go outside.

[Taming Rover]

Hmmm from what I hear it can be quite difficult indeed to house train a dog that came from a puppy mill as they have lost their instinct not to soil where they eat and sleep.

What I would do if this dog was in my care is; treat him as if he were a puppy. I know he is 10 years old but if you don't go back to basics here you could possibly be in for a long frustrating time. I'd say your best friend in this will be to have the most regimented routine as you possibly can, know exactly when he eats and drinks and how much, even write it all down and map out aprox. how long it takes after eating that he goes poo. This way you will be able to accurately predict when he needs to go out. I would avoid scolding him as this probably wont help the situation. Every time he goes outside I would give him a treat and praise him.

This coupled with Corky's paper suggestion should help get you on the right track. Good luck with it!