Will only respond to treats

[Harpo]

Our dog is smart. But he has been rewarded with treats so much, I think he may be dependent on treats for behavior. Is it possible for us to wean him off? Also, he is a bit older and we have never potty trained him because he is outside a lot. We are now wanting him in more and are wondering if we have missed our opportunity of training him to let us know when he wants to go outside.

[Adrienne]

Hello and welcome the forums,

When we train with treats, we do want to wean them gradually as they learn the behavior fluently. If we do this too early, in the initial stages of learning, we may interfere with the learning process and the dog may give up trying. So if your dog is performing the behaviors you have trained well, stop by the "polishing up training section," and read how to move from a continuous schedule to a variable schedule. 

The process is known as "fading continuous rewards" and can be found here:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/polishing-up-training/fading-continuous-rewards/

Consider that if you stop giving treats or other forms of rewards completely, you risk that the behaviors extinguish. So it's important to maintain those learned behaviors with some goodies every now and then. 

Also consider, that you can provide other forms of food rewards (like kibble if your dog likes it enough when training in the home, why not put it to good use rather than giving it for free in a bowls?) and you can also mix in life rewards every now and them to reinforce desirable behaviors. You can read more about the use of treats and alternatives here:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/use-treats-training-dog/

[Adrienne]

I am glad to hear you are wanting him inside more! When I hear this, I often deduce that a dog is better behaved and is more of a pleasure having him around. The dog is also likely bonding more and wanting to be more indoors with his owners rather than out on his own. This means a lot as it tells us the dog is finding more reinforcement indoors than outdoors. Kudos to you for a job well done!

With an adult dog who has always used the outside to potty, the main problem is that dogs who are outdoors are used to going potty readily when the urge is felt. So being more indoors, would require him to learn to restrain himself and signal the need to potty by going towards the door. It is certainly doable, but requires careful supervision to watch him when he gets near the door so to open it in time to get him to potty outside. Installing a doggy door may help, although some dogs may need some time to learn how to use it. 

In general, we want to:

-Always keep an eye on him in case you notice signs he needs to potty so to quickly accompany him. Signs may vary from one dog to another but may include a dog who was actively playing one moment and then suddenly wanders off, sniffing the floor, circling, appearing distracted, agitated, excited, or more active than usual, whining, walking towards the door.

-We want to have a clear, unobstructed view of him at all times (nothing blocking the view)

-We want to keep him in a room nearby the door so to readily take him out as necessary

-We want to keep him on a feeding schedule so that he poops at specific times of the day and we can get accustomed with those times 

-We want to clean up any messes with an enzyme-based cleaner so to remove any traces of odor. 

-We want to avoid punishing for accidents as that only teaches dogs to eliminate when they are out of our sight (like under a bed, behind the couch).

-We want to take him out frequently to potty and be out with him so to ensure he eliminates outside. If he eliminates (both poop and pee) we then know we can relax more when he's indoors until his next potty trip.

-It is also helpful teaching a dog to go potty on cue, so when we send him outdoors he knows with time what we would like him to do. This takes some time to master, but it doesn't cost much to say simply "go potty" right before the dog eliminates every time he's taken outside. You can read on how to train this here:https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/advanced-potty-training/potty-on-command/

-More general info on potty training is described below. I know it talks about puppies, but the process is almost the same. He may struggle being crated if he wasn't ever crate trained, but if he is crate-trained, a crate can help in the process as it teaches the dog to hold it. He shouldn't be crated for too long though or for longer than he could hold it. And of course, with him being older, he won't need to potty as frequently as a puppy with little bladder and bowel control, which is a good advantage. 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/7-secret-potty-training-strategies/

I hope this helps,

Keep me posted on the process!

Best,

Adrienne