Maltese Forum:
House Training for 5 yr. Old

Hello everyone, I hope someone out there can provide some advice on how to house train a 5 yr old Maltese. We adopted him from the shelter this past spring (someone found him by side of freeway, poor thing). He is a sweet, loving dog however I don't think he was ever properly house trained by his previous owner (given his abandonment on the freeway, I'm not surprised). He may have just used newspaper in the kitchen. Anyway, we have been trying to house train him for the past 6 months with no luck. He is pretty strong willed, and he will pee anywhere, anytime he feels like it. We take him out every hour, but it still doesn't really help. We scold him when he pees inside the house, but it doesn't help. Crate training also doesn't work b/c he has no problem with urinating all over himself (it fact, he seems to like the ripe smell). Is it too late to house break a 5 year old dog? Any suggestions on how to effectively house train at this age? Thanks!