1.  Keep all garbage cans closed.  If possible, make sure that they are tightly closed and out of reach.  This includes garbage cans inside and outside of your house.  To dogs, the contents of your garbage cans are like a gourmet meal, the smellier it is, the more he will go after it. 

2.  Keep all household products and chemicals out of sight, especially antifreeze and pesticides which are very toxic to pets.  Clean up spills immediately before your dogs get a chance to clean it up himself.

3.  Dogs, especially puppies, will chew and bite into almost anything, including electrical cords.  It is very important to unplug appliances when you are not using them.  You should also cover exposed cords using a strip wide electrical tape which makes them harder to chew.

4.  Keep all medicines and medicine cabinets closed.  Remember that just because they are child-proof does not mean they are pet-proof.

5.  Keep your dogs away from water unless he is supervised.  Although he is capable of swimming, dogs have difficulty climbing back out if they fall.

It is not uncommon to find senior dogs less adaptable to changes in diet, routine, or environment.

For example, my dog always loved riding in the car, bouncing about with a sense of excitement. He never missed a thing that passed by; now that he is older he prefers to lie quietly on the seat snuggled up against me or else on the floor. He may even get an occasional upset stomach and throw up while riding. And he steps in and out of the car with considerably greater care!

In the past it never seemed to bother him if I occasionally got home late for his supper. He’d jovially greet me at the door with little more than a “Hey, what’s up?” and race you for the food dish. Now I find that he has thrown up small amounts of yellowish-green stomach fluid due to the increased acidity of a stomach which contains no food.

I have found that leaving a small amount of dry food for senior dogs when I go out may solve this upset.

Speaking of stomach upset, whenever I had parties, he always joined in the fun and most of the time survived the party foods given him by my well-meaning guests.

Now he shows less interest in the goings-on, preferring to be by himself in a quieter part of the house. If senior dogs indulge in any party food, they almost always has some digestive disturbance.

Wrong! The common misconception that your dog is trying to be vindictive and countermine your housetraining efforts by refusing to follow the rules is a complete myth.

Dogs only have the capacity for simple, direct emotions, such as being happy, sad, or scared. Their minds are not capable of plotting ways to seek revenge for that swat on his rear, or how you scolded him an hour ago.

Dogs do, however, remember and draw upon past experiences that they associate with current situations. But it is important to understand that these associations only create an emotion in which they will feel when going through a similar experience.

In other words, lets say that you punish your dog for urinating on the front porch. If you continue to scold him for this behavior then eventually your dog will become fearful of using the bathroom outside. All he knows is that he is “outside”, not on the front porch. Your efforts will countermine your housetraining goals.

For this reason alone, it is important never to punish or yell at your dog when he uses the bathroom inside the house. Most housetraining problems actually stem from owners who completely instill fear in their pets when they go potty on the floor. This creates enough trauma to completely halt all of your housetraining efforts.

The key is trying not to react. Instead, remove your dog from the room and take him outside in a very calm and relaxed manner. Be sure that he does not see you cleaning up his mess. Quietly clean the area and be sure to use an enzyme-containing house cleaner. Vinegar or liquid soap will do just fine as well. By completely removing all of the older, this helps reduce your dog’s need to urinate and mark the same spot over and over.

Tip: Avoid using ammonia because the smell is very similar to that of a dog’s urine and can stimulate him to pee in the same area.

When all else fails, schedule a visit with your veterinarian so that the doctor can do a complete health checkup of your dog to make sure that there is not a health-related reason for his inability to become house trained.

Some dogs can be harboring illnesses that may prove to be the cause of not having the ability to control their bowel movements. Such illnesses could be caused by ticks, such as Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, or the most common reason: a urinary tract infection.