We’ve had Rona (her new name) our nine month old Airedale for a week now and she is adorable, affectionate, but also anxious - everything new is slightly scary, but she’s also curious, so she will often stand with her paw up looking at whatever has scared her rather than running away.
When we met her at the breeders she was behind a fence on the terrace to the house with access to a bit of lawn and a kennel. We don’t know for sure but suspect that that’s where she has lived for most of her nine months and so she has not been socialised much nor, indeed, house-trained.
When she is outside in our (large) garden she is very secretive about where she pees and poops, so I can’t (as I’ve done with our previous dogs) say “good girl, Rona widdle”, or “good girl, Rona poo” - so there is no way of associating these words with the act. Also, she doesn’t pee when she goes out first thing in the morning like all our other dogs have done (again, maybe an anxiety thing?)
Unfortunately, her secretiveness extends indoors and a couple of times she’s widdled (copiously!) inside and last night did a poo - done in dark corners of different rooms. I wonder if this is just insecurity/anxiety and as she settles this will stop, or whether I need to get this sorted. If the latter, I’m not sure how.
Anyone any suggestions / experience to share please? (It’s much easier with puppies!)
Get Rona a cage.
It will be her domain rather than giving her the run of the house at night.
We have had Barney 4 weeks now and from day 1 he has not soiled his cage. We now leave the cage door open during the day abd he willingly goes in there to sleep, its his special place.
He goes to bed at 11 and I get up ay 7am and take him straight out when he does both jobs.
Confine the area where she does her jobs.
It won’t take long to change her habits.
Poor Rona! With a rescue it is hard to imagine what they may have experienced and learned. It is possible she was punished or hurried for performing her ablutions?
I would second John Boy’s advice and add something. You could for a few months try taking her for walks on the lead to perform her necessaries. That way you can heap praise when she goes and provide companionship for her to gain confidence. She may slowly learn to associate doing her business with happy walks.
I’m all out of 
euphemisms!
We had similar albeit a 3 year old rescue.
Basically I went out with her every hour during the day- first thing and last thing I’d stay with her until she used the toilet - that could be 20 minutes.
But she never asked and would sneak off to use the toilet - I went with give her so many opportunities it’s easier to pee outdoors. Took a few months to totally fix
That and try and spot signs - mine gets unsettled and won’t sit still that’s the only warning she wanted the loo. To this day won’t bark to say I want the loo during the day
The cage training suggested might work - mine hate the cage …but their beds are locked in the kitchen which discourages using the toilet in their bedroom. My little one will bark for the loo at night unlike during the day
I second a cage at night as dogs rarely mess their own beds. And if she’s anxious that gives her a safe place.
We’ve always cage trained our dogs, except for recent rescue who has remarkable bladder and bowel control and won’t do anything unless he wants to. Even if it means sitting in an open doorway for hours before his first pee if its raining.
I can second that with Rona. The day we brought her home (a journey of 8 hours) we gave her a pit stop every hour and she would not get out of the car - sat half in her cage and watched the world go by very apprehensively. I think she will not do anything until she feels at ease with a place (hence indoors). I took her out this morning and the sound of the bird scarer from an adjacent field put an end to any idea of having a widdle. We walk her 2/3 times a day, and at no point while we are out will she do anything.
We had the same problem with our first Airedale pups donkeys years ago - it was a huge triumph when Clara squatted in the River Mole! I’m wondering whether we need to find a nearby stream for Rona?
@JohnBoy Barney is SOOO cute! I love the smile.
On a positive note, she was brilliant in the vets this morning - so good while she was vaccinated and chipped. I think once she feels really secure she’s going to be a wonderful calm Airedale.
That is so sad! My brother and I grew up in and around Leatherhead and as children The Mole was our go-to place as a family for days out and then I came back to live in the locality many years later with OH and two Airedales, lovely to walk alongside the Mole.
Thames Water are an abomination unfortunately. Too focused on “giving value for shareholders” and not on actually doing the job they exist for.
Rona sounds a delight.
We’re going through the same issues, Sue, with our new boy Paco. Cages are completely out of the question for him, having been kept 24/7 in one for over a year. Not surprisingly he didn’t initially know that he could go out to wee/poo etc, when we got him, and like others have said, it’s hard to know when he has done so, short of monitoring him permanently outside.
However the good news is that 3 months on, he is a different dog…He now circles and gets agitated when he wants to go out to wee, so obviously we let him out, and give him huge praise, and better still his favourite fish skin treats whenever he see him wee/poo etc. The positive reinforcement has really worked.He only wees in the house when left alone, almost certainly stress/separation anxiety which is something we’re actively working on, leaving him with favourite chews, initially for 10 minutes, and slowly building up to a maximum couple of hours. The bizarre thing is he will go for a two hour walk, do nothing, then want to go out to wee etc once he’s back inside…dogs!
Final point - like all our dogs, he now sleeps on, or more usually in/down our bed - none of this sleeping elsewhere in the house as far as he is concerned (and he obviously has the choice!).
Best of luck with Rona…
Fixed that for you
I remember that with Bertie. 
We got him from the SPA in Cahors. First night, on the bed, adamant about it.
I said in my first post puppies are easier. Our two first baby Airedales, in the utility room with access to the garden, newspaper on the ground, moved closer to the back door and the garden each day - a doddle!
Those of us with older dogs, each of them comes with “baggage” - fear of cages, fear of men, fear of the great outdoors, fear of other dogs, fear of being abandoned. So for all of us, progress may be slower, options maybe more limited.
Rona is a bit subdued this morning after her vaccines yesterday. She was asleep on the lounge floor and I was resigned to another “accident” as she wouldn’t go for a walk with OH earlier. But no, she came to find me, so I said “garden” and we went out. For the first time she poo-ed and widdled in front of me. So I was able to use the words and praise her. Success! This is progress. She’s asleep on the armchair in OH’s study.
My pups, from their first days, selected to sit in two bergères by the window that my husband and I had foolishly thought were ours. We have moved these chairs with us through three houses and each dog still knows which one is ‘hers’. My husband and I only get to use the occasionally.
