Odd bathroom behavior

[pike]

Hello,

I'm looking for some advice on my dog's potty training quirk. He's a 15-month old neutered Rhodesian Ridgeback/Chow/Boxer mix.

We've got him trained to tell us when he has to go outside to go potty, and for the last 3 months he has been accident-free...AS LONG AS WE'RE HOME! If we leave him alone for more than 2 hours, he urinates in the house.

It's very strange. I can have him in the house and ignore his pleas to go out for hours (I've actually tested this) and he will NOT go in the house. But once we leave him alone, all rules go out the window.

We have him confined to a small area of our basement when we go out, and every time he urinates we always clean with bleach but he always goes in the same exact spot. We originally had him in a crate (just like this one here pictured on petsmart.com, but not our dog ) but he completely destroyed it in a matter of hours. He really has a thing about crates/cages.

-Mike

[Karen]

Bleach won't necessarily get all the scent out. Get a good enzymatic cleaner, like Nature's Miracle - otherwise he's still smelling the enzymes that say "goo spot to pee - right here!"

Other than that - so he won't pee there if you are home?

[pike]

Nature's Miracle - is that someting I can find at the supermarket or do I get that at the pet store?

Correct - he absolutely will not pee in the house if we are home.

thanks
-Mike

[kimlovescats]

It sounds like he is having a bit of separation anxiety! He gets upset when you leave him home alone! I know how frustrating this is for you, because you obviously HAVE to leave him alone sometimes! I'm no expert on dog behaviour, but others here ARE ... at least in my eyes! I wish you luck on getting this figured out! My only thought would be to give him a brand new bone right before you leave each time .... at least for a while! Maybe he will be so busy enjoying his bone, that he won't notice he is alone? Just a thought!

Kim