Rescue Dog & Housebreaking

[catnapper]

She might have never been trained to potty properly. The thing that indicates a learned behavior is the fact that she potties where she knows the family won't catch her (hall, dining room, etc.) She may have been "taught" that peeing in the house is bad and therefore she hides it. By being "taught" most people inadvertantly think yelling at their dog or rubbing their nose in the pee will train them.... all it does is shame them and teach them to hide their potty in the wrong places.

What I tell my students is to get her on a schedule and be consistent about it. I adopted my Callie a month ago and immediately got her on a schedule. One night about a week into her new schedule, I was involved in a movie and didn't take her for her 9:00 walk. By the time the movie was over at 10:00, I found a puddle in the livingroom. Oops on me! Oops for two reasons: 1) because I ignored her schedule to watch a movie. 2) because I left her out of my sight!

When you have a dog that tends to seek out inappropriate places to pee, you need to keep her with you at all times until the peeing problem is gone. YES, its going to be a hassle and pain in the neck for a couple weeks, BUT the end result is years and years of a well trained dog.'

Good luck with your new girl. And thank you for rescuing TWO dogs!

[Jessika]

Awesome that you're calling your vet to rule out a UTI

But even so, I do strongly recommend crating her, as I said (and you agreed) this is a major change for her, and sometimes crating can really help ease them into the transition. I promise it works, you just have to do it correctly and give it enough time

We never crate our dogs while we are away anymore, but it's still there and open for them to go into whenever they want. My boy will ALWAYS be hanging out in it; he sleeps in it, chills in it, and goes to it when he gets stressed out -- it's his "safe haven".