Help, dog constantly wetting in the house

Dufus

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Hello, I'm at the end of my tether and I don't know where to turn , we took in our little dog in October as her owner passed away and the family were looking for a home for her, she is the sweetest and has really brightened our lives up after losing our greyhound last January however she constantly wees in the house and now she's even pooing and we don't know where to turn next.

Her usual routine is that she's let out first thing and then walked as soon as my partner is dressed and ready , we then go to work around 8am and then my father in law comes around at 11am and walks her again and then stays with her for an hour or so and usually heads off around 1-2pm , my boyfriend is then back from work at 4:30pm and walks her again, we are then in for the evening so we did let her out before bed around 11pm ish however she's let out numerous times on an evening usually once and hour my boyfriend now walks her again around 9pm but she's still let out again around 11pm sometimes later and she sleeps all night with no accidents.

I just don't know where to turn and how to stop her using the house as her personal toilet , we even leave puppy pads at the back door but she just wees all over the house anywhere and not on the puppy pads.

Does anyone have any advice on where to turn? We don't want to have to re-home her as we love her but if we aren't the right home and she is anxious or its not working for her then we will have to 😪😪
 

Dufus

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Vet check?
She's booked in next week to be checked over, however I've spoken to a friend who's a vet although sadly not local anymore and she said when she met our dog when we first got her she was in good health and her eyes are bright and her teeth and gums are healthy , her coat and skin is in good condition and she could see nothing wrong, I mean obviously she said it's worth a blood test and urine test however she said it's unlikely to be anything even a water infection as she would do this through the night also and she doesn't so she thinks it's behavioural
 

hurricane124

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Crate training can help lessen anxiety and help with toilet training.
Helped our rescue girl massively.
Now she's more relaxed and in routines she doesn't have a crate anymore, but it helped to get the basic points accross.
 

Dufus

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Crate training can help lessen anxiety and help with toilet training.
Helped our rescue girl massively.
Now she's more relaxed and in routines she doesn't have a crate anymore, but it helped to get the basic points accross.
We do have a crate to try that a friend has kindly given us, we've set it up to allow her time to get used to it but she doesn't go anywhere near it , unfortunately we don't know if she has been crate trained previously and we have had 2 greyhounds before her that were just a doddle, they were the most perfect dogs we could have asked for and after our second one went we said we wouldn't have another as too heartbreaking when they go and the this little girl just happened to need a home and she belonged to a relative of a friend who knew her and said she was fine so we took her in but now I'm worried she has bigger issues than we know how to deal with and we're letting her down by not having experience with problems like this, we don't know where to start with the crate training now we have allowed her time to see the crate and familiarise her self with it being there , do we just put her in there and build up the form gradually? Should we do that whilst were in the house at first before we try leaving her to go to work? I worry incase it's too long for her to be in there between us leaving for work and my father in law coming round to walk her and then again when he leaves and before my partner is home ☹️
 

meleeka

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How old is she? Does she go to the toilet on her walks? Is she going to the toilet when left alone or when people are in?

Echo this. You haven’t really given enough info on when it’s happening for anyone to be able to advise. If it’s only when left it’s likely to be seperation anxiety triggered by her upheaval and she’d likely be like it anywhere. There’s lots of advice available if it is that.
 

Dufus

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How old is she? Does she go to the toilet on her walks? Is she going to the toilet when left alone or when people are in?
She's around 3 years old, yes she goes on walks everytime and we don't end our walks or turn for home until she has had a wee and a poo although usually she does that pretty quickly into the walk.
She predominantly goes to the toilet when she is left alone however she has also done it a few times when we're in and we've tried quickly grabbing her and running outside when she's mid wee and praising her outside when she continues to do it, we always praise her when she goes to the toilet in the garden.

A friend at work suggested cbd oil to help with any anxiety she has which we tried but on a much lower strength than her dog who apparently has had it for years but we didn't notice and improvement and didn't want to use it un necessarily so stopped it
 

meleeka

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I think a vet check is in order to rule out a physical cause. They will also be able to advise on plug ins etc to help with any anxiety. Presumably she was fully housetrained in her last home?
 

Dufus

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Echo this. You haven’t really given enough info on when it’s happening for anyone to be able to advise. If it’s only when left it’s likely to be seperation anxiety triggered by her upheaval and she’d likely be like it anywhere. There’s lots of advice available if it is that.
Sorry, I would say it's definitely when we are out of the house although she does do it when we're in sometimes also.

We have looked for some trainers/behaviouralists locally and I have some numbers to try and call tomorrow or Monday so that we can have someone come to show us and help us help her as we're not experience with this problem so we feel like we're letting her down by not knowing how to help her and to stop this happening
 

Dufus

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Do you know if she was house trained in her original home ?
Unfortunately we don't know, her previous owner passed away and the family brought her to us and as far as they told us she was as we did ask and asked if she was ok for periods on her own as we work but we are fortunate that family come and walk her and sit with her everyday and they assured us she was and she didn't seem to give off any indication that she wasn't on her visits to us and when we said we would take her and she stayed her first night she wee's straight away but we expected to have some accidents with the upheaval and all the changes so just made sure to take her outside alot and praise her everytime so she knows where she needs to go but it's been everyday since, a friend who is a vet came to see her and checked her for us and said outwardly she seemed healthy and in great condition and that to her it seems behavioural but that was a while now so she booked into our local vets next week so have another check up and we've asked if they can take a blood test and a urine test to rule anything out
 

Dufus

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I think a vet check is in order to rule out a physical cause. They will also be able to advise on plug ins etc to help with any anxiety. Presumably she was fully housetrained in her last home?
Unfortunately we dont know for definite if she was house-trained , only the word of her old owners family that she was.

A friend who is a vet did give her a check over at home when we got her and said everything seemed ok and it was probably behavioural and recommended the plug ins to help her settle and to support any anxiety she may have so we tried them but they made absolutely no difference
 

bonny

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It appears you have inherited a three year old dog who has never been house trained .....maybe never will be assuming the original owners tried as well and failed. I am not you but I couldn’t have such a dog in my house and I know how I would deal with the situation, I feel for you, horrible situation to find yourself in x
 

meleeka

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We have looked for some trainers/behaviouralists locally and I have some numbers to try and call tomorrow or Monday so that we can have someone come to show us and help us help her as we're not experience with this problem so we feel like we're letting her down by not knowing how to help her and to stop this happening

You aren’t letting her down, you’ve given her a nice home!

My bet is she probably wasn’t ever properly house trained and I think you have to assume that and train her accordingly If morning physical comes up. She’s only young which is a plus. I did manage to housetrain an older dog by teaching her to wee on command, although I did spend a lot of time standing in the garden.
 

Dufus

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It appears you have inherited a three year old dog who has never been house trained .....maybe never will be assuming the original owners tried as well and failed. I am not you but I couldn’t have such a dog in my house and I know how I would deal with the situation, I feel for you, horrible situation to find yourself in x
Oh no I hope this is not the case ☹️ we love her dearly and feel like we're letting her down as it is without having to really think about finding another home for her however if there was a more suitable home out there then we would let her go as much as it would break our hearts, we also bought and renovated out house 18 months ago and the greyhound never ever as much as had an out of the blue accident in it and yet this one has wee'd and occasionally poo'd (the pooing had only happened when we aren't in) almost daily on every carpet in the house which happen to be new which is hard to deal with when we can't afford to replace but ideally we just want her to stop and be ok and we will just have to replace them as and when we can in time again
 

Dufus

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You aren’t letting her down, you’ve given her a nice home!

My bet is she probably wasn’t ever properly house trained and I think you have to assume that and train her accordingly If morning physical comes up. She’s only young which is a plus. I did manage to housetrain an older dog by teaching her to wee on command, although I did spend a lot of time standing in the garden.
Thank you, that is encouraging to know, we do shut her in the kitchen where the floor can at least be moped and washed however the damage has already been done to the rest of the carpets already unfortunately ☹️ however when she's in the kitchen she digs at the back of the door and I worry that shes stressed, she has also dug a hole in the sitting room carpet behind the door doing the same thing , we did allow her to have run of the house so see if she settled more but she just wee'd upstairs then also, she also wee'd on the bed when my partner was in the shower! we don't want to give up on her but worry we aren't the right home for her and would rather just solve the problem and keep her forever but I don't think we have enough experience to correct it. I'm just baffled that she goes all night without any accident at all, infact she only had one during the night and that was the first few days she came which we put down to the change and new home and she's never had any others but during the day is a nightmare ☹️ she even wee'd on my friends foot a few weeks ago when we were sat having a cuppa and she had been in the garden 20 minutes earlier, I was just lost for words!
 

bonny

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Oh no I hope this is not the case ☹️ we love her dearly and feel like we're letting her down as it is without having to really think about finding another home for her however if there was a more suitable home out there then we would let her go as much as it would break our hearts, we also bought and renovated out house 18 months ago and the greyhound never ever as much as had an out of the blue accident in it and yet this one has wee'd and occasionally poo'd (the pooing had only happened when we aren't in) almost daily on every carpet in the house which happen to be new which is hard to deal with when we can't afford to replace but ideally we just want her to stop and be ok and we will just have to replace them as and when we can in time again
I doubt very much you would find her another home, there are enough dogs looking for a home who don’t have such a problem.
 

Dufus

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I doubt very much you would find her another home, there are enough dogs looking for a home who don’t have such a problem.
That's true however apart from this she is a wonderful dog and makes us happy but we wondered if she needs a home with someone who doesn't work or who is retired where they are in more or a home with someone who is experienced in training dogs, I mean that would be a last resort and we're just ready to try what ever we can to correct the problem but we aren't sure where to turn next
 

bonny

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Out of my interest, what sort of dog is she ? Is she trained and well behaved in other ways, come to call etc ?
 

Dufus

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Out of my interest, what sort of dog is she ? Is she trained and well behaved in other ways, come to call etc ?
She's is a border terrier X patterdale, she is quite well trained, she knows all the basic commands of sit and stay and she walks well on the lead, she also has excellent re call when off the lead or just in general and will come immediately when called , she's a real sweetheart 😊 apart from the toilet issues of course
 
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Pearlsasinger

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She probably has been used to having someone at home all day and it is likely that her elderly owner wasn't diligent in housetraining/letting her out frequently. But a older dog can be house-trained successfully. There was a thread on here recently about a bitch which has been rehomed from a puppy farm, the new owner describes training her. It might be worth searching for that thread. You will look back on this time and wonder what you were worrying about.

I would introduce her to the crate by feeding her in there, with the door open, and build up gradually. Does she have something to do while you are out? Again, there are quite a few threads on here about crate training, so a search should bring some ideas up for you.
 

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A couple of things come to mind. A complete work up at the vet to rule out UTI and thyroid issues. If she's healthy treat her as you would a brand new puppy in the house. Put her on a regular schedule, get her comfortable in the crate by feeding her meals and treats in the crate, tether her to you while you're home so if she starts to squat you can stop her and get her outside. If you can't have eyes on her she needs to be somewhere where she can't sneak pee. I would either put her outside in a safely fenced area or use the crate. Use an enzymatic cleaner to clean where she has gone in the house and good luck.
 

Aru

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Check with urinalysis first to make sure no stones or a UTI...

but there is a possibility she was never well house trained to begin with. I would go back to basics and treat her like a new puppy. She does not understand it's not ok to go inside and it's up to you to teach her that outside is the toilet.

Confine her to an area of the house small enough that she feels the need to hold her wee -crate, puppy gate across the laundry or kids playpen often work well.
Then start taking her out on a routine and giving her the chance to toilet regularly. praising and teach a vocal command like pee pee do your business etc every single time. If your lucky she'll catch on quick and start to pee on command. If not then still do it until she's starts showing subtle signs asking to go out then start watching and praising these as well.

if you fail and she pees/poos indoor...roll up a paper and smack yourself on the wrist for letting the dog down by not taking her out on time and having the chance to do it right- there's NO point in punishing the dog for going inside she doesn't know any better. If you catch her in act ...run outside and praise is she finishes out there.
If she's scared of being punished for toileting insude she may hide and pee in places you cannot see..

If she's been left for hours without anyone there to release her outside then you to confine to an area but offer her puppy pads etc to use rather then expect her to hold it as she likely does not understand shes meant to wait until she can go outside and that's not the dog's fault.
 

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A couple of things come to mind. A complete work up at the vet to rule out UTI and thyroid issues. If she's healthy treat her as you would a brand new puppy in the house. Put her on a regular schedule, get her comfortable in the crate by feeding her meals and treats in the crate, tether her to you while you're home so if she starts to squat you can stop her and get her outside. If you can't have eyes on her she needs to be somewhere where she can't sneak pee. I would either put her outside in a safely fenced area or use the crate. Use an enzymatic cleaner to clean where she has gone in the house and good luck.
Agree with this. Crate her, tether her to you when you're in.
There are plenty of you tube videos on crate training, Susan Garrett had a series called Crate Games so look that up.
She sounds like she's probably a bit stressed with the upheaval, and combined with being a terrier and being allowed to get away with it in the past, it's what she does now, but she'll learn quickly that it's not acceptable. You have to have very clear boundaries with terriers, they will push them when they're allowed to!
 

tda

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It does sound more stress related, she may not have been on her own at all for the last three years. Definitely work on the crate training xx
 

Dufus

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Check with urinalysis first to make sure no stones or a UTI...

but there is a possibility she was never well house trained to begin with. I would go back to basics and treat her like a new puppy. She does not understand it's not ok to go inside and it's up to you to teach her that outside is the toilet.

Confine her to an area of the house small enough that she feels the need to hold her wee -crate, puppy gate across the laundry or kids playpen often work well.
Then start taking her out on a routine and giving her the chance to toilet regularly. praising and teach a vocal command like pee pee do your business etc every single time. If your lucky she'll catch on quick and start to pee on command. If not then still do it until she's starts showing subtle signs asking to go out then start watching and praising these as well.

if you fail and she pees/poos indoor...roll up a paper and smack yourself on the wrist for letting the dog down by not taking her out on time and having the chance to do it right- there's NO point in punishing the dog for going inside she doesn't know any better. If you catch her in act ...run outside and praise is she finishes out there.
If she's scared of being punished for toileting insude she may hide and pee in places you cannot see..

If she's been left for hours without anyone there to release her outside then you to confine to an area but offer her puppy pads etc to use rather then expect her to hold it as she likely does not understand shes meant to wait until she can go outside and that's not the dog's fault.
Thank you, that's really helpful we do use puppy pads at the moment however I think we might have to train her to use them! Bless her.

Yeah we never punish her , she's quite nervous with sudden movements and I think if we ever told her off she would be frightened, we do say no if she messes in the house when we're in and we put her straight outside especially if she's mid flow and then praise her outside.

We do need to treat her like a puppy however I've never house trained a dog like this, our greyhounds were both adults as ex racers and they were fully kennel trained when we got them and once we showed them where the garden was they just knew , they were so good. I'm going to have a look on YouTube now and train myself to train her 😊
 

Dufus

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Thank you for all of your help and advice, were going to start feeding her in the crate from today to get her used to it (I'm also going to watch some videos on Facebook about using the crate and house training from scratch ) once we have the results from the vet following her wee sample and we know there is nothing wrong ( and from the blood tests) then we will start shutting her in the crate.

I'm still going to call the numbers I have for the behaviourists and trainers as we probably need to be trained to be able to train and help the dog.

I've also messaged her old owners daughter who brought her to us and ask if her dad has any problems with her going in the house etc and see if that sheds any light on anything.

My worry is if this is more of an anxious thing especially if she's not used to being on her own (I have asked the previous owners daughter again whether she was definitely ok on her own as they and previously said she was) that even if we crack house training is she likely to continue to do it from an anxiety point of view?
 

Dufus

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It does sound more stress related, she may not have been on her own at all for the last three years. Definitely work on the crate training xx
Yes I'm starting to realise that terriers are a whole different ball game to greyhounds! She's just as loving but definitely has more energy and is like a little spring compared to them. I suppose we were a bit naive when we took her in as if we had known she was to do this we would have said from the start that we weren't experienced enough to retrain her as there greyhounds were so easy so did it for us but she's here now and were so attached so we need to try anything and everything to crack this
 

JillA

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1. Vet check to rule out physiological problems NOW. No reputable behaviourist will treat without a preceding vet check
2. Really really good clean up of any previous areas, with specialist biological product (washing powder if necessary but patch test for bleach first) to ensure she isn't over marking. Dogs sense of smell is several hundred times more acute than ours.
3.Crate train and use puppy pads or newspaper to retrain her sense of substrate - dogs accept certain surfaces as toilet areas, such as grass (similar to carpet!!) hard surface etc etc
 
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