[a_r]

Hi,
I'm hoping to get some help with a problem that is really getting in the way of my relationship with my dog. Bailey is a 6 year old female Saffy/Mastiff cross that we got from the RSPCA about 3 months ago. She's a wonderful dog, really well natured and affectionate and fits in vry well in the household.

She has however got a bit of an issue when it comes to toilet time that is really starting to strain things and make me enjoy having her around less and less. She has been housetrained before we got her, has no issue going to the toilet outside, is fed at the same time each day and has regular walks also at the same times each day yet still once every week or so will poo and pee on the hall carpet.

Last night was a perfect example, she was fed at 6pm as usual, walked at 11pm as usual and when she was out she both poo'ed and pee'd. It was therefore really annoying when we woke up this morning at 8am to find she had left a big present in the middle of the hallway and had peed beside it.

Any advice for what we can do to stop this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Al

[Tess&Coco]

Hi Al, welcome to the forums. Nice to hear about a rescue, especially a high-energy dog like a staffy.

If she always goes in the same spot, she probably now thinks that is a legitimate place for her to toilet. What are you using to clean it up? There may be some residual smell which attracts her to use the same spot again. There are enzyme cleaners which help remove the smell, or some people use a solution of water and vinegar.

Also, how do you deal with her when you come down and are faced with her mess? Does she always go in the night when there's no-one around? Is it always the same night - you say it's once a week. There may be a trigger, like a noise from outside.

I'm not sure how you can go about improving this - hope others will chime in with more suggestions. As it's both pee and poo it probably isn't a urinary tract infection which can cause dogs to pee indoors. Also, it's not incontinence from being a spayed bitch if she's always doing both. Is having her in a crate at night out of the question? I know our older rescue bitch would not tolerate being crated, but our pup has been crate-trained and never soils her crate. As Bailey is so good at other times, this may be your best solution (or indeed having her sleep in your room so you might hear if she is "asking" to be let out?).

Hope these help, and that you manage to find a way forward for you and your new friend.

[Jen D]

Was the dog an outside dog before you rescued her? Have you tried to use a crate just to get this under control? Before trying this I think I also would go to the vet to rule out any medical issues. Good luck

[briteday]

I certainly wouldn't rule out crating or confining to a laundry room or such until she earns trust, assuming that the vet check comes back normal.

[a_r]

Hi,
Thanks for the welcome & the advice guys, it's greatly appreciated.

Following your suggestions we got her booked into the vets to make sure there was no medical issue going on and thankfully she is indeed all clear.

From what was mentioned about her thinking it's a legitimate place to go I think that may indeed be her issue, she only ever goes on carpet during the indoor incidents despite there being a tiled area, a wooden area and a kind of rough matted area nearby - always right in the middle of the deep pile carpet. So yeah, i guess she just sees that it's fine to go there, probably as a result of us maybe handling it wrong the first time she did it or it being the closest texture to grass.

Anyway, we have started to feed her a little earlier and put her out in the outside space right after afterwards so she has taken to pooping out there. Then when she gets her walk later in the evening she has been going again outdoors before she goes to sleep. We've also blocked off her ability to get to the hallway in the night so she can't get near the carpeted areas and is confined to wooden bits of foor where she seems to know it's not ok to go.

So far so good, no repeat incidents of morning presents since last Monday night..... Woohoo!

Only downside of her being outside in the evenings is she has a bit of an obcession for possums so will sit staring up at them roaming the tree above the patio for ages completely transfixed. She also very briefly started barking at them but this behaviour was well and trully stopped by a glass of water being thrown at her the second she barked. 2 barks followed by cold wet surprises were all it took to get her to stop that one so she's not daft..

Thanks again for the help guys, I'll keep on reading this great resource.

Cheers

Al

[Jen D]

That is great things are going better! People are told all the time that the dogs are house trained and its hard to tell by people working in the shelters.