Grrrrr.... After working with our pound dog for a few months, we got everything just fine. She never was a house-training problem (oh, accidents on occaision which were human fault, not doggie), crate trained when we got her (she was a dog who probably never had a home .... was found on the side of the road, from what I see, probably someone literally dropped a litter off, how cruel can people be?) . Shuttled from one humane society (who were going to have to put her down) to another (a no-kill facility). We could see the good in her and worked hard and disciplined ourselves to train her (as I've said before, most dog training problems are really human training ones, hubby and I worked at it together).
Now, after several months of good behavior ... I loved someone who said, "you expect 100% from your dog? Do you get that from your teenaged kid? If you get 90%, go into the business! I'm paraphrasing.
Anyway, point being, in the last few days she's taken to potty-ing in inappropriate places. She seldom has an accident in the house, and when she does we know it is our fault (I wish I could get her to make a noise, but she just stares at us in a certain way. So if distracted, we can miss it. Even so, her inside accidents in the 6 mos we've had her have been negligible).
Well, long story even longer is that in the past week she's taken to doing her thing on the back porch rather then the yard. I actually can live with that, although I'm discouraging it. But not by much. When we have two feet of snow, that's where she'll have to go, anyway.
My husband wanted her to sleep on the bed rather than downstairs in her crate. I caved and it worked well for 4 mos (the first 2 she slept in her crate). Now, twice in a few days, she peed on the bed.
OK, I'd arranged for her annual to be in September (she really isn't due until November/December) because I'm taking her to Florida next month. I was going to have a full workup on her anyway. I'll talk to the vet. The last time we had this problem it was our beloved, geriatric JR terrier, and she had kidney disease. So I do want to rule out a medical problem.
I also keep telling hubby that just before we go to bed, we need to take her outside and stay out there with her until she does something. But neither of us follow through.
I'm not sure who I'm more peeved at, me or hubby. Cannot bring myself to be angry at Rosebud, because I'm pretty sure it is either us or medical, not even a discipline problem.
Oh, by the way ... Rosebud doesn't even spend 6 hours a week in her crate. We're both retired and although we have activities separate, she's not home alone very often, and that's the only time we crate her. She loves her crate and goes in there to just lie down if she feels a little stressed.
It is just frustrating to have come this far and now I'm laundering sheets and blankets every day (in spite of having a good sized house, because of the house's age, I only have an apartment-sized over-under washer/dryer system)
