seanmoran

This may be a bit long so please work with me. Any help on this topic would be great. A little background. I adopted my dog from the animal shelter about 1-1/2 years ago. Poor thing had fleas, a giant tick stuck in her, and worms. We got her to a vet right away and got her taken care of. We began crate training her which went fantastically. Within two days she was totally adjusted to the crate (maybe was crate trained in the past). The only thing we couldnt get beyond were the accidents in the house (always pee never poop). Finally it dawned on me to take her to the vet. Skip forward about 1 year. We have had chronic urinary tract infections, and eventually had a pile of stones removed from her bladder. She has been clear for a few months now (no infections or stones)- we have ultrasounded and had urine samples taken.

here is my issue.

I still after 1-1/2 years have to crate the dog while my wife and I are at work. While we are home we have baby gates set up. She goes to the door and whines to go out and she goes potty pretty much right away (sometimes there is a lot of sniffing). We still have accidents though in the house. They are fairly infrequent- maybe once every two weeks or so. I believe this is in part to my vigilence in taking her out ALL the time while I am home so we dont regress with the accident if it happens. I have read every book there is on housetraining, I have her crate trained, I watch over her like a hawk (yes she has accidents and yes they arent in front of me - I REALLY DO WATCH LIKE A HAWK- yet sometimes the dog should be able to go in the other room without me bugging her and 90% of the time she goes in the other room to sleep), I have contacted a trainer (who's only help to me was explaining what I have tried already).

While I expect dogs to have accidents at times it still is frequent enough to frustrate me to no end. One answer is to make her an outside dog (i refuse to crate her ALL the time- she sleeps in her crate and goes in the crate while we work- thats enough crate time) but i dont feel a dog belongs alone outside all day either. if there were other dogs i might feel better about it. Obviously my dog needs special attention to get her over that last hump to be completely housetrained. Unfortunatly, i have exhausted my emotional and physical resources. I need to find her a place where (ideally) someone would be home most of the time to get the routine to goutside to stick. Possibly even have a fenced yard and other dogs to spend time with.

I have a feeling my frustration stems from ALL the issues we have dealt with. Between the medical and housetraining. It is very draining. however, I know that when I find a home for her i will be leaving her a better dog than when she came to me. She sits, shakes, never barks, never howls-unless I initiate it, she sleeps A LOT especially when I walk her once a day, nudges your hand to make you pet her, and is overall a sweet heart. I just understand she needs further training from an experienced basset or dog owner with the time to finish what I have started. Also, we never had the luxury, being that she was at a shelter, of knowing her medical history. She is about 4yo to the best of our knowledge, she is tri colored, she has to be on a prescription dog food, has the potential of developing stones in the future (but shows no sign of issues in the past few months since her surgery).

I feel terrible that I want to find her a new home, but she obviously needs just a little more than I can give at this juncture (and my god I have tried with everything I have). Any help or advice would be appreciated. i am in Winchester VA. Im sure someone will mention BROOD's referal service. While great in theory i havent had the best experience with them. in fact i have had no experience with them. twice i called there when i first got her to ask questions. NEVER GOT A CALL BACK. So i am a bit tainted by them.

I am going to be sure to interview and do house visits. I guess that is the best I can do. Any advice please????

Barbara Winters

I could offer some housetraining suggestions but sounds like you've made up your mind to get rid of her. You never did tell us her name. I jut hope you're up front to any prospective new owner about her medical history and the frustrations you have had trying to housetrain her. But I'm sure there is someone out there who will love her in spite of her having infrequent accidents maybe once every two weeks or so.

Betsy Iole

The dog door has been a godsend for our dogs with medical issues associated with frequent voiding.

__________________
Betsy, Mom to
CH Bugle Bay's Sin City Caper UD RE TD BHCA-VC
CH Bugle Bay's Sin City Cuppa Joe TD
CH Bugle Bay's AllUCanEat Buffet CDX RN TDX NA CGC BHCA-VCX, 1996-2008
"Bugsie" UDX NA NAJ CGC, 1991-2006

Belinda

You wouldn't have this problem if you had a dog door that she had access to 24 hrs. a day.

__________________
"Dogs are not our whole lives, but they make our lives whole." Roger Caras

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." Groucho Marx

Lazy Daze of Stony Brook CD (AT
Setauket's Nice-n-Daffy CD (AT
Winston CGC, TDI (Labrador Retriever, AT
Good Ground's Whoa Nellie CDX, CGC, TDI (AT
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Labslanding Let Freedom Ring CGC, TDI (Labrador Retriever in training)
Branscombe's No Place Like Home (Basset Hound in training)

Mikey T

First one of the most common reason other than medical conditions Is a lack of a clearly trained signal that means I need to go Out. see House Training: Ring My Bell!


Second while not likely there may be another medical cause for the problem that needs investigation
well maybe the accidents are occuring while she sleeps. If so it is likely as a result of a condition known as spay incontenence that is ussually easily treated with a drug called "proin" or hormone replacement.


To better keep track of her when she not in the crate or outside you could consider tethering (attach her to a leash and attach the leash around your waist) therefore she cannot wander out of supervision yet is free of the crate.