I have recently adopted a nine year old bitch from rescue. She is a darling but I seem to be persistently coming unstuck on house training though (it soon became apparent she possibly hadn't been previously after several incidences of weeing and then a couple of weeing and pooing episodes.
In the main, she is now ok and the pooing seems to have stopped (touch wood!). I found that she is food obsessed so is so happy to go do "toilet" in the garden as she gets a biscuit on her return, but I have come home to a huge patch of wee on my bedroom carpet again. I was out for about an hour and a half after bringing her back from a really good walk.
My questions are:
- It has been suggested to me that she thinks she is above me in the pack by being allowed upstairs, but I understand the pack/dominance theory is outdated. Is there another reason for not having her bed upstairs?
- I usually find a large amount of wee - so is that different to "marking"?
- How the hell do you get a wee sample from a female dog?? I need to rule out her kidneys being a problem but she is becoming paranoid about me following her around the garden and that is the last thing I want to do, make her uncomfortable about weeing in the correct place!
Any advice/hints/tips/waterproof sheeting much appreciated!