My mum’s dog is untrained and confined, what can I do?

[Liesmorelies]

I am having to stay in my 80yr old dm's house for a few days while she is post-op and she has a dog - a 2/3 yr old corgi. He's unneutered. I don't visit very often at all and live 3 hours away but had noticed previously that he was always locked away when dc and I did visit, which was not the way with previous dogs at all.

Now I see why. He is totally unhouse-trained and pees and shits inside as a matter of course. He seems to think one of the chairs in the space he is mainly confined in is a tree, and just pisses on it. It's gross. There is a large garden which I am sure dm lets him in all the time, but when I let him out he seemed to have no concept that this is where he should be doing his business. I have arrived today at teatime (dm went in this morning and should be out tomorrow) and he had been shut in the kitchen-diner/conservatory all day - it's actually quite big but I feel bad for him. I would have loved to have taken him for a nice long walk when I arrived but she had already told me not to as he is a nightmare on the lead. I threw a ball for him for about 30 mins in the garden and then he came in and pissed.

I had to leave him shut in that space as he jumps up and slobbers all the time - not known corgis to slobber as much as he does. I felt so bad for him I went and sat out there (it stinks) and threw a ball for him again. He was initially being a nightmare and jumping up and barking but actually responded really well to a stern voice and being ignored (a fluke I'm sure) so I had him placing the ball on the rug rather then dropping it full of slob into my lap and we had a good game. I've then come to bed and had to leave him out there again, which is sad.

Growing up we had a corgi and my parents always had them after that too and all were house-trained. They probably had less than perfect lead behaviour and recall looking back, but they were manageable and had good lives. Now I feel dm has taken on a puppy when she really shouldn't have and it's a bit of nightmare. What can I do?

Hose training needs to start again from scratch, however it will be difficult to get the smell out of the inside of the house. He will likely continue to go inside all the time it smells like wee.

I would also be tempted to take him for a walk. If he pulls, stop moving forward, or turn around. As soon as he stops pulling, move forward again. It won't take him long to realise that he only moves if the lead is loose. Corgis take a while to train so this one may take a while but be consistent.

I’d be tempted to talk to her about rehoming him. Poor thing sounds poorly looked after at best and neglected at worst. It’s not a life for any dog.

He’s being neglected op. The lack of house training is on your mum. Did she have him from a puppy? I’d question why anyone at her age took on a puppy or a young dog. She’s clearly not able to manage him and so he should be re-homed - I assume there will be breed rescues? It’s cruel to allow this to continue.

Is he a Pembroke or a Cardigan? Not that it matters much

Corgis unfortunately are often brought by people thinking they are fat little lap dogs happy with little exercise but in actual fact are really very active and need to be kept stimulated and excersised regularly

They aren't known as a drooly breed it's possible he has dental issues if he is slobbery

Id be having stern words with dm for letting him get to this age and not being potty trained, my cardi boy was a pain to potty traine but got there in the end and id be loosing my temper big time over him not being walked
Actually if it was me I'd be taking the dog and finding it a suitable home no matter if she kicked up

She either needs to get a dog walker in daily if she can't handle walking him and get him potty trained or she needs to surrender him

I need to clarify that she does walk him, it's just that she doesn't want me to - or didn't - but now that she is home it turns out that it's not him pulling that's the issue but the fact that it is insanely difficult to get him to put the harness on, which obviously is less than ideal too. However, I've now taken him out and it was fine once we were out (and he did do his business) but it was farcical getting to that point.

Also, when she's here she spends most of her time with him in the rooms mentioned - it's the main downstairs space. I'm not denying it's absolutely ridiculous that she got him as a puppy and unacceptable that he's not house-trained, but he's not locked up on his own most days and he does get walked.

My worry is if she gets frail, what happens? If she had a trained adult dog I would take it in for her if needed but there's no way I could cope with this one.

Look into The Cinammon Trust OP. They help older and disabled people who are unable to walk/look after their dogs. They also take on dogs if the owners go into care or die. You are obviously a caring person but no one will want to take the dog on if he's not house trained at least. It's not difficult, even with an older dog.