Dire Need of Help

[desertrose81]

We rescued a dog about 5 months ago. She is about 2 years old. She was born on an Amish farm where she presumably was used as a deterrent for mice. Then she was taken by a hoarder- think TLC Hoarders. Yes, it was that bad. She had no potty training whatsoever at that point, and would pee in our living room. After I got her on a good schedule of walk in the morning, walk after work (about 5 hrs later), and then dog park at night, she stopped having accidents. However, recently we got a new rug and she’s been having accidents again. Not every time is it a lot of pee, but it’s not a little either. We used to leave pee pads out where she could go, but recently were able to stop since she no longer used them and was presumably trained. What should I do in this situation? Usually she barks or gets jumpy when she needs to go, but hasn’t been doing that when she’s having accidents. Any advice is super appreciated, thank you.

 

[catcarp]

@desertrose81 This is why I despise pee pads. Once a dog has learned that it's okay to go inside under certain circumstances, it can be incredibly difficult to get them to understand that expectation has changed and it is NEVER okay to go inside anymore. This is incredibly confusing and because most puppies experience pee pads while still with their litter mates they are very young and experiences at that age are so formative I'm still struggling with my one year old pup occasionally having accidents if I put any of my rugs back out. Sucks now that the rain is here. She doesn't have accidents consistently, but if she isn't feeling 100% (poor girl has a very sensitive tummy) she will go on a rug without even asking to go outside. It's incredibly frustrating and I'm still trying to fix this myself! So no advice, just empathy

 

[fer0822]

@catcarp Made the decision of not having any rugs at home for the first year we had our dog. Best decision ever, except for the bathroom mats

 

[johnm8269]

@desertrose81 When there is sometimes the slightest change, they can revert and have to retrain. But there might be something about the dog park. You might want to watch her closely when you both are there. Something has scared her. Good luck at trying to figure out what has happened.