TL/DR: Despite a dog walker, several walks and a couple hours of (hired) activity a day, my dog still urinates in a corner she was previously pooping in while I'm at work. What do I need to do to stop this behavior?
Backstory -
Zoey is a good dog, the best I've ever had. She's docile, sweet, VERY obedient - she doesn't even take food left within her reach. Behavior (except for this problem I've been working on) is absolutely not an issue for her.
I adopted Zoey around November of last year. I work at a dog friendly office so, when I first adopted her, I used to bring her to work with me everyday. I had no problems with her when I was doing this - she would hang out in the office or ride with me in the car, with maybe two or three potty breaks a day.
It might be important to note that Zoey likes to 'mark' rather than just pee - sometimes walks take upwards of half an hour (without pooping) and about ten or fifteen tiny pee stops. When pooping, walks can be around an hour and she's very selective of where she goes.
Our schedule was as follows:
Unfortunately, Houston got too hot for poor Zoey. She's too small and she gets kind-of "sick" and lethargic in the extreme summer heat. She also got sunburned one day, so I decided to leave her at home during the summer months.
For the first two days, she did fine. I could tell she was bored (she was SUPER hyper when I came home at the end of a long day) and she was practically peeing herself walking out the door. On day three, I came home to a TINY (as in, smaller than my cat's poo - definitely NOT a 'man I reeeeeallly had to go' poo) poop in a back corner behind the table. I scolded, but this continued.
After a few days (we're at about day 5 of this first week of being left at home) these evolved into full-on poops, like this was her restroom. That weekend, I hired a dog walker (at no small expense, I mean DAMN!). The first week was an improvement, but there was about a 75% chance I would come home to excrement in my carpet.
I asked the walker to leave me a schedule for each day she works and, after that, we were able to work out a new schedule to minimize the problem. While we have, at this point, solved the defecating, I'm now finding fresh urine spots on an almost daily basis. As you'll see below, there's no logical rhyme or reason for it. Here's her new schedule:
(keep in mind that this sitter spends TIME with Zoey - the 20-40min walk is not it, she's usually taking Zoey to parks, for extended walks, she might stay at my place and play video games with the dog - all in all she gets about 2-3 hours of quality company time about 4/6 days a week in addition to her walks)
Despite this, the urine spots continue, all in the same area as the original defecation were occurring in.
Is there anything else I need to be doing? Is there anything I can do?! I'm losing it. I love this dog more than anything, but between the walker, the carpet cleaners and the carpet shampooers, I'm going flat broke.
Thanks!
Backstory -
Zoey is a good dog, the best I've ever had. She's docile, sweet, VERY obedient - she doesn't even take food left within her reach. Behavior (except for this problem I've been working on) is absolutely not an issue for her.
I adopted Zoey around November of last year. I work at a dog friendly office so, when I first adopted her, I used to bring her to work with me everyday. I had no problems with her when I was doing this - she would hang out in the office or ride with me in the car, with maybe two or three potty breaks a day.
It might be important to note that Zoey likes to 'mark' rather than just pee - sometimes walks take upwards of half an hour (without pooping) and about ten or fifteen tiny pee stops. When pooping, walks can be around an hour and she's very selective of where she goes.
Our schedule was as follows:
- 7:00a-7:30a - wake up, I would shower, she would roll around in bed and sneeze a lot
- 7:30a-8:00a - we would fill water bowls and put out food for the cat and dog, take the dog for a quick walk (1-2 pee stops)
- 8:00a-8:30a - tidy up the house, get dressed, grab things for the day
- 8:30a-5:30p - drive to work, work, etc. - here Zoey would divide her time between hanging out in the office, running through the run behind my office and riding in the car with me for hours and hours
- 7:00p-8:00p - we arrive home, walk Zoey - long walk, she would poop, then go back in and eat dinner. Sometimes she would prefer dinner first, but rarely.
- 10:00p-11:30p - after dinner, relaxing on the couches/etc., we go for a final 20-min walk and we're in bed around 12:30
Unfortunately, Houston got too hot for poor Zoey. She's too small and she gets kind-of "sick" and lethargic in the extreme summer heat. She also got sunburned one day, so I decided to leave her at home during the summer months.
For the first two days, she did fine. I could tell she was bored (she was SUPER hyper when I came home at the end of a long day) and she was practically peeing herself walking out the door. On day three, I came home to a TINY (as in, smaller than my cat's poo - definitely NOT a 'man I reeeeeallly had to go' poo) poop in a back corner behind the table. I scolded, but this continued.
After a few days (we're at about day 5 of this first week of being left at home) these evolved into full-on poops, like this was her restroom. That weekend, I hired a dog walker (at no small expense, I mean DAMN!). The first week was an improvement, but there was about a 75% chance I would come home to excrement in my carpet.
I asked the walker to leave me a schedule for each day she works and, after that, we were able to work out a new schedule to minimize the problem. While we have, at this point, solved the defecating, I'm now finding fresh urine spots on an almost daily basis. As you'll see below, there's no logical rhyme or reason for it. Here's her new schedule:
(keep in mind that this sitter spends TIME with Zoey - the 20-40min walk is not it, she's usually taking Zoey to parks, for extended walks, she might stay at my place and play video games with the dog - all in all she gets about 2-3 hours of quality company time about 4/6 days a week in addition to her walks)
- 7:00a-7:30a - wake up, I shower, she rolls around in bed and sneezes a lot
- 7:30a-8:00a - we fill water bowls and put out food for the cat and dog, take the dog for a quick walk (1-2 pee stops)
- 8:00a-8:30a - tidy up the house, get dressed, grab things for the day
- 8:30a-9:00a - I leave for work
- ~10:30a - Zoey walks with sitter, poops at this point (treat is also given for pooping outside)
- ~12:00p - Zoey walk, pee
- ~1:30p - Zoey walk, pee
- ~3:00p - Zoey walk, pee
- ~5:30p - Zoey walk, pee
- 7:00p-8:00p - I come home, immediately walk Zoey for about 15-30 min, she pees about 3-5 times - I feed her immediately following this walk
- 10:00p-11:30p - after dinner, relaxing on the couches/etc., we go for a final 20-min walk and we're in bed around 12:30
Despite this, the urine spots continue, all in the same area as the original defecation were occurring in.
Is there anything else I need to be doing? Is there anything I can do?! I'm losing it. I love this dog more than anything, but between the walker, the carpet cleaners and the carpet shampooers, I'm going flat broke.
Thanks!