We adopted a dog about 5 months ago and she's about 95% house trained. How do we fix this last 5%?

Hi Cindy,

My husband and I have a spayed female mix, approx. 1 - 2 years old, we adopted 5 months ago. We have a dog door that gives our pooches 24/7 access to our fenced backyard, so they are able to go out to do their business as needed. Our two older dogs never defecate or urinate in the house, and this younger one does not about 95% of the time. It's that other 5% that I'm trying to figure out how to resolve. It would seem she knows she's supposed to do her business outdoors, as that's primarily where she goes. She tends to run in the wooded area of the yard, so we can't always see if she's "taking care of business" when she's out there. Not to mention it's dark outside when we get up and nearly dark when we come home.

While sometimes we don't know when she urinates in the house, other times we have caught her doing so in the early morning. She is crated overnight, and if she does not go immediately out the dog door, we open the door and shoo her out with the others. She always runs out eagerly and returns in a minute or two, but apparently doesn't always relieve herself while she is out there because we have caught her doing so on one of the rugs in the house. In these cases, we scold her loudly, pick her up, put her out, and tell her "go outside" (our verbal cue). We always clean up with something that deodorizes the scent so she is not drawn to the same spot in the future.

So to summarize, she has access to the outdoors, almost always uses it, and is healthy. What should we do to fix this last 5%?

Thanks for any help you can offer!

Hi Cindy,

Thanks for your help with this issue… I’ll definitely check out the eBooks/videos. I love your comment about "a little bit pregnant," haha!