Border Collie with house training issues - 2009-05-13

Question

My 7 year old border collie is housetrained to a large degree. About once a fortnight she will pee in the house and sometimes poos as well. Sometimes she may not be able to get outside, but not always! Usually it's in the same area, under the piano. She has free access to the house but it's getting a bit much. She is of a reasonably anxious disposition, although her personality blossomed when our other female BC died about 4 years ago. Incidentally when she was a puppy, whenever we roused on her for bad behaviour, she would pee in fright, with it trailing all the way to outside. Consequently we learned to be very vocally restrained in our admonishments. She hasn't been smacked! We also have a cat but they ignore each other. Do you have any suggestions?

Answer

You seem to have a sensitive dog, therefore loud voices etc will create anxiety behaviour. Be firm, gentle and not over powering. Confinement would be my best advice (use of baby gate etc). She goes back to the same spot as her scent remains there. Recommend cleaning with white vinegar solution and let air dry. If floor boards, make sure some of this solution can soak in between the boards, so it will remove the scent. Maybe repeat a few times as has been going for while. As her confidence grows and the scent has gone the problem will reduce. Do not molly coddle this dog.