I had the same problem with Stella when I first got her, she seemed to want to pee everywhere, even if it was just a tiny bit every other hour. I've been with her almost all day since we got her, but I occasionally need to leave for a couple hours and I'm going to start working soon too.
Our solution was to use a baby gate to establish a "place" for her in the hallway in the middle of our house. We put her bed on one side, along with her food and water dish, and her blankie that she plays on, with her puppy pad (we use nature's miracle pads) on the other side. We praised her like crazy (and told her "good girl, you went potty!") when she went where she was supposed to--although she didn't have much choice at night, since she wouldn't potty in her bed or on her play blankie. Once she got used to pottying there at night, she started to catch on that we wanted her to go there all the time. If she had an accident during the day and we witnessed it, we'd immediately tell her "no", move her to her puppy pad, and then put her gate up for a few minutes so that going elsewhere in the house led to the consequence of being ignored for 5 or 10 minutes. She caught on quickly once we started doing that. We've also found that praising her like crazy after she does good is just as important, and responds just as well to that as she does if we give her a treat after she's good.
It was difficult at first because sometimes she'd seem to "put off" going while she was playing or excited and then all the sudden she'd have an accident after going a few days without an accident. But now she's getting better, regular walks are helping. Hope that helps! |