Help!
I have a 2-year old Yorkie that is 90% housebroken, but with the arctic cold outside and perhaps the bigger apartment on the third floor, he has really taken to going to the bathroom inside. Our carpet is riddled with stains and my husband, who didn't want a dog to begin with, is not a happy camper. I am desperately trying to find a way to fix this by giving Oliver (the dog) an indoor option when he wants to go and isn't able to/doesn't want to go outside.
When we are home, he *usually* tells us he needs to go by crying a little and pawing at us. We take him out, he does his business, yay! If we don't respond immediately, he either gets really insistent or pees inside. Sometimes he doesn't tell us at all and will pee inside, although this is rare (but happens more during the day when I am home with him by myself, since I work from home). When we are not home, it seems like a free-for-all when we get back to more stains in the carpet and little poos. It has been getting worse over the last few months, and I am in desperate need of help.
I have been trying the
confined space method that everyone suggests, but I am afraid I am going to give him a UTI or something! I tried to replace his outdoor potty times with his confined space and he just holds it the entire time. He even lays on the pad. And just cries. At the moment, he has not been to the bathroom for 16 hours, because he wont go in his confinement space and wants to go outside... Or at least out of his confined space so he can pee on the carpet.
Is there a way to train an already outdoor-trained dog to pee both indoors and outdoors? The idea was to make it so we would still regularly walk him, but when he is left alone or doesn't want to face the crazy midwestern windchill, he would have a place to go inside that is acceptable.
Please help. You can see how miserable he is from the picture of our staring contest this morning. Do I just leave him in his confined space until he is forced to urinate there (and then reward him)? Do I breakdown and walk him outside when I am home, and put him in that space when I am not home only? Any advice would be great.