I feel your frustration. There are many on the board with more experience than me but I wanted to share our story housebreaking Mr. Simbo who we rescued when he was 9yo.
But first, is there a reason you use pee pads? I am not a fan of any peeing indoors though you're in WI so weather may be a factor? If not, I would seriously consider retraining Luca to go outdoors (some of the links were shared with you.)
We tried the belly bands. The thinking behind it is as follows (for 'normal' dogs, not for those that are older with incontinence or dogs with medical issues.) They're supposed to act as a barrier; when a male dogs pees, the belly band catches the urine, hence protecting your house. You're supposed to take it off when you're telling him to go potty in the designated space. The other theory behind it is that they'll feel uncomfortable with the wetness that remains behind and that will prevent them from peeing and / or marking. In my opinion, this is not a long-term solution. (I made Simbo's from old terrycloth washtowels. Measured them, cut them and had tailor sew them up and adde velcro. I would then place a sanitary pad where the pee would hit. They go around his belly, covering his weenie, hence the name.)
This worked for Simbo for about three days. On the fourth day he got so aggravated that it was impossible to put the belly band on. He kept biting us, which is why we started to focus even more on the outdoor potty training. We had him neutered, which all but stopped the marking. With lots of patience we managed to stop him from peeing inside the house. (Including several months of crate-training.) He doesn't pee when we're around anymore. When we need to leave him alone, he stays in his house _ which is basically a playpen for toddlers that we got just for him. Because he sees it as his home, he never pees in there. Sometimes, though, he manages to escape like he did yesterday. I came home to find he had peed in three different spots.
Because we got Simbo when he was 9 with basically no training our situation is a bit different. Clearly he's not totally housebroken but it's exponentially better than when we first got him. I think with patience and training you'll get Luca to stop _ you just need to be ready for constant supervision when you're home and you'll need to be OK with the fact that when you're not home, he should be confined to his 'space,' whether that's a playpen, or laundry room, or guest bedroom. But for him to recognize that place as his space you'll need to do some work on that front, too. Our trainer, whom I trust and is a great animal lover who helped us tremendously, is a big proponent of not giving pets too much liberty while you're gone. He claims it leads to dominance issues, with which I agree after 13 months of living with Simbo.
Good luck, you'll get there. PM me if you need any pointers. I'm attaching a pic of Simbo in his "little" house, which is 50 times his size! |