Teenaged dog and potty manner issues

[Carolinamidwife]

I'm not sure what to call this because she is house trained... unless she has to hold it for longer than 3 minutes and then she just lets it fly.

She is a Boston terrier mix very heavy on the Boston. She is a year and a half and we have had her for a year. She's, by far, the smartest dog I have ever had. She's well trained in every other way, does tricks, loves the kids, snuggles, etc.

She has been seen by the vet and does not have any medical condition that would prevent her from making it outside. She needs to go out every 2 hours and even then, if left to her own devices, she will find a way to go in the house.

I understand that when you get a puppy you are giving up several weeks to housebreaking and several months to overall monitoring but it has been over a year and I need my life back. I can't keep my eye on her every minute of the day anymore. And nor can I be available to take her out every two hours around the clock. I have house trained several dogs and I have never failed so thoroughly.

We don't allow her upstairs and we confine her when we go out. Even if we are gone for an hour she will urinate in the room she is in.

Her using the house as her personal toilet is building a barrier to my bonding with her. The kids love her to death but this issue is ruining it for me.

What do I do?

[artekah]

Hi, my first suggestion is a fenced yard and a dog door. If that's not possible I'd probably go back to the basics with crate training. If you're consistent with it, you could see a huge change in just a few days. You'd have to be there all the time to let the dog in and out of the crate, so you could start it on the weekend or whenever you're able to be home most of the time for a few days. It works!

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/cratetraining.htm

[Carolinamidwife]

I'd kill for a fenced yard but, unfortunately, that is not in the cards.

I was afraid someone would suggest going back to the crate. It will mean buying a new crate. Arg.

[dog groomer89]

regardless if she is a puppy or not, dogs can still have issues with potty training if things aren't consistent. Crate train again and keep the crate this time haha!  Crate her whenever you can't supervise her, and especially when you go out.  Let her out at her two hour intervals and when she goes outside she gets love, praise and play time. If she doesn't go then she gets put back in the crate for 30 minutes and then you try again. She'll get it eventually, some dogs are just stubborn. The key is be consistent.