Hi, I'm looking for a professional opinion and advice for problems I'm having with my 2 dogs.

I have a border-collie golden retriever cross and a staffie whippet cross, both are just over 5 years old.

We've have had them both since they were 6-week old pups and it took a while to toilet train them initially, around 12 months. They would sometimes still wee or poo indoors but generally only if they couldn't hold it.

We have gone through a long period where they were well toilet trained and had no issues, however, we put them into kennels for a month during October whilst we got married and went on our honeymoon. Since we got them home, 1/11/12, at least one of them has pooed or weed everyday inside the house.

We have tried to give them treats and praise them when they go outdoors, whether it been in the garden or on a walk, but they are just not that bothered about the treats and would rather have a sniff around.

Their general daily routine is as follows:

7.00am - get up and go outside - have a bonio.
8.30am - go back outside before we leave for work.
12.30pm-1.30pm - I go home at lunch and take them for a quick walk (around 15 minutes). I let them outside again before I leave.
5.30pm - We return home and they go back outside.
6.00pm - Go for a walk for around 30 minutes followed by their meal of the day, chappie complete and chappie meat.
10.00pm - Go to bed and let them outside.

We can't do more than we're doing as we don't have the time in the day, but after talking to other dog owners, it would appear that we do more than a lot of them and they have no problems at all. In fact, their dogs can hold their bladders and what not all day. I prefer to go home at lunch just as I don't think it's fair to have them locked up all day, plus now I fear that they would just mess anyway. However, recently, I have come home at lunch and there is still a wee in the kitchen!

One thing to note, is that we give them a bonio bone each in the morning as Rocky (the collie) vomits if he's hungry. Apparently his stomach produces too much bile if it has nothing to digest and causes him to vomit. We do not leave them food out during the day, as they eat in the evening and it generally goes. We leave them with free access to water as we've been told you must always do this for your dog.

We are really starting to tear our hair out now with this and it's become very frustrating. At first I considered if it was a medical condition, but given the style and size of the mess I can tell that BOTH dogs are doing it, and surely the odds of them both having the same condition is very small??

We have a wooden laminate floor in the kitchen, and I believe the scent has gone under this into the floorboards. When they mess we have used everything to try and mask the scent - disinfectant spray, branded pet de-odouriser, vinegar, reyes fluid, bio-degradable washing powder, TCP! Nothing has worked!!

Are we fighting a losing battle or is there something we can do? We're starting to get desperate now. There was another wee this morning!

We have been renovating another house which we're planning to move into in a few weeks, and one of my biggest fears is that this is all going to happen again and ruin the new house.

Please help us!

Hi

This is quite complicated especially as you have two dogs together. One may be initiating the behaviour, I wonder which? Dogs that had a history of being slow to house train (and 12 months is a very long time) are the most likely candidates to suffer a relapse in their habits. Its sounds like for whatever reasons the kennelling for a month (which is quite a while but I do appreciate the need) was the trigger to this breakdown in their habits. It has somehow unsettled them into this behaviour. I cannot offer a quick fix but it might help if you could walk them in the morning before you leave them and also if you fed them first before the evening walk, rather than walking then feeding them. They are more likely to be stimulated to empty their bladder and bowels after feeding and after exercise. You could also try splitting their feeds into half in the morning and half in the evening before their walks.

Certainly any soiling residue can have this effect but also be careful not to use a strong smelling disinfectant to clean up after your dogs because it can also attract a dog to eliminate in the place again by its odour. A biological product that does not leave an odour is best. There are special pet products that you can use.

I know I am giving you some more work to do but the problem could be made worse by your planned house move-as it might again unsettle them again. So you do need to institute some changes to try to help. You also have to hope that a gradual improvement over time since the disruption happens. It could do as they settle in. Good Luck.

Cathy Wickenden BVet Med MRCVS
Barton Lodge Veterinary Centre
1 Midland Road, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP2 5BH
Tel: 01442 216048 24 hours
[www.bartonlodgevets.co.uk]