Dog pees in house

Question
HI.  My sister and I have a  lasso apso named Toby.  He is 6 years old.  He is my sisters dog.  My sister and her now exhusband got him and our other dog Salley (Boston terrier) when they were first married.  When her exhusband moved out in July of '07 everything was fine.  Toby and Salley have a dog door and were both crate trained.  They did not mess in the house.  When I moved into the house in January of '08 Toby started peeing on my boxes and clothes.   At first we thought he smelled my parents dogs, but I have been living here for a year now and it seems as if its getting worse.  He does not only pee in the house when we are gone he pees when we are here.  He pees in my room, in my sisters room, in the hallway, downstairs in the dining room, but mostly upstairs.  If we leave anything in the hallway upstairs he pees on it.  He pees on the corners in the hallway.  We have tried to crate train him again and it only gets worse.  We are at a loss of what to do and while we don't want to get rid of him we are running out of options.  We are trying to fix the house up to sell it and cannot replace the carpet until he stops peeing everywhere.  We have tried punishing him, cleaning it up with vinegar but he still pees in the same spot or wherever he sees fit.  Please help us!!!  We love him very much but he is causing a huge problem for us!!!

Answer
Confusion in living arrangements most likely prompted this behavior and it has now generalized to the point where Toby has "forgotten" the original intent.

you need to retrain this dog.  Go out with him and reward/praise every elimination; block the dog door until you see that he understands he is being rewarded for eliminating outside (this may take a few weeks.)  Do the same with the other dog because dogs learn from observing one another and it will facilitate Toby's retraining to see the other dog being rewarded for urinating outside.  Getting "rid of" any dog is never an option; this is a lifetime commitment.  WHO do you think wants a dog that has this problem, and HOW do you think this poor dog will respond to being in a houseful of strangers who don't love him and will NOT make a commitment?  he will be dumped.

Block the stairs so Toby cannot go up there; make him sleep in the kitchen (with the other dog), provide soft bed, toys and water overnight.  You cannot treat the other dog differently from Toby, he is obviously the self appointed leader in his dog pack; his behavior will only worsen if you allow privileges to the other dog and not to him.  When you are at home, put Toby on long, lightweight nylon leash (house tab) and do not allow him to 'sneak' off to urinate; observe closely.  If he sidles up to something (the male's behavior is a dead giveaway, it takes two to three seconds for a dog to sidle up to an object before lifting his leg) interrupt it with a hand clap, slap on table, any sound that is not too startling (or he will associate the sound with the intended behavior and stop urinating outdoors in front of you) and lead him OUT immediately.  Wait until he urinates (his sphincter will have closed in response to the interruption, it may take a few minutes) then reward/praise and bring him back in.  When you are unable to observe him, put a belly band on him.  This is a device that prevents urine from leaving the body so when the male urinates, he urinates INTO the belly band.  Dogs wearing such devices quickly learn NOT to urinate when they are wearing them.

When you are not at home, confine him to the kitchen where he sleeps (and the other dog, as well.)  If he urinates there, it won't matter, as tile is easily cleaned.  Use an enzyme product to eliminate the smell of urine (although the dog can STILL smell it.)  Rewarding the behavior your want (urinating outdoors), preventing the behavior you do not want, and changing this dog's mindset about his place in your home (by making him sleep separately from you and keeping him from going upstairs AT ALL) should correct the problem, but it will take a while.  Stick with it.