6 1/2 # 4yr 4mos male Bichon Frises

Question
never paper trained Started approx at age 3.  Will hike  when in the kitchen on the trash can, table & chair legs,in the family room will pee on the carpet. We have  said "who did this" he tucks his tail .We scold "bad boy" and he hides behind the TV table  We try to send him with his 3yr 7mos male brother and a  2yr old male Westie (whom we obtained at 8mos & paper trained)out to the garage approx q 2 hrs. When we are not in sight seems the Bichon in question will pee.  In a RV he doesn't do the hicking , again taken out approx q 2hrs. Has no trouble holding urine for approx 10 hrs @ night  .Need your advise badly , paper towels and disinfect are getting expensive.We are 75 yrs old  and have to use reachers to clean up after the dog.  Many, many thanks

Answer
Because a dog shows what we consider "guilt" or "shame" upon being called out on a behavior does not in any way mean that the dog feels those things.  In fact, in order to prove this I have asked many, many dogs in clients' homes "what is THIS?" with no obvious problem at hand and the dog has demonstrated the behavior reported as shame/guilt.  What you're actually seeing is subdominance/submission behavior mixed with a dose of fear, since the dog recognizes your anger and has no idea what's going on. So first: stop doing that!

You don't mention if the Bichon is neutered; even if you were to do that, testosterone related behaviors are set and will have to be extinguished through training, but if he isn't neutered do that ASAP both for his mental AND physical health. I have no idea if the leg lifting is a rank statement or merely a male dog eliminating normally, since I can't determine his temperament or his place in your pack from the question you have asked.

Additionally, if you have other dogs in your home who are paper trained indoors (you mention the Westie is paper trained, I'm assuming the paper is somewhere in the house), you are giving mixed signals to your entire pack.  Either it's OK to eliminate inside or it's not; it's quite difficult to have multiple dogs when one or more are eliminating on paper.  The remaining dog(s) will invariably begin urinating in the house.  This might be part of your problem.  The other part might be that you have inadvertently created a problem in the Bichon's mind with urinating in front of you.  This would make it difficult to reward him when he eliminates appropriately with you present.  Obviously there are many questions regarding this that I can't ask you since we're stuck in this text box.  If your dog has become hesitant to urinate in front of you because you have yelled at him when catching him doing it inappropriately in the house, it will make it much more difficult to teach him appropriate behaviors but it CAN be done with patience and love.

Putting a dog outside (or in the garage) and leaving him out there to figure out what he's supposed to be doing doesn't work!  You need to be present, associate a phrase or word with what you want him to do (like "go pee"), wait until he's done it and then immediately praise and bring the dog back into the house.  If the dog is hesitant to eliminate in front of you at first, you must repeatedly take him out until he does (which he will, eventually, having no other recourse.)  During this retraining, you need to put a house tab on this dog.  A house tab is a long, lightweight nylon leash that the dog wears when you are at home and which prevents him from getting out of your sight.  Using the house tab, if the dog begins to have an 'accident' you can instantly pick up the handle (thereby interrupting the stream without saying one word) and bring the dog to the appropriate outdoor location and wait for him to finish (no matter how long it takes) then praise him (and a small food reward will impress him greatly also.)  If you prevent the accidents from occurring and consistently take him outdoors (every three to four hours is sufficient for an adult dog until he "gets" it), after several weeks you will begin to see the fruits of your labor.  Your dog will begin to CHOOSE to eliminate outdoors because that is what earns him the praise and food reward.  You can remove the food reward gradually and eventually replace it with a small piece of dog cookie when your dog has become independently able to eliminate in his appropriate location and returns from a successful mission.

Regarding odor elimination, there are articles on the market like Natures Miracle which totally eliminate urine and feces odors (although the dogs can still smell it), but inappropriate urination is a self rewarding behavior (since the dog doesn't have to wait until a door is opened for him) and also is a statement of rank, making it doubly rewarding.  So offering praise and a food reward consistently when taking the dog out to its appropriate place for elimination is the best method.  If this inappropriate elimination is a rank statement, you then need to psychologically control all your dogs in terms of rank so that none of them feel the need to mark your home.  You would know whether or not this is the case from observing the Bichon with the other dogs.  If you feel that rank might be a part of this problem, please repost with explanations of behaviors which make you suspect this.