Scotty - Peeing in the House

Question
Angus my scottish terrier hates the cold weather (we are in northern Canada).  Angus will do anything to please us but despite the fact that he is let out often during the day, he can urinate without us seeing him in an amazingly short time.  He has never been caged and I hesitate to cage him but it seems he needs  it even if we are home?? What can we do with this little dog we love so much?  (He's a rescue dog).  Thanks for your help.  Sally Marshall

Answer
Sally -

I hear you about the cold weather. I live in upstate NY and it's been a particularly long cold winter.

While my own dogs are never a problem, I am an active foster home for cairn terriers who lived their lives in puppymills.  Of course these dogs are not housetrained.... and this time of year it is especially tough.

I would guess from your description that Angus is actually urinating - as opposed to just marking - in the house ?

When housebreaking a male dog, I use a combination of crating and a belly band.  Belly bands work in a couple of different ways.  First is acts as a physical barrier to protect your house. Second, dogs find the embarassing, and third they are uncomfortable with urine against them.  It usually doesn;t take long for them to figure out that they get the belly band taken off when they are good in the house and when they go outside.

I assume he's fine in warm weather ?  In that case he will catch on extra fast since he knows better in the first place.

I do crate my own dogs during the day. They get used to it very quickly and now even go take naps in their crates sometimes.... so it's not something tough to do for an adult dog.

Here's a link for the bellybands I use, though many places sell them.

http://www.decotogs.com/

Hope this gives you some ideas... OH, and you might want to reward him when he does actually potty outside.  It's always a good idea to reinforce the good behavior !

-Beth