Retraining my Border Terrier

Question
HI,
My dog is a female border terrier and she is about a year and a half old. She is a very sweet dog....actually I found her and another dog together, but after not being able to find their owners I kept Goldie and found another more appropriate home for Hazel. My Goldie is so cute but she really can be a terror. I have had problems with her from the very beginning when it comes to potty training. We make some progress and then it seems like she just forgets or lets it go. No matter what I do she will not signal me to let her out. She will half of the time go on a paper in the kitchen otherwise she just goes wherever. What surprises me is that she even will urinate on her own blanket and then sleep on it. I have no idea what kind of beginning she had but that aspect is surprising..usually a doggie will not want to sleep with a urine smell but she just doesn't seem to care. She is great with other dogs, and the cats but she can really get into some trouble even left unattended for 20 minutes. Do you have any suggestions for me?  Do you have any recommendations for shampooing the doggie smell out of my carpet?  
Thanks.

Answer
Joan -

First let me apologize for taking some time before answering. I received a new foster cairn who was keeping me on my toes while she settles in.

First you should make sure she does not have any kind of urinary tract problem or kidney function problem.  These problems are quite common and certainly cause frequent urination.

Beyond that, there are 2 kinds of urination - normal "I gotta pee" urination and marking urination.  YES, females mark.  Marking behavior is much harder to extinguish and would be my best guess as to your problem.

If you think she just has to potty and is not telling you, you will just have to structure a schedule to take her out and make sure to crate her when you are not home.

She may pee in a crate though, given that you do not know her background. Many puppymill dogs have gotten so used to being in soiled conditions that they do not mind it as much as they would normally.  In that case, you may need to put something in the back of the crate to make it smaller - Make it just big enough for her to turn around in an no more.

If she is marking, you will have to take more assertive action.  She will have to start at ground zero and earn the privildge of being loose in the house and not marking.  I would recommend leashing her to you whenever you are home and making her follow you around no matter what you're doing (use a 6' leash).  Make her sit for her food, make her sit and wait while you open the door and until you release her.... Basically, practice YOU being in charge of the household, not her.  NOTE that this is all without correction or yelling or yanking.

You can then gradually let her loose for longer and longer periods of time.  If you see her peeing or getting ready to, give her a loud "eh-eh-eh" or "who do you think you are" or "you had better not", scoop her up and take her outside on a leash for 10 minutes (even if she doesn't go).  Do not speak to her during this time or pet her or anything - ignore her - she will be seeking your attention because you just corrected her.

If you then find that she is not peeing outside, then up the ante by crating her for 15 minutes instead of taking her out (but keep pottying her on the regular potty schedule). Again - ignore her completely, even after you let her back out - not a word, not a touch and preferably not even a glance.

On to the other things - if she's getting into other kinds of trouble when alone, use a crate.  It's the easiest way to control destructive behavior and dogs don't mind them.

As for cleaning carpet, I use a product called Get Serious to get the stain up, but you need to follow with something like Nature's Miracle that has enzymes in it to break down the pheromones.   Make sure to sop up as much as possible before you start treatment too.

Since I do so many rescue dogs, I switched to laminate flooring !

Your dog is all terrier, and they do take a more consistent, thorough emphasis on training to become, and remain, good pets.

-Beth