potty training problem for an older dog!!!

Question
Hello, my family recently rescued a female dalmatian through our local petstore. I don't know what information is relevant, so I'll give it all! We live in Colorado, and she came from Mississippi. There is evidence that she was abused (by scars that look like cigarette burns) and that she has certainly had a hard life thus far. The vet thinks she's about 5. When we first got her, she had a couple of accidents inside. We just cleaned them up without a big fuss. She learned to use the doggy door, and has gone to the bathroom outside many times on her own (as evidenced by the LARGE amounts of stuff in the backyard!). But she has just recently started in the house again. And what's weird is that she has started going in the middle of the day, not at night like she used to. She just went numbers 1 and 2 right after getting back from a walk! She appears to be healthy and she is really coming around, getting a lot happier and more energetic. How can we stop this going to the bathroom in our house? What kind of training does it require??? Any answers would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you!!!

Answer
Thank you for adopting a dog needing a good home.  I hope I can help make it a success.  Although I strongly encourage adoption, I recognize there are problems sometimes.  

Several things could be happening.  As she settles in, she may be finding a leadership vacuum and showing she is in charge by marking the house.  The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts.  Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog.  Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones.  You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/  For more on being top dog, see http://www.dogbreedinfo.com./topdogrules

When you are around you need to keep a close eye on the dog.  Use closed doors or gates to keep it in the same room as you are, and perhaps as I do, a short chain fastened to the computer desk.  If you catch it in the act, give it a sharp ''Ah, ah, ah!'' and take it out.  When you can't watch it, crate it.

It is only natural that a puppy resists its crate at first.  What the puppy wants more than anything else is to be others, you, anyone else in the household, and any other pets.  In our modern society, even if we are home, other things distract us from the attention an uncrated puppy must have.   The only real solution is to crate the dog when you aren't around.  The dog may be happier in its den than loose in the house.  It relaxes, it feels safe in its den.  It rests, the body slows down reducing the need for water and relieving its self.  Dogs that have been crated all along do very well.  Many of them will rest in their crates even when the door is open.  I think the plastic ones give the dog more of a safe, enclosed den feeling.  Metal ones can be put in a corner or covered with something the dog can't pull in and chew.  Select a crate just big enough for the full grown dog to stretch out in.

Leave it some toys.  Perhaps a Kong filled with peanut butter.  Don't leave anything in the crate the dog might chew up.  It will do fine without even any bedding.  You will come home to a safe dog and a house you can enjoy.

A dog that has not been crated since it was little, may take some work. Start out just putting its toys and treats in the crate.  Praise it for going in.  Feed it in the crate.  This is also an easy way to maintain order at feeding time for more than one dog.

The "shut the puppy in a safe room" is a fallacy.  Very few houses even have a safe room.  How many of us have a room with a hard surfaced floor and nothing else?  Most rooms have electrical cords to chew if nothing else.  In addition to destroying anything a bored puppy finds to chew, it may choke or have intestinal  blockage from the pieces.  I had a friend that left her dog in a "safe" room.  It ate a hole in the floor covering.  The safe rooms fail to give the dog the comfort of the enclosed space their instinct requires.  Nor do they restrict activity extending the time the dog can go without relieving itself.

I treally isn't good to leave a dog shut up more than 4-5 hours at a time.  If you must leave it all day, try to find a neighbor or professional dog walker to give it a mid day break.