retraining my chihuahua

Question
I have a 3 year old long-hair chihuahua named Chloe. She has been with us for two years and when we got her she was very good about not going potty in the house. About 5 months ago she started going inside for some reason. There are times when she will refuse to go out when I try to take her or she'll go outside but refuse to go potty. She is crate trained and when she refuses to go out I put her in her crate, but I don't want her to spend so much time in there. The last two mornings she has gone pee outside but within 5 or 10 minutes of coming back inside, she poops on the carpet. I go outside with her and usually walk out in the yard to make sure she feels secure. I don't call her back in, I wait for her to run to the door, so I assume she's done. How do I stop her from going inside. She'll even pee inside sometimes. I try to make sure to take her out every three hours or so, but it's almost like she's doing it to spite me. Could she be mad at us for something and is doing this on purpose and if so how do I fix it. We love her and we want to keep her around but I can't take much more of her using the bathroom inside. Can you help? Thank you. Mechelle

Answer
I would re-housebreak this dog, just as if you had just brought in an 8-week-old puppy. Crate her when you cannot watch her and put her out every couple hours. Keep a journal of when she potties, and figure out when she usually will have to have a stool as dogs tend to be somewhat regular in that regard. In the house, you might want to keep her on a leash that is attached to you so that it is easier to tell when she has to potty.

Dogs don't get mad and do things to spite us (they cannot reason); they live more in the moment. Something has occured that causes her to not want to go outside. Either she has been frightened by something, or possibly she is having a visual problem. You might have her eyes checked by a veterinary ophthalmologist to be sure that everything is okay with her eyes.

Karen