Maltese incontinence

Question
I have a 4 year old spayed Maltese that we've had from 3 months of age. She was crate trained and is/ was housebroken. All shots up to date. She is on OM food (she was at 10 pounds but now down to a healthy weight of 6 pounds). My Maltese had free reign of the house while my husband and I were at work. About a month ago, I had emergency surgery. I came home the next day and things had changed. My Maltese now chooses to urinate in the house. She gets taken out often-445am (then she eats her 1st 1/3 cup of food), 645am (before I leave for work), 400pm (when I get home from work-this is also when she gets her 2nd 1/3 cup of food). She is taken out frequently until bed time (where she does sleep in bed with us, at our pillows). She is doing the urinating more frequently (vet said she did not have an infection). Last week we started to lock her in the kitchen while we're at work-she has urninated and pooped a few times there also. She has become much more barky-and when being fed, if pet, she growls and has bitten twice. We're extremely concerned. She was biting/ licking her paws also constantly, so the vet put her on an antihistamine-this is going on about 3 weeks now. I notice a small change in how much she licks/bites them now. What are we doing wrong? Do we need to start from scratch again? Is she neglected? Please help. We do not have children and she is our baby.

Answer
Hi Sherilyn,  Did you start the anti-histamines before or after these behavior changes?  I would go back to the crate training to start getting her to control herself better.  The problem with anti-histamines as they can cause a dog to have accidents, and I have heard of some cases of them causing drastic changes in personality.  How long ago did she start licking at her paws?  Did anything else change in the house when this behavior started?  Anything even minor could have brought this on if it isn't medical.  Let me know the answers and I might be able to give you some more advice as far as what to do to correct things.

Dawn