English bulldog with a grudge

Question
I have an eight-year-old female english bulldog. She was crate trained early in life and as she has gotten older we have given her full run of the house. We have never had a problem with this until recently. My neighbors have built a fence separating our back yards. We have always let her out the back door and watched her to make sure she relieves herself and then cleaned up after the fact. In her eight years she has always chose the neighbor's yard as her cbosen throne. Since the fence has been built we have been letting her out back as usual and taking her on her customary walks. She does usually relieve herself on her walk but will not in the backyard.
If we take her in the backyard for a quick trip outside (I usually go home each day at lunch to ease her bladder) she will not do anythig. Within an hour after this she will relieve herself on my living room rug. I am attributing this behavior to her being upset about being removed from her throne only because in the extremely rare cases that she previosuly had an accident at home because of the wait she has always chosen a spot on the tile floor right beside the back door.It is only since the fence was built that she has started using my favorite rug as a place for release. Also, the fact that I will take her out for a walk and then she immediately comes inside and marks the rug seems intentional.
She has been known for her stubborn demeanor in the house before and I think this may be the case again. She has regular vet visits and nothing has changed physically to cause the accidents that he can find.
My question is should we return to crate training and start the process again? It seems harsh to start crating her again after years of free roaming rights but I am at a loss as to how else to stop the behavior. Do you think this method will work or is there another routs I could take?

Answer
Greetings and thank you for contacting All Experts!

The bulldog breed is known to have a stubborn streak as you may already know, but dogs do not typically hold a "grudge"(even though the irresistible facial expression of the bulldog may suggest a grumpy demeanor;) and dogs do not do things intentionally just to get "back at us" for not allowing them access to certain areas. Most likely, she is upset by some changes in her life and is a bit stressed about it or simply got trained to rely on walks for potty rather than the yard (we will see the psychology behind this in the paragraphs below).

It is a fact that dogs do not generalize well. If she has gone potty in that certain area in the yard for eight years, it is difficult now for her to start from zero. This is the same reason why a dog can learn to "sit" in the living room but then if you want to ask the same dog to sit in a yard or on walks, the dog has a hard time obeying. Dogs are creatures of habit and do not typically embrace changes well, especially when they have become a way of life. Following are some tips on addressing this issues:


Step 1) Vet visit to rule out medical problems
If you have not done so already (you mention she has regular vet visits and nothing has changed physically) a vet visit is a good place to start, just to rule out any health problems, such as  a urinary tract infection. In some cases, if the dog feels pain urinating in a certain spot it may choose to urinate in other areas. If you have already ruled this out or seen the vet already for this problem, then disregard. I know this very likely sounds like a behavioral problem but it never hurts to rule out medical conditions and this is the first step I usually recommend when there are problems involved with house soiling.

Step 2) Proper cleanup
After receiving a clean bill of health, you must ensure you clean up the previously soiled areas properly. If she has been using the rug to soil, she most likely continues to use it because it has her scent on it. To a dog, the smell of a previously soiled spot has the effect of a flashing "bathroom sign", explain applied animal behaviorist Patricia McConnell and Karen London in their book "Way to Go". So the act of soiling the same area becomes a habit because it smells like a bathroom to a dog. To properly clean the rug use an enzyme-based cleaner. Often you can find such products in your local store near carpet cleaning products for owners of pets. It has to say "enzymes" for it to be effective. Other products may leave traces of urine, which create a vicious habit.

Step 3) Supervision
This is the tricky part. Since she soils the rug when you are not around (at least it sounds like this, you are back to work when she does this, correct?) there is not much you can do about it to prevent it (unless she is crated or closed in another room) So I will give some different options you can try:

Option 1: Mimic a workday on Saturday and Sunday
Start on a week-end. Mimic a normal work day, pretend you are going to work but instead go run errands. Then come back home and mimic you are coming home to make her go potty. Fill your pockets with high-value treats (that is hot dog slivers, freeze dried liver treats or anything that makes her drool) and take her to the yard. Wait a little bit more than you usually do and cross your fingers. If she goes, throw a party and give a bunch of treats right when the urine flow stops.  

If she does nothing, take her back inside but this time umbilical cord her to you. This means you keep the leash attached to your belt or around your belt so she is always under your control. Watch her for signs to go for about 15 minutes. If she shows signs (sniffing the floor, looking uncomfortable or whining) go out immediately. If she still does not show signs take her out anyway and wait more. Don't put pressure on her, just sit and watch her with a corner of your eye, ready to throw a party if she goes.

*Note: you can also have somebody you know come to your home each day and continue the routine for you for a few weeks until she has it down.

Option 2: Use the Carpet to your advantage
One of them most effective ways to train a puppy who has used puppy pads to go potty inside and that now needs to be trained to go outdoors is by moving the puppy pad more and more near the door. In this case, if you do not care for the carpet (oops , I think I just read it was your favorite one), you can try to move the carpet outdoors (in this case not cleaned with enzymes but preferably still smelling like urine). She may recognize the rug and generalize going potty on it outdoors. In some cases, it works to collect some poop and place it in the yard so it smells like her and she recognizes it as her new bathroom. If you care for the carpet, you can try to cover it with puppy pads and once they collect some of her urine take them outdoors to the area in the yard you want her to potty.

Option 3 Train to go potty on cue
If she goes potty on walks, try to add the cue "go potty" right a split second before your dog is relieving herself. You need a good eye to accomplish this, but many dogs give good signs they are about to go potty. Praise and reward each time. Make it a good habit. Then take her to the yard and say "go potty". Some dogs respond to the command because it helps them generalize that "go potty" means to relive themselves no matter where they are. Here is an article that provides benefits and a guide on training a dog to go potty on cue:
http://alexadry.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Train-a-Dog-to-Go-Potty-on-Command

Option 4: Invest in a DAP diffuser
It is hard to tell if your female is actually urinating on the rug or marking without seeing her (does she soak the carpet or just leaves a small dribble?). Keep in mind that contrary to belief, female dogs and even the spayed ones, urine mark. Urine marking does not take place strictly to mark territory and claim it, but many dogs mark from stress as well. While the English bulldog breed is known for being stubborn, it is also true they can be quite sensitive dogs that may not do well with changes. The sudden lack of access to her "throne" may have indeed been such a big change for her that she may feel the need to "mark" so to feel like she can have an area that smells familiar again. A DAP diffuser which spreads pheromones (which gives dogs a sense of well-being)may help if she is marking the rug out of mild stress.

Option 5: Take her on a walk
Instead of sending her in the yard when you come home from work, you can try to walk her since you said she tends to relive herself on walks. This is a good time to practice putting going potty on cue so you can try in the yard one day, as she gets good at this.

While you mention using a crate, I do not find this as a good solution. Technically, yes, it may work to stop her from going on the rug when you come home from work for her chance to potty and she refuses to potty in the yard, but if you think about it, the use of a crate could result in two big problems:

1) She may be holding her urine for too long. If you leave for work say around 8 in the morning and come back say at 12 to allow her to go potty and she does not go and then decide to crate her and the crate works, she would be holding her urine for over 8 hours if you come home from work say at 5 (I do not know your actual work hours, so just assuming). Eight hours or more is quite a long time for a dog to be holding its bladder.

2) If you are away for 8 hours and she is placed in the crate and she cannot hold it (if she soaks the carpet very likely she needs to pee), she may urinate in the crate. This will defeat the purpose of the crate and set her for fail, not to mention the fact she would get all wet from being soaked in her urine. A better solution may be to place her in a exercise pen with her water bowl, food bowl if free-fed, blanket and safe toys and leave a puppy pad in a corner so if she needs to go she goes there. If instead she can keep it, good, you can take her to the yard when you come home; but at least you know she had a place to go if need be and she would not be sleeping in her own urine as in a crate. You can still place the crate with the door open in the pen if space allows. This could be a good temporary management solution until you can take some days off work to train her to use the yard again and in the meanwhile save your carpet from getting soiled.

It would be interesting to record her behavior when you leave the house after giving her a chance to relieve herself in the yard. This may tell you if she is marking or actually urinating emptying her bladder for physiological purposes. It could also tell you if she is in any distress when you leave the home. Some dogs get pretty upset when the owner leaves and start pacing/barking/soiling.

Where does she potty in the morning? After a night of holding urine, most dogs are eager to go potty first thing in the morning. This would be a great time to allow her to use the yard. Sit somewhere and keep an eye on her, ready to praise/reward when she goes potty. It is in a dog's nature to repeat behaviors that are rewarded.

Thought: Are you training her to potty exclusively on walks?
I know it is tempting to want to walk her if she refuses to use the yard, but give her some time. If you take her for a walk every time she doesn't go in the yard, you are simply teaching her to hold her urine until she is walked. It's sort of like giving her the option to choose. You have basically set a routine of sniffing the yard and then going on the walk to potty. Try to make it a habit of making her urinate in the yard and only AFTER taking her on a walk as a reward. Most dogs love walks, so if this applies to her, you can praise/reward when she goes potty in the yard and then snap the leash on for a fun, brisk walk.


I am also wondering if something may have frightened her outside and this is inhibiting her from soiling outdoors. If erecting the fence was noisy and she was not used to it, it could have affected how she perceives the yard and made her feel like an unsafe place to relieve herself. Again, these are just assumption thrown out since I cannot actually see her body language/behavior in person. I know this is not an easy situation to deal with, but I really hope the tips and options prove helpful and that you can have her use her yard again.When you have a chance, please take a moment to rate my answer, sending you my very best wishes!
Adrienne Farricelli CPDT-KA