Unable to house train my Shih Tzu

Question
I have two Shih Tzu's going on three years old, both male. They have their own sun room with a doggy door that leads to a nice size yard. The problem I have is with my one male Shih Tzu. I know he is house trained. He uses the doggy door 20 times a day and goes to the restroom on the artificial turf outside. I am home three days a week and witness it daily, but when I am away at work or upstairs sleeping, he will pee in the house. It is almost like he wants me to personally take him out at night even though he has free access to the back yard with the doggy door. When I go to work, I put them in the sun room (doggy door access). When I return from work, I find that he pees daily in the sun room. I know it is not my other Shih Tzu because I have caught him many times over the last 2 1/2 years. I clean the areas with bleach and it is becoming very tedious. Help!!!

Answer
My guess is that your little boy is marking. If it were a potty training problem he would remain clueless as to the proper potty protocol when you are home.

First, you want to stop cleaning his markings with bleach. Use a pet specific cleaner that you can find in any good pet store.

Second, marking is a defensive behavior that dogs employ to protect their family and territory. This would mean that your dog feels you need his protection. This is not good and would suggest you need to reevaluate your relationship with your dog. I would suspect we may have a bit of "small dog syndrome" at play.

Read the following article and see if changing your behavior might solve your problem.
http://www.perfectdogtraining.com/articles/dog-training/small-dog

Good Luck!

Sandy