poop in the house

Question
i have a 1 year old toy fox terrier. when i left for afghanistan in october, she was fully house trained. i left her with my now-ex husband while i was gone. since i've been back, she's decided that she's not going to poop outside anymore. i'm not sure what to do. i stand outside with her for 20 minutes at a time. she'll do her other business, but then she'll just stand there, or go sniff the ground, but will not poop till she goes back in. i don't know what else to do!

Answer
THank you for serving in Afganistan.  You need to ask your husband what he did for potty with the dog while you were away. I would not be surprised that the dog may now be paper or pad trained.

Besides the usual potty training info available in inexpensive books at any pet store, try putting some of the dogs waste outside where you want the dog to go. That serves as a scent clue to the dog "go here."  When the dog goes, praise and a tiny treat. You have 3 seconds from when the dog does an act to get the reward in mouoth before the dog forgets what it just did and the mental relationship is gone.

If possible, leave the dog outside for an entire day or longer, and just bring it in for food and play time. This forces the dog to go outside and when it does, starts to untrain it from going indoors.

Regards,

Henry Ruhwiedel
westwind Kennels llc
www.dogkennel.org