adult matese dog

Question
I started this question earlier and I guess I ran out of space.  I have a female 7 year old Maltese adopted 5 months ago.  She had been debarked.  She is still afraid of us and spends much of her time under my bed.  She chooses to sleep there and hide there during the day.  I am the only one in the family she really likes, but she runs from me at times too.  We have never done anything to her to make her afraid of us.  She has recently ruined one area rug by peeing on it multiple times.  We got rid of it and now she has begun to pee on another one(multiple times)  I take her out often when I am at home, and she can hold it for long periods of time when I am away from home.  We are getting very frustrated and are at our wits end on what to do?  She also takes her food from her bowl and leaves a trail from the laundry room through the kitchen to the living room rug.  What can I do to help her.  I can not afford to keep replacing rugs.  I have wood floors so we need our area rugs.

Answer
A seven year old dog is fairly set in her ways. Being a rescue adds to the difficulty because you don't know if she has been abused and developed a deep seated fear of human contact. In a case like this I would suggest you can only experiment with different strategies in the hope that you can break down her fear.

Step one would be to have her bond with your family. Put her on a leash and compel her to stay with you. Keep her close and if she is food oriented, occasionally give her treats. Crate her when you cannot have her with you on the leash but control her every movement. She should either be on the leash by your side or in her crate. In addition to building a bond with your family, this should be a way to curtail the potty problems.

Give her plenty of walks and attempt to teach her some simple tricks. This should help her confidence which is always an issue with fearful dogs.

Finally be patient. At seven years old she will not change overnight. As you see gradual improvement, give her more freedom off the leash. Hopefully in time she will be the trusting and loving dog you hoped for.

Good Luck!