Chihuahua with Pee problem

Question
My daughter is an RN and works long hours.  She has had her Chihuahua, whose name is "Chicken" since she was a baby.  She is now about 4 1/2 years old.  Chicken has always been good to go potty on her puppy pads & she loves going outside, although she doesn't get to go out very often.  However, now she's decided that sometimes she will just pee in the middle of the floor or maybe a foot away from the pad.  I know she has anxiety from being away from her "mommy" so much and also they have moved several times; but this is really getting out of hand.  My daughter is living in a very nice apartment & she can't afford to have Chicken peeing on her carpets there.  She hates having to leave her cooped up in the bathroom for 12 hours or more at a time; but she's going to have to, if we can't figure out how to get Chicken to start going on the puppy pads & not on the floor.  HELP!!!  What can she do??

Answer
Unfortunately, sometimes when there are changes to the schedule and the household dogs revert in their housebreaking and you have to kind of go back to square one. This means watch and confine. If you can't watch her every minute she needs to be confined to a crate or small area. When she goes outside of her designated relief station, in this case the puppy pads, she must be corrected, told NO firmly and taken to her relief station, told to "go potty" and praised the minute she does.

If the dog is expected to go potty on the potty pads sometimes and outdoors sometimes, this can lead to confusion. If you want the dog to go outdoors, you must bring a potty pad with you for her to go on in order to prevent this confusion.

12 hours is a long time to leave a dog confined, so your daughter may want to look into having her boarded or hiring a pet sitter or dog walker to come give her attention during the day. Overnight isn't a big deal, because she should be sleeping, but maybe someone can come in the morning if mom isn't going to be home when she wakes up.