Maltese Yorkie mix with bathroom issues

Question
QUESTION: I have a maltese yorkie mix who is over a year old. He has never been well potty trained. I take him out often but he still has accidents! when i take him out, he does his buisness and knows it's not play time. he also has bad separation anxiety. i really need help. please let me know what i can do to fix this problem.

ANSWER: Hi Niki,

If your dog hasn't figured out the bathroom routine yet, you need to go back to square one.  If he is having accidents in the house he doesn't understand that in the house is an inappropriate place to relieve himself and out doors is a great place to relieve himself. I've answered this housetraining question multiple times on this website.

Are you giving him yummy treats for going out side? Are you monitoring his activities inside? Is he crated when you can't watch him 100% of the time? Do you catch him in the act of trying to relieve himself inside or do you just find it? How long after he goes outside is he going inside? Does he have a way to communicate his need to go outside? Do you go with him and reward him outside?

Jaz

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: i do monitor his activities inside, most of the time. I live in an apartment where it is easy to watch him. His accidents here are usually when i take my eyes off of him. And when i go to my parents house where the area is much larger, he has accidents all the time. Even when we take him out ALL THE TIME! He usually tells us when he needs to go out but, he now has a bad habit of lying about it. Most of the time, we just find it. But sometimes we do catch him doing it and take him out immediately. He usually goes inside about 30 minutes after I take him out. I always go with him outside and walk him on a leash, and he is pretty good about going on command. I never wanted to use the "potty pads" because i want to take him places with me but it's hard because i'm afraid he will use the restroom inside. Is it too late because he is older? How is an effective way to train him? thanks for helping me. I really appreciate it!

Answer
Your dog is lying to you?  Dogs are incapable of lying. They also don't generalize so just b/c it might not be ok to relieve himself in  your apartment doesn't mean he understands that it is not ok to relieve himself in your mother's house. It sounds to me like he has too much freedom.  It also sounds to me like he understands he shouldn't go IN FRONT of you but it's ok to go in the house when you aren't watching him. You need to go back to square one: pretend he is a 3 month old puppy. NO freedom without supervision. If you cannot supervise hime (that means your eyes are on him 100% of the time) then he has to go into a crate. The crate should be fairly small. If you know he goes inside 30 minutes after he went outside, then you need to take him outside at that time - 30 minutes later. AS I said above, when he goes outside in the right place you should tell him what a good dog he is and give him a yummy treat. There is a disconnect between what you thought you were teaching and what he actually learned. The only way to solve it is to go back to the very beginning and start over. There are many good books about housetraining puppies. It isn't too late but you'll need to be very vigilant and restrict his freedom.

Jaz