3 Yr Old - sneaks off to potty in the house

Question
I have a 3 year old Alaskan Malamute. She has been house trained, and yet she doesnt always go to the bathroom outside. Alot of times she will sneak off to the other end of the house and pee where we cant see her. She does it alot at night, she doesnt wake us up to tell us she wants out. But if we are home, watching T.V or anything like that she will get right in your face to tell you that she wants your attention. Sometimes if we ask her "go outside" instead of running to the door she runs and hides? I'm not sure what else to do, shes kept in a cage now when we are not home because she will go potty all over the house and we've then got to hunt it down to clean it up.

Any suggestions?

Answer
Dear Kathy,
Thanks for writing. I can help. Please keep in mind that I don't have the advantage of a conversation before I decide what to write :). The very nature of these boards requires lots of assumptions. Please don't be offended if my assumptions are wrong. Thank you.

First, get a medical checkup. Changes in elimination habits can be a sign of a medical issue. She may have a bladder infection or any one of many medical issues that affect elimination.

If she has always had accidents, I suspect that she was never housetrained, for if she were, she wouldn't sneak off to the other end of the house "alot of times".  She probably hides to eliminate because you have scolded her for eliminating inside in the past. It's a very common house training mistake. I made it too.

Scolding only teaches dogs to hide from us to eliminate, it does not teach them anything about choosing a specific location.

I suspect she "runs and hides" when you say "go outside" because she associates that phrase with something unpleasant. Try a new, different phrase.

Sometimes dogs just have a relapse in house training, for no apparent reasons. When this happens, we just start over as if the dog were a puppy.

Be sure to teach her to go on cue. Teach her to signal her desire to go outside, even when you are in the bedroom. Hopefully she will get back into the groove- and don't forget that checkup! Thanks for writing.

Alan J Turner
http://howsbentley.com