peeing when excited-not a puppy

Question
We adopted a rescued Shih Tzu at 5 years old who was kept in a cage as a breader dog and never new life as anything other than a metal cage, and was also abused by a male.  We've had him 3 years now (he finally is trusting and acts like a dog playing) but we still can't get him to stop peeing in the house as soon as he's get excited (normally when we'd leave he'd pace & then pee at the door).  We also have another dog (we got after him who has taught him a lot) We put in a dog door so he can go out and watch us leave which has helped a lot.  He pees some when we leave or come home now but he does it on the gate outside.  Our problem is, if he hears a noise (UPS man, neighbor, even us talking to someone outside), he'll start barking...pacing...and then pee on whatever we have close to the door (our pool table, futon, or dining table).  We've had him on anxiety medicine since we've had him which helps a lot but we have him down to the lowest dose and even when trying to up it again it didn't help.  We've tried ignoring it. We've tried making him go out and pee every so often. We've tried Putting a gate up to keep him out of the room by the front door...sometimes he runs outside then and pees...other times pees in the kitchen right near the dog door.  We've also tried reprimanding him,putting a belly band with a pad in it on him, shutting him outside after he does it, putting him in a crate right beside the spot for a while.  Our vet says it will never change since the pacing is a result of being in a cage for 5 years and being housebroken so late, but my husband has had it and puts him outside all day or for hours at night when it happens and has now promised to get rid of him if we can't fix it.  Also, it seems to have gotten worse instead of better recently...when I left this morning (and a couple other times when I've left and my husband has still been home) he went into the by the front door and peed on the pool table with my husband sitting right there.  This is really hurting our relationship but I love my dog more than anything and he's come so far from the timid being that didn't know how to be a dog and was afraid of everyone...please help me help him.

Answer
Hi Jody,

I wish I had a magical answer for you, but it sounds like you have a serious problem.   I really recommend that you hire a professional trainer to come to your home and work with you and your dog.  You should be able to find someone to come and give you a consultation for little or nothing, so they can evaluate your dog and see if they think they can help.   

My suggestion would be to start from scratch.   Putting the dog in a crate; scolding; putting the dog outside is not going to help the problem and those things probably are making the problem worse because the dog is unhappy.   Unless you catch the dog in the act, he is not going to understand what is going on.  IF you catch him in the act, simply take him outside.   Dogs work better off of praise than anything else.

If you are going to start over - from the beginning - in hopes to "retrain" your dog, you would have to crate him when you are not home, sleeping and when you can not watch him.  I know that is more than you want, especially given his back ground - but it is the only thing I can think of that might help.  You'd have to take him out often and on a schedule.  When he is out of the crate and in the house - I would recommend that you keep him on a leash to give you control over him at ALL times.  If he starts to go, give the leash a gentle tug and take him outside.  Don't make too big of deal out of an accident - just a firm no and go outside.  LOTS AND LOTS of praise for going outside.  Have a little party with treats and excitement.  

The key to this is to prevent the accidents from happening.  If you can manage to do this for several weeks, I believe you will see an improvement and can start to give the dog more freedom.

There is a good website also, that can give you pointers on some of the fear and anxieties your dog seems to have:   Take a few moments and review some of the tips and pointers.   The website is:  www.paw-rescue.org    Look for the section on Robin's Tips on the bottom left side of the web page.

Thanks for being patient with this little guy.  Tell  your husband to hang in there.

Cathy