We have an 18 month old bearded collie bitch along with three other dogs. She primarily belongs to my sister who is often out the house at work and out in the evenings too so i'm the mug clearing up the dogs wee and things that she's chewed up. it's a nightmare!! she's just been let in from the garden after a long walk and weeed not only on the rug at the front door but on my bed as well!! so i'm at my wits end!! i think that she does these thing because she pines for her owner, my sister, as she never wees or chews things up while shes here. she also chews up a lot of things, mostly mine and my sons things. all these all signs of a dog that has a vendetta against me or is she just unhappy? she is fairly regularly walked and played with. please help because i don't want to fall out with my sister over this!!! any suggestions at all!!!

Put the idea that she has a vendetta against you right out of your mind! Dogs simply don't think along those lines.

How much individual attention does she get, both from you and from your sister?

my sister gives her a lot of attention when she's here which averages 3 hours of an evening and some weekends, i try to walk her every day but other than that i feed her and about the house all day but no one to one. mostly because she's got an awful bark and if you give her an inch she'll take a mile!!!

As JG says, forget the vendetta idea. Has she ever been clean?

no, not really, she's had better times and worse but i couldn't say theres been more than a few weeks that she hasn't peeed in the house. thank you for taking an interest.

Then you will have to go right back to basics and train her as if she was a little baby pup. Your advantage is that unlike the baby pup she is old enough to have control of her bladder/bowels.

You need to take her outside every hour (no point putting her out on her own) and wait with her until she pees. When she does praise her to the skies and give her a favourite food reward immediatially. Watch her like a hawk indoors, and at the first sign she is restless, sniffing around or beginning to squat take her out and again wait with until she produces, then praise and reward. When she goes inside just clean up with bio washing powder and ignore her. There is no point scolding her because she doesn't yet understand what you want.

It will be very frustrating for the first few days because, unlike a baby pup, she won't need to widdle every five minute so it will take patience to get her doing what you want to do so that you can praise her. But once you have associated the piddle outside and the praise / reward a few times she will catch on fast.

Anyway, unfortunately there are no shortcuts to this.

HTH

Hi Shea,

TRYING to walk her every day is no good, she needs at least 2 good walks a day, this is probably part of the reason that she is deciding to deposit in the house, dogs like to mark out a territory in the home and on walks, you will find if you walk her regularly (every single day) that she will nine out of ten times toilet in the same place outside peeing at the front door is a classic territory marking, with 2 other dogs to contend with she needs her own space and territory.

All dogs need one to one attention, barking can also be used by an attention seeker.  If she is tired from her walk and given a little more attention she will not feel the need to destroy and chew everything for some entertainment.

If she still continues to pee inside you will need to watch her constantly and the minute she begins to squat or circle, take her outside, whether she is half way through or not, let her continue in the garden and then praise her to death, lots of pats and good girls.  Do not shout at her or tell her off if she does it in the house, if she gets no attention peeing inside, she will want to go outside to be fussed. :-)

thank you for your advice, i certainly think you are right about the attention seeking, the walking her twice a day will be diffecult though, we have a very large garden anyway, so we've never worried about walking any of the dogs. so i'll have to talk to my sister about walking her more often. we do tend to take her back to the spot that she's weeed at and give her a firm 'NO'. but will try ignoring it. thank you so muchfor your help

Shea -

Having a large garden does not exercise your dog, because dogs don't exercise themselves.  If you put them out in the garden, they will probably just sit there or plod around.  Dogs need people to exercise them and take them out for walks.

Secondly, please don't say "No" to her and show her the place she has weed on - any praise or correction needs to be given within ONE SECOND of the behaviour (so, within 1 second of her weeing).  If you do it any later than that, the dog does not understand why it is being punished.  It may look "sorry", but that is really just appeasement behaviour designed to turn off your anger - it doesn't mean the dog understands WHY you are angry.

The best thing to do is to take her outside first thing in the morning, last thing at night, after eating and after playing and WAIT for a toilet to happen.  Be ready with a food treat in your pocket (very tasty) and give this within ONE SECOND of her going in the right place. 

Clean up any accidents without punishment - just ignore her.

I've got a less serious but similar problem with my 13 month old bitch. I think in being careful to always go out with her and praise her when she goes outside, I've accidentally taught her that it's safest to go to the toilet near me!! She will often take herself outside, but once or twice a week she will wee in the kitchen even though she has access to the garden. She doesn't poo inside, just the occasional wee. :-(

I agree with the statement about scolding immediately. If someone came up to you and shouted "you are very very bad" you would be stunned and then look guilty and thing "what have I done?" Any sheepishness in a dog is often confusion, people often mistake this for the dog feeling guilty and ashamed for what they have done. the truth is they haven't got a clue and can often worsen the behaviour!

Sounds like a mad suggestion...but does the dog wee in one or two particular places.  Expensive option, I know, but try changing the carpet.

When my dog was a pup she was a nightmare. Kept weeing in the house for the first 2 years. One day got new carpets and it stopped! The scent had gone and the desire to keep marking it went with it!

I too had a large back garden and so didn't excercise her nearly enough and suppose didn't give her enough "good" attention cos was constantly scolding for chewing things and peeing!

Proper walks off the lead with knacker your dog, therefore burnign off excess energy and frustration. So she will be less likely to chew things up (this often caused by the excess energy a bit like a small child!). The time you have with her will be time of better quality both outdoors and indoors (plus you get lots of excercise and stress free time too!). This may well help with the weeing as it might be anxiety!

And finally, if a dog has routine walks at set times and understands that weeing in the house is unacceptable, they become more able to hold their bladder until the right time. At the moment, if she has no routine, her body clock doesn't know when to go and when not to go!

Good luck!

we have a very large garden anyway, so we've never worried about walking any of the dogs.

I agree with the others about the walking.She NEEDS at least 2 good off lead walks per day,everyday! With a high energy breed such as the BC you dont have much of a choice,this will give her other opportunties to mark and will give her an outlet for any frustration she may be feeling,i would also look into getting her spayed asap.Did your sister not research this breed before getting her?

I dont think it's very nice at all of your sister to dump you with the massive responsibilty of her dog.She needs to pull her finger out,put her social life on hold for a while and thoroughly re-train her dog from scratch! Or else nothing is going to change :(

Could you show her these replies? Or even better get her to come on herself :)

I'de say this dog needs stimulation,one on one time and a consistent reward based training program.No punishment,this often backfire's and makes the dog even more confused.She genuinely wants to please you,try and ignore the bad and lavish heaps of praise on her when she does the right thing.