Hi all,
I have a mixed breed female dog (looks like a Dachshund with longer legs) for the last two months. It’s 1.5–2 years old and weighs about 6.5 kilos (14 pounds). The vet has given her a clean bill of health.
The dog was found wandering by a neighbor in the street with a piece of cut leash hanging from its collar. I kept her and started looking for her owner but failed and she stayed with me.
The dog was already housetrained when I found her. Moreover she never barks (I have heard her barking three times when other dogs attacked her on the street) and when she hears the words “don’t” she literally freezes, even if she’s in the middle of a jump. She generally doesn’t repeat things that I have once told her not to do.
Since the first night she stayed with me she sleeps with me in my bed. She always comes on her own and likes to lie in a way that her back touches me.
For the first month I didn’t give her much attention because I thought that she was staying temporarily and I wasn’t in the house for 10-14 hours every day because I was working, so I barely took her for a walk twice a day. Apart for sleeping and playing with her toys she never did anything bad.
After that I understood that I would keep her and in the same time the project I was working on finished so I had much more time to spend with her. I started teaching her simple commands (sit, come, lie down) and generally I cuddled her more. Since I normally work from home I leave the house only for a couple of hours daily.
The problem is that since I started spending more time with her, she has started peeing when I am not giving her attention. Normally she does it when she nudges me to play and I ignore her or when I stop playing with her. She pees in the middle of the room (my bed and office are in the same room) and then stays there and sometimes steps on them. However last night she peed on my bed (where she likes to play).
When she does it I ask her in a firm voice “What did you do there?”, I lift her and I put her in a corner. She understands that she did something bad and stays there until I tell her to come out, after about 10 minutes, during which I completely ignore her. She does this on her own; I have never taught her to stay in the same spot when punished. That’s the only time I have to scold her, apart from stopping her eating food from the street.
Could anybody offer any insights as to what to do to prevent her from peeing?
Thanks and sorry for the long post.