Peeing in house

my fiancee and I adopted a chiweenie (chihuahua/dachsund) a month or so ago. She usually seems to be good about not peeing in the house. But the last couple nights she has had a problem of peeing in the house.

what we do not understand is that it's very random sometimes, we ALWAYS walk her about 4 hour intervals. sometimes she will even pee in the house an hour after she has been walked.

when she does pee in the house she tends to do it in a room that we are not in, and she also only does it when we aren't giving her our full undivided attention (aka cooking dinner or such). we also make certain to clean up the urine very thoroughly so that the odor doesn't linger.

how on earth can we train her that peeing in the house is not alright. we make sure that she realizes its bad but so far it hasn't stopped her.

also a side question, she doesnt seem to like to use the area just outside of our apartment as a place to do her business. instead we have to walk her about a block away to a patch of grass. is there a way that we can train her to use the closer area instead of having to go farther away?

we are desperate for help, please lend some advice.

ps- she is about 3 years old

If this is new behavior, a vet visit should be the first thing you try. She may have a UTI. A simple urinalysis will confirm or rule out a lot of things.

You don't say if she's spayed. In some dogs, spay incontinence occurs--without the affects of estrogen, the muscles used in bladder control become more flaccid and accidents can result. This is easily treated with either estrogens or phenylpropanolamine--both are relatively cheap and can be prescribed by the vet.

Is the area outside your apartment grassy? Dogs often develop preferred surfaces to defacate on. Yours may be used to grassy surfaces. We have one with the opposite problem--she was used to going on cement and we're still in the process of getting her to use the grass rather than the patio. :D If this is the case, the cure is patience--we simply make sure that we keep Grace in the grassy areas when we know she has to go... Knowing your dog's signals will help tremendously.

Good luck! :fingerscr Keep us posted on how she's doing.

If this is new behavior, a vet visit should be the first thing you try. She may have a UTI. A simple urinalysis will confirm or rule out a lot of things.

You don't say if she's spayed. In some dogs, spay incontinence occurs--without the affects of estrogen, the muscles used in bladder control become more flaccid and accidents can result. This is easily treated with either estrogens or phenylpropanolamine--both are relatively cheap and can be prescribed by the vet.

Is the area outside your apartment grassy? Dogs often develop preferred surfaces to defacate on. Yours may be used to grassy surfaces. We have one with the opposite problem--she was used to going on cement and we're still in the process of getting her to use the grass rather than the patio. :D If this is the case, the cure is patience--we simply make sure that we keep Grace in the grassy areas when we know she has to go... Knowing your dog's signals will help tremendously.

Good luck! :fingerscr Keep us posted on how she's doing.

im sorry i forget to mention it, yes she is spayed. Yeah the area outside our apartment doesnt have grass really. I figured that was the issue, but i was curious if there was a way to convince her that she should pee there. thanks for your response.