We have a 9 month old Australian Shepherd/Jack Russell/Pointer mix puppy. We adopted her from a shelter 3 months ago and have discovered that most of her first 6 months of life were spent in various shelters. At first, it seemed as if she was nearly completely house-broken. However, we have come to the painful realization that her bladder and bowel control are not consistent.
We had a month of no "accidents" in the house and thought we were well on our way to a peaceful co-existance with our new family member. But, two days ago she started off the day with urinating on our bed. This was followed up with no bowel movement outside before I left for the day to go to work. Of course, we had a mess to clean up when we arrived home in the early evening. And when we went to do some shopping later in the evening...we returned to find another "accident".
Yesterday, we found that she had urinated on the carpet less than 30 minutes after we had taken her outside (at which time she had relieved herself also).
The biggest frustration that we are facing is the fact that when I take her out in the morning prior to going to work...she is so easily distracted. She sniffs EVERYTHING. She stops looking for the "spot" at the slightest noise. And, she chases bugs...both flying and crawling. I do not have 30 - 45 minutes each morning to devote to getting her to take care of business so that I can return home to an accident-free home.
What can we do?????
