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Ihave an Italian Greyhound. She is about 6 years old. We had a heck of a time house training her. We began with crate training, but she has no problem peeing or pooping in her crate and all over herself. We were having to wash her and the crate twice a day. We tried small area training, which is fine but she goes pee in her area nearly everyday while we are at work. We tried sending her to a doggie boot camp (when she was still a puppy) and we got our money refunded to us after 3 weeks because they could not break her! She has also been known to go out of "spite" or frustration. If we come home from work, let her out, then have to run out again for say a 10 minute errand, she will push out a tiny poop at the top of the stairs to show her anger!!
Mostly she goes in her confined space once a day while we are at work and while we are home, she "asks" to go out so we have very few accidents. This has been fine. But for the past 2 or 3 months, she has been waking up in the middle of the night while we are asleep and going down to our finished basement and peeing and poopoing on the rug in one area. It took us a while to figure out which pet was doing it which is why it has been going on so long. We had to set up cameras and catch the culprit. There have been no chages in our home, and we cannot figure out the cause. She is fine all day long and then does this nightly. We started closing the door to our room so she has to stay in there with us all night, but if the door is forgotten, sure enough she heads on down and does her thing! We have cleaned and tried to get the smell out of the area, but it is still an issue. Is there something more going on here than we know? Is keeping our door closed going to be the only solution? We have a 2 year old and a baby on the way and really hate to close them out at night. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Also any suggetions for REALLY getting that smell out would be great too! Thanks so much!!

I think it's the breed you are dealing with. She needs confinement to an easily-cleaned area. You may want to consider, having the baby coming and the other young child and other dogs, whether it would be best to go ahead and return her to the breeder for placement in another home.

She is NOT doing this out of spite or anger. A dog's instincts are so very different from ours in terms of elimination. And as I said, it's likely the breed, too. Your other dogs are likely to do the same because of the scent of her accidents.

There are natural hormonal changes in human moms after their babies come that make it likely you will want to give up this dog at that point. Prior to the coming of your baby, your hormones are very, very different, and you may not be able to imagine giving up the dog.

If you got this dog from a good breeder, get in touch with the breeder. If not, I'm sure there is a rescue group for the breed listed at www.akc.org. You need to place her through someone who will be there for her if the new home doesn't work out. That makes her life stable and always a home for her.

If you want to keep her confined to an easily-cleaned area of your house, read the articles listed alphabetically under "Housetraining" at the link with my signature. Also, be sure to read the articles that start with "Child." It is very, very important that parents know how to manage their children and dogs for safety.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47

So you are saying there is nothing I can do? Give her up, that's your solution? I already have a child and have never experienced hormonal chages that make me not love my dog anymore. So why youthink that would happen after the birth of my second child is beyond me. We have had this dog for nearly 6 years, she is a part of our family. We do not have any other dogs. The other pets I was referring to are 2 shy and quiet cats. My house in general is a quiet and relaxing place and our dog is VERY happy with us. I am feeling a little out off by your suggestion to give up my dog so easily without exploring more into the why's and how's of this behavior.

She is confined to a small place when we are not home. We never have problems with her during the day. She sleeps in our bedroom with us. We are happy with this arrangement. It's the sudden new behavior of waking up nightly and wetting and sometimes pooping on the floor in one particular spot that has us concerned. I came here because in the past i have gotten wonderful advice on how to help and train my pets. Giving her up is not an option. It will not ever be an option.

I didn't mean to suggest at any point that she is behaving this way out of spite or anger. However animals often express their unhappiness over something through eliminating where they shouldn't. When we come home, let her out, then step outside again without her, she ALWAYS squeezes out a tiny poop at the top of the stairs. I know this is her way of telling me she is unhappy that I left her. So I used the word "spite" or anger, but I guess i should have said her unhappiness. I was mentioning that behavior because I wondered if this nightly peeing indoors ritual could also be an expression of unhappiness.

We shut our bedroom door now, and this has stopped the behavior. Which is fine, but I was more interested in trying to get to the possible root of her problem and then fixing it, rather than using a quick fix like this. Your response offered nothing helpful. Maybe someone else would be able to be a little more helpful.

She could have a medical problem going on, so that is something to have checked out with your veterinarian. She could also have separation anxiety. That is a complicated condition. The article "Separation Anxiety" (title is in alphabetical order in the Table of Contents list) at the link with my signature below goes into the details of what separation anxiety is, things that cause it, and things you can do.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47