My Shih Tau is 11 months old. We have gated the kitchen and family room area for her to stay in since that is where we are 99.9% of the time. She hits a bell on the door when she wants to potty or just go out. She never has an accident in this area.
Every now and again I take the gate down thinking I can trust her to come back to the back door, but she ends up pooping either upstairs or the other parts of the house. I don't know how to stop her from doing this. Especially because when she is gated in our "hanging out" area, she never has an accident. I am so confused. Can someone please give me some advice to stop this? I have no idea how to stop this and by the time I find it its too late because it's been awhile already.
By Renee S
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Your dog is nervous about the non-gated area because she is most often in the gated area. She has misunderstood this as meaning that the gated area is the only area that is really safe.
Walk her on a leash in and out of the non-gated area several times a day with the back door closed. Don't let her stop and poop.
After you've done this for a couple of weeks, start walking her through straight out the door but right back in. Don't let her stop to poop.
After another couple of weeks, walk her out the door (still on the leash) and let her poop in the yard if she wants to. Eventually you'll be able to remove the leash.
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