Animal Welfare Professionals

I adopted a 3 year old, female, Boston Terrier a few days ago.  Let's assume she does not have any physical issues for the moment.  I am trying to understand and reprogram from a pattern of not fully eliminating.  I don't have any history.  When asked about house training, the foster mom said 'they'd been working on it, but she seems clueless'.  After spending the last few days with her, I get a better idea of what she was saying.  She's an energetic, extremely affectionate, intelligent little dog that weirdly seems to never been taught any manners at all.  I sense she wants to please.  I am an experienced dog owner who has never crate trained.  So I am hoping not to have to do that with her.  It's a perfect time to train a dog as my county in California is under Covid-19 health order of self isolation. The method of house training dogs that has worked for me in the past, is to watch them constantly.  Attach a leash to myself if necessary.  Take them out at all of the key times, after a nap, after a meal, after energetic play times & before bed.  Praise them when they go outside. if they do it inside by mistake you make a loud unpleasant noise as they do it.  not after.  if you don't catch them actually going, the only thing you can do is clean it up.  don't every punish.  So that being said, right away I noticed that she understood what I wanted when i took her outside and said 'go potty'.  She sniffs, she squats and pees but she does not fully eliminate.  She may sniff around a bit more a pee in another spot.  Unfortunately, she has had a couple of accidents inside that i did not catch.  One inside elimination i did witness happened shortly after we had come in from outside and I had just seen her go.  So it seems a little like marking, but I also wonder if she had just been praised so often recently for squatting that it's a nervous habit.

A few more facts in case anyone actually reads all that:

I have another dog, an 8 yr old terrier mix, they are getting to know each other and doing pretty well.  Pecking order not established yet between them.

She was just spayed about a month ago and has gone through the complete batter of immunizations, flea dips and everything else they do to stray dogs before they can be adopted.

She eats voraciously, her poops look good.  Frequency of urination is what seems abnormal to me.  

Hi Pug Mama! Congratulations on the new addition to the family. Love the above photo. Medical of course is the first thing-scary and not so scary things-to rule out. If you have not already done this, and if it is possible at this time, bringing a simple urine sample in may be helpful-they can give you the details on how to do this (whether to wipe her first before she goes, what time of day, etc.) If this is not possible I would still try to catch a sample to see if there is anything very obvious such as blood or cloudiness-anything that is not "perfect").

Have you ever seen her empty more completely away from the foster home or yours? Meaning somewhere where dogs are not already frequent visitors etc.-like a supermarket's grassy area or sidewalk or somewhere more private/hidden? Two of our dogs (Jada and Fiona) were found together, different ages and apparently different breed mixes and both female, one spayed and one unspayed (at that time). But both HAD to be walked away from their little sub yard and cabin before they would go potty. We walked them closer to the wooded section where we have a large tree trunk pile and a little embankment where they would go immediately. We have other dogs but they were not even sharing the same spaces (yet). And still it seemed to be the issue. This became unnecessary in time once they were more settled in. Maybe try a more private yard or section of the yard that pup #1 does not frequent or creating a space just for this pup for a while by de-scenting, bleaching an area (that may harm your grass, etc. thou) and hanging up a curtain on a laundry line for her privacy.

Starting at the beginning as if she were a puppy ...we have let puppies out every 2 hours with success (overnight maybe just once). While we really like our crates as do our dogs, people and dogs got along without them before they were commonly available. Small sectioned off areas in a house or room can work wonders if potty issues are the only concern. Adding outlet covers and safely removing or blocking off any possible concerns would raise safety levels giving you more peace of mind as well. 

Praising...as soon as she has completed this task and not during. 

Time and space...she may need extra time. Possibly try walking her for potty in the same spot/spots like the perimeter of the yard/separate yard/or that special section that belongs to just her. And just wait longer till you absolutely think she is done and add a minute or two just in case. This potty time is only for potty so try not to say or do anything to distract her other than the praise afterward and maybe the initial go potty phrase that you use.

Submission...sometimes puppies and adult dogs will urinate right in front of you or another dog. This can stop over time. Our adult dog Danny did this when we would come near him, for a while after he came to live with us. But that is a very distant memory (approx. 14 years ago).

Danny, Jada, and Fiona none of these dogs would be called nervous or overly submissive (certainly not to other dogs!). And other pups of ours have had medical issues causing less urine output that required the veterinarian's assistance/surgery or meds. 

Congratulations again and thanks for searching for answers...Sarah