I'm a little worried about Bella. Yesterday, we came home from work to find a pee spot in our bathroom just inside the door. The previous owner of the house put carpet in the bathroom (WTHF?!) and we're planning on replacing it - we just haven't gotten around to it - but I don't want her to get into that habit. When we first adopted her - about 5 weeks ago - she pee'd in our bathroom once and in the dinning area once. But, that was probably the first couple days we left her at home by herself. I just chalked it up to the stress of being in a new place with new people and all that. I started giving her plenty of praise and a treat every time she potty's outside so she's been really good about it. Although, I've had to scold my wife a couple times for giving Bella a treat after she went outside but didn't do anything.

My two teenaged step-kids have been out of school for the past two weeks so they've been home most of the time - there were a few days last week when they were both at their grandmother's. They have both been pretty good about letting her out in the backyard every couple/few hours and my step-son even took her for a short walk one day. She doesn't actually let us know when she needs to go out. She'll just come over and stand looking at me or she'll sometimes actually walk to the backdoor and stand there looking at it. She doesn't bark or whine or scratch at the door - she just stands there. So, when we got home from work and found the spot in the bathroom, I thought maybe she went to the door, the kids were in their rooms and didn't know she needed to go out, so she went in our bathroom.

However, she did it again last night. When my wife and I first got home, I let Bella out back and she pee'd. Shortly afterwards, my step-son took her for a short walk. Then, about an hour later she was laying on the floor in the dining area after she ate and I tried to get her to go out again - I thought she might need to poop since she didn't eat as much as she normally does - but she wouldn't budge. I found out this morning, that she pooped on her walk with my step-son. I went back into "my room" - I call it "my room" because it's a small room, open on one side that's supposed to be a formal dining room where I have a couch, a TV, and my Xbox - and started playing a video game. I waited about an hour and a half and tried to get her to go out again, but all she wanted to do was lay there. So, a little later, she came into my room, jumped up on the couch and laid down at the other end. Sometimes, when she needs to go out, she'll either stand in front of the couch looking at me or she'll sit right beside me on the couch and stare at me. This time, she laid down on the other end of the couch like she was going to go back to sleep. A little later, my wife started doing something in the kitchen - which is right around the corner from "my room". Bella jumped off the couch to go see what my wife was doing and then followed her into our bedroom. My wife said Bella went into the bathroom, sniffed at the spot where she pee'd earlier in the day - I had wiped up as much as possible and drenched it with Nature's Miracle and had a fan blowing on it so it would dry - walked a little further into the bathroom and then came right back out. As it turns out, she pee'd again just a couple feet from the earlier spot. I was very upset, but I remained calm and didn't punish or even scold her - Bella, not my wife. I did scold my wife a little and told her if she ever sees Bella sniffing around on the floor, it's probably because she needs to go outside. What upset me the most is that I had been trying to get her to go outside for the past few hours, but she didn't seem to want or need to go out.

How can I be mad at her...


We're going to Hobby Lobby tonight and pick up some stuff to make something like this. Bella is about 4 or 5 years old and not knowing how she was raised and house trained, we don't know what to expect from her. We've put down training pads - we picked up some the very first time she pee'd in the house when we first brought her home - in our bathroom and near the backdoor. We've also told the kids not to keep her water bowl full all day and to check on her more throughout the day.