Dear Abbey

Dear Abbey,

We're having trouble potty training our dog. She'll pee twice, outside, and then five minutes later, she'll pee inside. We've had her tested for various health problems, and she checked out fine. The other day, we probably cleaned up five messes in 90 minutes. We're getting very frustrated, and it really sends Denny over the edge. I'm beginning to think, I'm going to have to get rid of one of them.

She also greets people with pee. Tonight, I read the following on a dog training blog As far as her urinating when meeting a visitor, it's called submissive urination. It's actually a form of her communicating with people, an instinctive pack trait which is perfectly normal. She's telling your guest that she means them no harm and acknowledges them as an Alpha, being above her. She's being submissive to them. Well...how sweet...she's saying, "Good evening, may I pee on your shoe?" The other day, Gretchen came over....she had to pee too (maybe it has something to do with our house) anyway, while Gretchen went inside the bathroom, Mosie peed outside the bathroom door. I suppose in doggy language that meant, "good evening Gretchen, I understand that you are greater than I, so therefore, you use the bathroom, and I'll just go right here outside the door so you'll step in it when you come out." (which she did, by the way).

Now, during our 20 year marriage, we've had two other dogs, both of which were trained within a months time. We've also potty trained two cats, and three kids. Denny and I also went thru potty training, with much success I might add, except for an occassional leak of urination during an extreme sneeze. So, anyway, all that to say, it's not like we've never potty trained before, we have experience.

What do we do?

Signed,

Frustrated, and Confused