Community Chat

[pommom]

Hi all,

As I posted a couple of months ago, I adopted a 9 yo puppy mill rescue from a no-kill shelter. She is the love of my life; however, she is using my front room to relieve herself.

Here's my dilemma:

I can't put her in my kitchen (which I find repugnant what with food handling, etc.) because the gate won't stay up. The walls are smooth.

I can't put her in my bathroom because the doorway is too small for the gate to expand.

The only other room would be my bedroom which has remained unsoiled. She has her bed in there. So that's completely out.

The absolute last resort would be the crate. My vet frowned on using it, as do I, because she's been cooped up in one for 9 years until July when I adopted her. I did try it once and she went berzerk. I thought she was going to have a heart attack! Her eyes went wild - she looked crazed. I believe she thought, "uh oh, here we go again".

The vet tech suggested using baby diapers and cutting a hole about where her tail is. I diapered my precious sheltie when she became incontinent and when they soil you have to bathe them. At this stage of my life, that would be labor intensive.

What's left to do? Did I miss anything?

I am having my carpet professionally cleaned by a company that uses steam and no chemicals/soap. They are quite reputable - but, I will wait until I come up with a solution otherwise we're back to where we started.

FYI - when I first brought her home, she had the routine down pat. It took only one time and...

Here's our routine:

When we first wake in the morning, I take her out right away. She gets fed when we come back in. I take her out about 30-45 minutes later.

I go home at 11:30 a.m. everyday to take her out. This is when I sometimes find a pile or a spot where she tee teed.

I get home by 5:15 and I take her out. This is our time to enjoy the nice, cool breeze and the neighborhood. She is venturing out farther and farther which is a good sign that she's becoming more comfortable. We sometimes are out 30-45 minutes. She loves our walks.

She gets fed dinner and I take her out 30-45 minutes after that.

She gets a final outing before bedtime.

I've probably shared more information that you wanted to know.

Please, someone, what am I to do?