jsullysix

I don't want to say this too loudly, but he's been accident free for six days.....! The ONLY thing that's been different is that I've been telling him that he's been doing so well keeping his pants dry when I check. Day seven has begun.

We do have a fenced in yard, yes. would need a new door, though, as our current one is mostly glass.

Honestly, I've not been super great about the alone time since I've been home more often; he's been fine for a few hours at a time, and then can pee when he's alone for 15 minutes. It's been difficult to figure his threshold. It's also been at least a few days since he's been accident free; we seem to be back to 1-3 per day. I think we'll be going back to square one for the alone training. Your comment about becoming hyper attached really struck me, because that's definitely something I've noticed over the past few days. It's hard to notice any signals, because if I'm around, he keeps his proverbial pants dry, and saves the whizz for when I'm gone. If I see him just walking around aimlessly, I'll let him outside just in case. Good idea on the bell ringing trick, I'll check it out. Sully

Brief update: no major changes; sometimes he'll go 1-2 days without an accident, and then he pees in the house. No rhyme or reason, no real triggers other than my absence at that particular moment. Yesterday was kinda funny in a way; I had a phone call with an animal communicator (yes, I'm at the point where I'll try almost anything) whom I discovered in a thread here somewhere. She communicated with both of the furry kids and we eventually got to his peeing issue. I'll spare you the details, but as I was recapping the phone call with the missus, I found a rather large puddle. I'd been home all day, and we were on our schedule. He wound up with three incidents yesterday (he'll usually just have one). So much for that idea. I've been in touch with the group; they're out of ideas but have asked if I want to return him. There are parts of me that does (when he pees in the house), but no, we don't want to do that. He's clearly very happy here, and I can't imagine what returning him would do to him (not to mention the next family), so we're just going to keep moving forward and hope that he'll figure it out soon. Or eventually. I really wish that we could pull up the carpet. Oy. Sully

Hey everyone! The magic of the worn clothes may have worn off, so to speak, but he had a couple of dry days last week, which was great. This past weekend was accident filled, but I think that he was finally starting to get used to our schedule, and then I went ahead and changed it by being home all the time. Taking it in stride as best as I can, and gonna keep working on it. He's also become a champion surfer; apparently, he really likes chicken fried rice. not-so little stinker. Sully

Quick update: He went three days in a row without peeing in the house! We had a little accident this morning, but he's been fine since. Thanks again for all of the support and suggestions! Sully

They're good looking kids, for sure. Did the shirt thing again today, similar results. So far, he's been dry all day. If he gets through today without peering in the house, that's two days in a row.

Thanks everyone! Today has been an awesome day. Dry as a bone all day long. We've been outside a bunch to just have fun, and it's been a really nice evening so far. Here are some moments from our fun. With sister Nico Nico says she's NOT gonna play with him. He said he'd smile all handsome-like for a picture.... ...but says that he'll practice selfies soon. Thanks again for the support, and we'll keep everyone posted! Sully

From what I've seen, he's been a VERY mellow dude today.

Ok, this is too cute. If he wakes up before me, it's usually just a couple of minutes, and he'll come over to my side of the bed and lay down up against my laundry hamper. Sometimes, it MIGHT overflow a little (like today), but he's very happy to lay on my clothes; they're fluffy and all, and well, they probably smell like me. Anyway, he was doing that this morning, and I thought "hmmmmm.....maybe if I put one of my shirts on his bed, it'll help him out a little when I'm gone." So I did. My wife left a couple of minutes after I did, and I've been watching him all morning on the webcam. He hasn't moved from his bed. He's been alone since 8:30am up until 11:40. I saw my wife come home, and he stayed on his bed. Granted, they DO sleep a lot during this time, but I wondered if the shirt helped. ...my wife sent me this He looks like a bandit with a shirt mask in the top pic. There's something about it that I find really sweet. Again, I don't know if it's helped him or not, but he's dry and he seems to be doing okay today. Sully

I'm with you about belly bands and I also had the cleanliness concern. At this point, I'm doing the best that I can. I don't have the luxury right now of having a few days/weeks where rigorous alone time can happen. My schedule is going to open up 10/1, which is great. Until then, I feel that I need to stay the course and minimize damage as best as I can right now. You also hit the nail on the head where most of the peeing (I'd say about 98% of it now) happens when I leave. The other thing that's a drag about the belly band is that the intended result (creating an unpleasant sensation) doesn't seem to bother him in the least. Sadly, he cannot be enclosed in any way; I've tried, and it's either a danger to him or completely ineffective. He's huge and has pulled down ex pens and he can knock down babygates like dominoes (I've tried). The other issue is that my house is VERY open. It'd be AWESOME if I were able to confine him to the kitchen, as he adores lying down on the tile, but it's not possible with the floorplan of my house. We have multiple bands, wash them daily and line them with Depends. He's also going through a round of antibiotics as a "just in case" UTI treatment. I know it's not perfect, but I'm doing the best that I can right now. He has dark nails as well; we're putting heavy blankets on the couch now. Wish I would have done that sooner. I've had 4 greys now and he's the first one that actually gets up on the couch. Yes, I've been fortunate in that regard. As mentioned, he was dry as a bone yesterday, and I was so relieved (pardon the pun). He's been dry all day so far today, too. He wasn't alone for very long today (about an hour), but I'll take it. While the other day was rough after I got home, there seems to be a positive trend that he's been staying dry for the majority of the day for a few days in a row. I'm hopeful that we may be through the hardest part. Thanks to everyone for the continued support! Sully Edit: Was watching him on the webcam and just saw him pee. ugh.

Dry pants all day yesterday!

Back to 2-3 per episodes per day. It's usually been in the mornings, even with going out 2x + a walk. This morning was different. I set up the webcam, connected my phone to it, and left for work after our normal morning routine. My wife had left before me, so after I left, the two dogs were both alone. He would start crying at about 10 to 12 minute intervals, which was kind of new. I was expecting him to pee, but he didn't. I was very surprised and proud of him. He was alone twice today for about an hour and a half each. While he was alone, he got up on the couch again, and ripped the cushion. Sadly, it was the same cushion that he had ripped previously, so I can't flip it over any more to hide the rips. He was wet when I got home from work at 5:30, and I have a feeling that the dogs could hear me outside, and maybe he was just excited. I was a little bummed out to find that he had wet pants, because that was the first accident of the day. But I guess I was proud of him that he made it that long. I had some work to do this evening, so after dinner, I took them for a walk. He peed a bunch, and I thought that I would be able to work for about a half an hour or so without a problem. He rarely has issues in the evening, if ever. I was working in the garage for half an hour, came back in, and his pants were wet. Ugh. Thankfully, the leaks were on the tile. As an aside, I have yet to find some kind of belly band liner that doesn't leak. Poise pads, maxi pads, Depends pads, they all leak. Later this evening my brindle girl told me that she needed to go outside, so I let them both out. They both peed, and played around a little bit. When they were done, we all went back inside. I needed to use the restroom, and he wet his pants while I was in there for less than a minute. I'm sitting in my car as I post this now; my son came home from night school and is hanging out with them. I can't believe that I'm actually about to make an appointment with an animal communicator. I don't even believe in that sort of thing, but I'm willing to try just about anything. I'm out of ideas. The adoption group doesn't have any ideas, either. I just. Don't. Get it. Sully

ugh. accident #2 today. Was alone for about 15 minutes.

Oh, I've tried poise pads, maxi pads, and even depends pads; they all have leaked to an extent. I'm getting good at being able to tell if he's got wet pants by feel. If I can tell he's wet, we remove slowly, and always on the tile; sometimes it's fresh and hasn't been absorbed completely. We'll get there; the past two days of no accidents was something I really needed. Thanks!