[emerald2010]

My 6 month old female English cocker spaniel is not an easy dog to house break but we thought we were getting there when she's suddenly started pooping and peeing indoors all over again. Her poop timings are never the same from day to day though I feed her the same food at the same time every single day. She gets a calcium supplement which causes constipation and may be messing up her timings. But the no-peeing at night is a recent occurrence. The guy next door has several dogs in his open basement area but she never sees them, can only hear them. During the day these dogs do not worry her but with nightfall her behavior changes. First she works herself into a storm of barking as we go outside. This sets off the dogs next door naturally. After the back and forth backing during which she's very agitated, she may calm down if she spots the feral cat, Goldie, that lives on our premises and then she wants to play but not to pee. After 3 or 4 trips outside from 8 to 11 pm she will surreptitiously pee under furniture. She'd stopped peeing on her last trip of the day (11pm) some weeks back but now she's heading for a no-pee-outdoors-at- night status. How do I deal with this situation? She's never met the dogs next door and if she's quiet they will not bark but she somehow feels threatened by their existence, but only at night. Admittedly you can hear more dogs barking at night as human sounds die down. And she's scared of the other night creatures as well, real or imagined! Shell peer under cars or stare at trees. Personality-wise she's friendly with people, not overly scared of strange dogs she meets on her walks and has definite dominance issues with us, growling when we groom, bathe or restrain her. Are all these somehow interconnected? We've had her for 5 months now. I'd welcome any suggestions. I did not use a crate to train her but did restrict her to a couple of rooms.