Hi Guys, I'm sure you must get swamped with tons of email and I'm really sorry to load another one onto you, but I really need some help. Just over a week ago my wife and I adopted Sadie from the Humane Society. She's a 3 year old Pekingese who is blind. She was abandoned at the shelter with only 1 eye and it was badly infected, she had surgery soon after to remove that eye. She gets around remarkably well and we love her to pieces! Both the foster mom who had her before we did and the Humane Society told us she was house broken and she went outside just fine the first few days we had her. Lately though we've had a few accidents. I'm home with her most of the day and twice now I've gone to run an errand and come back to poop and pee on the carpet. One morning we woke up to the same.

Today is the one that has me stumped. I walked her and then fed her right around 7:00am (she peed) I then walked her again at 9:25 (she didn't do anything though) I left at 9:30 and came back around 11:45 to find poop and pee in the same spot she had done it a previous time. It's in a second bedroom or ours, but it's right in the open, nothing sneaky about the location she chooses. We've been pretty good about a bathroom, feeding schedule with her and putting her food away (we're starting the water now) We're probably going to get her a crate, she currently has free run of the apartment, but we really didn't think she'd need crate training seeing as how she's already been housebroken.

One last thing. Sometimes when I take her out to eliminate in the nearby grassy patch in the apartment complex that we're trying to make her associate with using the bathroom, she sits down and whimpers. She doesn't want to move and I've had to drag her once or twice onto the grass. Given that she's blind, can you see anything we're doing wrong? Any ideas would be really appreciated, we love her huge and she's been a blessing to our lives, but this is a little frustrating. THANK YOU!- Justin De Witt

First, please don't apologize for the questions. You are the very reason we do what and these questions are what we do.

Secondly, what a truly noble thing to adopt not only a second chance dog but one that is blind to boot!

Most rescued dogs are perfect the first weeks in a new home. When this honeymoon is over, they sometimes revert to their basic problems.

For all intents and purposes, we'll assume your dog has not been housebroken (the pooping indoors being the basis of this statement). I would definitely try a crate. Toss in several toys and chew things (even if you do not think she will use them). You can also place something of little value to you with your scent on it like an old T-shirt or frayed bed linen. Introduce the crate slowly and for only a few moments at a time, building up time to use it whenever you leave her alone.

Close off that second bedroom. Use a product specifically designed to remove pet odors to clean the floor.

You're on the right track restricting her food and water access. Don't allow her wander freely about the home. Treat her as you would a 10-week-old puppy.

The olfactory (smelling) sense of a dog is its strongest sense. Your pooch, being blind, has to depend on this immensely acute sense even more than most dogs. Other dogs undoubtedly use a grassy patch in an apartment complex. Although we know otherwise, this area may smell like a cesspool to your dog, and being a proper lady - she wouldn't think of stepping foot in it. (Many dogs, out of fear or confusion, will freeze up and sit when overwhelmed.) Please don't drag her to this spot as it will tend to make her more fearful of it. Rather, seek out another spot and allow the dog time to investigate on her own. This spot could be in the gutter, under some bushes, in a far off corner.

This 3-year-old dog may never be truly be trustworthy alone at home. Keeping in a crate whenever you leave is a teeny, tiny price to pay for all the joy and happiness she surely brings.

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