We have a 1 year old puppy, part Anatolian Shepherd and the rest unknown, who has been with us since she was 5 weeks old. We went to adopt a 2 year old Basenji from a rescue but it didn't work out, and the kids fell in love with this little girl while we were there. This is our first dog and we're still learning as we go.
My partner was not comfortable with crate training as the puppy whimpered horribly even at being in a box or crate for the night, and it felt cruel to leave her there (in retrospect this was probably a mistake). She was allowed in the linoleum hallway and kitchen and the carpeted family room, including on the couch, gated off from the rest of the home. We took her hour every 30 minutes for the first 6 months, every hour for the next 3, and every 1-2 hours since then. We also take her out any time we see sniffing or agitation, though we can't watch her 24/7.
She both urinated and defecated on the family room floor and hallway floor at first. This was easy to clean from the latter. The former we soaked all we could then treated with Nature's Miracle to eliminate the odor. When we did so we scolded her when we caught her in the act and then led her outside. When she goes outside, even now, she is verbally praised and receives attention, which makes her happy. Over time she has tended to go outside more and more.
She seems better about urination outside than about defecation. Our morning routine was to wake up, let her out, feed her while having breakfast, and often by 20 minutes later she had defecated on the floor. We've begun letting her out a second time after breakfast, but she still sometimes comes in and goes on the floor instead. It seems like she may not be able to control it, but by this age I had thought she should be able to. My only remaining thought is that the scent from past 'accidents' may be making her want to go, though I shampooed the carpet last month with Nature's Miracle mixed in.
Last night we returned home from a 2 hour shopping trip. She had managed to undo our gate, go up the stairs where she is only allowed to be on the way to bed at night, and urinate in the hallway. There has never been an accident upstairs and should be no scent, so I was very confused at why she would do this. All of my hypothesis seem to have been invalidated now.
Is this likely a training issue, and age issue, or a medical issue? How do I address it? The longer it goes on the worse the smell gets inside, which I fear will eventually make it impossible to stop.
I would like to add that she is a very good girl otherwise, though very stubborn at times.