Q: I let my dogs sleep in the bed and I have four Bichons: a 19-month neutered male, had since 8 weeks; an 11-year old neutered male rescue, have had since November who was in a puppy mill all his life; a 22-month spayed female, in cage in puppy mill all her life, have had since January; a 5-month old male, have had 2 weeks, pet shop rescue.

I am having difficulty housetraining surprise, surprise. I do keep them confined when at work and they are in the same room with me when we are home. No matter how often we go out someone is having an accident. We will take them out then bring them in and they potty in the house. I have considered paper training and bought the peepee pads but it just gets shredded. Also the female pees on our bed at night. I do not want to crate her as that is all she has known. Any advice? Thank you

A: Paper training and the wee-wee pads can badly confuse the dogs, because it tells them you want them to relieve themselves in the house. If what you want is for the dogs to go outdoors, you don't want to encourage them to use papers.

A dog who is urinating on the bed at night needs to not be on the bed until the problem is solved. Be sure they are all clear of urinary tract infections. For that, you take the dog to urinate on leash, and use a clean pie pan or clean soup ladle to catch a specimen of urine. Pour it into a clean jar, and take promptly to the vet for analysis. If there is a urinary tract infection, it can take several weeks of antibiotics, plus follow-up urine checks, to thoroughly clear it up.

With female dogs, hormones can cause accidents too, so be sure to discuss that with your vet. A dog who urinates when she is actually asleep, that would be a physical problem of some kind.

It's important to treat all these accidents correctly, so the dogs will not be drawn back to the same spot by faint odor--so faint, you can't smell it--from previous marks. Once the urine has dried, the only thing I know of that works is a bacterial enzyme odor eliminator product such as Nature's Miracle. It must penetrate deeply into the pad and floor under the carpet, everywhere the urine went.

If you catch a spot while it's still wet, white vinegar will neutralize the odor, and may have some additional benefit in repelling the dogs from using that spot again. As with the other product, it must be applied very liberally.

Another thing you could try is diapers. However, don't use this too much, because the diapers interfere with air circulation, and thus could promote infection. When I had a sick dog on massive steroids who really could not control her urine, I did the diapers for perhaps a month, and that worked well. Some people report good results using a soft "belly band" around the tummy to hold a pad on place for the boy dogs. Caution: It's quite a hassle sometimes when you're letting the dog out to potty and have to get the diapers off while you're half-asleep, then back on before you can go back to bed!

Keep taking them out--I'd do it once per hour when you are at home and awake. Keep praising them, and maybe even giving tiny treats, when they relieve themselves outside. If you see a dog in the act of having an accident in the house, scoop the dog up and run it outside. No punishment, but the goal is to get the dog to finish outside, so you can praise there.

You probably know, many Bichons lose their homes due to housetraining difficulties. It's possible that some of them have a physical problem making it harder for them to hold it. Still, many Bichon owners do quite well in housetraining them. Make it as easy on yourself as possible, so you won't resent the little cuties, and hang in there!