House training 1yr old with separation anxiety - PLEASE HELP

[ChiliConCarnage]

Hi everyone,

My fiancee and I recently got a 11 month old basset hound from a home that no longer wanted her. It was a good thing for the dog as the lazy owner hadn't bothered to even house train her (or any kind of obedience training), and left her outside all day long. As a result, she now has pretty bad separation anxiety. When she isn't around us, she will howl and cry and when we return she will go crazy.

This is causing huge problems for us when we are trying to house train her. She is not 13 months, and we have been working on it since, but she just isn't getting it. We have been trying positive reinforcement when she goes outdoors, with a treat and praise. If she goes inside, we try to discreetly clean it up and ignore her. Sometimes it is hard to ignore it and sometimes we shout at her. But no progress is being made.

In the beginning we kept her in the kitchen at night, which isn't very big so is a good size to confine her to. She now doesn't go in there (most times). But when she isn't in there, she will just go whereever. She never tries to hold anywhere else in the house. When I take her to the back door if I suspect she needs out, if I take too long opening the door, you can see her turn and head towards a usual spot where she likes to go inside. Sometimes when I let her outside, she will potter about and not do anything, and then when we return indoors, she will squat right in front of me in the hallway. We had a tradesman in today while we were at work and couldn't keep her in the kitchen, so the only other place we could keep her was our bedroom. When we returned, she had pee-ed 5 times and poo-ed twice.

We have also been trying to work on the separation anxiety also. Sometimes I'll admit we have been a bit soft at night, and let her up with us in the bedroom to stop her crying and howling. We know that we are not really tackling the separation anxiety, and dont want to be leaving her on her own for long periods as that seems detrimental to tacking the separation anxiety. Also we both work during the day and so usually have to keep her in the kitchen when we are out.

We have made progress elsewhere though. She now sits, stays and gives a paw on command.

Does anyone have any advice as to how we can tackle these problems? We try to clean up the mess she makes indoors as best we can but some parts still have a smell. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.