Dog Advice--PLEASE!

TaylorandMel

I'm going to post this a couple places, so I can hopefully get an answer.

We have a pitbull who is 2 years old.  We adopted her from a rescue at 10 weeks, so she has lived with us pretty much her whole life.  She has always been the BEST dog.  She has been trustworthy, and so she never goes in a crate.  When we're not home she roams around and same with at night.  She's always been very loving and gentle, no signs of aggression what so ever.  And she has always LOVED kids.  Everywhere she goes, if she sees a kid she wants to play.  She throws herself on the ground, rolls on her back and is all happy.

We live in a split level house, upstairs we have a deck off of the great room and she always has gone out the sliding door to the back yard to use the bathroom.  Fast forward to the babies coming home, she was fine for the first 5-6 weeks, but the last 3-4 weeks she's been so weird.  She REFUSES to go out to the bathroom, and I mean refuses.  I'll try to get her to walk with me out there and she won't.  Even if it has been 12 hours, the ONLY way to get her out is to "drag" her (all 90 pounds), by the collar.  

Then once you get her outside she stands at the sliding door barking and barking and barking, refusing to go down the stairs to go to the bathroom.  The only way she will go down the stairs is if you go out there, walk down the stairs first and then kiss her a** to come down--then she might.  She'll stand at the door and bark for 30 minutes if you let her, never going to the bathroom.

So then we were thinking, how could she possibly hold it that long?  Sure enough I found some pee downstairs.  Only one spot, but I don't believe she didn't go more that we just didn't find.  So now the gate is completely closed and she stays upstairs.  She also acts depressed like laying on her bed ALL the time.

I'm not dumb enough to believe that she hasn't had HUGE life change.  But, really she has such a better life than so many animals and she still does get quite a bit of attention.  She gets treats all the time, still gets walked at least 1-2 times a week, is allowed to cuddle on the couch, etc. 

Any advice?

clairmeij

Sorry to hear about this! 

Not sure if this is the issue, but our dogs are scared to go up or down stairs that you can see through - like many deck stairs. I get the impression that the dog used to use these stairs without problems though. Could it just be an attention thing? Her nose is pushed out of joint since the babies came? 

2brides

I have no advice - just lots of sympathy. Our cats (that we've had for 10y) have started peeing all over our house and it is driving us insane. So, I feel your pain and hope you can find a resolution.

nevr2amazin

There are a few things that I can think of. One, it could hurt to go upstairs for some reason and she just refuses to do it. She need not whine when something hurts, she literally keeps the pain to herself. Two, as the kids age her jealousy may have increased. Our pup had ALWAYS been an indoor dog and rarely pottied in the house. As the kids got older (we are talking just months old) she didn't want to stay in at all. We tried bribing her, but it was a no go. The times we needed her to be inside she would poop and pee. And the third thing, she may be demanding your attention, when you are in her space you are hers...nobody else's. I would first try the vet, just in case. Then I would try daily walks and see if things improve.

 GOOD LUCK!

KimNSandy

When I had my son, my doggie lost weight and was depressed and acting weird. He eventually got used to the new baby and put back on weight and such.

In your case, this and one other idea comes to my mind...perhaps your pup doesn't want to leave the babies. That breed is very protective of their family and maybe there is some anxiety over going away from them...even for a potty break?

 Good luck!!

ashes1010

We have two dogs so I definitely understand where you are coming from. It was a HUGE adjustment for them when our twins came home. The dogs ended up staying with my parents for the first 4 weeks so that they could still get lots of love and runs. 

Is your dog used to going for walks every day? If she is, maybe 1-2 weeks isn't enough? I know for my dogs, exercise is a MUST. They need at least an hour of off-leash running (like lunatics) and they're happy as can be.

When the babies first came home, I tried to let the dogs sit on the couch with me while I was holding one of them. I tried really hard to make sure that they didn't feel replaced. 

Totally unrelated to the babies...is there anything that you dog could be scared of in the backyard? Does she go pee on walks without an issue?

TaylorandMel

Thanks for the ideas.

 Yes, she has used the deck stairs almost her whole life, so that's probably not it.

I would say she gets walked a similar amount so that hasn't been cut down.  Although I think more walks would help her.

Shes due for some shots anyway so we'll mention it to the vet.  Sounds "normal" though based on what you all have said.  We really do not want to have her leave so hopefully the peeing was a rare incident.  We may try walking her downstairs, although I don't think this could continue on and on.  I agree with the person who said she may just not want to leave the babies. 

mrsemily08

I think more walks would probably help. It is a huge change, but some more exercise will likely help her. Did she ever go to Doggie Day Care before? Is that an option?

mypalbabs

She's probably really insecure as to where she stands in the family hierarchy now.

An easy thing to do that might help would be to increase her training.  And by this, I mean super easy training (easy for the very tired humans!)  Like while you're sitting on the couch, tell her to sit (treat), tell her to lay down (treat) and so on.   Dogs are generally soothed by training because it reminds them that someone (you) is in charge and will meet their needs.

Also, babies make lots of weird noises that are distressing to dogs.  When we told our dog's (also a pitty) behaviorist that we're TTC, she sent us home with a 'baby sounds' cd to play for the dogs.  (It's just 45 minutes of babies crying and squealing.)  We're to play it at increasing volumes to acclimate the dogs to baby sounds.  We were also instructed to buy a doll and "practice" so the dogs get used to not being able to jump on us when we're holding the doll, etc.

Yes, we're crazy dog people.  Good luck to your family.