Dog trouble?

Free2Sing · December 2011

Anyone else having trouble with their dogs-- or any other animal? We have 2 dogs & a cat and have had them all for years. But now, one of our dogs is creating quite an issue-- using the bathroom in the house or in his kennel, mainly. I'm not sure if it's because he's old or if he's acting out because of the baby. It makes me sad, but I don't know what else to do than to find him a home where he can be outside more (we live in an apartment).

Any tips on kennel training? Maybe we just need to re-train him in the kennel? He came to us kennel trained, and my other dog was a piece of cake to train, so I don't even know where to start.

namara5532 · December 2011

Perhaps he needs some extra attention. Can you or someone else take him for an extra walk a day? Or set aside an hour or two to play/cuddle with him? If it continues even after you give him extra attention, it may be time to take him to the vet to make sure he isn't having bladder problems.

lp0 · December 2011

My little boy has been messing in his crate the past few months. I don't know why because he is more than capable of holding it. I honestly think he is doing it because he gets pissed that I leave. I closed up my store at the end of September so I've been home a lot more than usual. So now when I go out he gets mad and pees and poops in his crate. It's so frustrating! I don't understand it though because he likes his crate. We keep it in the kitchen so when I'm making dinner he goes and lays in there with a toy. I don't know what to do, I thought they weren't supposed to go where they sleep.

KitKat83 · December 2011

It would be pretty stressful on him to find him a new home at this point in his life, especially if he's been with you for years. If you could kennel train him, they don't usually do their business in the place where they sleep, and if they do, something might be wrong with him health-wise. Did you ask your vet for advice? Or you could try training him to go on puppy pads, or newspaper.

Free2Sing · December 2011

namara5532:
Perhaps he needs some extra attention. Can you or someone else take him for an extra walk a day? Or set aside an hour or two to play/cuddle with him? If it continues even after you give him extra attention, it may be time to take him to the vet to make sure he isn't having bladder problems.

I only work 20 hours a week, and part of that is working from home, so I'm truthfully at home a lot more than I've ever been at home. And when I'm at home, he's free to roam in or out of the house (we have a small patio & I usually keep the door open unless it's too cold).

I'm pretty sure he's doing it out of spite. It's definitely a punishment for both of us, since he has to lay in it until I get home, and I have to clean it once I get home. MH cleans it as often as he can, but he works a lot more than me & I can't very well leave the dog in there until he gets home.

namara5532 · December 2011

Even if you're home a lot of the time, dogs do benefit from walks. I'm not sure how often you take your dogs on walks, so please don't think I'm implying you don't. >.<; Walks give a dog an excuse to do their business, but they also consider it a social activity with the person walking them and makes them happier. If you're not up to taking him for a walk, you could possibly talk DH into a short walk maybe.

Either way, a trip to the vet might not be a bad idea just to rule out any medical reason. If he doesn't have access to the outside when you're not home, he may be making puddles in the house because he can't hold it in.

Free2Sing · December 2011

namara5532:
Even if you're home a lot of the time, dogs do benefit from walks. I'm not sure how often you take your dogs on walks, so please don't think I'm implying you don't. >.<; Walks give a dog an excuse to do their business, but they also consider it a social activity with the person walking them and makes them happier. If you're not up to taking him for a walk, you could possibly talk DH into a short walk maybe.
Either way, a trip to the vet might not be a bad idea just to rule out any medical reason. If he doesn't have access to the outside when you're not home, he may be making puddles in the house because he can't hold it in.

Sorry- that's what I meant by being at home a lot of the time-- he gets about 5 walks a day & we walk until he goes a good long while without using the restroom. I'm currently looking for a new vet since the old one is crazy expensive & even though we're friends, he won't so much as give us helpful information unless we come in for an (expensive) appointment.

kimspearman · December 2011

We went through this with our male dog last year except for he would lift his leg and pee out the side of his wire crate. I would recommend seeing a vet to rule out any urinary problems and then ask him/her if anxiety about the baby could be causing this issue. My FAVORITE and first fur baby has had a very hard time adjusting to the idea of LO. So much so she began ripping out all of her hair. Hence a trip to our vet we took and got her some anti-anxiety medicine and she is much better. I really hope that you figure it out soon!

kmm2150 · December 2011

I'm sorry you're having trouble with your vet, but any time a pet has changes in potty (or other) behavior, you really should get it checked out - it can be a sign of some kind of medical problem. Dogs are really not sophisticated enough to do things out of 'spite,' but it could very likely be that he's having stress/anxiety over baby-related changes, and there are things your vet or a behaviorist should be able to recommend to help with this.

Another thing is - what are you cleaning up with after he has accidents? Not all cleaners get all the pet odors, and even though it looks and smells clean to you your dog might still smell his scent there and it becomes like a big ol' fire hydrant and he wants to keep using that spot. You can get enzymatic cleaners at places like petsmart (one is called Nature's Miracle) and use it to clean surfaces or even wash fabrics to make sure you're really getting the odors out.

eorashan · December 2011

As other PP said, take him to the vet. But also as dogs get older, their ability to hold it as long goes away (just like older people, lol), so you might want to make sure that he goes potty right before being put in the crate. I would clean the whole crate with bleach and get new bedding so he doesn't smell the previous accidents. Then start leaving him in the crate for short periods of time and work up to longer periods of time. See if there is a certain time limit to how long he can be in there before you end up with an accident.

Yes, it could be stress or it could be age. Neither is a good enough reason to try and get rid of the dog. Did you not realize that dogs age and sometimes develop medical issues when they get older? It is part of being a pet owner. If you are able to spend more time at home, that means you have more time to deal with this. No one is going to adopt an older dog with issues like these either, so if you try to give him up, please know he is just going to get put down.

SassyPants150 · December 2011

My yorkie does this out of spite sometimes. It really grates my nerves. He will sleep in the bed with me for 12 hours without bothering to go out. As you know I'm home most of the day as it is and I can take him out...leave for 10 minutes and he will go again in the crate. It makes me want to cry thinking about having to take him upstairs and giving him a bath! Although, I can say that he does it more often in a larger crate. Is he in a super large crate or a crate more for his size? When I moved my Yorkie to a smaller crate that was more suited for his size he did it less often.

d-squared · December 2011

As an Animal Behaviorist with a Ph.D. I can tell you that dogs do not do this type of thing out of spite or "to get back at you". As others have said I would get him to a vet as a first step. Some of these issues can be solved with simple medication.

If he gets a clean bill of health, I would try re-crating train him. Sometimes multiple changes in the dogs normal routine can cause anxiety and thus behavior changes. With the new baby coming you should try to make this new schedule as variable as possible. We are doing this slowly with our dog's eating and walking schedule and have started as soon as we found out we were pregnant and it is working out wonderfully. Honestly, there is a lot of bad training video and advice on the web. A great website to help you with training is https://www.aspcabehavior.org/. However, I would only do this AFTER you see a vet and he gets a good bill of health.

lisac1017 · December 2011

d-squared:

If he gets a clean bill of health, I would try re-crating train him. Sometimes multiple changes in the dogs normal routine can cause anxiety and thus behavior changes. With the new baby coming you should try to make this new schedule as variable as possible. We are doing this slowly with our dog's eating and walking schedule and have started as soon as we found out we were pregnant and it is working out wonderfully. Honestly, there is a lot of bad training video and advice on the web. A great website to help you with training is https://www.aspcabehavior.org/. However, I would only do this AFTER you see a vet and he gets a good bill of health.

Agree with this. We had to get a behavior specialist to come in for our dog to address a couple issues we were having before LO comes when its only going to get tougher on him. One of the things we've done is get him used to his crate at any time of day and with or without company so he doesn't see it as punishment. This site is a wealth of information - Good Luck! It's never easy when our pets cause extra stress, but it is part of being a dog mom and there are solutions - I hope you don't have to give up on your furbaby.

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