Chief is my foster, for those who don't know. He is just over two years old. He was surrendered to the shelter on Sept. 28 because his family of two years was moving. When he was temperament tested, he showed a bit of food aggression, which was worked with and I have seen no indication of at all. He is able to have treats near my other dogs, eat near them, and he takes treats very gently from me. On Oct. 30 he was adopted. On November 2 he was returned because "he was being very dominant with his other dog, a pit bull". On November 9 he was adopted again. He was again returned three days later because "he is not potty trained and he was snapping for treats". I saw him come back for the second time, since I now work at the shelter and I knew what would happen to him. He was becoming less and less adoptable with every return. The second guy said he would reclaim him if he was potty trained....idiot.
Anyway he is getting along great with my dogs. I am seeing no dominance, but A LOT of submissiveness. He is always licking Max and Finn's faces and ears and mouths. If one of the other dogs tells him off he backs off immediately. He and Finn have very similar play styles so they are great together, now that Finn has accepted him. So, basically I am not seeing problems from most of the reasons he was returned for, but I am seeing some other issues.
I'll start with the crate. He HATES it. I have tried clicker training it with some crate games, but he doesn't seem to "get it". I have also tried giving him yummy things in the crate, but he WILL NOT eat anything in the crate. He will, however, take things from the crate other places in the room to eat them. I tried leaving him out of the crate, but then he gets into trouble chewing things or scratching the door to get out. I was thinking it could be separation anxiety, but he does settle in the crate after about five mins. WHen I do put him in and leave him, he will cry and carry on and bang around in the crate and then settle and sleep. He has also been bending the bars around the door with his mouth.
Another issue is his potty training. He was having absolutely zero accidents in the house except in his crate every single morning. I don't know how to fix this. I get him out as soon as I hear him, but he has usually already peed. I just don't know how to fix it because DH is getting him out around 1 am and then I get up at 7am to get him out again. If he can't hold it for six hours, could there be a medical problem or could it just be a shelter dog thing and he just needs some time? DH isn't working now, but will be next week, so Chief hasn't really spent an entire day alone. We were out one day for about six hours and came back to pee in the crate, but that was the day after I brought him home. Luckily it is only pee and very easy to clean up, but I don't want him just laying in his pee.
And, finally, he will often mouth us. He will sometimes grab onto a piece of clothing or your arm (or sometimes your crotch area, in DH's case ) and it hurts. I will say OW! and he will usually release, but if it is clothing or the leash, it is often harder to stop it.
Thanks for any advice! I want his next adoption to be his final adoption, so I need to get him some manners!!