Dog Community

She's a pooper

Posted : 1/10/2011 12:38:11 PM

I have a 16 month old female maltipoo and two young children (6 & 10). Our dog came into our home in late August from a family with 4 younger children. It was good home - just became too much for them with the young children. She came to us bell trained and is very well behaved except... I think my dog is jealous of my kids or kids in general. She is a perfect angel all day long when it is just her and me. I have her on a potty schedule and she will ring her bells if she needs to go between times. When the kids get home from school or on the weekends she poops in the house no matter if she has just been outside or not. At first I thought it was in my head but the other day I was watching my friends young son while my kids were at school. The boy arrived shortly after my dog's morning business (both jobs successfully completed) and about an hour after his arrival she pooped inside. No bells, no indication she needed to go out. Another recent incident occurred when I was standing using the phone. The dog was sitting between me feet (or so I thought) and when she walked away left a lovely gift for me right between my feet. My kids were in the room with me at the time. Last night I found she had peed on a sleeping bag left on my daughters' bedroom floor from a sleepover the night before. Though peeing isn't her usual naughty behavior she gave no indication she needed to go out and she did it in a place she knew I would find it. She is getting very brave about doing this bad behavior right in front of me. Her punishment has been scoldings and kennel time. She knows she is doing wrong because she cowers and tucks her tail. I'm at a loss of how to break her of this. My kids are not rough with her and play with her often - they love her. The dog is excited when the kids get home from school so this all very perplexing to me. Any advice on how to curb this behavior would be much appreciated!

TIA, Jamie

glenmar

Posted : 1/10/2011 12:54:50 PM

stop scolding and crating her. Matter of factly pick up the poop in a paper towel, take IT and her outside, deposit the poop and tell her firmly "THIS is where you potty". Scolding and punishing her simply teaches her to hide the evidence better.

Honestly, I would have her vet checked to rule out a physical issue. I had a female who would get frequent UTI's and the pressure from those caused her to not pee all over, but poop. It's worth having her checked out.

tashakota

Posted : 1/10/2011 1:40:03 PM

I would second the vet check.

Also though, don't think of it as bad behavior but think of a child that is learning to potty train. Most of the time they get it, but sometimes the need is urgent and you just gotta go.

It could also be an excitement thing. Lots of excitement about the kids being home and all that.

AND she may not be completely bell trained, so she doesn't quite make the connection yet about needing to go. She's only 16 months old. Still very young and if these problems have been going on for a while, they are not being addressed correctly so the problem is not being solved.

If she's in a room and needs to go, does she understand that she has to go to where the bell is in order to be let out? Or is it more, there's no bell and I gotta go, this place looks good. I would baby gate her into the room that the bell is in and only let her in other parts of the house when she's being strictly supervised. If there is no supervision, then she's either crated, in the room with the bell, or tethered to someone with a leash. Go back to basics. *Watch* her for *her* signs of needing to go. Does she sniff, then circle, then go? Is it a quick sniff with slight butt tuck? Learn those signs and then use them to cue the "out" signal.

Has she been having these issues since August? or is this a recent problem? If it's recent, Vet check ASAP. If it's been going on since August, then I would consider it a not fully trained issue.

calliecritturs

Posted : 1/10/2011 3:11:14 PM

Dogs are **EXTREMELY** situational -- so a thing "Learned" in one place/time isn't necessarily transferred when something else is happening.

So just because she "tells" you when it's YOU only there doesn't mean she's "learned" that it **ALWAYS** needs to be that way.

Don't ascribe it to "jealousy" -- dogs rarely ever display behaviors that are emotionally motivated -- typically she just hasn't learned yet and having children there makes *everything* much more exciting so she's not concentrating on holding it -- only on what's at hand.

tiffy

Posted : 1/14/2011 9:07:27 PM

JamieG
She knows she is doing wrong

Wrong. She has no clue, she cowers and tucks her tail because she senses your mad.