|
|
Post by icygirlie on Jul 6, 2005 23:01:06 GMT -5
This past week, there's been some poo'ing out of spite or anxiety.
She knows she's not supposed to go in the house, up until this point she's been 100% housetrained, down to communicating quite loudly if she's in the kitchen that she needs to go.
Tonight, we spent time playing, she got plenty of time with me after work, and at least a good half hour of me just sitting there petting her calmly while she worked on her bones. After I realize it's after 1130, I head on up to get ready for bed.
Not TWO MINUTES after I'm upstairs, she's done both her business without letting on to anyone she had to go.
I know dogs can regress with training, I know they can go through tempermental toddler/adolescent periods, but this is going to be a very frustrating time for all involved if this continues.
She's currently in her crate right now.
|
|
|
|
Post by sibemom on Jul 7, 2005 3:56:04 GMT -5
Did something change in her enviorment that triggered this? Had she been feeling ok? I am glad your using the crate and I would continue that untill you get this resolved. I forget how old is your dog? I would just refresh her on potty training, and I would use the crate. If it's nothing medical, then you are right it is behavioral, and you just have to show her that this is just not acceptable. Hopefully you can get back on track with her, and this could just be a simple show of dominance. Dogs don't always mark with pee sometimes they mark with POOP and for what ever reason she has choosen to do this go back to the beggining and refresh her memory.  |
|
|
|
Post by Richard on Jul 7, 2005 8:56:00 GMT -5
I don't know if it was out of spite----dogs don't do that kind of stuff normally.
It could just be that even though she's 100% housetrained, you still need to instigate the "bathroom break" outside.
This could be more a timing issue. Maybe the knawing on the bone got her system going for a poop/pee...I just think you should be a bit more on top of her and you stay ahead of her for bathroom breaks.
After 4 1/2 years, we still get Rocky to go out one last time before bed...Nikki is learning too about this routine. The rest of the time, we see if they go near the back door and out they go. Just because they're 100% reliable, doens't mean we still don't give them a "knudge" a few times a day!
|
|
|
|
Post by willow on Jul 7, 2005 9:34:54 GMT -5
My dogs get very thirsty when chewing on bones, so I always have fresh water available for them, and they also have to take a "potty break", because the chewing triggers digestion and digestion triggers....well....you know.
As Richard said. Take her out, even if she doesn't ask. ;D
|
|
|
|
Post by icygirlie on Jul 7, 2005 10:31:30 GMT -5
Sorry bout that, Zoe is 7 months old.
It's very rare for her to poop off schedule. When we were still housetraining her fully, the hardest was getting to her before she peed because she drinks more water than any dog I've ever seen (and, yes, she's had fantastic well visits).
Her poops physically are fine and normal and nothing environmental has really changed, my parents went away for a weekend but that's not unusual.
It's the timing that has me wonder about it. During her initial housetraining, we could take her outside, she'd do her business, but if she decided she wanted us to stay, not two minutes after our exiting the kitchen there would be a mess, despite being outside right before that.
The kitchen, until she is fully trained, is her home, due to linoleum, space for her crate, and she has plenty of toys and gets plenty of people time, so please don't think I'm neglecting my baby! She's a high energy dog and adjusting her to the rest of the house is taking some time. She sees the living room/dining room and stairs as her personal race track, despite walking her and running her outside.
And, yes, we are liberal with the usage of the crate. She did it yesterday morning and she lost privileges for the morning.
|
|
|
|
Post by icygirlie on Jul 8, 2005 1:11:40 GMT -5
GARGH. She did it again. I came home from work, we played, I outed her when we were done, she got her biscuit, I went upstairs. 15 minutes later my mom is quietly telling me she did it again (we are very careful not to display immediate disappointment or give it attention that could reaffirm this as good). As soon as I rounded the corner, before I actually saw it, her butt was in the crate and she would NOT come out for anything. And this was her fourth poop of the day. No, she does not free feed, she has 15 minutes in the morning and evening to finish her food and then it goes up. Lately, she's been sucking her food down, but I really checked out her stool tonight (just don't ask..  ) And nothing seems out of the ordinary, minus the fact that her poops don't reek. Stiff without being rocks, soft without being loose. Yes, I am frustrated. Not with my dog, but with whatever the root cause of this is. I don't know it, so I don't know the best course of action with her, other than to revisit Crate Training 101. |
|
|
|
Post by Brooke on Jul 8, 2005 18:20:28 GMT -5
It is odd to me that she is pooping 4 times a day! Twice is normal... 4 times... seems excessive. How much and often is she eating? Do you free feed her or feed her at specific times?
What is her size? Height to shoulder blade and weight?
|
|
|
|
Post by icygirlie on Jul 8, 2005 22:15:24 GMT -5
Exact measurements I am unsure of. She is approximately 30 pounds, 7 months. About 2 cups a day of Eagle Pack Holisitic. As I stated before, we do not free feed. In fact, she didn't have her first meal of the day because she wouldn't touch it in the 15 minutes allowed her. That is not abnormal for her. She gives absolutely no indication she has to go when this happens. We've gone through diarrhea with her and believe me, that dog could wake the dead with the way she hollered for attention. Today, there were two poos. She held out as long as she could due to the rain and crating, but she finally went. She was walked and Mom spent 20 minutes outside with her after the walk, walking her around, etc, trying to get her to go. An hour later, Zoe is lying on the floor quiet, Mom walks out to get the toddler, five minutes later, Zoe is still lying quietly on the floor but with a pile o' poo on the other side of the kitchen. Not a peep came from the kitchen in the five minutes my mother was out (I was at work). Until this week, she ate on a schedule, pooped on a schedule, and had regular pee breaks. The goal is every three hours to pee her, but we're all around the house, in and out (someone is always home), and the rule of thumb is "potty the dog before you leave and right after you return" so she gets alot of breaks. There's no excuse for her to be going in the house as far as the "getting her outside" part goes. Now she down and quiet because she's in the crate whenever she's unsupervised and lost all "out of kitchen" privileges. I feel like the meanest dog mommy ever.  |
|
|
|
Post by Nicole on Jul 9, 2005 7:28:07 GMT -5
Eagle is a decent food but it is very grain heavy and may be causing excessive stool. If what comes out is more than or equal to what goes in, you have a digestion issue.
This problem seems new and if I recall correctly, you just recently switched to Eagle Pack. Maybe you should consider a change in food.
You are not a mean mommy for house breaking. You are a good mommy because you are doing this so that the dog eventually will get more freedom. Do not allow the dog to be unsupervised unless you actually see her go. So it is outside for a short time, then in the crate, 10 minutes later back outside for five minutes, then back to the crate, then back outside etc. until she goes. This way she will learn a schedule again and that she is not going to be taken outside for an hour until she poops and also that she will be in the crate unless she goes. Use a potty command also. Until she becomes reliable again, don't let her out of your sight.
|
|
|
|
Post by icygirlie on Jul 9, 2005 8:56:36 GMT -5
She's been on Eagle Pack for about a month and a half now and since the switch, her poos have been smaller, less in quantity, and soft enough without being mud. The Innova was giving us tons of problems, it was really messing with her digestive system.
I know what you're saying and we've started counting her poos every day. Yesterday was a two poo day, two poos for two meals, which is how she's been with the exception of two poos outside and two poos inside the other day.
She's taken outside alot during the day and she just doesn't poop outside. She'll pee and then walk over to me and just stand there.
Instead, she'll wait until right after we leave her unsupervised in the kitchen and then hide (which doesn't happen anymore because the family is playing this my way. They had their way and had to clean up poop yesterday).
That's what is confusing us.
|
|
|
|
Post by icygirlie on Jul 10, 2005 18:39:01 GMT -5
Just saying...seeing improvement, slowly. I still don't trust her even 50% unsupervised. When I'm comfortable I've reset her housetraining/schedule through the crate, I'll probably start leaving her out and "alone" for longer and longer periods of time. We've never once left her out and actually *alone* ever. House empty? Crate! Her "home" is the kitchen right now. Plenty of space to play, baby gated, and a high traffic area. And no rugs.  Linoleum. Mom's house, Mom's rules. Thank you for the feedback! |
|
|
|
Post by icygirlie on Jul 15, 2005 2:26:31 GMT -5
Her crating definitely helped matters and within days of my focusing on it, she went straight back to the old.
Today, I went to work just as my brother left. Mom came home, spent some time with the pup, went outside to pull something out of the garage, my other brother in the living room watching TV.
Little chite did both poop and pee in five minutes of non supervision.
We sat down with a calendar and figured out when it started, which was the weekend the folks were away, my one brother was working doubles all weekend, the other was in hiding, and I worked BOTH days all day. Basically, a weekend of unintentional abandonment caused this.
I feel better...but lousy for it.
|
|
