hlep! we moved, now dog going in the house! (bite, poop, aggressive)

[norcalmom101]

We moved about a month ago from a small apartment with an enclosed yard to a big two story house with no fence.

My 5 yo dalmation never pooped or peed in the house before, but since we moved she has started doing so in the house. We are walking her in the yard frequently, at all times of the day, but she will still go in the house!

We even started closing the door to the room we sleep in, to keep her from sneaking downstairs to go. Unfortunately, it's really two rooms, and last night, even though she pooped before bed, she still snuck into the adjoining room while we slept and pooped again!

She does not have diarrhea, and never had a problem holding it, but now she is driving us crazy and ruining the carpets! Any suggestions?

[norcalmom101]

I should also mention that she is obviously stressed about having to go out on leash and about the whole move, she has always been aggressive but really tried to bite a family member she had never met before who came over, the person is not a dog person and was wearing glasses, which freak my dog out, but it was the most adverse I'd seen her to a person. She has not had problems with other people coming over, including my kids friends. She also is up at night alot, there is a factory that makes a low growling sound all night, and alot of birds and squirrels. Dog anxiety?

[riveree]

I'm not sure if anxiety causes dogs to do this, or it's simply failing to recognize the new home as their den .

I went through it with a dog I have now. She took a longer time than usual getting house-trained in the first place, which was unusual to deal with, but she was trained when we lived in her "first" house. When she about 2 or so, we moved and she completely forgot her training !

We also had a male dog at the time, and he had no problems whatsoever with the transition, so I don't know why my female dog did. So it took about another 2 months to get her back up to speed again.

We restricted her access to water at night (and food, of course) and we restricted her space in the home. We also just kept a strict eye on her and if she started to look like she was going to squat, we rushed her outside.

We've moved again since then, she's 7 now, and she had no issues this time.

It's a pain, but you can retrain again .

[norcalmom101]

Not sure how to train in the first place, she was potty trained when I adopted her, and because I was homeless at that time she stayed in many places, including our present home, and it was never an issue. In fact, when she stayed in this same home, it was winter and snowing, and she still went outside. Might she be doing this on purpose because she can't go off-leash anymore?

[riveree]

If she never eliminated while on-leash before, it might be playing a role, but if that's the case, she just needs to learn to eliminate on a lead.

I think the first thing to do is put her on a strict schedule - have an exact time for feeding, and watch her drinking (if need be, take up the water shortly before bedtime). Watch for snacks/biscuits during the day too.

I would take her outside within 10 minutes of her eating or drinking anything. Take her on-leash since that's what you need her on. Stay out there until she does something.

When she's starting to eliminate (pee or poop), I use a method where I slowly, and very softly chant "pottypottypottypottygoodpottypottypotty..."

In time, she will associate the word "potty" with eliminating. Remember to say it softly so you won't be distracting, you just want to plant the connection between the command and the act .

You'll soon be able to say "Let's go potty!" or "Potty outside!" or whatever phrase you choose.

Having an accident in the house reinforces what you don't want, so you want to prevent it in the first place by making sure the dog is "empty" when she's in the house.

There are different methods, but they all revolve around being dilligent about what goes in and what comes out !

[Honeycrisp]

Just a thought but you might want to rule out a urinary tract infection, it c/b coincidental w/ the move but it's possible she has a UTI.

[norcalmom101]

You know, I thought about the UTI, but she is pooping too.

What time of evening or morning would anyone advise her food and water be restricted? I've always kept her bowls full of water and dry food, she is very lean but has a great appetite. We leave the house at 7:30 am and kids get in at 3:30 pm, for the most part.

[riveree]

Originally Posted by norcalmom101

You know, I thought about the UTI, but she is pooping too.

What time of evening or morning would anyone advise her food and water be restricted? I've always kept her bowls full of water and dry food, she is very lean but has a great appetite. We leave the house at 7:30 am and kids get in at 3:30 pm, for the most part.

You're free-feeding (food out all the time)? Yeah, you'll have to stop that.

If you leave the house at 7:30, I'd want her to be finished eating at least 30 minutes before that if you're going to feed her breakfast. So maybe a small breakfast around 6:30-6:45?

Really, for the sake of training, if you have to skip breakfast and feed her only once a day, you might want to consider that for a period of time. You could take her out for potty, then give her a few biscuits around 6:30-6:45, then take her out again. When you get home from school, feed her a dinner then (4:00 or so).

Also, while you are out of the house, you'll need to restrict her to one section of the house. If you can partition off the kitchen and leave her with a few toys and a dog bed, that might work. You could also consider crating her in a dog cage (be sure to buy one big enough - probably an XL size for a dalmation). This will help her see the house as her den. but this would only work if you're not leaving her in there all day from 7:30-3:30 solid (that's too long in a crate). Sometimes in a big house, some parts feel like a den and other parts feel like a good place to poop! Make her space smaller when you can't watch her, and she'll think twice about pooping where she's "living".

I'd want her finished eating about 3 hours before bedtime (no biscuits 3 hours before bedtime) and I'd probably take up water at that time too (make sure she's had enough water for the day...only take up the water once she's calm and cool and settling in for the night).

If you can, borrow a few dog training books from the library. You can find some great training plans in the books and some of them will focus on potty training an adult dog.

[Dashdog]

Did you have a dog door in your previous home? Alot of dogs that are " housetrained " to use a dog door have never been trained to ask to go out when they need too as they would just go out. No asking involved. So they need to be retrained to ask to go out and until they are may have accidents in the house.

[Raggy dee Ann]

Are you planning on fencing the yard and why would you move into a house with a dog without a fenced yard? You might also want to start crate training her and let her sleep in the crate.