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Can anyone please help! I believe my dog thinks pooping is bad. I got my dog three weeks ago from the humane society. I started my dog on a sceduale. Every morning at 7 I walk my dog for a half hour. At 7:30 I go to work and come home at 2:30. When I come home at 2:30 i take my dog for another half hour walk. Then again at 6, and one last time at 10. I feed my dog once a day at 4 pm. Whenever I am at work he will poop in his crate. This became a mess everyday so my boyfriend let him run around in the basement when we were not home, and he started going in the basement. We have NEVER seen him poop. He will not go on his walks, and he will not go when we are home. The only time he will go is when we leave the house. We can take him for a half hour walk and leave for 20 minutes and he would have pooped everywhere. He knows that when we come home he is in trouble because he will run. I belive that he holds it when we are with him and when we leave he thinks he has a chance to go. I have no idea what to do, please help.
sounds like the dog was punished while previous owners were attempting to house train it...... i'll bet dollars to donuts that this was a major reason his previous people gave him up..... and then living in a kennel at the humane society, he had nowhere to go BUT his kennel.........
viralmd has the best advice EVER for housetraining a dog..... i will go find it and post it next.......
and here it is .... a copy of a copy of a post......
Housetraining your dog (puppy or adult!)
The first thing you need to do is to remember that you’re trying to reinforce a new behavior. That means that the rewards for this behavior must be WONDERFUL. NOT crap from the store. Wonderful treats are poached chicken breast/turkey breast, cheese and steak. And you don’t have to use big pieces. Tiny pieces (about 3mm cubes) are just fine! I poach a whole turkey breast every few weeks, cut it into hunks when it’s cool enough to handle, wrap them well and store them in the freezer. When I need some, I’ll thaw a hunk overnight and cut off pieces and dice finely, storing them in a plastic bag in the fridge. One hunk will last about five days. Cheese is also popular, so variety is fine.
I carry these plastic bags in my jacket pockets in the winter and in a fanny pack in warmer weather. You HAVE to have these with you, or this method won’t work, because you need to reward as soon as the dog finishes pooping or peeing. It’s not going to work if the rewards are in the house.
Remember that you’re trying to change a very ingrained behavior. Some dogs like to feel certain things under their feet when they eliminate, like fabric, or newspaper. This is called a ‘substrate preference.’ What you’re trying to do is change this substrate preference, and to do that you have to make the treats SO wonderful that the dog will change this very well-entrenched behavior. Thus the chicken, cheese, steak.
I love clicker training, but this can be done without clickers. You just need a way to ‘mark’ the behavior you want to reinforce. Use the word ‘YESSSSS!!!!’ very enthusiastically – that works for some.
You’re going to need to GO OUTSIDE WITH your dog and the dog needs to be on a leash. Yes, even in winter. If you don’t reward IMMEDIATELY after the event (when dog immediately finishes pooping or peeing) and wait inside, the dog is going to be reinforced for coming inside, not for doing its business. So, leash up your dog. STAND IN ONE PLACE. Be boring. Bring a book or magazine for yourself.
Eventually, the dog will do what you’re waiting for. The NANOSECOND that the dog is finished, HAVE A PARTY – lots of loud, high-pitched praise, treats and running around. You want to make this memorable for your dog! You’ll find that once the first event is achieved, the others will come more quickly. Keep on treating (you don’t have to throw a party except for milestones – a milestone = if he only pooped outside but now peed, too, or something equivalent to that) until he’s good and used to peeing/pooping outside. Before you know it, you have a trained dog.
To quote Patricia McConnell, author of “The Other End of the Leash” (a MUST read) and co-author of “Way to Go” (a FABULOUS booklet on housetraining), “Once you face the fact that you just have take your dog out every time you turn around, give them the treat immediately after they potty, and prevent accidents in the house… well, it usually goes so smoothly.”
Regarding accidents in the house: NO SCOLDING. Just clean them up. If you scold you’ll get the dog to think it’s bad to pee or poop and he’ll do it in places you won’t see. Until you step in it. Invest in a big bottle of Nature’s Miracle or Simple Solution and use it liberally on accidents.
With young puppies, remember they have little control of the muscle that holds the bladder closed. This is something they grow into. Just as it’s not expected that a human baby is toilet trained at six months, don’t expect much from a puppy. Patience, patience, patience!!!! The nervous system in a puppy has to mature, and it won’t have much control over the sphincter (closing muscle) at the neck of the bladder until six or seven months. The same goes for the anal sphincter. Until control is achieved, both of these muscles operate on reflex: there are stretch receptors in the bladder wall. When the bladder is full, it sends impulses to the spinal cord and these, in turn, send signals to the sphincter to open and the dog pees.
In the stomach wall, there are also stretch receptors. So when the dog eats and the stomach is stretched, the impulses again go to the spinal cord, but this time the reflex, outgoing, nerve signals are sent to the anal sphincter, so the dog defecates. This operates in people, too – which is why some people rush to the ‘reading room’ after a meal – especially breakfast.
Thanks for your post. This is wonderful information and appreciated, the only thing is me and my boyfriend NEVER see him poop so we can NEVER reinforce the behavior of pooping outside. Over the weekend we try to bring him everywhere with us so I can catch him in the act but it never happens. One weekend I think he held his poop for two days because i did not let him out of my sight, sure enough monday afternoon when I got home he pooped everywhere. Thanks for your post and if anyone else has any information it would be appreciated.
It could be because he is angry. If you leave him in a crate he might be resentful that he's caged up and he will poop, knowing it will irritate you. Im serious some animals are clever and will use their craps as a way to get back at the owner. My friend had a cat who would always poop in the litter box when he was well fed but if my friend didn't give him the food he wanted or when he wanted it he would poop on the floor.
THe only other thing I can think of is that the dog is shy or scared. Some animals don't like to poop in front of people because they are embarrassed or because of primitive instincts (they are vulnerable to predators when pooping). So if you can figure out a way to get around this.
Thanks for your post. This is wonderful information and appreciated, the only thing is me and my boyfriend NEVER see him poop so we can NEVER reinforce the behavior of pooping outside. Over the weekend we try to bring him everywhere with us so I can catch him in the act but it never happens. One weekend I think he held his poop for two days because i did not let him out of my sight, sure enough monday afternoon when I got home he pooped everywhere. Thanks for your post and if anyone else has any information it would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Christina
Hmm...I don't know if this could work, but could you take some of his poop outside with you and place it in the grass to show him that's where you want it? Show it to him and make a big deal about petting him and telling him 'good boy'?
Our dog is poop shy. We simply turn our back to him as he poops. He is satisfied with that. He poops in our patio, we pretend to not notice him. He is just very self conscious.
You may need to enforce the idea of a poop friendly area for him/her.
[quote=skidamarink;11631499]It could be because he is angry. If you leave him in a crate he might be resentful that he's caged up and he will poop, knowing it will irritate you. Im serious some animals are clever and will use their craps as a way to get back at the owner. My friend had a cat who would always poop in the litter box when he was well fed but if my friend didn't give him the food he wanted or when he wanted it he would poop on the floor.
QUOTE]
This is nonsense and anthropomorphizes dogs. They're NOT that complex. "...knowing it will irritate you"!!!!!!!!!?????????? Even THREE YEAR OLD KIDS don't think in such a complex manner.
I scanned the above 'great information' post. It is great information, but I don't see any reference to training a dog to go on command---where you have a word for it. I read about this in training books, thought it was cool, and trained my dogs to go on command. You incorporate all of the important things posted above, but add a command word. Stand there outside in one place and continually say the command word until the dog poops. Then go happy with lots of praise and a treat right there immediately following.
If he's pooping on concrete in the basement, he'll likely poop on concrete outside. If you have any on your property, that's where I would take him to stand until he poops. You can't force this. It's not going to happen within your allotted schedule for walks. You might have to stand out there for eternity.
Since he poops between 7:30 and 2:30, you might have to take off work because you're going to need to stay out when you go out at 7:00. You're not going to walk this dog. You're going to stand in one place and not move until the dog goes to the bathroom.
You haven't shared if you've done any other training. Do you train your dog to sit on command, lay on command? Even if he does these things on command, it would be a good idea to start having training outside in the yard for various typess of commands---with praise and treats. That way, when he hears your command for poop, he's not going to get upset if the command word is said in a similar tone as when you command him to sit, stay or lay.
Furthermore, he will KNOW that there is praise and a treat coming after pooping if he is getting praise and treats after following the other commands. BUT these training sessions should be separate from the pooping session. When trying to get him to poop, that's all you should do outside is stand there with that command. Definitely give it a try reinforcing commands for other actions like sit, stay and lay, during a different time of day. Reward with praise and treats
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Dog thinks pooping is bad
