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Sure!
Well third day today and unfortunately voodoo peed on the wood floor. This wasn't due to the urge to urinate as he usually warns us when he needs to go potty. We're at a loss as to why this happened. He just lifted his leg by the bannister and let er rip. My husband wiped the pee up but now we're concerned about him returning to that same spot and peeing. Any suggestions? We really felt good that we reinforced his housetraining but now this happened :/
Not sure the bolded is right. It could be but I don't think you can make that statement with 100% certainty, especially after only having him for a short while. Old dogs sometimes have trouble holding it.
Hopefully it was just a one time thing but if I were you I would let him out occasionally even if he isn't indicating he needs to go.
So it's been a week. For the most part, so far so good. There were no pee incidents after that time, so housetraining was 90%. Until today, and it was totally our fault. We took him to a sitter's house to spend the day while we worked. We're thinking it would be a permanent basis three times a week so that he isn't in our home alone all day. Our hearts were in the right place, but unfortunately things don't translate well.
He had two accidents in their house, including one on their leather couch. He was left alone no more than five minutes at a time. He's still getting used to their dog and they have to be supervised together. In addition, he doesn't like being gated in a room away from the other dog. I honestly think all of these behavioral problems can be corrected with time but I don't blame the sitters for being but so understanding, especially if their not truly dog pros. We neglected to see things from Voodoo's standpoint, which is he was uprooted from his foster mom after living three months with her and left with us. he's just started getting used to us and our routine and then we drop him off at daycare. he thinks he's probably getting "handed off" to someone again and it stressed him out, hence the urination. this other house is different from ours - new scenery and there's a boisterous younger dog about. and age may be a factor - he's 11 and he's been through a lot in just six months. he's in a very stressed out place and i feel so bad for him. he doesn't understand that we are his forever home and that we'd come back for him.
So it's been a week. For the most part, so far so good. There were no pee incidents after that time, so housetraining was 90%. Until today, and it was totally our fault. We took him to a sitter's house to spend the day while we worked. We're thinking it would be a permanent basis three times a week so that he isn't in our home alone all day. Our hearts were in the right place, but unfortunately things don't translate well.
He had two accidents in their house, including one on their leather couch. He was left alone no more than five minutes at a time. He's still getting used to their dog and they have to be supervised together. In addition, he doesn't like being gated in a room away from the other dog. I honestly think all of these behavioral problems can be corrected with time but I don't blame the sitters for being but so understanding, especially if their not truly dog pros. We neglected to see things from Voodoo's standpoint, which is he was uprooted from his foster mom after living three months with her and left with us. he's just started getting used to us and our routine and then we drop him off at daycare. he thinks he's probably getting "handed off" to someone again and it stressed him out, hence the urination. this other house is different from ours - new scenery and there's a boisterous younger dog about. and age may be a factor - he's 11 and he's been through a lot in just six months. he's in a very stressed out place and i feel so bad for him. he doesn't understand that we are his forever home and that we'd come back for him.
My daughter had to put her rescued-from-a-hellish-situation pit mix in daycare right after geting her as she was in college and working and gone a LOT, could not leave Onyx home alone, maybe try an actual doggie daycare situation rather than a friend's house.
Onyx was a nervous wreck, the daycare knew how to work with that.
Interestingly, my daughter ended up working part time AT the daycare about a year after Onyx started attending and Onyx would act up only when my daughter was there; she behaved well when there without her!
Overitall - I'm thinking that's what we might do, use a facility vs. a sitter's hosue, albeit introduce things slowly (i.e. one day a week and then work from there. The facility daycares (the better ones at least) have trained staff on board and deal with pee issues all of the time.
Bookpage - yeah, he didn't have a good morning.
But the afternoon was better and there were no more accidents. He was starting to adjust to the youngster and they engaged favorably. However there was another boarder dog there, a yellow lab that he didn't get along with. Looks like she's a pushy type and very alpha and Voodoo wasn't the type to back down. So they had to be separated the entire time and the sitter asked if we could not bring him during the week the other lab was there, which is good bc he needs some chill out time anyway.
It's been ten days now. He has a case of separation anxiety and gets anxious when we are about to leave. He gets whiny when people leave the room but we need to try and establish some distance, so we are leaving him alone more. We do make sure he gets one on one time but due to our schedules and life we can't be with him all of the time. We are interviewing trainers to work on obedience and the jumping. the jumping definitely needs some work. unfortunately the foster encouraged it by calling it "hugs". Being mobbed by a 77 lb dog and soiling your clothes isn't a hug. The first trainer recommended to us by someone on city data is highly credentialed but employs shock collar training that is supposedly not punitive. Besides being ridiculously expensive, we don't know if that's the way to go. they say that it is more effective than the treat bag based training. What say y'all?
Overitall - I'm thinking that's what we might do, use a facility vs. a sitter's hosue, albeit introduce things slowly (i.e. one day a week and then work from there. The facility daycares (the better ones at least) have trained staff on board and deal with pee issues all of the time.
Bookpage - yeah, he didn't have a good morning.
But the afternoon was better and there were no more accidents. He was starting to adjust to the youngster and they engaged favorably. However there was another boarder dog there, a yellow lab that he didn't get along with. Looks like she's a pushy type and very alpha and Voodoo wasn't the type to back down. So they had to be separated the entire time and the sitter asked if we could not bring him during the week the other lab was there, which is good bc he needs some chill out time anyway.
It's been ten days now. He has a case of separation anxiety and gets anxious when we are about to leave. He gets whiny when people leave the room but we need to try and establish some distance, so we are leaving him alone more. We do make sure he gets one on one time but due to our schedules and life we can't be with him all of the time. We are interviewing trainers to work on obedience and the jumping. the jumping definitely needs some work. unfortunately the foster encouraged it by calling it "hugs". Being mobbed by a 77 lb dog and soiling your clothes isn't a hug. The first trainer recommended to us by someone on city data is highly credentialed but employs shock collar training that is supposedly not punitive. Besides being ridiculously expensive, we don't know if that's the way to go. they say that it is more effective than the treat bag based training. What say y'all?
Sep anx in an 11 year old dog with prob traumatic history is going to be....hard to train away.
I can add to my anecdote above that after about 18mos of going to daycare, Onyx began to be able to stay home for awhile, with 2 cat friends, but couldn't be left for more than an hour or two or so without starting to try to dig her way out of the place. Around the...2.5 year mark, my daughter married and moved to a big house and has a yard and dog door and Onyx can be left alone for several hours, but she was estimated 18mos-2yr when I took her off the chain so far younger than your elder gentleman.
I had an (estimated) aged 10-12 beagle in my care through sheer happenstance (read my post about it if you're inclined, in the "Rescue Return Guilt" thread) that due to age/history/circumstance I chose to put down (NOT suggesting this is right in your case, just using it to say I have BEEN THERE) as his sep anx was untenable. I did so after 14mos of NEVER I mean, never, leaving him home alone as he would go berserk if I even went to the mailbox.
Your poor guy is likely neurotic already and has fear issues; I would NOT NOT NOT use aversive training methods in his case, though in some cases I feel they are ok and can benefit (young, psychologically healthy/never traumatized dogs) I would never use a shock deterrent in a case such as your guy's.
He is fearful enough already; sep anx is FEAR based.
I feel for you, I have been there, and I love you for caring about him.
Sep anx in an 11 year old dog with prob traumatic history is going to be....hard to train away.
I can add to my anecdote above that after about 18mos of going to daycare, Onyx began to be able to stay home for awhile, with 2 cat friends, but couldn't be left for more than an hour or two or so without starting to try to dig her way out of the place. Around the...2.5 year mark, my daughter married and moved to a big house and has a yard and dog door and Onyx can be left alone for several hours, but she was estimated 18mos-2yr when I took her off the chain so far younger than your elder gentleman.
I had an (estimated) aged 10-12 beagle in my care through sheer happenstance (read my post about it if you're inclined, in the "Rescue Return Guilt" thread) that due to age/history/circumstance I chose to put down (NOT suggesting this is right in your case, just using it to say I have BEEN THERE) as his sep anx was untenable. I did so after 14mos of NEVER I mean, never, leaving him home alone as he would go berserk if I even went to the mailbox.
Your poor guy is likely neurotic already and has fear issues; I would NOT NOT NOT use aversive training methods in his case, though in some cases I feel they are ok and can benefit (young, psychologically healthy/never traumatized dogs) I would never use a shock deterrent in a case such as your guy's.
He is fearful enough already; sep anx is FEAR based.
I feel for you, I have been there, and I love you for caring about him.
Thanks Overitall. decided to make a new topic to discuss before I saw this, sorry. it's a challenge to be sure and I think we're just abetting the neurosis unwittingly....
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