I give up! Dog ONLY defecates IN the house! Help??!!

Share your favorite training tips, ideas and methods with other Positively members!

Moderators: emmabeth, BoardHost

Post Reply
Kathleen
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Sep 23, 2010 10:06 am

I give up! Dog ONLY defecates IN the house! Help??!!

Post by Kathleen »

I"m honestly lost. stumped, *Totally* out of ideas, and praying someone here can PLEASE help me fix this! -- I have a 20-month-old female Sheltie rescue, who I adopted about two months ago at 18 months, from a Sheltie rescue group in my area and was given all her records and paperwork, from which, along with their verbal information, I am able to know very clearly, her entire background, fortunately. Callie was bought at two months old, from a legitimate breeder of Sheltie's, only, with parents on the property, and all dogs there well and properly cared for (again, I have paperwork and all information on her line, parents and litter and have even been able to SEE both parents myself, online -- not vouching for championship quality necessarily, but validation that she at least, did not begin her first two months in a puppy mill environment). She was seen by the new owners' vet, examined and vaccinated not until two months later, and later bred and delivered one litter of one puppy, sometime before her surrender to the rescue group at 16 months old. The couple owning Callie had split, the puppy kept by the wife, and Callie by the husband, who said he no longer had time to care for her. She was infested with ticks at the time of surrender - which I also have paperwork showing - and the rescue group tells me, had been pretty much just stuck outside and left there.
Following her surrender, she was fostered briefly at the home of the rescue group founder, who obviously is a very conscientious owner, and then, for the next two months in the home of another foster couple who also have another sheltie, a fenced-in yard, and are also conscientious, responsible owners, and was told by both, that she was defintely housetrained. --- And - for most of the time until the last few weeks with me, she has appeared to be. I am wondering now though, if there is a separation anxiety problem, and this is why:
I am a big fan of IMOTD, and take everything Victoria tells owners to heart. I seriously think she is absolutely a genius! So - based on her advice, combined with knowing myself of working breeds being sufficiently physically and mentally stimulated and as frequently as possible - I started from day one taking her on frequent walks, including t someplace new as often as was possible, and the beach at least once a week, (which she loves and is also a bit longer walk, by necessity), and a walk around my own neighborhood on days not possible to go to someplace more exciting. I also have a VERY large, fenced-in yard, which Callie LOVES to run, and agility equipment we work on here and there (the actual class hasn't started yet so I don't want to make mistaken bad habits but send her over a jump now and then, which she enjoys), and also work on sit, down, wait, stay, and the like.
She sleeps in her crate at night, and as soon as we go out in the morning, I say "Go Potty" and after a quick, nice run, she wastes no time in finding a place to pee, doing so, and then either sniffing around recreationally, chasing squirrels, or just running to the door to go back in. No poo. She used to poo. At least usually, now, no more. I feed her, take her out again, nothing. Now - whether it be shortly after eating, or after refusing to go when we are outside again, following that, she still just doesn't do it. She hears me tell her too, sometimes sniffs around very obviously just appeasing me and not even actually sniffing for real, looks at things, listens to sounds, eats scrub oak acorns on the ground, anything but poo. If I take her back in the house, and DON'T crate her - as I would usually do -- she goes sometimes at the first moment I am working on the computer or otherwise not paying attention to her --- if I put her in her crate, I can take her outside 100 times, all day long and she may pee, but won't defecate, ALL DAY LONG! -- If we go for a walk somewhere, she does so almost the minute we get out of the car. OUr bAckyard, nothin'. This morning, I even - in desparation - tried walking her around our neighborhood and this time, she wouldn't go then, either. Yesterday, I put her in her crate after each visit outside that she didn't go, then took her out again in awhle. She didn't go all day long. By late afternoon, I finally decided maybe she just didn't have anything to give, and let her out of the crate, because I couldn't stand leaving her in it anymore. I was busy on the computer, gave her most of her twelve hundred toys to choose from, and started doing my work. I got up to get something from another room about 5 minutes later, and there it was, on my bedroom floor, what I'd been waiting for outside all day long. And not a lot of it, as if she couldn't wait anymore. ??????????????????????????? Also, now, when we walk, if a car goes by, she wants to chase it. If I have her sit and treat her as it goes by, to refocus her, she eats the treat and then still wants to get the car that already went by. I have trouble getting her to listen or focus on me, inside or out, unless I have food, then suddenly she's quite fluent. I don't know what to do. I've tried my best to do everyting Victoria recommends and this dog who should be, and used to be, so smart and eager to please just seem's like a different dog now, in return. What am I doing wrong???
User avatar
Mattie
Posts: 5872
Joined: Tue Jan 09, 2007 5:21 am

Re: I give up! Dog ONLY defecates IN the house! Help??!!

Post by Mattie »

Welcome to the fourm Kathleen, the first thing you need to do, and this is really important, is to open a bottle of wine and box of chocolates and chill :lol: You are very stressed and Callie is picking up on this which will make the problem worse, so chill out and relax.

Callie hasn't had the best of lives, she must have been very confused, first having a loving home, then left outside to her own, she then has another lovely home then another before coming to you and she is only 20 months old, this is a lot for such a young dog.

If the previous people say she was housetrained then I would get her checked by a vet first, get bloods done as well, a lot can be seen when you get bloods done. If everything is clear you can the start to retrain her and you need to be relaxed to do this.

Have you taken it out and put it into your yard when she has done this in the house? It may be worth trying, it does work for some dogs, it tells them it is ok to go there.

As you have only had her for 2 months you may be going to quickly for her, lots of new experiences etc, she really needs time to settle and get to know you and your house rules. She still needs her walks but at the moment not so many places.

Try clicker training with her, viewtopic.php?f=20&t=513 this will help her bond with you so she feels more secure. You can teach her a lot by clicker training.

Just because she hears you say "No poo" doesn't mean she understands what you are saying or what you want her to do, it could just be a jumbled noise to her unless she has been taught to poo on command, she could also think you mean don't poo if "No", which can sound like "Go" to a dog, has been used a lot with her in the past with something more physical like a slap etc.

Is her crate in your bedroom at night? This may help her, once she is fully settled you can always slowly move the crate to were you want her to sleep. I have 3 dogs sleeping on my bed at night, at one time it was 5 :lol:

Car chasing is a different matter, make sure you are not rewarding her for chasing the cars, it is very easy to do. I would teach her to "Watch me", then you can give this command when a car is going past and reward her when she does.

Keep the questions coming and we will help as much as we can. :D
[url=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Nethertumbleweed/PIXIE.jpg][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Nethertumbleweed/th_PIXIE.jpg[/img][/url]
tinytwo
Posts: 241
Joined: Sat Jun 19, 2010 11:22 am
Location: Central California

Re: I give up! Dog ONLY defecates IN the house! Help??!!

Post by tinytwo »

I agree with Mattie about just giving her some time to be low keyed and get settled in. :)

Usually, anytime a pup goes to a new home, it's a good idea to "pottytrain" again. Kind of like a refresher course. Really, the fosters said she was potty trained, but you don't know what they mean by that, do you? There's a lot to think about: did she let them know when she had to go out? did they just take her out on a schedule? did she potty on grass or pavement? did she potty on walks?

Some dogs are very picky about what type of surface they go on....so that could have something to do with it. And, besides, a refresher course in pottytraining is a good idea because it lets her know what YOU expect, as opposed to what the fosters, and other owners wanted. It lets her know what the "potty routine" is going to be in her new home.

So, I would go back to potty training basics. Supervise her all the time, so she isn't given the opportunity to go in the house. If you can't watch her like a hawk, then crate her. If she has the opportunity to go in the house because you're not watching, then it gives her the impression that maybe it's ok to poop in the house here.

Also, like Mattie said, she's been uprooted a lot, and not able to really feel like she "belongs" anywhere. So, she needs to feel safe and secure in her new home! :)
emmabeth
Posts: 8894
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:24 pm
Location: West Midlands
Contact:

Re: I give up! Dog ONLY defecates IN the house! Help??!!

Post by emmabeth »

I think you have perhaps done too much with her - though they are a high energy breed, they are also a highly strung and very sensitive breed and the amount you have done with her could be too much - it is possible to overwork and overdo things when your intentions are all good.

Back off a lot - think 'fun', 'low key' and 'confidence' - work on these things, pick out a low stress walking route and do that two or three times a day so she has the option to toilet then.

Then keep her in the room with you or if she can't be, then crate her so she cannot make an error with the toiletting.

It may be that her toilet training wasnt actually so great but that the previous homes gave her more opportunities to go where/how she would like and shes never had to hang on or ask to go out.

If you are telling her off when you find a poo (not sure if you are or not, its really really hard to read your intial post as there are no paragraphs!), then do not do that, because she will associate poo + your presence = trouble. She will not associate the fact that its in the wrong place.
Instead, whenever she toilets in the right place in front of you, reward her super well for it so she gets the idea that its a realy good thing to do - whether thats in your yard or out on a walk, reward well. If allow her to make an error by letting her out of your sight, just ignore it and clean it up.
West Midlands based 1-2-1 Training & Behaviour Canine Consultant
Post Reply