Adopted one year old...having problems

[KathyK]

Its hard to admit with things are going easy or well...and when you are frustrated, but that's where I am.

Our new rescued wiener doesn't seem to remember housetraining.

Although he doesn't pee in his crate at night....I'm spending the better part of my day cleaning up his messes.

He poops after he eats in the morning, outside because we take him right outside. Later in the morning, he poops again ...somewhere in the house, in a dark place. He has a doggy door and goes in and out all day long. But he is saving his poops for inside when I'm not looking?

He has started peeing too...although its submissive peeing...but not in the same way as Dora.

/sidenote
Dora has problems with submissive urination when we return home. In her excitement, she pees. If we ignore her for a while, she doesn't do this....so we have found the solution to this one.
/end sidenote

For Toby, the first few days, if I reached to pet him, he frequently peed the same way. (of course as a little boy, it was more of a fountain experience)

He stopped this for a while...as we treated it the same way as Dora. Not petting him right away when we come home.

Now he is peeing in a different way.

Before we turn out the lights, while we are reading and watching TV, we let the puppers into bed with us. They sleep way down in the bottom of the covers. Now when I reach down to get Toby, he urinates. (Yes, expensive mattress and all)

The first time we stripped the sheets and thinking this is a singular case of waking him at the wrong time, it has continued. Everytime with me being more frustrated at the changing of the sheets and the mattress pad...and my expensive mattress.

If I try to move him when he sleeps, he is peeing.

I'm upset. I'm thinking I've made a mistake. I had hoped he was housebroken and this was why I went with adopting a year old dog instead of a puppy....Dora never has accidents of poops in the house and her submissive urination is regulated...and only when we return from being out.

Ideas? Ugh but I'm upset....and I hate feeling this way. :(

[Rusty's mom]

You may want to leash him to you for a period of time and that way you will know what his schedule is for pottying and can then make sure that he goes out about the same time every day. With the urination I would first take him to the vets and make sure that he doesn't have a bladder/kidney infection. If it's really important to you that he sleep in bed with you perhaps use the doggie diapers at night time. It may also take him quite a while to get used to his new home - he may be anxious about being sent back or feel your tension and anxiety about him. These are just my thoughts/opinions on the problems and hope I haven't offended you in any way.

Kathy - mom to Rusty, Duffer and Hobbs

[Mark]

Hi KathyK . . . I agree with Kathy about the tension he must be feeling from you . . . and that is understandable. Also the vet visit is a must.

It will take some work and some more mistakes where you'd rather not have them, but this is not impossible, assuming your willing. We have seen others in the same situation, ready to throw in the towel, who have overcome the problem.

First develop scheduled times outdoors (every couple of hours, give or take) . . . not just putting him out alone or with Dora . . . you must go with him. Repeat a command (like, "go potty") for as long as it takes for results and then reward with a treat (baby carrots are great) and lot's of praise. This will not eliminate accidents indoors, but keep doing this daily, weekly and in some cases, monthly until the *light comes on*. And the light will come on eventually . . . one day he will *get it* . . . outdoors is the only place he goes potty. Once he *gets it* you will want to still go out with him on occassion.

You can also close off the rooms common to these accidents until he is *going* outside exclusively. Also taking up the water in the early evening can help.

End of Potty Training 101, but this has worked for many people. :)

As for the bed wetting . . . you may want to consider what we have done and that is to provide large comforters for them to sleep outside of the bed. They took to it very quickly and when we get up . . . they arise on their own, without being touched. I'm guessing the touching is what sets off the submissive peeing in bed.

Good luck and please keep us posted.

[Cindi]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news....but I wouldn't be having him under the covers at this time because it IS making for stress for both of you and dogs CAN feel that. Soooo. if it is a desire of yours to have him in bed use Mark's suggestion and make it appear as if they ARE under the covers but they aren't truly and put down one of those kids bed liners on top of your bedspread first so IF anything happens it won't get to that either :)...then a doggy sheet, doggy comforter - something for snugglying into/under. Then you can just call them out from under that to go to their crates for beddy bye time.
If he has to poop twice in the morning my guess is he isn't finishing when he is out OR maybe he is eating too much in the morning? That's a lot of poop to be making, in my humble opinion! Are you a twice a day feeder so that the first potty is from the evening meal and the 2nd potty is from breakfast? Just trying to figure out where all of this is coming from :)

[Rusty's mom]

One of our boys is an alpha and very, very strong willed. Along with his medication we have to constantly use behavior modification with him. We love to have our guys sleep in bed with us but Rusty just can't. It elevates him to a position in the household where he is constantly challenging us. When it's bedtime they all join us - they're on top of the covers and get some extra snuggling and chewie time. We allow Duffer to sleep with us during the week and Hobbs will sometimes join us on the weekend. If Rusty is exhibiting some very challenging behavior we then crate him by himself at night and have the other 2 boys sleep with us. At first we felt very guilty about not having Rusty in with us and thought that he might get jealous and take it out on the other two - not so. In fact, I think he sleeps better with just Hobbs or by himself.

Also when we let all three out to potty they will often start playing and forget what they are out there for!!! We leave them out until they really, really want in and all 3 give different cues as to when they want out. Only Hobbs will go to the door and bark -we really have to watch for signs from Rusty and Duffer. Your little guy might not be exhibiting the signs that you're used to from your girl and has his own signs that you're not aware of yet.

Kathy - mom to Rusty, Duffer and Hobbs

[Augie Dog]

Aug was a pain in the butt with pooping until a year and a half. We discovered that he does not poop it all out in the morning.

Leash him in the morning and let him do his thing. Use a word or phase that means "take a dump" we use poopeedoo, it covers both ends. Now the hard part, this will take a while to click. Don't go back in right away and insist that he has to go. Walk him around the yard and take him to the first place he pooped and prior poops. Aug really does poop twice.

This brings up the next point, poop in the house. How are you cleaning prior poops and pees? My guys will go in the same spot the other just went.

The next one, submissive pee. There is a greet pee and a scared pee. Do you know this dogs story? He may have been house trained but, something might be setting him off. Being moved, (or thrown) out of bed, may have brought back a tramatic memory and he is in fear of getting hurt or punnished severly. Get a matress protector to save your matress. To clean your matress and carpet, use natures mirical, you can get it in a pet store. Cant figure out where the carpet marks are, get or borrow a black light. Pee is phosphoresent and will glow in the dark when hit with a black light.

Yes, a vet may be in order to rule out a med problem. But, at one year, there is still a lot of puppy in him and he may have gone thru something that you were not made aware of and he maybe scared.

Big doses of love and unterstanding will help cure the latter.


David