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Wed 14 Jul, 2004 11:04 pm
My adopted shelter dog is an absolute sweetie, but she has been having some real problems with housetraining. She knows that going in the house is wrong and generally sneaks away to have an accident and then looks guilty about it, but this evening she just squatted down and peed on the carpet right in front of me without hesitation. I don't know if she "forgot" the rule all of a sudden (unlikely), if she didn't care, or if she was making a statement of some kind by doing this right in front of me.
My significant other pointed out that she did this right after I was hand feeding her some food. He thinks that she tends to have accidents right after one of us has been pampering her a bit. Right before she peed in front of us tonight, I had been hand feeding her. My signif thinks she did it as a display of dominance. He also thinks that I'm too lenient with her, as I don't like to yell at her after accidents.
Do dogs sometimes have accidents as a display of dominance or as a sign of confusion about who's top dog? Does it sound like that is happening here??? Please share your thoughts!
You need to have dog training classes.
Dogs are more likely to have accidents out of extreme submission rather than dominance.
Bingo, cav. The stop and pee (when the dog knows it's wrong), or going in an out of the way place are both signs of submission.
If you roll your dog on her back, does she kick, nip bite, yelp? Or does she take it in stride, or lie back? Or does she shiver or wet herself?
Either way, the significant other is ass-backwards on this problem. The dog clearly needs a gentle hand, and patient training, not more discipline or yelling.
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