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Sun 29 Aug, 2004 10:41 pm
I recently adopted a shelter dog, a 6 y/o male beagle (fixed). He is living with us and our cat. While we've had no problem getting him to go to the bathroom outside, the dog constantly will defecate in the house while we are home. This usually happens at night while we are sleeping, or random times throughout the day. One time I jumped in the shower for 5 minutes and found a pile of poop outside the door when I was done. Just tonight I went in the closet to get the vacum out to clean, and when I turned around the dog had pooped on the carpet. In most instances, the dog has been taken out just before the episode (usually within an hour), so I have ruled out him being unable to hold it. I've even kept him outside for another 10 minutes after he defecates to make sure he doesn't have to go again.
Some more background information: The dog does not like the cat and seems to dislike us giving the cat any attention. The dog also acts as if hisw precious owners have hit him, as he will often cringe if I approach him and try to pet him on the head. The dog also displays what I would describe as an attitude or dominance problem at times. He seems to want to be in charge. For example, when I found him chewing on an empty cat food can, I grabbed his collar to try to distract him so I could get it away from him. He promptly snarled and bit me. We also make it a point to scold the dog if he attacks the cat (more than just play chasing). Again, he becomes extremely aggressive toward us and has attempted to bite.
As far as the pooping problem, we have scolded the dog if we catch him in (or immediately after) the act, but not if we discover the mess after the fact, as I've heard any discipline will not do any good at that point in time.
Another fact is that the dog never poops when left alone for the day, only when someone is home with him.
As I said before, we've had the dog for a month and have made no progress with this issue. We've made an appointment with the vet to rule out a medical condition, but judging by the dogs behavior it's almost as if he's doing it on purpose to send us some sort of signal.
I'd appreciate any and all suggestions as to what we can do to make some progress, as cleaning up feces twice a day is both frustrating, as well as ruining the carpet. Thanks in advance.
hmmm...your dog seems to have quite a lot of characteristics of my dog when i got him. scolding him didn't work by itself, so when he did it i would leash him up in the backyard (under cover of course). he only ever did it for the first month or so after getting him so it might just be something that he's used to doing. just some thoughts, hope they help
I've housebroken dogs on the principle of never hitting the dog, but punishing the sin.
I use a club of newspaper, bound with rubber bands and when I find a puddle or a pile, I pound the floor next to it, scolding loudly.
No Good Doggie wants to be associated with such a wicked object. Our current dog from the pound--a pit bull who was very hard to housebreak--used to join me cussing out evil object.
Of course, while the "sin" is cursed inside, producing puddles and piles outiside is an occasion for lavish praise.
Could your pooch possibly have his signals crossed and feel that producing a pile of manure is an acceptable way of suggesting a walk?
Good luck.
Noddy24 wrote:I've housebroken dogs on the principle of never hitting the dog, but punishing the sin.
I use a club of newspaper, bound with rubber bands and when I find a puddle or a pile, I pound the floor next to it, scolding loudly.
No Good Doggie wants to be associated with such a wicked object. Our current dog from the pound--a pit bull who was very hard to housebreak--used to join me cussing out evil object.
Of course, while the "sin" is cursed inside, producing puddles and piles outiside is an occasion for lavish praise.
Could your pooch possibly have his signals crossed and feel that producing a pile of manure is an acceptable way of suggesting a walk?
Good luck.
I don't think so, as he will often poop on the floor within an hour of being walked (and both urinating and defecating outside). If I had to take a best guess it seems like the dog is doing it because he wants attention ro something. He only does it when we are home, and most of the time he'll do it if I step into another room for a period of time (as short as 5 minutes). And again the dog is left alone all day long while I'm at work and has NEVER gone in the house. So it definitely seems like his owners are part of the pooping equation...I just don't know how we fit in or what we should do about it.
Poor dog.
Poor family.
Sounds like your dog doesn't know whether to try to be submissive or dominant. The cringing from the head-patting is often a problem. I still wouldn't try to pat my female on the head, without some other signal to her. It scares her - and she may snap/snarl/attempt to bite.
Have you looked through any of the other threads in this category that talk about shelter dogs and training/re-training issues? (I don't want to re-hash things you've already looked at.)
and welcome, njdude!
http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=22868
This was probably one of the more thorough ones, where timber gave a number of good suggestions.
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