Dog pees on floor at night - new dog owner needs help!

Dogs are territorial and mark their territory by peeing. He realizes your room is not his and does not pee there. I would suggest having him handled by a pro trainer.

Poor little thing! It definitely sounds like an anxiety/insecurity problem, to me.

Lots of love and positive encouragement is required at this stage, until he bonds with you.

Regarding the pee problem, I see you are doing the late night walkies bit, so try taking his water away in the early evening, so he doesn't fill himself up overnight.

Also, a good idea.....as he is used to peeing on paper, is to cover a small area of the kitchen floor with paper for a short while, and gradually lessen the "coverage" over a couple of weeks, ending up with just one piece by the back door. By then (hopefully) he will feel a lot more secure and happy, and you can then start to let him know (just tone of voice will be enough) that you are not happy with him peeing indoors, and praise him greatly when he does it outside.
Jack Russells are intelligent little buggers.....so he'll learn quickly.

....but you need patience at THIS moment in his life.

Good luck.

At 8 months old is he still considered a pup? I have read in other forums this is quite a common puppy problem, as in they pee when excited or anxious.

Thanks for your adivice, much appreciated.

As for the anxiety situation. I am not surprised given his past life. The little guy is lucky to have found you.

Since he seems to be unsettled when you leave, I would suggest that you leave for a very short time and return. Do not greet or pat him when you do so. Ignore him as though nothing has happened. After you have been back for a bit, then you can praise him and pat him. Do this several times and he will get used to the idea that you will come back. His anxiety is probably that he thinks you are leaving him. Repetition is one of the keys to producing the behaviour that you want. You could also try caging him in the kitchen overnight. Dogs will not dirty their "bed area".

Good luck.

paaaatrick, welcome to A2K by the way.

Age doesn't really come into it as far as behaviour is concerned. You could have a two month old puppy, brought up in a perfect environment, that will have already learned several commands. You could have a two year old dog who has been pretty much abused and ignored, who will not know good behaviour from bad and cause all sorts of chaos.

PHYSICALLY, at 8 months, your dog is the equivalent of an adolescent. Just about fully grown, but still full of youthfull over exuberence.

Mentally, your dog is a mere beginner, by the sound of it.

The first thing you need to do is to bond with him, and vice versa. Once he knows that you are a good and kind "leader" (dogs always think in "pack" terms, you will be the pack leader) he will relax and start to enjoy life to the full.
He, more importantly, will also want to "follow" you, and obey your commands as a matter of course.

There is a thread somewhere that dealt with this, or a very similar subject.

I'll try and find it for you.........

Here it is.....it's more to do with animal behaviour, but should relate to your dog situation in the long run, as it gives you an idea of how a dog sees their world, and reacts to it.

Bond with it first though, and wait until it trusts you, etc......

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1437104&highlight=desmond+morris#1437104

You're right he does follow me everywhere already & considering he has had no formal training he pretty much does follow my commands. He really is a great little dog,

I could stop the problem by allowing him to sleep in my room on the floor as I know some people do, but I just thought he should be used to being on his own sometimes. At the moment I am a student and have a lot of time to be with him in the day, eventually of course I will be working most of the day. Letting him stay with me 24/7 will only make the problem worse in the future when I do go to work.

Thanks again to everyone for this adivce. It's really helpful, i'm learning a lot!

Patrick

My advice on the going to work bit, would be to think ahead and make some arrangements for a family member or relative to agree on taking him for a walk, or just simply popping in to see him.

Jack Russells have a few strong characteristics.

1. Bravery. They are usually not afraid of anything.

2. They are usually a "one man" dog. This may cause a problem for you, if you are the only person he ever mixes with. Once settled into this mode, they don't take kindly to other people. Socialise your one with as many humans as possible, on a regular basis.

3. They can be (and normally are, just like most terriers) VERY willful. If you don't establish yourself as the boss, they will rule the roost.
A friend of mine has a JR who refused to get out of its bed until 11am. He didn't rectify the situation early enough, and had the devil's own job trying to take it for an early morning walk.

Try to get someone else with you when you walk the dog, and let them hold the leash from time to time. Get him used to being "handled" by other humans. He sounds like a nice one, so you shouldn't have too many problems, but just think ahead to the time when you will be working.

Oh...and one last thing....

I have no idea where you live, or if you have any countryside near you, but be warned.....Jack Russells were specifically bred to go down holes and burrows, in order to flush out "Quarry". This normally meant foxes, but to a terrier, a burrow is a burrow. If he turns out to be a true JR, he will want to go straight down any burrow that he comes across, including rabbit tunnels.

Prince Charles lost his JR down a rabbit hole and, despite organising a bloody great search for a week, never found him. It must have been awful for him (evn though I don't like the guy, I can identify with his situation as a fellow dog lover).

So.....if you are anywhere near rabbit country, keep a close eye on your little friend, or put him on a leash for a while.


What have you called him by the way?

Pacco says, "Oh! a new A2k dog!"

He's living in London right now, Highbury. It's fairly leafy for London and I live within 5mins walk of 3 big parks where I can let him off the lead. No rabbits to chase after, although he makes up for that by going for pigeons ad squirrels. He completly forgets his name when chasing.

I'm orginally from the Yorkshire countryside, one of my best friends lost a terrier when it ran down a badger set, my grand father also lost his JRT down a warren although his managed to dig itself out a day or so later and turned up at the farm house covered in dirt!

I also live with 3 other people. They normally all walk him at least once over the course of a week. He really will go for a walk with anyone who picks up the lead, although when in the house he will always gravitate towards me. There's defineately no problem with him socailising with other people or dogs for that matter.

I did think long and hard before taking on this dog, although I admit that the one thing that escaped my mind was what was going to happen when I started work. I still have a plently of time to think about this, and I'll take your advice on board.

His name is Jack by the way, not too original for a JRT, but I thought it unfair to change the name he had got used for 8 months that the previous owners gave him. It's about the only constant he's had in the last couple of weeks. Here's a pic of the little guy in my parents back garden in North Yorks'.

Cute little gaffer :-)

He looks ready to pop right up again..

what a sweetie pie.

oooh, another A2K pupster!
hooray!!!

~~~~~~~~

Lord E's given lots of good, sensible advice.

Keeping a Jack Russell (are you allowed to still call them that? here they're now Parson Russell Terriers) mentally busy - challenged and occupied - is important - Jack Russell's are NOT fun when they're bored.

HA! HIGHBURY!

Being a lifelong Gooner, I know the area well.

....and there I was, thinking that you were from across the pond.

Weird thing, the internet.


Jack looks like he's going to be great fun. I reckon he'll end up like Eddie, from "Frasier".

Hi again...

Thanks for all the tips they have really helped and things have already got better.

One thing has cropped up though. For the last few nights when I take Jack downstairs to put him to bed, he has peed on the carpet right in front of me. I have reacted to this by teling him 'No!', 'Bad Boy!' in an angry tone. He knows he's done wrong and then skulks off to his bed for the night. I feel so guilty after, he really does look hurt after I tell him off. I'm just wondering if this sounds like some kind of anxiety problem, in that he knows he is about to be alone for the night, making him literally pee himself.

Is there anything I can do to remedy this or is this the sort of thing that will settle down over time? I've still only had in my care for 2 weeks.

All help much appreciated.

Patrick

That's such a cute dog, you're going to have lots of joy
with him Patrick.

Have you taken him to the veterinarian already? He might
have a urinary problem. If not, he's probably just frightened
to be alone. Why not let him sleep next to you on the floor?
Right now, he needs all the reassurance he can get.

Patrick, can you spot that he's going to do that last pee before he does it? Is there a chance you'd be able to grab him and either get him outside or to a pee pad quickly?

It sounds like he's trying to show you that he's dominant in whatever way available to him, and you need to stay ahead of that.

~~~~~

How long before bedtime do you take his waterbowl away? You may need to move that back further from bedtime.

Changing a dog's name is not a bad thing. He associates his name with his original master, if you change his name he will associate his new name with you and his new life.

Have you looked into crate training? Dog's try not to mess up their dens and the crate works like a den. He can sleep in your room in his crate, when he has to pee he will cry to get out and you can take him to either papers or better yet- the great outdoors. I've only used crates with my dogs, never bothered with papers, but you have to be on hand to let them out when they need to go.