Pee Pee encore!

[Lancashire Lass]

We have adopted a male dog who has been castrated but despite us telling him NO firmly when he has performed or is in mid-performance and then pushing him outside, he still continues to perform in the house. I do not want to rub his nose in it as my French friends tell me I should! I have bought a spray that is supposed to put him off but it does not seem to make much difference! I am sure he has never lived in a house before and wherever he was before he came to us, he could pee to his heart's content!

Has anyone else had this experience and can give us some advice?

[connolls]

Hi,

Just been watching re-runs of "Its me or the dog".

Victoria says that this is an issue of insecurity and terratorial marking.

It usually appears when a dog is struggling to find out his role in the "pecking order".

She suggests setting up very tight rules and regulations and a set daily routine for the dog and initially restricting the dog to a particualar area of the house and making sure that he "sees" you as the pack leader (please don't pee up any furniture though" !!!)

Make sure he has regular walk and pee times at which point he must be highly praised, if you catch him in "mid-pee" make a loud squeeling noise and remove him from the area without any nice contact or stimulation from yourself.

Do not wash any areas he has wet wth any bleach based products as this will only stimulate him to "re-mark". plain old warm water and a dash of washing up liquid.

It is important that he does not "rule the roost" as he will continue to mark in order to show HIS authority.

These were a few general principles she suggests but if you want more info, you can buy the book or watch re-runs on the telly.................I think her methods and rational for dog training is invaluable. (I'm not related to her !!!)

Hope this helps a little.

Good luck.

Mel.

[Lancashire Lass]

Thanks Mel! Yes, he is the new dog on the block and he is trying to establish were he stands in relation to the other two dogs! I have to report that the peeing is subsiding as he went all day without a slip up but I went out to play bridge last night and when I came home, he had had an accident! It could be that his bladder is not as strong as the other two! I had made sure they all 'went' before I left!  However, this little lad is anxious whenever I am out of sight and that is when he barks his head off and pees! Like a lot of rescue dogs, he has had a hard time and I know that it is only our love and patience that will in the end give him back his confidence!

[connolls]

Hi LL,

Sounds as if he's a very lucky boy, wish all dogs had such understanding new owners, glad to hear he's improving his "manners".

Like you say things will improve over time as he gets more confident and self secure.

Good luck to all of you.

Mel

P.S. Victoria has a great little episode about seperation anxiety and how to resolve it over a short period of time.............I think I'm getting obsessed with her now !! Best wishes

[Gardener]

Put him outside soon after eating or waking up and stay with him .

Give him a command to pee or poo ( even if he has started without you!)

loads of over the top praise afterwards and a biscuit.

Food rewards are a great trainer.

[Polly]

You don't say how old he is, but it sounds like you & he are on the right track, you just need lots of patience and plenty of kitchen roll. A change of circumstance can be v stressful for a dog or a bitch. Either he is marking, or he's reverting to puppyhood until he feels 'safe'.

What a lucky dog to have found folk who care enough to post the question here, not just thwack him and kick him out.

Courage, mon brave!

And do let us know how you all get on, and a pic of the tribe to cheer us all up? We all like doggy pics!

'scuse me, just done a 'view the post' check and my word for a female dog has come out in asterisks!!!!!!

[Lancashire Lass]

OK! By popular request here is our Boo Boo, our new,  golden cocker spaniel with Toby, his Field Spaniel, brother. The refuge vet thought he was four but my vet says he estimates he is only two - something to do with his teeth and one looking like a 'fleur de lys' I did not understand that comment but I do know of old he is an excellent vet and I would trust what he says! Boo Boo is the smallest Cocker Spaniel I have ever seen - he is more the size of a miniature poodle!

 http://www.villagephotos.com/members/photos.aspx?a=2140557

(The photo Boo Boo and I makes me realise I must soon do that long promised diet! The walking with the three dogs seems to make no difference whatsoever!)

Boo Boo was in a very poor way when we took him on! We called him Boo Boo as he looked to us for all the world like the little bear that was the companion of Yogi Bear as he followed our huge Field Spaniel round the garden! (Only those of you of a certain age will remember Yogi Bear and Boo Boo!) We had originally said we would foster him but he was very little more than a walking skeleton with all you could imagine wrong with him that he had picked up on his travels - fleas, worms and mites in his ear! His little pads were worn down and his nose had been burnt with over- exposure to the sun.  His fur was horrid as he had had one of those sticky fly papers wrapped around him when he was scavenging in a bin to survive. A trip to what my other half calls the poodle parlour stripped a lot of that nasty sticky mess off and he scrubbed up a treat! LOL! No, we knew immediately we saw him that Boo Boo had come home!

 He is rapidly gaining weight and he eats as if there was no tomorrow! Sadly I cannot feed him with the other two dogs as he eats so fast and he would be finished all three dinners before the others got a look in! Our Field Spaniel, Toby, was like this when we took him on but he soon normalised and he and his Border Collie sister, Mrs Socks, eat happily side by side! Once Boo Boo has the confidence to know the next meal will be forthcoming, he will slow down and we can allow him to join the other two.

Boo Boo is still quite insecure and barks when I am out of sight! If he is unsure of what is about to happen i.e. we are about to set off for a walk, he runs in circles yapping! However, out of the house, he is a treat to walk and trots by my side, he is not interested in exploring on his extending lead. Maybe he has done quite enough exploring in his travels! It will be quite a while before I feel I can trust Boo Boo to walk off his lead. I feel he needs to know well our area and to be sure where his home is first of all! Now Toby who does the most wonderful training and walking to heel in the garden will pull like a drain on his way to where he can be let off his lead! No 'heel' does not to apply in the great yonder it seems even with the incentive of cubes of cheddar cheese! He also will shoot off into the tangles of trees and bushes and I always fear he will not return, I have a spaniel whistle and he eventually reappears crashing through the thickets covered with leaves and bits of branches!  Mrs Socks is a well behaved girl and she is no problem on her walks! She will walk to heel and always comes on command! So 2 out of 3 well-behaved dogs is fine!

As you can probably deduce if you are reading this we are well pleased with our furry family!

[connolls]

Hi LL,

Can't get in to see the photo at the minute, but hope that if I come back in another life as a dog, that I get to come and live with you all.

As you can see by my photo I have a "old man" staffie and he's gorgeous, the most placid and well behaved dog i've ever owned.

Have fun with the gang.

Mel.

[Polly]

I can't see the pic either, it asks me to log in to the site

[Lancashire Lass]

Oh heck! I spent ages getting that up and running! Sorry all!

[Lancashire Lass]

Put in sibyll15 and the password is tobyrandall. Let me know if that works and you can see the photos!

[suein56]

Err ... sorry, but still no - for me anyway.

Sue

[Polly]

I can, using those refs!

Lucky little mutt, he looks SO lovely and just a wee bit confused at all his good fortune

[Jouals]

For future ref, I see there is a link you can copy on your photo page (top left hand) which says share these photos - if you copy the link into a post - people can get to your photos without you having to give your log on name and password to everyone.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2010-9/1359673/2140557

What a lovely dog Boo Boo looks!!

Some good advice above, we have a rescue Brittany who was very stressed on arriving here (he was 3 years old when we took him in).  Took him a while to understand there was no need to pee indoors - it was definitely a stress thing with him.  He gradually got the hang of things though, the last problem being that he continued to pee if we went out and left him (with our other dog).  Since then we too have taken on a rescue Cocker Spaniel (same colour as Boo Boo), and that seems to have given the Brittany more confidence (he now plays as the Cocker insists!).  The Cocker was much quicker at learning to go outside, but he was only a pup when we rescued him and had less "baggage" in his head!

So good to see abandoned dogs finding good homes!!

Jouals

[Lancashire Lass]

This little bit of insecurity is a very small price to pay for having such a lovely dog as Boo Boo! My OH came back today after a week away and he can see how he has grown in size and in confidence. We have bought him an Ezydog collar and a bungy lead as the others have them and he was like a dog with two tails, he was so delighted! I guess he has never had anything new before!

[Lancashire Lass]

Well the pee pee is less - now down to about twice a day! Boo Boo has put on weight and look so much better! His back legs are still stiff though and when he runs he looks a bit like a rocking horse. The vet has looked at them but says the muscle is there but it needs to be built up due to poor nutrition - probably since he was born! Toby, the Field Spaniel, is running round the garden with him every day, so hopefully this will rectify itself with the good home cooking here!