MaxxMozart84

Ok, so I have a doggie I adopted from Craigslist who initially had hardly any training at 1 1/2 anyway. I have been working with him to give him a consistent and loving home so as to help with any insecurities he has and get him on a good potty schedule.
I've had him for a little over 6 months now and he still will have weeks where he will pee (and I mean really pee) on the couch or on my bed or rug or anything fabric. :(
I have tried confinement to my kitchen when he's gone, I've attempted crating him (he cries loudly for hours and my downstairs neighbors complain) for my short work shifts, I have tried keeping doors closed off when I am home to keep him from sneaking off to pee.....and once in a whole I forget and as quick as he can! He gets in my room and pee on my sheets. It is beyond frustrating and I don't know what to do.

I swear I have tried every method of potty training that I have read and none of it works! Or It will work for a while when Mozart feels like doing things my way :(
So please! Suggestions from someone with older dogs that have potty issues?

Ps, He also has food aggression issue with my other poodle sometimes. Normally they get along good but sometimes Mozart stares Maxx down like a jerk and then attacks him.
It's not that often but it's still always upsetting.


Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App

fjm

Belly band would be my first idea - he's had 18+ months of peeing indoors and it is now an established habit, so you face a difficult time teaching him new ways, especially if you can neither crate him nor be with him all day every day. Keeping a band and pad on him in the house will at least enable you to manage it while you work on it.

Food aggression - if it is just occasionally, and he is only warning off your other dog and not humans, I would simply increase the space between them when they are fed. Most dogs will protect food from another dog, If he shows signs of guarding food or other resources from you or other people, I'd start lots of hand feeding, and games of swapsies - let him take something low value, then offer him a really good treat in exchange; then give him the first object back as well. It impresses dogs enormously!

__________________

To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden,
where doing nothing was not boring- it was peace.

~ Milan Kundera

Poodlemama99

Belly band for sure. You may never break him of this behavior but at least the belly band will save your clothes, rugs and furniture.


Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App

__________________
Poodlemama (Omar 13, Maggie 8, Nicholas 6, Penelope 1 (RIP Lila)

MaxxMozart84

Thank you for those ideas
My step mother did offer to let me have a belly band that she used to use for her foster dogs, but I haven't gone that route yet. Sounds as if you both swear by it so I will DEFINITELY give it a try!
Anything! Lol


Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App

MaryLynn

I feel for you, I really do. I went through something like this when I fostered a female boston terrier. She would do this exact behavior whenever I would leave (and back then I'd never be gone much longer than 1-2 hours at a time if she couldn't go with me). I did really like her, but I can tell you I am guilty of being more than just happy for HER when her forever home came up. I did manage to train her so that it became very rare, but she just ended up needing a home with a person home 24 hours a day.

At first I made sure I walked her every 2 hours (she was a year old, it was like having a little puppy again), and I started doing crate games with her. Perhaps look into some crate games, and see if you can get him to form a positive association with the crate? Once we could get her in the crate calmly it became a haven for her, and she loved it. She would spend a lot of her "me" time in there, and she would also put away her toys in there.

I find dogs associate where is safe and unsafe to pee based off of texture/surface type. We had to keep anything that resembled fabric, and paper off of the floor at all times or if a loud noise or something scared her she would relieve herself on it. This didn't stop her from occasionally hoping onto the bed and peeing on it, however an X-pen around my bed DID do the trick!

I am unfamiliar with belly bands, but that seems like a great fail safe, but I would try to do some crate games and just see how it goes!

Poodlemama99

Sometimes male dogs mark no matter what. The belly bands saved my sanity and my furniture and rugs.


Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App

__________________
Poodlemama (Omar 13, Maggie 8, Nicholas 6, Penelope 1 (RIP Lila)

N2Mischief

Assuming he is neutered....I would keep him on a leash with me when I am home, at ALL times. He needs to be confined when you are gone. Maybe work more on the crating when you are there so he will be quiet when you are gone.

lily cd re

Yes, if he isn't neutered get it done asap! It might help with the marking and it also might help with the food aggression. Since he has a long history of getting away with these behaviors you are facing a long journey to manage them to your satisfaction. The belly band is a very good idea, as is more confinement and supervision.

What do you know about why he ended up on Craigslist? It sounds like there were issues in his original home that you might want to understand. Knowing more about those could help you further in deciding how to proceed. That is, can you work through these issues yourself or do you need outside help. If you eventually decide you need outside help I would suggest getting a certified behaviorist rather than a trainer. A behaviorist will be able to evaluate the underlying causes of these behaviors more deeply.

__________________
Catherine
Lily AKC: CGC CD HIT CDX RN RA RE RAE NAJ; APDT: RL-1; CPE: CL1-R, CL1-H
Peeves AKC: CGC BN

MaxxMozart84

I have been using the belly band and it's working out well. I generally can't crate him because my shifts are 10 hours at a time so I confine him to the living room and kitchen which have hardwood floors.
Also, he is Neutered.

He was originally an owner surrender to a shelter in Indiana. He was 6 months old at that time. The people getting rid of him said they got him from there. Seemed to have good intentions at first (they gave me a lot of expensive food and toys, leashes, a brand new crate, and treats and a pricey bed) but told me they had no time for him.
Clearly. He hadn't been groomed or vaccinated in god knows how long. (vet visit and groomers happened the day after I got him. Doc said he was mostly healthy just dirty and neglected). He was under weight a tad, he was dirty and apparently they kept him outside on a stake a lot. And in his crate.
Long story short-he's lived a life of neglect until he met me :(
So I'm very happy to have my little guy and will do what I have to to make sure we are all happy living together


Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App

Poodlemama99

So happy for you both. The belly bands are a life saver. My boys wear theirs most of the time inside. So much easier not to have to worry about them marking the furniture and/or each other. Lol.


Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App

__________________
Poodlemama (Omar 13, Maggie 8, Nicholas 6, Penelope 1 (RIP Lila)