Still, STILL having housebreaking issues. Plus now it's worse.

GAbeachBum

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OK back in April, I posted a new thread here about how much of a hard time I was having housebreaking my Lily. She is 9 months old, and still not housebroken. STILL not housebroken.

I am almost at my wit's end. I don't know what else to do, because the situation has gotten worse. We are still trying to crate train her, and the problem is that when we open the crate to take her out, she refuses to leave the crate. It's almost like she is afraid to, and that makes no sense to me. She is like the "new baby" in our house, and my husband, my daughters and myself treat her very, very well. She is treat-rewarded when she does well, and mildly scolded when she messes up. There is no reason for her to be afraid, because we never yell and we never spank, yet this dog refuses to leave her crate.


We recently acquired her litter mate Elvis, and once we got him, and realized what it was like to have a well-behaved, well-housebroken dog, we realized just how "off" she was. Oh, before you ask, this behavior with her has been going on for months. We just got Elvis a week ago.


We can't get her to leave the crate to go outside. We can't reach in to get her becuase she'll urinate all over the crate. We can't put a collar on her and drag her out because she'll urinate all over the crate. We got her out this morning, after she pooped overnight in her crate (even though we took her out at 2am, before we went to bed, and she did nothing). We got her out, cleaned the crate, washed her bedding and closed the door to the crate so she couldn't run in there. When we asked her if she wanted to go out, she just looked at us. My husband put her leash on her and started to drag her out (because she refuses to go willingly) and she urinated in the floor.


Her behavior is one that is a dog that has been abused, but I am here 24/7, and she has not been abused at all. I just don't know what to do. She refuses to leave the crate, and then she poops in the crate. She doesn't pee there - just poops.


A friend of ours told us that we are spoiling her too much, and that she should be scolded more. He even suggested a "shock" collar, although we aren't too keen on anything that will hurt her, and good grief, if she is urinating now just by putting her leash on her and dragging outside, what is going to happen with a shock collar?


I am open for any and all suggestions. I don't know what else to do. We have thought about obedience classes, but that isn't going to help the situation of her pooping in her crate. It's almost like she waits for us to go to bed to do this. She rarely has accidents inside during the day, because we watch her like a hawk, but the minute we go to bed, she poops in the crate. If we took her to obedience, that'd help her sit/stay/heel, etc, but it's not going to help with her evacuting in her crate, and it's also not going to help what highly concerns me - that she might have mental issues.

I will add this as well -- she doesn't do it all the time. It's like she'll go for a week or two and go perfectly. She'll go outside, she'll poop and pee, she will do exactly what she is supposed to do. Then it's almost like a spot passes across her brain that makes her forget everything. That worries me. When we DO get her outside, most often, she'll just go outside, sit on the ground or even lay on the ground, and just look at me. Nothing. Just look at me. I've waited outside on her for a half hour, and all she does is lay in the sun, doing nothing.
 

bullmama

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Wow this is a tough one. Seems like she's trained herself and you to react in these ways, perhaps now with her brother to lead the way she will finally start getting it? I hope some others have some ideas too.


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ddnene

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WOW this is a tough one…
The only thing about the obedience training is that I know w/my other bullies I used the "go potty" command, and it really worked w/them when I would take them outside. Wally didn't need it because he followed suit along w/my other dog Roxie. This really sounds like a behavioral issue more than something physical going on to me. Have you ever taken her to dog training?!! It may be worth a shot…
I'm gonna tag some other members to see what they recommend...
 
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GAbeachBum

GAbeachBum

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Lily and Elvis
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Thanks, guys. No, I haven't taken her for obedience training yet. The thing is - she is so smart. If I tell her to lay down, she drops it like it's hot. If I tell her to go to bed, she goes to her crate. If I ask her if she's hungry, she bounces off the wall. I got her a bag of Bonz last night (her favorite good girl treat). I gave her one, and she put it up on the loveseat so Elvis wouldn't find it. She jumped up on the sofa with me, and I asked her, "Where's your bone, good girl?" and she jumped off the sofa, ran over to the love seat, grabbed the bone and came back. This dog is really smart. It's just these little areas that we are having such a hard time with .

And today? She's been absolutely perfect. Picture perfect. Like that "spot" in her brain has gone away. She's in the floor, playing with her new stuffed pumpkin toy. *sigh*
 

ThatsBull

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I wonder if maybe you should take her crate away and exchange it for something else, like an exercise pen. You can get them, they are portable, and can be set up in the house. My friend breeds mini aussies, and refuses to put pups in kennels until they have an idea about going outside, are old enough to hold it, and will respect their space (their kennel). It's not much, sorry I don't have more to offer, but maybe it's worth a try?
 

Pati Robins

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This is a tough one -
She gets stressed when you are trying to drag her out -it might be anxiety of the whole situation therefore in my opinion shock collar will only make things worse

Dogs are not able to associate actions which they did much earlier in the night with consequences delivered later in the morning. This is why treats or verbal corrections have to be delivered within 2 seconds of the dog doing the desired behaviour.-but you are already doing it
The prospect of you being angry at her in any shape of form will make her anxious...and anxious dogs are likely to lose control of their bladder and bowels. It's self-perpetuating. And now just being in her crate is probably enough to make him anxious or looking at her crate in other way -this is her safe place
since the dog frequently uses his crate as a toilet, you have the additional problem that the dog has possibly lost some of his natural incentive to keep his bedroom clean. Shes become habituated to toileting in there, which means you may need to really reinforce any time she successfully toilets in the right place (with treats and praise). It also means shes going to need a lot of supervision so that she doesn't just continue to toilet in her crate i know it sounds silly as silly as shes doing it at night -every few months i got same problem with lilly -i take her water at 9 take her out at 12:30 , wake up at 5:30 -and take her out again
When i see accident i try to remain calm -i do not want to make her anxious when i need her to associate good behaviour (peeing outside) with treats -sometimes i feel i fight a battle that i cannot win -but she does "refresh" her potty training

Also she might be coming into heat? Or uti -have you spoken to the vet to ensure her health is ok and this is purely behavioural issue
Also her behaviour could be a result of changes in your house -new dog
 
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GAbeachBum

GAbeachBum

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Thanks, Pati. I might think Elvis' coming had something to do with it, but this has been going on for a while. We only got Elvis Saturday a week ago. And it's not heat, because she just went out about a month ago.



She's a very nervous dog and I don't know why. She's never been even swatted with the newspaper.
 
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GAbeachBum

GAbeachBum

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Nov 9, 2012
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Lily and Elvis
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I wonder if maybe you should take her crate away and exchange it for something else, like an exercise pen. You can get them, they are portable, and can be set up in the house. My friend breeds mini aussies, and refuses to put pups in kennels until they have an idea about going outside, are old enough to hold it, and will respect their space (their kennel). It's not much, sorry I don't have more to offer, but maybe it's worth a try?

Too much room and she'll poop even more. :( Thanks, though!
 

Texas Carol

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Sympathizing :( I'd take her to a trusted, experienced bully Vet (talk to her breeder as well
for insights was she always nervous pup, runt, etc) to rule out physical causes. If none, try
calming agents such as a Thunder shirt, Nature's Rescue Remedy, etc ...
 
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GAbeachBum

GAbeachBum

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Lily and Elvis
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Sympathizing :( I'd take her to a trusted, experienced bully Vet (talk to her breeder as well
for insights was she always nervous pup, runt, etc) to rule out physical causes. If none, try
calming agents such as a Thunder shirt, Nature's Rescue Remedy, etc ...

Good idea on the Thundershirt. We actually talked to the breeder when we picked up her litter mate, and she was as floored as we are. She has absolutely no idea what is going on with her, and has never seen this in any of her dogs.
 

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