GAbeachBum
New member
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.
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.