Jessica asked you questions about what and when you feed your dog that you've not answered. You might have gotten some workable advice if you had. IME Normal dogs fed a good diet don't poop that much.

I realize that you can't take your dog everywhere, but there are accomodations you can make for him to make him more a part of your life.

I just don't get the impression from your emails that you are willing to do the work necessary to resolve your problems. I hope I'm wrong, I hope you prove me wrong.



Edited by Meredith Hamilton (02/05/2010 10:13 AM)
Edit reason: spelling

I probably don't have anything productive to offer here except a bit of support. Clearly you're frustrated and I understand why--you're trying to make it work with this dog, but your efforts don't seem to be working (yet.) And I admire that you're reaching out to folks here to try and help--and that you seem to really WANT this to work. All commendable.

But here's the deal: you are smarter than this dog. The behavior isn't coming at you out of nowhere--you know exactly what he's going to do. So you have to anticipate the worst, and then try to prevent it. Pooping on your carpet is a "crime of opportunity." If he can't even GET to the carpet, he can't poop on it. There HAS to be a crate made that will contain this dog.

When he's not in that bullet-proof crate, he should be on a leash attached to you. All the time.

And then follow the desensitizing advice given by others about gradually increasing the time away. It will work. But it may take weeks or months. But that's okay--right? You're not going anywhere, he's not going anywhere, so fix it together.

The amount and quality of the dog's poop is adding to your frustration and making the whole thing harder. Pooping twice in one morning, with poop so soft it soaks into a rug is not normal. If the dog has passed a fecal test for parasites or infection, then the food is not working.

You can do this.

Randy thankyou, I needed a couple deep breaths. whoooo
I had some time to settle down. I can jsut get so frustrated with him at times. it's like i'm thinking "he's so smart, why can't he just not do the things he knows he's not supposed to do.

anyways though, I had some time to settle down and breath. I am going to go out back and play some fetch and tug with him and then I will come in and do some crate desensitising work on him.
thanks for not losing it on me guys. I have seen some ferocious posts on here before. I just knew I was going to get slammed but I needed an outlet. So I say thankyou from the heart Randy for listening and helping.
I usually don't take him to the busstop because he gets anxious and makes all kinds of weird sounds when he gets excited. When I walk him kids get scared and I am trying to take the easy and lazy route. (i know) I guess he will start coming with.

oh yeah, question.....if i catch him in the act of trying to get out should i correct him? he will just try to hurry and plop back in if he sees me catching him trying to get out. but should i verbally correct him for that? praise him if he is still in, and ignore if he is out.?

 Quote: bounette white

i'm thinking "he's so smart, why can't he just not do the things he knows he's not supposed to do."

How "smart" are you (and the rest of us)? Can you/we keep from pooping when you/we have to go so bad that it's a big pile? I'm sorry to be so graphic, but having to eliminate is a fact of nature, and if you are not where you need to be, what then? Dogs don't have rest rooms. PLEASE try to stop thinking this is some vendetta to drive you crazy.

And what are you feeding him?

Bounette,


I haven't been on this site in a while, but I have the site set to send updates on certain threads and, so, I have been following this one.


Please, please, take Randy's advice or you are going to hate this dog and that is sooooo unfair to the animal.


I know exactly the smell and the feeling of anger you are experiencing when you come back. The dog isn't going poopy in the house to get back at you or for revenge or to be mean know matter how personal you take it.


I think from this long, long, long, post that separation anxiety has been identified. This is going to take some work to fix.


The video was such a good thing to utilize so, take Randy's advice and start to work today. You are going to have to clear your calender of as much as is possible and start NOW on leaving dog in crate, going outside, come back, so on and so forth. It wont' happen in a day, but you will have to work on it everyday until he gets it.


The housebreaking part is Connie's department (there are others, too) but Connie helped me with my dog or I could not have kept her because she was such a difficult one to potty train.

Your dog is not housetrained. You 'think' he is because he will go potty when you take him outside but he still goes inside, so he is not trained. I would go back to the beginning and start over with the housetraining.


If you don't take these steps right now, you probably need to start making plans to re-home the dog. Sad, sad, sad for the pup.


Good luck. People here will help. They care more about the dog and it's feelings than they do about your feelings. That's why this board exists. So please, start answering these questions and start work on this TODAY.


(ps Many of us are raw feeders so we can almost tell to the minute when our dog is gonna poop. Plus the amount of poop is so much less for us raw feeders.)

 Quote: Tracy Collins

When he's not in that bullet-proof crate, he should be on a leash attached to you. All the time.

And then follow the desensitizing advice given by others about gradually increasing the time away. It will work. But it may take weeks or months. But that's okay--right? You're not going anywhere, he's not going anywhere, so fix it together.

The amount and quality of the dog's poop is adding to your frustration and making the whole thing harder. Pooping twice in one morning, with poop so soft it soaks into a rug is not normal. If the dog has passed a fecal test for parasites or infection, then the food is not working.

You can do this.

I'm sorry about my angry post. I do understand frustration. This is the post to read.

It is not the dog's fault, and anger around bodily functions makes everything much worse.

Meredith, I did answer those questions in a previous post about his feeding schedule. honestly I think that i may try to raw feed him though. I have raw fed dogs in the past and it worked very well. I tried with him for a short while and he has runny poops and he did not like the veggies. I think i will do some research and try again though. right now he is eating Natural Balance. His poops are usually firm but this one was mooshy beyond belief.anyways,,,,,

Tracy thankyou very much for your understanding.

"But here's the deal: you are smarter than this dog. The behavior isn't coming at you out of nowhere--you know exactly what he's going to do. So you have to anticipate the worst, and then try to prevent it. Pooping on your carpet is a "crime of opportunity." If he can't even GET to the carpet, he can't poop on it. There HAS to be a crate made that will contain this dog"

re: I do know what he's going to do. your right, I am a fool most of the time trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. I have to prevent, him coming with me as much as possible would really help things out. I don't leave much but when i do is when the disaster comes.

you are also right about there having to be a crate that will hold him. and i dont think he will hurt himself. after watching the camcorder video of him breaking otuof the crate I see that he tries something that looks like a weak spot to him. he tries for about 15 seconds then rests, then tries again, then rests, then he tries digging for about 30 seconds, then rests. the way he rests and gives up says to me that he is not crazy!!! he is really good at finding the weaknesses in these crates. I was so frustrated this morning that I started looking up aluminum crates . I found some for about 600.00. I was actually thinking about going for it 2 weeks after paying 250.00 for a crate on ebay. how crazy.
I took some settling time though.

thank you so much guys for your input, help, and concern. I think i have answered all questions and addressed all there is to be addressed at this time. I am going to go out with him now and play in the yard. do some fetch and tug and that sort of thing so i can keep in mind why I love this dog.

" I am going to go out with him now and play in the yard. do some fetch and tug and that sort of thing so i can keep in mind why I love this dog."

Good job, Bounette.

Have you cleaned the carpet/floors really well with an enzymatic cleaner such as Nature's Miracle?? Maybe the residual scent in the carpet is encouraging him to continue to use it.

While I was out 'playing' with him Bounette, I'd be doing (teaching) some ob with him. They always learn faster when it feels good.

If my dog isn't learning, I'm doing something wrong.
Randy

PS.
If he's having a fit in the crate when you come in.....in theory he'll settled as soon as you are back inside, ignore him for a few minutes, then try again. He doesn't get rewarded until you can catch him resting quietly when you come back in....build from that time frame.