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Like a baby that can jump four feet in the air

Bad first night with the new dog. She seemed so well-behaved during the day, but she wouldn't quit trying to jump onto the bed. For two hours she jumped and pawed. And she would not abide staying in the kennel, oh no; I thought she was going to kill herself in there. So we gave her the run of the bedroom, figuring that couldn't be too bad... until two hours later, when the leaping and noisemaking had not abated, and I gave up and let her onto the bed. Slept okay after that... until I woke up and saw the poop on the carpet. The previous owners said she was housebroken. Time to give them a call and work out a solution.

2 comments:

CM said...

I'm not a dog expert, but I think even housebroken dogs may poop in the house if they're stressed or upset. It will probbly take some adjustment.

drvono said...

Yep, menagerie has an excellent point. A well-enforced food & water schedule is golden, and take her out frequently. Especially with small breeds, housetraining isn't perfect, and she's adjusting to her new home. Reward her with a small training treat every time she poops outside. She'll figure that out quickly.

You'll want to pick up some pet stain/odor-removing spray for everywhere she goes in the apartment. If she smells the spot again, she'll be more likely to go there again.

One option you may want to try is the crate training. It may be tough to do in an apartment, but we did it with a Maltese and a Shih Tzu in an apartment. You need a kennel that's big enough for her to turn around in and not much more. I would highly recommend putting her in there at night and NEVER kenneling as a punishment. When done properly, dogs and humans both love crate training. She'll have a comfortable safehaven that's all her own, and she will not poop where she sleeps, unless it's an emergency or she's extremely stressed. But that's where the regular food schedule comes in.

One last idea, and this is very effective and kind of funny in a way. You need one of those baby gate/playpen looking things. It's basically a fenced enclosure. If you catch her pooping, put the enclosure around her so that she's stuck in a small area with her own poop. Leave her there for a few minutes. Dogs don't like to be that close to their excrement, and this little poop jail seems to do the trick from what I hear.

But whatever you do, DON'T yell at her and rub her nose in what she does. That's an insanely common misconception. The dog isn't going to put two and two together!

Anyway... just be patient and expect a steep learning curve! This is all part of having a dog.