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Articles / TULARC / Dogs / Behavior / |  |
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010. Housetraining Problems |
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This article is from the Dog Behavior FAQ, posted to rec.pets.dogs newsgroup. Maintained by Cindy Tittle Moore with numerous contributions by others.
All housetraining problems are frustrating, but the good news is that it's often easy to fix with a little thought and care. Some tips:
Sudden changes in established habits
If your dog has been fine with its housetraining up till now, there may be several reasons for it to break with its training. * If there have been no major changes in its life, your dog may very well have a medical problem, such as kidney trouble. Have your vet rule out possible medical causes. * It may be trying to defend its territory if you have a new animal in the household. You will probably need to separate the pets for a while, and reintroduce them gradually. Provide each with a retreat area. * It may be generally upset or anxious if you've just moved and trying to assert ownership of the new territory. Mark your territory first: scatter dirty laundry around the house to tell your dog YOU'VE claimed the territory and your dog should subside. After a few days, you can pick up the laundry.
Eating feces
Some dogs will eat other animal's feces. By and large, this is a fairly normal, if disgusting, habit. The main risk of this habit lies in picking up internal parasites. If you have such a dog, you should make sure it is frequently checked for worms by your veterinarian.
If it is cat feces in an indoor litter box, you can try the following: * If you have a utility closet or some other closet where you can keep the litter box, you can fix the door so that it only opens enough for a cat to get through (assuming big dogs) by using something like a string/ribbon/rope over the door handle to a small hook on the adjacent wall or door jamb. If you can make a more permanent change, you could put a kitty door into the closet and be able to keep the door shut. * Get the kind of litter box with a big top and a "kitty door" or even just an opening on it. Place the litter box with the opening about 4"-6" from a wall (backwards from the way you would normally think of placing it). This leaves just enough room for the cat to get into the box but not (usually) enough room for the dog to get to the box. The kind of box with the swinging kitty door helps make it a little harder for the dog to get into it.
A surprising number of dogs eat their own feces (coprophagy). This is a fairly disgusting habit, but difficult to cure. One way to prevent this from occurring is to clean up feces as soon as possible, but this can be difficult for dogs left in yards or kennels all day.
The Monks suggest feeding your dog a dry food that is at least 23% meat protein, and about 25% raw meat. In addition, either an egg, or a tablespoon of vegetable oil every few days. They also think that eating feces may involve a dietary deficiency. Adding Accent (monosodium glutamate) or kelp tablets (usually available at health food stores) to your dogs food can give the feces a bad taste for the dog. Also putting tabasco and vinegar on the feces themselves may work.
In rare cases, this can suggest a trypsin deficiency. Trypsin is a digestive enzyme and affected dogs don't get enough nutrients from the food so they eat the stool. In many cases, despite eating quite a bit the dogs are still thin. There is a test for this syndrome and enzyme supplementation is part of the treatment. Your vet can help you rule out this possibility.
This is a difficult problem and not always solved or stopped. It doesn't really hurt the animal, although you should take care to have it checked often for internal parasites, which it's more likely to pick up.
Urination
If it is a _change_ in your dog's normal behavior, it might be a bladder infection or some other medical problem, so check that with your vet first.
It's rather common for older spayed bitches to start dribbling. This is easily fixed most of the time with doses of estrogen. In many cases, the doses can be tapered off after a few months. Some dogs require estrogen for the rest of their lives. Only small doses are needed, so it's not that expensive to treat.
If your dog is urinating in different places around the house, you can try the "vinegar trick". Pour some vinegar on the spot in front of the dog. What you're telling the dog with this is "I'm alpha. YOU may not pee here." Then clean it all up first with an enzymatic odor remover and then a good carpet shampoo (see the Assorted Topics FAQ).
Defecation
Defecation is not as frequently a problem as urination can be. However, the most often recommended remedy for a dog that defecates in the house is to change its feeding times so that you are likely to be walking the dog when it needs to defecate or it is outside in the yard, etc. This will take some time of fiddling with the amount, frequency, and timing of feeding your dog to get the results you want.
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