have read through the questions and answers here, but there does not seem to be any conclusion to this problem.
Can anyone help ?
I have two, 3 year old Jack Russell's, they are brother and sister. The boy has been neutered but the girl has not yet been spayed.
I have had them for 3 years and they have been trained to go to the toilet in the garden since they were very young.
I am at work all day so they are confined to the kitchen during the day but they have a dog flap which they can use all the time day or night, to get access to the garden.
My problem is that when I get up in the morning or come home at night I find 2 or 3 wee's and very occasionally a poo, waiting for me on the kitchen floor.
I can not tell if it is only one dog doing this or both of them. When I am with them they ALWAYS use the dog flap and go in the garden.
As soon as shut them in the kitchen and leave them even for half an hour when I get back there is always a wee !!
This has only been happening for the last 4 to 5 months they did not do this until a few months ago.
I can not understand why they are suddenly doing this now. When I go out I leave them treat balls to keep them amused and toys and chew's to play with.
When I am home the boy dog is very clingy and wants to sit in my lap all the time, this is becoming an increasing problem because he is becoming very insistent. which means I can't even sit down for five minuets without him jumping on me.
Nothing has changed in there routine so I am at the end of my tether !!! PLEASE HELP. !!
Sue
Jack Russells weeing when left alone
Moderators: emmabeth, BoardHost
Hmm
It would seem taht your boy dog is not happy at being left.
I am going to assume and i could be wrong so if i am, i apologise, that when you housetrained them, you basically showed them how the flap worked and encouraged them to go out there, and made it quite clear that going IN the house wasnt appreciated.
Its a fairly common approach but it does have some drawbacks.
The problem is, that what really happens, is your dogs learn not to go to the toilet in the house when you are there to tell them off.
That might well be allt hat is needed especially as they have access all the time to the garden, and obviously up until now its been ok.
So what has happened NOW or when this problem first started that has made both your boy clingy adn someone not happy about going int he garden.
Has something frightened him otu there so that he no longer feels safe toiletting out there? Since you are out and they have access to the garden its possibly you m ight well not know if it has (which is why i dont like dogflaps when owners are out, you have no idea what goes on out tehre and most gardens can be accessed by other people and other animals).
The way i train housetraining is subtley different. Instead of saying 'you never go here'- because thats hard to back up and very very vague for the dog to understand, i instill in the dog 'you ALWAYS go 'here' and its rewarding to do so'.
Taught like that the dog is clear that the ONLY place to toilet is the garden.
However even taught this way, if something frightening has happened in the garden that your dog associates with toiletting out there you are going to struggle to get him to go back out there.
The other problem with dog flaps is, that they do not teach a dog to hold on, as the dog can go whenever it wants. You think your dog is housetrained but then when the dog cant or wont go out for whatever reason, suddenly you realise, he isnt!
I think you need to suss out if anything has frightened him, see if you can video wht happens when you are out, which would solve which dog is messing, if not both, and if it is your clingy boy.... (and i suspect it is him), work on increasing his confidence in being alone, and restart housetraining on the basis that he will HAVE to hold himself rather than use the flap.
You may need to look into having someone go in half way throught he day to taket hem on a short walk for toiletting purposes as well.
Hth
Em
It would seem taht your boy dog is not happy at being left.
I am going to assume and i could be wrong so if i am, i apologise, that when you housetrained them, you basically showed them how the flap worked and encouraged them to go out there, and made it quite clear that going IN the house wasnt appreciated.
Its a fairly common approach but it does have some drawbacks.
The problem is, that what really happens, is your dogs learn not to go to the toilet in the house when you are there to tell them off.
That might well be allt hat is needed especially as they have access all the time to the garden, and obviously up until now its been ok.
So what has happened NOW or when this problem first started that has made both your boy clingy adn someone not happy about going int he garden.
Has something frightened him otu there so that he no longer feels safe toiletting out there? Since you are out and they have access to the garden its possibly you m ight well not know if it has (which is why i dont like dogflaps when owners are out, you have no idea what goes on out tehre and most gardens can be accessed by other people and other animals).
The way i train housetraining is subtley different. Instead of saying 'you never go here'- because thats hard to back up and very very vague for the dog to understand, i instill in the dog 'you ALWAYS go 'here' and its rewarding to do so'.
Taught like that the dog is clear that the ONLY place to toilet is the garden.
However even taught this way, if something frightening has happened in the garden that your dog associates with toiletting out there you are going to struggle to get him to go back out there.
The other problem with dog flaps is, that they do not teach a dog to hold on, as the dog can go whenever it wants. You think your dog is housetrained but then when the dog cant or wont go out for whatever reason, suddenly you realise, he isnt!
I think you need to suss out if anything has frightened him, see if you can video wht happens when you are out, which would solve which dog is messing, if not both, and if it is your clingy boy.... (and i suspect it is him), work on increasing his confidence in being alone, and restart housetraining on the basis that he will HAVE to hold himself rather than use the flap.
You may need to look into having someone go in half way throught he day to taket hem on a short walk for toiletting purposes as well.
Hth
Em
Hi Em
Thanks for the advice, but I am still not sure it is my boy dog (Flynn) that is doing it.
I did an experiment the other night. I took the girl (Poppy) out for a walk and left Flynn on his own, When I got back no wee’s !!
Tonight I am going to try it the other way round to see if Poppy is the culprit!
I do agree having a dog flap seems to be the lazy way of toilet training, but we have only had the flap for about a year and a half.
Before that, I used to come home at lunch times and let them out, and I never had this problem. If they wanted to go out they would stand by the back door and wait to be let out. They still do this now if I am home and the flap is closed.
Unfortunately I now work further away so can’t get home at lunch times anymore. It seems cruel to leave them indoors all day so a flap seemed to be the best solution.
Our garden is very secure there is no way anyone could get in, and as I live in town the only animal who possible could get in might be a fox. But both dogs don’t seem to be afraid to ‘go’ in the garden and they play out there all the time.
Maybe you can help with some advice on how I could stop this behaviour now its started?
When I get home and find a wee I bring both the dogs over to it and tell them ‘this is bad! and they do cower a bit and look a bit sheepish. Is this the wrong approach ?
Look forward to any suggestions
Sue
Thanks for the advice, but I am still not sure it is my boy dog (Flynn) that is doing it.
I did an experiment the other night. I took the girl (Poppy) out for a walk and left Flynn on his own, When I got back no wee’s !!
Tonight I am going to try it the other way round to see if Poppy is the culprit!
I do agree having a dog flap seems to be the lazy way of toilet training, but we have only had the flap for about a year and a half.
Before that, I used to come home at lunch times and let them out, and I never had this problem. If they wanted to go out they would stand by the back door and wait to be let out. They still do this now if I am home and the flap is closed.
Unfortunately I now work further away so can’t get home at lunch times anymore. It seems cruel to leave them indoors all day so a flap seemed to be the best solution.
Our garden is very secure there is no way anyone could get in, and as I live in town the only animal who possible could get in might be a fox. But both dogs don’t seem to be afraid to ‘go’ in the garden and they play out there all the time.
Maybe you can help with some advice on how I could stop this behaviour now its started?
When I get home and find a wee I bring both the dogs over to it and tell them ‘this is bad! and they do cower a bit and look a bit sheepish. Is this the wrong approach ?
Look forward to any suggestions
Sue
Ah....
I was wondering if something horrid had happened, say someone let off a firework near the garden.
Im sorry to say, yes showign them the mess and berating them for it when you get home is definately the wrong thing, this might well be making the problem worse.
If one or even both of your dogs is anxious about being left this may cause them to urinate when left. If they then associate the presence of mess on the floor with you being cross and angry on your return this makes being left an even more anxious affair.
Dogs dont associate punishment with the act that caused the punishment UNLESS the punishment happens at the split second the unwanted act happens.
What they can do, as associate the presence of mess with unpleasant owner.
If you go to ANY mess no the floor and point at it and speak angrily your dogs will look sheepish and guilty - its not guilt at all though, its just dog body language for appeasement, it means 'oh no, please dont kill me i am no threat to you' and not at all 'i am terribly guilty what a bad dog i am'.
Try it now, spill some water on teh floor when the dogs arent there, go out for a few minutes, come in and point at the mess and act cross.. they will behave in exactly the same way, proving they dont connect the anger wtih teh CAUSE of the mess just the presence of it.
As to when you are at work. I would increase walks in the morning making sure they have good chance to fully empty themselves. Then id arrange for a dog walker to come and let them out, you may find a neighbour would be willing to do this or someone whod like a dog but is too old to have one full time, or a professional dog walker.
When you ARE there, go outside with them and reward them for going outside, if you do find mess when you come home, say absolutely nothing about it, act as if there is no mess, and clean it up out of sight of the dogs, using biological washing powder and water which will remove teh scent whcih can attract them back to the same place. Dont use bleach as the ammonia in it will attract the dog back there.
If you can id also work on making the dogs re-associate being left with food dispensing toys, large meaty bones if they dont fight over food, etc, things they only get when you are gone.
Hth
Em
I was wondering if something horrid had happened, say someone let off a firework near the garden.
Im sorry to say, yes showign them the mess and berating them for it when you get home is definately the wrong thing, this might well be making the problem worse.
If one or even both of your dogs is anxious about being left this may cause them to urinate when left. If they then associate the presence of mess on the floor with you being cross and angry on your return this makes being left an even more anxious affair.
Dogs dont associate punishment with the act that caused the punishment UNLESS the punishment happens at the split second the unwanted act happens.
What they can do, as associate the presence of mess with unpleasant owner.
If you go to ANY mess no the floor and point at it and speak angrily your dogs will look sheepish and guilty - its not guilt at all though, its just dog body language for appeasement, it means 'oh no, please dont kill me i am no threat to you' and not at all 'i am terribly guilty what a bad dog i am'.
Try it now, spill some water on teh floor when the dogs arent there, go out for a few minutes, come in and point at the mess and act cross.. they will behave in exactly the same way, proving they dont connect the anger wtih teh CAUSE of the mess just the presence of it.
As to when you are at work. I would increase walks in the morning making sure they have good chance to fully empty themselves. Then id arrange for a dog walker to come and let them out, you may find a neighbour would be willing to do this or someone whod like a dog but is too old to have one full time, or a professional dog walker.
When you ARE there, go outside with them and reward them for going outside, if you do find mess when you come home, say absolutely nothing about it, act as if there is no mess, and clean it up out of sight of the dogs, using biological washing powder and water which will remove teh scent whcih can attract them back to the same place. Dont use bleach as the ammonia in it will attract the dog back there.
If you can id also work on making the dogs re-associate being left with food dispensing toys, large meaty bones if they dont fight over food, etc, things they only get when you are gone.
Hth
Em
