Dutch Shepherd Forum

So...........my parents new basset, Misty. She is 1 year old. At the breeder (wonderful breeder) they had a HUGE yard to play and could go in and out when ever they wanted. At my parents, they dont have the doggy door yet, they did but its a new screen door. Misty has to ask to go out, and she gets plenty of walks. My mom has told me that Misty has been pooping and peeing in the house. I told her to keep her connected to her while she is in the house, she may not have the control yet and by not watching her, will go in the house. I talked to my dad this morning, and he asked, is Misty smart enough to poop out of anger when she dosnt go to work with him? Misty goes to work with him a few days a week, my dad is Mistys human and is bonded to him. He said she does ask to go out when she needs, but when its about time to go to work, if he dosnt take her, she will poop in the house. This morning, he was going to take her but Misty didnt know it and she pooped in the house before they left. He asked if they were that smart to poop out of anger because he didnt take her to work. I said "sure". So, If she is pooping because she is mad that she dosnt go to work with him on some days, how do you stop it? Well, besides taking her every day, and no crate, they wont crate her.

I have found that, except for very young pups, ill health [ or timing neglect in the extreme by bad owners], inside pooping is almost exclusively done out of anger/protest. it is always curious the things to which an individual dog will take offense.
how new is Misty? there is no one miracle fix. it is just a matter of the time it takes for a new dog to realize that he has won the lottery, despite the little irritations that not EVERYTHING goes the way he wants. so the response should be to do everything to make Misty happy AND secure.

HA, thanks John. I love the response and you are so right. Misty is very new to them, a month maybe? She is so super sweet and loving and immideatly attached to my dad. He has a way with dogs. Thalie, who was trained to me and is my third leg ( as all of our Dutchies are) will NOT listen to anyone else but me, with the exception of my father. So, other than taking her every day, I guess she will just have to learn that some days she will have to stay home.

A friend of mine told me that her dog trainer said that if there is a dog door,it is possible that the dog is not really housebroke, just appears so. She thought about it, went to her mother's home where there is no dog door and her dog pooped in the house.

It is an interesting idea that with a dog door, the dog was choosing to go outside, but close that off and the dog shrugs their shoulders (figuratively) and poops wherever is second best. They have no concept that inside is not where you poop.

Thoughts?

Thanks for that Karin, That was my first thought that since she had free choice and she is young, she is doing excactly that. But when my dad said she only does it on days she is left home, I thought I could be an anger issue. Both ???

re-read your first post. not sure the protest/anger angle covers the indoor peeing.
poop is the really their means of protest. if the peeing is as significant a factor as the pooping, then there is probably something else going on. first thing I would look for is whether there is miscommunication - primarily signals from Misty that she needs to go being missed. some dogs persist and insist; others give one subtle scratch on THE door [ is there ONE door? ] and then move away from the door offering no clue if one missed the scratch. agitated playfulness another telltale sign that can be misleading, especially if one then does the natural thing and encourages and even participates in the play. what's wrong with a really happy pup?! oops!
I know you all know these things - you and your parents are probably more experienced than I am in all this, but sometimes the present self does not connect the right dots. so maybe something along these lines is being missed just because it is easy to do so; and that could be coupled with some lingering confusion as suggested by Karin.
if the peeing is more random and less frequent, it could be 2 separate issues: sufficient bladder control not yet developed combined with these other observations, while the pooping could still be a protest. needs more examination and discussion of detail in the family

Rather than out of protest, I see it as being because of stress. I haven't seen enough evidence suggesting that a dog can think that logically to protest something. IME, that's more of a human trait projected. Stress doesn't necessarily mean it's anything substantial like a human would be stressed about, but a change in routine could do it too. Out of the 6 dogs I groomed today, 4 pooped at some point during the groom. Our air conditioning went out yesterday at the salon and it was 90 today. I don't think any of the dogs were protesting the groom, they just wound themselves up and were stressed about being clipped in the heat and out it came.


Another question, does Misty go for any sort of walk or potty break when going to work with your dad? When I take Odin to work at the grooming salon, we go there, check in the first few dogs, I do nails and any preshaving they need, and then I hand them off to the bather and take Odin for a nice walk around the lot. He does all of his business then.

Because of that, Odin only goes out once in the morning to pee. He's gotten into the habit of going at work, so he doesn't do it in the morning at home now. On days I don't take him to work with me, I have to take him for that 30 minute walk at home before I leave. Doing that has helped him pair pooping with a leashed walk, rather than with being at work, so the days I don't take him, he's already empty.

I'm not sure if that will help in this situation, but I thought I'd throw that out there. It's quite possible he may need to get up earlier and keep Misty company outside until she gets in the habit of going before he leaves.

I would start at potty training 101 though. Whatever your choice of methods would be. I prefer crate training. A dog that poops in the house doesn't get freedom until it stops. After it stops, she can have a gated tiled room, and then slowly expand to the whole area as more time goes by without accidents.

Pooping and peeing in the house can also be a sign of separation anxiety, which goes back to the stress. Working on crate training and making it a fun positive thing, with variable leave times can help relieve that anxiety. You can also try fully exercising her in the morning, adding classical music for background noise, and giving her things to play with during the day. Luckily, you're not dealing with DS jaws of steel so he can probably find a few interactive toys she can be safely left with.

Thanks John. I get two different stories, one from mom, that sounds to me more like, she either cant hold it, mom isnt paying enough attention. The story from Dad, sounds like Misty is mad that she didnt go, or like Steph said, stress from not going? There are two doors she can go to, and my dad says that Misty will paw your leg when she needs to go.

Out of all of the dogs I have had, I really have never had anger poop problems LOL. The puppy stuff, yes.

Ill have to find out more about the peeing, Thats my mom, and she could very well just not be watching Misty enough, she isnt a dog person like my dad. Mom tells me dad takes her for nice long walks, she pees, poops, then comes in and does it again. Some is not getting her out soon enough, but then she comes in and does it again.

I did the crate training with Sadie and it went very well, few accidents and my fault, when I didnt have my eye on her. They wont do crate, so I did tell them they put the leash on and dont let her out of your site. She is with Mom all day and has Plenty Plenty of toys. Yes, a BH is soooooo much quieter than a Dutchie LOL. Ill do some more reaserch and see exacty what goes on when, but from what you guys are saying, it really sounds like all of it, stress, and just not knowing.

Thanks alot.

Sadie is jumping, Yeah, she isnt talking about ME!!!!!!!!!!