OK … bear with me , this is going to be long and possibly TMI .
I have 3 Papillons and a Gordon Setter living under my roof , and have owned dogs for all of my 45 years , including showing and obedience training since 1982 . I have trained for our local obedience club , so I am not exactly an inexperienced owner , but the problem I am having with my 5 Y/O Pap , Gidget , has me at witt’s end .
She smears poop as a hobby .
She will back up against any vertical object (furniture , appliances , shoes …) and SQUEEZE out a tiny bit of poop and vigerously wipe her butt back and forth , smearing it all over . She has chronic diarrhea because of the constant straining . I have had her fully vetted several times - no worms , anal glands are normal , there is NO physical reason for this behavior . We have tried medication , I have switched her foord 4 times . Nothing has helped .
When she first began this habit , it was about 3 years ago . She would do it on occasion , and I could live with it . But it has become more frequent , and I am ready to pull my hair out . She has had a personality change as well , become very stand-offish with me , in fact I will go so far as to say she acts like I have abused her horribly , which I can assure you , I have NOT . She was basically my father’s dog (even tho she was bought by him for me for Xmas 2000) , and since he passed away May 7 , she has gotten 10-fold worse . Where she was doing it once every 2 or 3 days , she is now doing it 6 or 7 times a DAY .
I cannot contain her in an exercise pen because she backs up against the wire and oppos thru it , and wipes on the wire , whch is a BITCH to clean up . I have tried crating her , she wiped it on ALL THREE WALLS of the crate and pooped out thru the wire door . I an currently trying a suggestion I got to keep her on a lead , tied around my waist , so I am able to correct her as soon as she starts to poop .
Even tho she weighs in at only 4 and a half pounds , she is definitely thr alpha bitch in the house and absolutely BULLIES my 10 year old Setter . My vet and most trainers/behaviorists I have talked to think this is a donimance/marking thing .
If I cannot correct this habit , I will be forced to surrender her to a Papillon Rescue group , or , if they are not willing to take her (I will not sugar-coat her habit to make her more appealing) I will have to have her euthanized . I have asked everyone I know what they make of this porblem , so now I am turning it over to you guys , to see if anyone has any insight I might have missed elsewhere . Please … My sanity and possibly Gidget’s life hangs in the balance here .
Anna