Brief background: My DIL/SIL live next door and have an adorable 8-month old black pug. Since they have variable work schedules, many times the dog stays with us which we don’t mind at all because she is so cute and sweet and overall very well behaved. She is potty trained, and has not had any accidents at our house since she was maybe 2 mos old. (she sometimes has relapses at her own house, however)
**Problem: **Yesterday SO and DIL went to lunch and left the pup, as we have done many times with no issues, at our house. She usually just entertains herself or goes and takes a nap on the rug in our bedroom. But when they got home after being gone for about an hour and a half, they opened the door to dog poop smeared all over our couch!!! The dog trampled in it so much she had poop all in her claws and feet! She knew she was in big trouble when they opened the door because she was cowering under the couch. My DIL was horrified and cleaned up the mess, but since she was not caught in the act, the main punishment that pup received was not being played with, which she hates.
**Theory: ** They have only sporadically kennel trained the pup, so I think she is just confused in general. Sometimes she is in the kennel at night, sometimes they let her sleep in the bed, sometimes she sleeps wherever. I feel bad because neither SIL or DIL really have much interaction with her. They work, stay out late and sleep late. So the ones who play with her and entertain her most are me and SO. Puppies need to play and run around, but all they want her to do is sit on their laps and be petted. :rolleyes:
When they go to work in the mid-day they generally leave her in the kennel, and we usually leave her in there 3-4 hrs, sometimes a bit more. She likes her kennel, usually takes a nap or plays with her toys that are in there.
I think the pooping at our house incident was directed more at her “mom” for leaving her yet again, but we were disappointed she chose to do this at our house. She has done this little trick at her “own” house a couple times, peed on their bed, pooped on their couch and such.
Any ideas here? We’re torn between “putting the hammer down” and “she’s still just a puppy and is learning”. We’d like to be the “grandparents” and be the fun ones she visits but I’m concerned that we also have not done the right things in disciplining her.
You’re giving the dog too much credit. She wasn’t “revenge pooping”, dogs really don’t have that in them.
Any puppy who isn’t fully house-broken shouldn’t be left alone outside of her kennel. She’s not going to mess her kennel unless you leave her alone for really long times. Except playing in her own poop could indicate that she’s pooped in enough places that she no longer has an aversion to it. That’s a much bigger problem, and one I’ve never had. I don’t know how to advise you on that. Maybe Elenfair will come along and have the answer. A IRL is the best answer, really. Sounds like your DIL & SIL need it just as much as the puppy.
Also, be aware that she was likely cowering because you sounded angry, not because she knew she’d done something wrong. Dogs don’t have that capacity for the most part either, which you seem to recognize to some extent, given that you minimized punishment. But I would guess that you smelled the poop before seeing it, and were already talking (somewhat) angrily about it. She heard that and headed for the hills.
I hadn’t considered that she was reacting to our reaction. I wasn’t home when this happened, it was my SO and SIL, but I know how crazy they get so I’m sure they were yelling at her. I have alot to learn about dogs having never had one of my own. But I’m now in love and we are looking to get a puppy in the spring.
So basically pooping in the house means she’s not fully potty trained? When she does things like this I have a hard time being mad at her because I feel like it’s our fault…we didn’t take her out when she needed to go, etc. Everyone else (SIL, DIL, SO) get mad at her and yell at her.
IRL means “In Real Life”. Sorry about that. I’m not prone to using acronyms, but they slip out occasionally.
Yes, barring extreme amounts of time with no chance to relieve herself, what you have is a not fully housebroken puppy. And if she isn’t getting consistant information about where it’s okay to poop and where it’s not, she’s not going to “get it”.
You’re more on the money about not getting mad at her than your family is. She pooped inside? You didn’t get her outside fast enough, or you didn’t give her enough time or opportunities outside. Maybe you didn’t see her little signals that say, “I have a full bladder now!”. Obviously, in the case of you not being home you didn’t see those signals, but that’s the general idea.
Again, if you’re gone, she needs to be crated/kenneled. It needs to be big enough that she can sleep comortably, turn around in, what have you, without being so big that she can mess in a corner and avoid the mess. Also, I really recommend talking to a dog trainer in your area. Get some recomendations from friends, people at the dog park, wherever.
Are you also considering a pug? If not, what other sorts of breeds are you looking at? Are you looking at a dog from the same place your family got Persephone?
Absolutely. All dog owners need training. If they’re lucky and have a nack for dogs, they can get that training from a well written book. Most of us, though, need to be shown what to do by someone who knows. Which means talking to a reputable breeder, vet or trainer.
I’m not sure iif they’re nationwide, but I’ve been fairly impressed with PetSmart’s training courses. They’re inexpensive and throrough, and they do a good job of fooling people into thinking the pets are getting trained, when 95% of the training is training the handler!
While pugs are not the most viscious of creatures, obedience training will make everyone happier, including the dog, and will provide an expert who can help with the poop problem as well.
And yes, when no one is home, no matter whose house she’s at, the little cutie should be in her kennel. She knows, it seems, that that’s “home”, her safe place where she won’t get herself into trouble. That’s the one place she knows the rules for - every other place is still too uncertain.