Bad Puppy Bad Owner Now What

[annanicole18]

Warning long post


My 11 month old amstaff mix pup is still having trouble with holding his bladder in all sorts of ways and is still destroying things. Sometimes he can't quite hold it over night, greeting people (though is much improved since when we got him) and worst is submissive peeing. Little background we adopted him in feb. of this year when he was about 4 months old. he was an ideal candidate because he was already fixed and was large enough that our lab couldn't hurt in play behavior. we brought him home and they hit it right off and are best buds despite their personality differences. Vinny is slightly territorial aggressive of the backyard but once the people are let in he is all over them with love and is always seeking attention from people when on walks. He has a habit of being a "bad" dog meaning i am a bad owner that doesn't walk them quite enough and he has destructive behavior when left out of his crate when we leave. I mean he does eveything steals food off the counter, chews up any piece of wood he can find laying around (we are still redoing our house), shreds entire tp rolls. so he obviously gets yelled at and disiplined with a spank then put into his crate. now he is to the point that if DH catches him taking something of the counter he automatically slinks into the crate. if you raise your voice at him to give him a stern no about stealing another sock from the laundry basket for the 20th time he will sometimes submissively pee even after he has just been outside. Heck he even pees if you try to be loving sometimes example DH heard him bumping the bedroom door with his nose told him no dont come in vinny leaves then comes back a few minutes later DH says come here vin he walks in looks at DH who has his arms spread wide to give him a hug and tickles and vinny piddles and acts scared. we do the open arm hug thing all the time and he loves it he wiggles around and weaves between your legs. We have stopped spanking and raising our voices to try and stop this but he keeps on. so questions are: 1 How do you stop submissive urinating? thats the biggest problem as long as we tell people in advance not to baby talk to him his greet and pee doesn't happen often because he goes outside a few minutes before and after guest arrrive to be safe. 2 how can we get it through his head counter thieving is bad? he gets 3.5 cups of food a day broken up into 3 meals with human tibits inbetween so he surely cannot be that hungry. he obviously knows it is bad if he goes when we put him in time out so why does he continue?
Sorry for the long post but he is starting to get on my nerves because he has an awesome doggie life and he continues to do what he knows is wrong

 

[texasgal]

A couple of things I would change immediately ..

Never use the crate for punishment. The crate is a tool to KEEP the dog out of trouble .. not for discipline.

We have a lab like that. She counter-surfs if we leave her to run to the corner store. She tears up stuff.

We don't leave her out. She is crated whenever we are not in the house to watch her. Period. For 5 minutes or 5 hours .. I don't give her a chance to screw up.

She loves her crate.. it's never been a punishment. In fact, sometimes you will find her in there just sleeping.

Submissive peeing is difficult, because ANY discipline will only make it worse .. kinda part of the problem. I think you do well by not reacting and forwarning people who come in.

Set him up for success, not failure. He needs confidence that he can do SOMETHING right ..

We even had the sock issue with Lucy. So we taught her to bring them to us.. if we see her stealing a sock .. we tell her to bring it to us and then reward her for it (bringing it to us). It's a little inconvenient to have to put it back, but the alternative is to have her peeing, cringing, or SNEAKING off and destroying the sock.. lol.

Patience, honey .. your puppy is just being a puppy!

 

[Wynette]

I was told by the breeder of our GReat Dane that large/giant breeds really need to be at least a year before fixing..something to do with the urinary tract not being fully mature until they have hormones?? If you fix too early, those hormones are never released..?? I'm not a vet and don't claim to be an expert, so I'm not sure if that's true or not. We did allow our Dane to go through 2 heat cycles before we had her fixed.

I think he may be confused on signals he's getting...sometimes it's okay to go into the bedroom, sometimes not...it may be confusing him, and he might be urinating in his confusion. One thing is for sure - using the crate as a punishment place is never a good idea. THey need to associate their crate with a happy-happy/joy-joy place to be.

Dogs thrive on knowing exactly what their boundaries are - they need limitations, and look to you to provide them. They also look to you to provide exercise and affection. I also believe that dogs with issues such as this need to be on a fixed schedule. Could you hire a dog-walker to take him for a few long walks a day? This would give him ample opportunity to relieve himself, while getting more exercise, which would curb his "enthusiasm" for desroying things in the house. JUST suggestions - I'm not a trainer, but I do watch Cesar Millan: Dog Whisperer a lot, and have applied his training techniques - they worked for me! If you have National Geographic channel, give him a watch. He has the best handle of anyone I've ever seen on why dogs do the things they do; I swear, he thinks exactly as dogs do!

GOOD LUCK! He sounds like he's "trying" to be a good boy!

 

[texasgal]

I'll agree with the Cesar suggestion.

And you may need to just decide that you're going to go on a 2 mile controlled walk every evening with this boy .. it'll do you both good!

And give you bonding time.

 

[Redyre Rotties]

MANAGE YOUR DOG so that he has no opportunities to make a mistake with destructive chewing in your house.

This means supervision or crating when you are not there. This is a self rewarding behavior that feeds on itself. You MUST eliminate the dog's opportunity to relieve his stress by chewing the wrong things when you are away. Use the crate.

Submissive urination will generally end as a puppy matures. Actions that cause this behavior should be avoided. When SU happens, it should be ignored, and the puppy should be redirected (Sit. GOOD puppy!) and rewarded.

Try to make greeting times outdoors. SHow the puppy the side of your body instead of the front. Avoid eye contact, and touching the puppy on the top of the head or body. Don't reach out to the dog, let the dog come up to you.

Finally, positive reward based training can help build confidence in dogs and puppies who are sensitive SUs. Good luck with your pup. Being annoyed with the SU will just ensure that it continues. He is trying to placate you when he does this!

 

[starforever61]

the puppy might be peeing to mark his territory. that's what i saw on "it's me or the dog". the llady on that show made the dog owner squeal and clap whenever the dog went to pee in the house.

 

[Brindlebtch]

When you are not there to observe him he should be in his crate. Use it to keep your dog and possessions safe and not as a punishment. He is clearly not ready to be left out of the crate when you are not home.

texasgal gave you very very good advice which would be good for you and your dog if you followed.

Make sure he has a chance to void before guests arrive and then crate him. Let him out about 30 min after the guests have arrived and tell them to ignore him for about 30 min and then not to baby talk if that makes him pee. Better yet just leave him crated when guests are there if the submissive peeing is such a problem. If you have been spanking him for it you have actually increased his anxiety and probably have made the problem worse.

I agree with texasgal that you really need to set him up to be successful and stop punishing him for things that are basically your fault, like him destroying something when he is left out unsupervised.

You need to get a routine where you can walk him a least a mile every day. Every day. It will be good for both the dog and you!

A tired dog is a good dog.

Counter surfing is tough because it is a self rewarding behavior. There is a very simple solution. You need to make sure you put edibles out of his reach. Put edibles up or push them far enough back on the counter where he can't reach.

You are going to need to manage your behavior in order to manage you dog's.

I have a garbage raider. I know she will do this if given the chance. I am the one who gives her the chance, so if she manages to get to the garbage it is because I left the door open. I not punished her for bringing mr the garbage because this lets me knoe I left the door to the garbage open. I alway tell her "Thank you" very nicely and then go close the door.

Modify your own behavior first and then see how things go.

 

[Brindlebtch]

Quote:
Marking and submissive peeing are two entirely different behaviors. The first is a punishable offense and the second is best avoided and not punished.

 

[Brindlebtch]

Well, I was typing as Redyre was posting. You have gotten lots of good, workable advice here that is easy to follow.

 

[texasgal]

LOL .. at least we're all on the same page, huh?