Problems with dog.

[goingdownhill]

We have had our dog Tom for about 10 months. He came to us from rescue. He was in a pound in Ireland bought across into foster in the UK. We got him when he was roughly 18 months old. He has been a brilliant dog, we had initial problems with separation anxiety. He would bark constantly the whole time we were out, would destroy things, take all the paint off the doors. We spoke to the rescue about how to improve the situation. I can't say things are completely solved but certainly much better.

For the last few months it has been fine, he is another family member and feels like he has always been here.

This week for no reason I can see he has started urinating in the house. We live on a army camp and are lucky enough to be able to leave the back door open. He always has access to the outside if we are out. He is weeing in my daughters bedroom over and over. We have faxed the carpet, which made it worse. We have scrubbed the carpet, underlay and floor with surgical spirit and biological washing powder. I have had to move my daughter out of the room as the smell is so bad. We have ripped all the carpets and underlay to do this. Which I am sure we will be billed for when we leave. I came in from the school run today and I had been 20 minutes at the most, the back door was open. He jumped the stair gate that is on my daughters room, opened the closed door and urinated all over her room again. I cannot cope with my house being a toilet. I sat on the stairs and cried. I am so angry and frustrated with him.

Coupled with this he is stealing anything and everything. It feels like he punishes me for going out. I am a SAHM and am home 90% of the time. If I go out he steals food from the kitchen cupboards, anything that is on the kitchen side is gone, he drags out bins, steals the kids toys. My handbag will be dragged out. He is greedy to the point of obsession. He always has food in his bowl but will steal anything. I solve one problem and as soon as I do he finds something else. He can open doors and jump over stair gates. He has the run of the house.

I am at the end of my tether with him and can't keep going like this. I dread turning the key and seeing what he has done this time. It is the urinating that I cannot stand my house stinks either of wee or now really harsh chemicals.

I have three children under 5. My husband deploys to Afghanistan in the new year. I have to resolve the situation before then. He is a wonderful dog. The kids adore him and he is fantastic with them.

If anyone has any ideas to stop the urinating could you please please share them.

Sorry for the epic.

OK, I'm assuming that he's been neutered as you got him from rescue? Please confirm this though.

Your first course of action should be to take him to the vet to find out if there's a physical cause for him not being able to hold his wee.

Can I ask how much exercise he gets a day and how much actual interaction with you? i.e. it's not enough that you're home, how much attention does he get? Training, cuddles, etc etc.

Lordy, sounds awful! He needs a crate for when you go out.

You also need to get one of those specific sprays to get rid of the smell of urine like Urine Off or something like that.

Is the dog getting enough exercise? Sounds like he is bored. Can you pay a teen on camp to take him walking?

x post with Rhinestone.

KC is absolutely right too that you need a specific pet odour spray. Other carpet cleaners just mask the odour rather than removing it. If the dog keeps smelling the urine then he'll keep going there. Can you shut your daughters bedroom door to help break the habit?

Thank you for the replies. He is neutered. He is walked twice a day every single day. He has toys, we have a kong. He is always running around with the kids joining in with what they are doing. He has balls thrown for him etc. He is always with someone, the kids adore him stroke and play with him often.

I do shut doors but he is tall enough to open them. I also have a stair gate on her room, as she is a late night wanderer and he jumps it. I don't think it is about him not being able to hold urine as the back door is open and he could go out if he wanted too.

I will definitely go and buy a spray tomorrow for the smell. I hope that makes a difference. I just don't understand why it has started now when he has never done it before.

Thank you so much for the suggestions, I will really try anything.

Did you crate train when you got him?

Please go to the vet too, he may have an infection, especially if it's very smelly.

Of course this may be his 'teenager' phase! Dogs do have them! What breed / mix of breeds is he?

We didn't because he had not been in a crate in his foster home. I can honestly say if we put him in a crate he would go ballistic. We even have him sleeping in our bedroom as he won't be downstairs without going mental. I am realistic that the prospect of him sitting happily in a box while I am out is nil.

Sorry he is a lab cross, mainly lab but he has a very slender build and a long face so a bit of something else in him too.

This actually sounds like classic separation anxiety - not all dogs will just sit there and bark with SA, some go nuts and try to get into locked rooms, open cupboards, raid bins etc.

You say you can't leave him alone downstairs while you're in the house, even - does he follow you from room to room?

I've been meaning to do a big post on SA for a while now as it's probably the most common reason for otherwise loved family dogs to end up in rescue as it can be pretty devastating, I will have a think and a type this evening. :)

Sounds exactly like my dog was when he was having separation issues... and I suspect the reason his "owners" before had dumped him on the streets in the middle of a snowstorm (fucking bastards).

Worked on it, worked on dog-proofing a place for him to be left in - in our case the kitchen since it's a hideous 1980s beige monstrosity so not exactly "trashable" (do NOT just chuck him into a crate if he's not been trained to be in one - needs the associations of safe places and comfort to work or it's just like "fuck shit I'm in jail lemme outta here") - including things like putting perspex on to protect the doors cos he'd scratch and claw at them, getting a locking bin and then taking it out of the kitchen into the yard with us - and lots and LOTS of alone training for seconds at a time, then minutes, then a few minutes and breaking the routine of leaving the house so he wasn't there thinking "oh fuck she's picking up her keys.... she's gonna leave meeeeee.... oh help she's got her shoes on.... I'm gonna be aloooooone... the door's closed - HELP ME MOMMY!" He still has a bit of a "you're going out? without meee?" look on his face when we leave - but it's amazing how a Kong is much much more interesting and it's a split second look, followed by a delightful view of his arse in the air and his head down chomping on a Kong.

Thank you. We had he problems when we first got him and asked for support from the rescue centre. We put in to place their suggestions and things improved in terms of the constant barking when we are out.

He does follow me around the house. I will be strict with him and send him downstairs he will then sit and stare at the stairs and try and creep up unnoticed. We always intended for him to sleep downstairs but after nights of massively broken sleep with him howling, bashing the doors and tearing the room apart he sleeps with us. I am so strict by nature but we could not cope with the sleep deprivation and he was waking all of the children up. DS1 has SN and a normal day can start at 0530 so sleep is a precious commodity in our house.

I thought and researched so hard before we got him. I could never imagine giving him up. I also know I can't live like this for another 10 years. I can see how people get to the point where they rehome. Our son has bought massive challenges and we keep going. I want to find a solution with the dog.

Thank you for everyones input. It really helps.

I am sure this can be sorted.

Can I ask what you were told to do to prevent the barking?

Sorry cross post. We bought a kong and I thought it would help. When we are out he will do nothing but stand in the window and watch for our return, or destroy. I would come back and the kong, bone or whatever would be untouched but he would of dragged the butter of the kitchen sides and eaten it or buried the kids shoes. I feel cruel to keep him in the kitchen only when we are out. I think it will be the way we have to go. It feels like he punishes me for leaving him. I know it sounds crazy but it feels like he is escalating his demonstrations when I am out and he knows what he does is wrong because I can tell by his reaction because he knows I will be cross with him

We were told to shut him in a room for really short times when we were at home. If he even managed for a few minutes too praise him. We had to give attention on our terms as he would shove his head in to whatever we tried to do. We were told to not give attention when we left or immediately on return. I cannot say it has stopped the barking all together but it definitely has improved it. Now he just steals instead [hmmm].

It's not cruel at all to leave him in the kitchen. It's always been our dog-proof room and we basically crate trained our dog using the kitchen instead of an actual crate. She sees it as her safe place.

I think leaving her with more access to the house actually makes her MORE stressed, like she has to be 'on guard'.

Sometimes we leave her in her 'bedroom' when we go out for longer than she can hold her wee in - it's not really a bedroom, but a dog-proof room with a dog flap into the side garden. I am sure she finds this room more stressful to be in, because she is always 'on alert' in there to exterior noises etc and she won't touch any chews we leave for her in there, whereas she will happily chow down on anything we leave for her in the kitchen. The kitchen has only a small window and is isolated from the rest of the house, so I think she feels safer in there.

Using the kitchen did come with a compromise though - we've had to take the bin away. We just collect our rubbish in plastic shopping bags and take them out to the bins regularly.

I've been told that you can get child locks for cupboards and fridges from Mothercare etc, but thankfully our dog is too stupid to warrant us needing them!

She is quite neurotic and I think if we left her with access to the entire house when we went out, she would go nuts.

Thank you. I am tomorrow going to dog proof the kitchen. I feel like he is definitely on the massively neurotic side so maybe he will find it less stressful to be in a single room. Our kitchen also leads out onto the garden so he can go out for a wee if he needs one. Ours is a shrine to the 80's (cutting edge for an army quarter!). Hopefully this will calm him a little or at least limit the amount of destruction he can wreak.