Help with rehomed dog

[AwsomeMrsFox]

Dog collected 2 weeks ago and has settled beautifully, was previously well trained. However he has suddenly started wee ing all over the house and pinching the children's toys (really just as of today). He's had a busy fun weekend with plenty of walks so I don't think it is boredom. Any ideas?

Hi MrsFox

I'm by no means an expert but i did adopt a dog who hadn't had any experience of being in a domestic environment. When it came to him the needing the toilet we made sure every time he did his business in the right place he got a treat. It took him a while to adjust but in the end he would always stand by the back door to let us know he needed to go. He only needed the treats for so long and we didn't have anymore toilet trouble in the house. I got so sick of finding his little smelly treats around the house! I'm afraid I can't help on the children's toy problem, this is something I will probably have to contend with in the future! Good luck!

It could be that he is now beginning to feel comfortable in his new home, so pushing the boundaries a bit.

I would treat him as if he were a puppy to reinforce your rules i.e. take him out regularly to toilet and lots of praise &/or treats when he goes. I would ignore any accidents inside and clean them with a biological solution to get rid of the smell.

Again, with the stealing, I would offer him a bone/ chew toy whenever he pinches toys. May be worth putting any special toys out of his reach.

I am sure it won't take him long to figure out what is appropriate behaviour, if he has been trained in the past.

our rescue dog had a mischievous patch at about 2 weeks, think he thought he was definitely here to stay so could try us out and see if the rules were really the rules. Bit like a naughty toddler, we were firm with him and after a week of no recall, weeing all over the house and knocking the bin over at every chance he soon realised that we were not amused with his antics and that if he was good he got treats and if he was bad he got ignored. Now 8 weeks down the line he is lovely and for the first time this weekend someone actually commented on how well behaved he was :)

As for the children's toys our dog still steals them but now actually leaves them when told and slinks off to his crate, like he knows he was naughty but just was too tempted to eat the cute little dolly in the pushchair

My dog was rehomed with me and after a couple of weeks began being naughty,we allowed her a bit of leeway as she had been kept in a bathroom at her previous home ,I knowand probably thought she had won a watch,which she had.

Our rescue dog was an absolute angel and did not put a paw wrong for the first few weeks after coming to us.
Then, once he had realised we were nice and he was going to be staying he became a cheeky monkey. He became a destructive chewer and chewed through shoes, handbags, rucksacks, wicker storage baskets and every single edge and knob on our bedroom furniture: wardrobe, dresser, chest of drawers and two bedside tables.
We resolved this by crate training him and he is now settling down into the nicest companion anyone could wish for.