After being adopted by an emaciated stray dog three months ago, that we are happy to keep and who has turned out to be a real sweetie, we have a big problem.
Every morning we get up to find poo all over the kitchen floor. Literally all over the floor as she walks around while she goes! It's not pleasant as you can imagine.
She is taken out for a last walk at around midnight and always 'goes' then. We get up at around 7.30 am and she has always been again.
We have had many dogs and know that only very rarely will they soil their own beds. So, as a last resort, we want to try putting her in a crate overnight.
Does anyone have a medium sized dog crate that we can either borrow or buy, or does anyone know if we can buy them on the island?
After 3 months of this, our patience is a now just a bit on the thin side!
Trisa.
Message posted by angela chapman on 12 February 2009 at 12:20pm - IP Logged
Legal Disclaimer
angela chapman
Having been a dog owner for years and years, maybe if it is in it has to come out, so is it the type of food you are feeding her,this definately does affect my dogs.
Are her stools very loose, sorry not a pleasant subject.
Sorry to go off from your main question.
If I don't want either of my dogs to go where I don't want them to I put a flimsy clothes drier across, it falls down easily and frightens them but does no harm to them, they won't go near it now, just a thought.
Message posted by Bill on 12 February 2009 at 12:39pm - IP Logged
Legal Disclaimer
I don't think the food is the problem. What she does looks perfectly normal.
She actually has her main meal of the day in the morning so I would have thought that it would have worked it's way through by night-time so to speak!
I think I need to keep her in a very small space and have nowhere I can put a clothes horse across. We have used that idea in the past where we were able to put one across a doorway, but here, it wouldn't make the area small enough. We also have a very large dog who would just barge through it!
Trisa.
Message posted by trisa on 12 February 2009 at 12:47pm - IP Logged
Legal Disclaimer
We changed dog food on the recommendation of our vet (although everything did look normal) and she now goes a lot less than before. We were advised to use food such as James Wellbeloved or Burns. I am not sure food like that is available over there.
Have you tried feeding her in the evening instead?
Julia
Message posted by trisa on 12 February 2009 at 12:59pm - IP Logged
Legal Disclaimer
We have fed her in the evenings but changed the timing to see if it would make any sort of a difference.It didn't make any difference at all.
I think a lot of the problem is that she was obviously, previously an outdoor dog. By the way, she never messes indoors at any other time during the day, so we also wondered if she was having some kind of separation anxiety, in which case a crate would possibly make her feel more secure as she'd have her own space.
We can but try.
Trisa.
Message posted by trisa on 12 February 2009 at 1:05pm - IP Logged
Legal Disclaimer
She's seen the vet. She was spayed, microchipped and innoculated recently and the vet gave her a good going over. She can actually hold on for a long period during the day. It's just at night that it's a problem.
Trisa.
Message posted by MartynG on 12 February 2009 at 1:57pm - IP Logged
Legal Disclaimer
Don't wish to teach my grandmother etc, but I suspect that it's going to be a question of specific training. You don't say how old the dog is, but it seems that it has developed a patteren of behaviour that you are going to have to break (and a crate may well help in this) but it's going to require effort on your part.
I would suggest that you keep the dog in the crate all of the time (probably for a couple of weeks) except when you take it out for walks or training. During you waking hours, you should take the dog out of the crate every hour, take it to a toilet area and using a comand, such as "busy, busy" or similar, encourage the dog to empty itself. You might find youself standing around for substantial periods. If you go for a walk,keep the dog on the lead and use the above command when he goes. Eventually, he will learn that he must do what is necessary on comand and when outside.
Hope this helps.
Martyn
Message posted by MartynG on 12 February 2009 at 2:25pm - IP Logged
Legal Disclaimer
I should add that is is possible that your own behaviour eqach moring might be encouraging the problem. Do you react to overnight events? If so, and your dog is suffering from some form of anxiety, this might be seen as "attention" which the dog is craving. Thus, by fouling the floor, the dog gets your attention.
All Rights Reserved. No part of the Corfu Travel Guide web site may be reproduced without permission.
Infringement will be pursued.
The Corfu Travel
Guide and Lefkada Travel Guides are brought to you by Agni Travel.
Agni Travel is the sister company of Taverna Agni and also the sponsor of the Agni Animal Welfare Fund
Topic:
Goto Page: [1] 
