Rescued Dogs?

[honeychile]

For those of you who haven't heard my latest drama, here it is in a nutshell: 31 January, my mama had a heart attack, followed by another 8 days later, a four-way bypass, and a lung draining. I moved in with her during this time, to take care of her, and the focus of this thread, Buffy the Wonder Dog. I'm still with them.

Buffy was the stud of a puppymill when my mama rescued him at 3 1/2. It's been another 1 1/2 now. We can tell that he's been abused (he cringes when you pick up a newspaper, etc), and the day my mama got him, he didn't even wave goodbye - but he positively panics without her. We've tried the whole Alpha training with him with some success, but he will be hoarse if she leaves him alone for long. I've seen this dog literally cry.

His latest problem is that he isn't letting us know when he's going to have a bm. In the past two days, he's left us "presents" where we can see them without stepping in it, but this has got to stop! My mama doesn't see as well as I, and when I go home, I don't want to think of her tracking bm all over her house!

We don't punish him when we find it, so much as say, "No!" as we flush it - mostly because he cringes & acts so embarrassed when we find it.

HELP!!!!

[decadence]

Are you sure the leaving of 'presents' isn't indicative of any health problems?
I.e. he cannot go to the toilet in time or warn you he needs to etc. It may be worth getting him a checkup?

ETA: Can probably scrub the above. Adding this link: http://www.puppymillrescue.com/Howtoadoptme.htm, just contains some limited general points (warning some distressing images/stories on site may make readers uncomfortable - though they aren't on that particular page). Beyond that GP's suggestions sound good.

[PhiPsiRuss]

This might sound strange, but I've heard that people have had success treating dogs with SSRIs like Prozac or Lexapro.

[GeekyPenguin]

Honey, I don't know much about rescued dogs because neither of ours were, but my grandfather's last dog had possibly been abused by the breeder so we always had to be very gentle with her. When she (and now our currently dog) would go on the carpet, we would just give them a dirty look, then take them promptly outside to show that is where you have to go. I would try calling your vet or the humane society to see if they have any suggestions for you.

[Tippiechick]

Paging AggieAXO...

JMO, but I would tend to think it might be either of the aforementioned possibilities: health probs or depression.

One of my pugs is so close to me that whenever I have left in the past ten years, even to go to work, she has wailed for hours. Before I adopted my other dogs, she had to be taken to the pet sitter so she would not make herself sick from wailing. It has become MUCH better since we have adopted our other dogs!
She has a health problem that prevents her from being able to tell us she needs to go out to pee in time. So, we have to keep her on a VERY regular and frequent schedule (Usually, we take her out every two-three hours.) This has helped so much.

If it doesn't work to take the baby out more often (after giving it a chance to work), then I would take him to the vet to have everything checked out, including ruling out depression.

[Sister Havana]

Does Buffy only leave presents when he's home alone? Is he generally good about letting you or your mom know when he wants out when you are home?

I'm no vet, nor do I play one on TV, but it does sound like a very severe case of separation anxiety. I have a rescue dog too (adopted him from a shelter a year and a half ago) and he had severe separation anxiety. I could walk him for an hour and think he pretty much emptied himself out, but then I'd leave him alone for ten minutes and find surprises. Meanwhile, when we were home he was very good about letting us know when he needed out, and he can hold it for several hours overnight. I tried everything I could think of...finally my vet suggested putting him on Clomicalm, which is a drug that's specifically made to treat separation anxiety. (He'd actually suggested it before but I was wary of putting him on a drug like that, since I wasn't sure how it would alter his personality.) It took a few weeks to kick in, but ever since then it's worked like a dream. He's only gone in the house a couple times since then (December was when the pills kicked in) and that was when he wasn't walked before we left. As long as he's walked beforehand, he's fine. He's supposed to be on the pills for six months, then he will be weaned off them. Might be worth asking about.

[alsparky]

I would take her to the vet. My boyfriend's parents dog had been peeing her bed at night, or if she was home alone too long and everyone thought that she was just getting old, or that she was upset about something. It turned out she had a UTI that had been bothering her for months. Poor pup!

If nothing else, the vet may have some hints or tips to help lessen the problem.

Good luck!!!
Allison

[AchtungBaby80]

You know, my family's been having a similar problem with our pug. We got her about a month and a half ago, and she was fine for a while...she's a little over a year old so she was already housebroken. But then she quit going to the bathroom outside (especially at night), and instead started going in our upstairs bathroom...and not in the toilet. She will come "tell" us when she needs to go outside, but she just won't use the bathroom out there...she circles the yard once and then runs back to the door. I'm starting to think she's scared of the dark or something. The other night my mom was out there for 15 to 20 minutes trying to get that stupid dog to go. What's up with this? Neither of our other dogs act that way.

[honeychile]

Okay, I will take Buffy to his vet, just to make sure he's okay physically (even though he had his yearly last month). I mentioned to the vet then that Buffy was a rescued dog, and had severe separation anxiety (I didn't even tell y'all that this dog will BLOW THE HORN if you leave him alone in a car!), and the vet said that we have to remember that Buffy wasn't a dog or a pet - he was a commodity.

He may have had a problem last night, because the one time, he was right next to me (in the mudroom) while I was putting clothes in the washer, he, well, bm'd. Thank heavens I didn't step in it! I usually say, "No!" to him firmly as I flush it. The only times he's done it while alone is when my mama was in the hospital, and he was left alone for 16 hour stretches - and I couldn't bring myself to punish him for that.

I also worry that my brother gives him different "cues" than my mama does, and if that confuses him (we tease that my mama had a choice between cute & smart, and oh, is Buffy cute!!). He tells his dogs to "poop" and I think my mama would die before saying that!

Thanks so much for all the tips!! He is such a loving dog!

[jh124]

How often to you let him out? Every four hours? Every eight? Only when he asks? I know it's hard to let him out a lot, since you're helping your mom so much, but if it's possible, try to let him out every hour for awhile. Then every two, every three, and so on (of course, night is a different story).

Buffy is nervous, since his schedule and lifestyle have changed recently. He is obviously attached to your mom, it's clear he has adopted her as "his person." I agree that the BM are probably because of stress.

See what the vet says, but I think it's probably a matter of nerves and adjusting to a new routine. Our auxillery dog is a rescue and she was beaten before we got her. We've had her 1 1/2 hrs and it's only now that she's really coming out of her shell. She doesn't like anyone but me (I'm her favorite ), DH, and her dogwalker. That's it. If something happened to me and my mom came to stay, Sally would have a hard time adjusting to someone new in the house.

[adpialumcsuc]

Honey

My cocker just recently started doing this same thing but he has a dog door that he has used for 3 years. I did take him to the vet to make sure it wasn't something with his health or the injury to his back. Everything checked out ok. My brother moved in with us about 9 months ago and also brought his 2 very large dogs. My cocker has recently been getting "picked on" my the big dogs. He is always cowering which is very abnormal. He started leaving us surprises and we thought it was a result of Laziness since is was raining outside but it continued. The vet suggested giving him separte attention and not just to them all. Slowly he has turned around no longer leaves surprises for us. Maybe buffy just misses the attention that he always got from your mama and this is his way of letting you know that he is sad....because is turn he gets attention.

[honeychile]

That makes a lot of sense, too! He is SOO protective of my mama - he heard a noise last night, and stayed up the rest of the night on guard (remember, Buffy is a Bichon - not a Doberman or even a Collie!).

And he hasn't been getting the play time that he normally gets. Maybe that's my first step - an hour of "Wild Dog" tonight, to see if that helps him! That, and the hourly pit stop!

Y'all are just too good to me!! I love this little guy, and just want the best for him!