Help Required - Naughty Dog

[MannysMum]

Hi there everyone. I am in desperate need of assistance with my 9 month old Cav X Mini Poodle. He has the following issues that are getting worse, and I'm not sure what I should do.

1) Peeing on the floor, peeing on the lounge, peeing on stuff - basically peeing everywhere. I have booked him in for desexing next week, but this has been happening since day one. It is certainly getting worse now as I think he is marking his territory?? Will this stop when he gets desexed??

2) Crapping on the carpet on occasion.

3) Scratching at the door to get in. He wants to be inside 24/7 and if I put him outside at all he starts trying to chew the glass, jumping up & scratching the glass door etc. He has already torn the entire screen off the security door (which is why we resorted to closing the glass door). On occasion he will dig out under a fence, come around the front & bang on the front door to get in.

4) Digging holes in random places in the yard.

5) Eating cat crap (how gross is that!) & chewing up pegs.

6) Following me around everywhere from room to room. If I leave the room he will follow me everywhere & gets distressed if he can't get to me.

7) Jumping up incessantly - even if I've just been in another room, it's like he hasn't seen me for a whole week.

The biggest issues are the peeing & the door scratching. I took him to puppy preschool & have tried to implement basic obedience, but these behaviours are starting to get me down. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to help??

Edited September 5, 2010 by MannysMum

[Gretel]

First off best to refer to him as a crossbreed. This forum promotes purebred dogs He sounds like a typical pup who needs training. How have you tried to housetrain him?

[huski]

First off best to refer to him as a crossbreed. This forum promotes purebred dogs He sounds like a typical pup who needs training. How have you tried to housetrain him?

I agree

Whereabouts are you located? I think your best bet would be enrolling him in some training classes.

How much training and exercise does he get each day?

[RallyValley]

How long is he in for everyday? While you may not want him in 24/7 my (limited) knowlegde of poodles and cavs are that they are very much indoor breeds that want to be with the family.

[Miranda]

Puppies aren't deliberately naughty, they are dogs not people and will behave like dogs unless we teach them that certain behaviours are unacceptable. All the things you mention are normal, especially eating cat poo, I have never known a dog that didn't love cat poo

If I were you I'd start taking your dog to an obedience club and make sure that he has adequate exercise, you could also do some reading, 'The Perfect Puppy' is excellent

[Staranais]

I'd personally be exercising the crap out of him to exhaust him physically, clicker training him daily to wear out his little brain, crating him when he's in the house & unsupervised, and doing the tot with him (sticky at the top of the form).

If that doesn't help, perhaps try a behaviourist or local training classes for some one-on-one help.

ETA - most of the things you've mentioned are normal for a pup that's bored & not yet fully toilet trained.

Edited September 5, 2010 by Staranais

[persephone]

Puppies aren't deliberately naughty, they are dogs not people and will behave like dogs unless we teach them that certain behaviours are unacceptable. All the things you mention are normal, especially eating cat poo, I have never known a dog that didn't love cat poo

Unfortunately, for folks who don't have good knowledge of what makes a dog a dog ....and are conned by those little brown eyes and that cute fluffiness ... it can all become very challenging , I guess .

Cat poo is a big favourite here too! ..

So we can get some more ideas- what is pup's daily routine at present?

What is he fed?

Where does he sleep?

[wuffles]

My 9 month old puppy brought me a mangled and chewed clothes peg the other day, I told her to give and she did. I was glad that she'd chosen a peg instead of my shoes or the remote control

[PoppyDog]

First off Barney is SOOOO cute!

We have a 9 month old Cav X Cavoodle (Cav X Mini Poodle) and she does some of the things that you have described.

She is completely toilet trained and has been for about 4 or 5 months. I did feel like she was hard to house train but if I'm honest I don't have a reference point of how easy or hard it is to house train a puppy because she is our first.

We trained her by taking her outside every half hour (or as often as you need) and when we saw her wee'ing or poo'ing we would say our cue word "quick quick" (you can use any word you like). Then praise her like it was the best thing she had ever done and give her a treat. The idea was that she would eventually associate that word with going toilet. And she does now. But we found that she would do a wee, we would use the cue word, praise her, give her a treat then go inside. 10 - 15 mins later she would poo on the floor. So we had to try really hard to catch her poo'ing outside too so that she understood the cue word was for BOTH poo's and wee's.

Our rug in the tiled open plan living area became a favourite spot but we just lifted it for a few months. We NEVER scolded her or yelled at her when she did something inside because ultimately it was our fault for not taking her out and missing her cues.

Poppy does the scratch on the door thing too. We never leave just the screen door shut because she also broke the screen when she was little. We plan to replace it with the tougher screen that you cannot sratch and break but until then the glass doors are closed. In saying that I believe that it is in her breed/temprement that she is an inside/people dog. She LOVES to be with us and so the back door is always open 30cm or so for her to go in or out and when we are home she is mostly in with us. Which we like and are happy with. We didn't get a dog to have her outside all the time. When we do put her out to mop or if we have people around that are not dog people (very rare) she is put out and we taught her not th scratch by a) ignoring her and b) saying "No" and "Down". When I went to let her in again I wouldn't do it until she was sitting nicely. If I walked to the door and she jumped up and scratched I would walk away and wait until she was sitting then repeat.

Poppy also does the digging thing. And again this in my opinion is our fault! I know she does it because she is bored so I'm looking into getting her a clam shell to dig in and also try to rotate her toys/give her bones/hide treats for her when we have to leave her home while we are at work.

She also eats crap but I think this is just a puppy thing and I do notice that she does it less than she used to.

Poppy follows me if I'm home alone. If OH is here she doesn't do it so much. I don't mind it because again we got her as a companion dog, mainly for me, because OH works really unsociable long hours. The only time this annoyed me was in the kitchen. Because I was scared I would step on her and hurt her and/or me. So I simply taught her that she wasn't allowed in the kitchen.

With the jumping up we would simply say "Down" and gently push her down. She still jumps up when I get home and she is super dooper excited but if I say "down" she doesn't.

All these things are just things that need patience and persistance. I would highly reccomend obedience school. We did Puppy Preschool then continued our training at home but I am now looking into obedience school as something fun for Poppy and I. ;)

[Sandra777]

1) Peeing on the floor, peeing on the lounge, peeing on stuff - basically peeing everywhere. I have booked him in for desexing next week, but this has been happening since day one. It is certainly getting worse now as I think he is marking his territory?? Will this stop when he gets desexed??

Um, house train the dog? No peeing won't stop when he's neutered, not even marking typing peeing.

2) Crapping on the carpet on occasion.

See 1 above

3) Scratching at the door to get in. He wants to be inside 24/7 and if I put him outside at all he starts trying to chew the glass, jumping up & scratching the glass door etc. He has already torn the entire screen off the security door (which is why we resorted to closing the glass door). On occasion he will dig out under a fence, come around the front & bang on the front door to get in.

Sounds normal to me for a dog which has (obviously) never been taught to be alone. Being alone is a very unnatural state for a dog, they have to be taught right from the start that alone is OK. Also sounds perfectly normal for me that a cross between two extremely people-orientated companion breeds should be people orientated.

4) Digging holes in random places in the yard.

What else does he have to do in the yard - toys? places he is allowed to dig? Food-dispenser treat ball type things. Some dogs are obsessed with digging but mostly dogs that dig are BORED.

5) Eating cat crap (how gross is that!) & chewing up pegs.

What's so gross about cat poo, have you tried it? Normal dog behaviour. Chewing up pegs - well have you ever taught him that pegs AREN'T for chewing? What else does he have to chew (dogs have a natural need to chew) - toys? bones?

6) Following me around everywhere from room to room. If I leave the room he will follow me everywhere & gets distressed if he can't get to me.

See 3 above. He follows you because he can and he gets distressed because he's never been taught that being alone is OK

7) Jumping up incessantly - even if I've just been in another room, it's like he hasn't seen me for a whole week.

See 3 and 6. Have you ever taught him a greeting behaviour that you would like him to perform (like sit, lie down)

The biggest issues are the peeing & the door scratching. I took him to puppy preschool & have tried to implement basic obedience, but these behaviours are starting to get me down. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to help??

Peeing. He's not house trained. Go back to the beginning. Scub your house with something to remove the dog pee smell (professional carpet cleaners if need be). Buy a crate or if you must, a play pen. Google crate training. Take it from there. This will also help the scratching thing to a degree because being crate trained also means he learns to be alone. Make it impossible for him to reach the door when he's outside - barrier of some sort - and provide lots of exciting stuff to do AWAY from the door. You will probably need to teach him to be alone - in 5 second bursts to start with. Google separation anxiety which will give you some ideas but it doesn't sound to me as if he's got serious separation anxiety but he could well end up this way if it's not sorted.

Exercise off your property. Training either obedience or tricks. Tire him out, make him work for things - Poodles are very clever (Cavs perhaps not quite so much ) and any dog with a clever little brain needs that brain to be used or they go slightly bonkers - which is why the oodle fad is so very tragic, thousands of Poodle crosses out there all expected to behave like stuffed toys.

Edited September 5, 2010 by Sandra777

[sas]

Sounds like you need some help with how to train your dog.

Have you considered getting in a Trainer (to your home) to help you and perhaps a Behaviourist to help you with your relationship with your dog especially in relation to the seperation anxiety?

Sounds like a normal dog to me who hasn't been trained or had the right relationship formed with it i.e. Leadership/

[spottychick]

Yeah, most of those behaviours are normal. Peeing etc inside means he hasnt grasped the difference between inside and outside. I find that dogs who live inside get it pretty quick because they don't like to mess where they sleep. Inside becomes 'where they sleep'.

Eating poo is normal for adult dogs, let alone puppies. Especially cat poo LOL When I had a cat I'd just remove the cat poo before the dogs could get it.

Chewing up things is normal dog behaviour and may also be related to teething. Like others have said - get him things to chew on.

I highly recommend the TOT programme which someone else mentioned.

As for following you around LOL He loves you! Youre his leader and he wants to be with you. Mine do the same thing. At one point I used to have 3 dogs and a cat all following me - even into the toilet hahahaha I didn't mind. Unless they got under my feet and/or in the way, then I'd scatter them by saying "Go to bed!!" rather sternly, which they all would - except the cat hahahaha

[sas]

As for following you around LOL He loves you! Youre his leader and he wants to be with you. Mine do the same thing. At one point I used to have 3 dogs and a cat all following me - even into the toilet hahahaha I didn't mind. Unless they got under my feet and/or in the way, then I'd scatter them by saying "Go to bed!!" rather sternly, which they all would - except the cat hahahaha

It's isn't normal, the OP said:

6) Following me around everywhere from room to room. If I leave the room he will follow me everywhere & gets distressed if he can't get to me.

The dog getting distressed is not a good thing.

[megan_]

As for following you around LOL He loves you! Youre his leader and he wants to be with you. Mine do the same thing. At one point I used to have 3 dogs and a cat all following me - even into the toilet hahahaha I didn't mind. Unless they got under my feet and/or in the way, then I'd scatter them by saying "Go to bed!!" rather sternly, which they all would - except the cat hahahaha

It's isn't normal, the OP said:

6) Following me around everywhere from room to room. If I leave the room he will follow me everywhere & gets distressed if he can't get to me.

The dog getting distressed is not a good thing.

Agree - mine even want to be with me when I go to the loo, but when I leave to go to work they are fine. There is a big difference between preferring to be with you and being distressed when they can't be with you every second.

I second the advice of getting someone (a properly qualified person and not some "dog whisperer") to help you.

[Tilly]

I would be going back to absolute basics for toilet training. After he has eaten then take him outside on a lead and wait for him to toilet ... and then praise big time.

Is he crate trained? Maybe crate train so he has a secure place to go when you are not around. My pup was put in his crate with a bone or his food and I left the room - he was distracted and I wasn't around him all the time.

[spottychick]

As for following you around LOL He loves you! Youre his leader and he wants to be with you. Mine do the same thing. At one point I used to have 3 dogs and a cat all following me - even into the toilet hahahaha I didn't mind. Unless they got under my feet and/or in the way, then I'd scatter them by saying "Go to bed!!" rather sternly, which they all would - except the cat hahahaha

It's isn't normal, the OP said:

6) Following me around everywhere from room to room. If I leave the room he will follow me everywhere & gets distressed if he can't get to me.

The dog getting distressed is not a good thing.

Yeah okay. Fair point LOL I missed that "distressed" bit.

Mine would just happily follow me around but wouldn't and don't get distressed if they can't see me or follow me.

So yeah, the distress/separation issue needs sorting.

[persephone]

I agree - the distressed when not joined at the hip with his owner def. needs looking at by someone qualified, and it sounds as if the O P needs some personal help with understanding this little fluffball, generally- so as to meet his needs and set him appropriate boundaries.

[Lyla]

Cat poo is a normal delicacy for dogs, try a baby gate across the doorway to the room the litter tray is in. It's the only guaranteed way to ensure it doesn't happen in my experience. Most cats can fit between the bars, or jump over the gate.

I also agree that crate training may be your best bet for the toilet training, and pup learning to not be with you every second. I also agree that you need to get rid of doggy toilet smells. I have used the pet deodoriser / antibacterial sprays from the supermarket after scrubbing to help with this.

When you put pup outside, do you ever go with him? He may see it as a punishment, so maybe you could go out with him and play his favourite game, or give him his favourite treat. This game / treat only ever gets done outside with you, so he starts to see outside as something fun / to look forward to. When he is comfortable with that, try leaving for 30 seconds while he is occupied with a bone etc, then quietly return, and just sit there. Then go praise, so the big deal isn't you returning, but that he has chewed his bone on his own. Gradually make the time longer.

Anything you do will be hard work to start with, but the rewards in the long run will be worth it. It will take perserverence. Dogs will be dogs unless shown otherwise. I think the first step is proving your authority / pack leader status, even if that is just making pup sit and wait for a few seconds 30 times a day. Once you have pup looking at you for direction, then it will be easier to start with the other stuff.

Dog manners only happen from us teaching them. If you are not confident in any of this yourself, get someone qualified to come and help you. The initial cost of consultation / training will be well worth it in comparison to long term destruction and cleaning from a naughty dog, not to mention the stress to both of you.

Good Luck!

[W Sibs]

Just need to re house train your pup again. Do a lot of training with it. Go to obedience or get a trainer out to help you.

cat poo has nothing on possum poo according to my 2... ewwwwww

[aussielover]

Hi there everyone. I am in desperate need of assistance with my 9 month old Cav X Mini Poodle. He has the following issues that are getting worse, and I'm not sure what I should do.

1) Peeing on the floor, peeing on the lounge, peeing on stuff - basically peeing everywhere. I have booked him in for desexing next week, but this has been happening since day one. It is certainly getting worse now as I think he is marking his territory?? Will this stop when he gets desexed??

Could he have a UTI (urinary tract infection)? This causing excessive water intake and therefore excessive urination. How often do you take him out? I would start by taking him out at leats once an hour. Reward +++ for toileting outside. Ignore when he makes mistakes inside. Punishing himwill only make him not toilet in front of you. The are some belly band that are helpful for territorial marking which may or may not improve with desexing. I would consult a behaviourist or experienced dog trainer if you think it is territorial marking

2) Crapping on the carpet on occasion.

He is not yet toilet trained and you are not taking him out frequently enough

3) Scratching at the door to get in. He wants to be inside 24/7 and if I put him outside at all he starts trying to chew the glass, jumping up & scratching the glass door etc. He has already torn the entire screen off the security door (which is why we resorted to closing the glass door). On occasion he will dig out under a fence, come around the front & bang on the front door to get in.

Sounds like the beginning of separation anxiety which is a very serious problem. You need to see a behaviourist.

4) Digging holes in random places in the yard.

Normal dog behaviour for a bored puppy and also some dogs just REALLY enjoy digging (unfortunately)

5) Eating cat crap (how gross is that!) & chewing up pegs.

Eating cat crap= Normal behaviour and not really harmful unless your cat is ill or has worms etc. Chewing pegs is most likely boredom, but you can easily prevent this by not letting him have acess to them

6) Following me around everywhere from room to room. If I leave the room he will follow me everywhere & gets distressed if he can't get to me.

Teach him to stay and crate train him

7) Jumping up incessantly - even if I've just been in another room, it's like he hasn't seen me for a whole week.

Ignore him when he jumps, don't give attention until he is sitting

The biggest issues are the peeing & the door scratching. I took him to puppy preschool & have tried to implement basic obedience, but these behaviours are starting to get me down. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to help??

You really souinds like you could benefit from the help of a professional dog trainer or behaviourist. The fact that he is showing some abnormal behaviours when separated from you is concerning and would be best dealt with by a professional.