My Dog Is Well Behaved At My House But Not At Others?

[aussielover]

Mindy is confusing me a bit now...

She is really well behaved and totally toilet trained at our house. She knows not to get on furniture, not to go on certain rugs, not to enter certain areas of the house (dad's study, formal lounge room, any bedroom apart from mine).

She was at my house today and my parents were saying how good she was!

Meanwhile, while she is here at a friends house (we are house-sitting) she is quite naughty and has even had 2 accidents (which she hasn't had since for at leats 3 months).

While she is here she runs around like a maniac unless I tie her up to her bed area. At home she is normally perfectly calm and if she is in the way, we just tell her to go on her bed and she'll go over and rest on it. Once she is tied, she doesn't struggle or anything but immediately settles down into a long sleep almost as if she was over-tired and waiting for the opportunity to rest?

She is still getting the same number of walks per day, even at the places!

We have been at this (new) house since Monday now and she has not really settled.

I am not sure if this behaviour is due to stress if a new house or the fact she has another dog as a companion or maybe both.

I am most worried about these toileting accidents because they have both times been in the bedroom. After the first accident (Tuesday) I am now hyper vigilant- taking her out every hour, but she had another about 20 mins after just going (today). I could understand maybe one accident... but two is a bit worrying. BTW i did clean the first one with a urine odour remover.

She has NEVER had an accident in MY room, which she started sleeping in at around 12 weeks old and I would hate for her to begin!

On return from my parents today, they reported she had been her normal (perfect- LOL) self and had access to my room which she hung around in for a bit and was in and out of all day and no accidents? Don't think it is a UTI as was toileting normally at home today (every 4 or so hours)

Is this some kind of "marking" thing she is doing while in a new house with another dog? Or is it just a lapse in toilet training that is likely to continue even when we return home?

She's only ever been other people's houses for a few hours at most and was pretty well behaved, definitely no accidents.

any suggestions as the the cause of this inappropriate toileting and weird (hyper) behaviour? Perhaps its all just normal....

I do worry though if she is placed with a new handler and stresses out or is naughty like this.

Thanks

[MalteseLuna]

It sounds to me like it could be some kind of marking - I sometimes have this problem with Luna (or other dogs coming into my house). Just continue being vigilant and if you catch her in the act clap you hands loudly (do something to distract her) and take her outside - note this may not work super well if she is already "going" but if she is just "picking out a spot" it might work.

But I'm not expert - somebody else might know better or have better advice!

I also have the issue of Luna acting differently when she is a "guest" but normally she calms down after a few days. Of course Luna is 3 years old now and Mindy is still a puppy.

This is a good experience for her to learn how to act in guest houses etc for her Guide Dog Training.

[raineth]

I think you are forgetting that funny thing about dogs: they don't generalise well.

To her your house is one specific environment, another person's house is a completely different place. So it would never occur to her to behave in a way that is similar to the way she behaves in your house. She might not even generalise that she still needs to toilet outside.

To me the way to overcome this would be to try to take her to quite a few different houses and enforce the house rules so she starts to generalise from one house to another.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

I had a very clean rescue dog, fully housetrained. I used to like to take my 2 dogs everywhere they were welcome but had to stop with her because she would wee in other people's houses, usually shortly after arrival .... not because she was desperate but because she was marking.

As someone who rehomes rescue dogs, I do warn people that there may be an accident or two in the first couple of weeks or so - it's like us starting a new job, a dog needs a chance to settle and get oriented and I find it takes a couple of weeks.

Sometimes, dogs get a bit distressed with changes in location/routine and have accidents or play up. Of course some dogs will be fine and won't but I think you have to give the dog some leeway here.

Also, why do you have to tie her up at all? Aren't there any fences? I hate hearing about dogs being tied up.

Edited November 11, 2010 by dogmad

[aussielover]

I had a very clean rescue dog, fully housetrained. I used to like to take my 2 dogs everywhere they were welcome but had to stop with her because she would wee in other people's houses, usually shortly after arrival .... not because she was desperate but because she was marking.

As someone who rehomes rescue dogs, I do warn people that there may be an accident or two in the first couple of weeks or so - it's like us starting a new job, a dog needs a chance to settle and get oriented and I find it takes a couple of weeks.

Sometimes, dogs get a bit distressed with changes in location/routine and have accidents or play up. Of course some dogs will be fine and won't but I think you have to give the dog some leeway here.

Also, why do you have to tie her up at all? Aren't there any fences? I hate hearing about dogs being tied up.

Ok thanks, thats is good to know that it is pretty normal.

I tie her up under the desk. I am always in the room (usually working at the desk anyway) and would never leave her on a tie-back unsupervised!

This is the usual arrangement at uni and work as well, so she is used to it and knows to settle/sleep immediately.

She has been to other people's houses before but never had an accident there but having said that she hasn't ever stayed overnight before.

I'm going back to basics with toilet training while we are here though.

[koalathebear]

For Elbie, when we moved house, we went back to basics with everything for the first week or two until he 'realised' that the same rules applied in the new house as the old house. He was a little confused at first - different doorways, different rooms, we had a new lounge suite that sort of thing but he figured it out quite quickly and was very good.

When I went to look after my father for a few weekends, I had to bring Elbie along and I ran through the same basic training again. On a leash, taking him outside regularly, making him stand by the door and 'speak' to be let out etc. That time he learned within a matter of hours and had no accidents or bad behaviours. With Hoover, he is pretty good but he's still a bit confused because he mostly hangs out in certain rooms, when he first went to the lounge, I think he must have thought that it was part of 'outside' judging by the puddle he left us