Dirty dog....Ideas?? - Page 3

I had a dog like that once. A terrier, but same problem. Simply, a filthy animal. She had something wrong in her head.

I eventually had to build a pen inside the laundry room (the room with a drain in the floor), and keep her contained in that. If I crated her, it was sheer mayhem. Floor, walls, ceiling and herself utterly coated in feces. Every time. It didn't matter what was done with her. She had no sense of hygene, inside or out of her crate. "Finger painting" was how I described it.

Vet tests showed there was nothing wrong with her physically.




If RedDoor is willing to keep this girl, perhaps something like a pen or hospital-type crate (the ones with slatted bottoms where the mess goes underneith) might be an option. I'm not sure how comfortable slats would be fore a large dog to be standing on though. Small dogs, it's okay temporarily; or dogs that are largely inactive due to recouperation. A large dog, for daily use? It might not be good.

WTF is wrong with some of you people?  Is there any way to win here?  How are you supposed to feed a dog if you don't work?  Damned if you do and damned if you don't!  People get trashed here all the time for releasing a dog to rescue and sometimes, life circumstances change.  I give Red Door a LOT of credit for trying to take care of the responsibily that was taken on when this girl was rescued.  Would it be better to not work and let the dog starve?

My dog loves his crate, but his door is locked on very few occasions (if I happen to have a visitor who may be afraid of large dogs, etc.).  He has freedom in my house at all times and has never had an accident, nor destroyed anything.  I trust him 99.99% and the remainder would be in the case of sickness and even then, he'd probably turn blue before he'd go inside.  There are times that I've left him for over 12 hours because it's been UNAVOIDABLE and I've come home to a clean house AND a dog that's happy to see me.

I guess some think you have to be independently wealthy to have a pet... no wonder so many are in rescue.

RED DOOR, if you sent the dog back to resuce, the same people would be bashing you for not taking responsibily for the dogs you've taken in.  Thank you for caring enough to try to work through the issue and... IGNORE the holier than thou.

Thanks for all the ideas...they will all be tried!

Here is some background info on the dog as I really only shared the issue not the whole story..

She is naturally(now that she is settled) very handler focused, always watching my every move. Her OB work is great, every command given is obeyed the instant I give it. She can go anywhere with me and is indeffierent to all surroundings. However, she does have mild seperation anxiety(will bark when I am gone)- but is fine so long as I keep her with the other dogs. Basically she
used to be loose in the house and would have the odd accident...seemed to be 3 weeks she would be fine and then 1 week would go 2-3 times. This then turned into on the 'bad week' going everyday.  I kind of took this blame on myself, initiallly thinking she had to go, its not her fault. When she started going more often and it became apparent there was a pattern, I figured maybe due to my lack  of discipline during the 'first phase' she had thought it was okay.... So I got her a crate thinking, like most dogs, she would see this as her bed and would want to stay clean. Long story short, it has now turned into her going 2-3 days a week.

As for the consistency...she has always been a little loose but I figured this was due to her nerves, as I said before she always seems to be a little nervous though she has come along leaps and bounds since I have got her. I can now make sudden movements without her runnning into the other room :)

One suggestion I seem to be getting alot is to play with her more before I go. For the life of me, I cant get this dog to play. I have spent hours and hours working with her alone and the most she will do is run circles around me for 4 minutes before she just wants love. No toys spark her interest...

I had a lone chicken in my yard once- which I didnt realize until I had gone outside and as soon as she saw it it took 2 seconds for her to have its neck snapped. I was happy...I saw some drive from her. My neighbours own a incredibly dominent female who always (well used too beforeI lost it on them) come on my property and charge me and my dogs. Cora is fine and indifferent but the second that dog would come close to property line she would go into protective mode and just watch, I unfortunatly had that dog come charging at me one day and Cora put an end to that very quickly. Getting the dog away from me and holding it (ie not letting her get up) into submission until I got there. As soon as I asked her to leave and come with me, she did. Tail wagging and wanting to give kisses....

So I guess what I am saying is I dont know what is going on with this dog LOL. She seems to have her basic instincts and drives...But I cant get her to play with me. She will run with me but she wont play. She does see me as Alpha as her obedience is fantastic...

 

And thanks GSDtravels. I found myself wondering the same thing....how do these people feed their pets without working

Oh yeah- she is also worm free and always goes before I leave....No daycares or dog walkers in my area.

So, you say her poop is always a little loose?

I would check her for EPI (exocrine pancreatic insufficiency). Maybe she really CAN'T hold it. Is it hard to keep weight on her?

A couple of points:

Check for EPI, like Sunsilver mentioned. The dog could also have a food intolerance so make sure the food you feed is free of the most commonly problematic ingredients.

Do you know her background and how she was kept by her previous owner(s)? Some dogs kept in abusive situations where they are pretty much 24/7 in a crate learn that the crate is where they should poop. They also can learn to be fine with getting covered in it, from that type of situation. Not saying that's necessarily the case with this dog.

Another possibility is that the confinement increases her slight separation anxiety, which can give her loose stools and make her feel like she urgently needs to go. Some dogs just don't do as well in crates. Is any part of your house covered in linoleum or the like? You might try confining her to a bigger area that's easy to clean.

Personally, I'd put her outside in a run but that may not be possible in your situation. Easier cleanup and much more space for the dog.

If she doesn't demolish things, try your bathroom you can shut the door they don't ussually have carpet so easy clean up, and if she gets it really messy she can lay in the bathtub to stay out of it.  I have a female that has the same play issues, she was also in an abusive situation before I got her.  She loves to play with other dogs, I always attributed it to a learned behavior she learned to play with other dogs in the previous home, she NEVER got to play with a human.  It was evident they saw no point in playing with their dogs.  I saw plenty of drive especially if a rabbit came into the yard, she was the one dog that managed to catch it every time, fast little sh**! She also was the one I was saying went in the crate, I would be soo frustrated, take her outside and inevitably she would go in her crate.  I did complain about cleaning the crate, but not to her because if she sensed in the slightest that someone was upset she would cower somewhere.  She loves to track, she does great in obedience I only had the crate issue, and trying to convince her it was ok here to be a dog.  The crate thing finally cleared up, I think in her case it was she had been in a kennel probably most of the time prior to coming here, as she became housebroke the crate situation resolved itself.  She is coming along with the play slowly I really have to work her up, unless there is another dog involved.

Sunsilver- MollyandJack....I have tile in my "dog room" and while is does make cleaning easier she still finger paints when loose even though room is20x20. She is an easy keeper with a great coat on her but I will have her checked for EPI nonetheless. While I have always been a gsd fan I am new to owning them and have never heard of this condition before so thanks very much for that info!! And Donnerstorm, sounds like you have a very similar dog! I have been thinking of starting her in tracking, I definitely want to give her a job and she seems to have quite a good nose on her. I have never done it before but I am sure it will be a fun learning experience for both of us!! :)

Tracking is a blast, and I did notice a huge difference when I started Nala in tracking.  I believe part of that was she had a job to do, but it was also time spent with a human doing something she enjoyed, and she was only getting positive feedback, There aren't a lot of corrections in tracking, even if she comes off the track, I just take her back to the last scent article and calmly restart her and then praise.  She learned to trust me and learned that I was the same no matter where we were.  I'm sure she will have a lot of fun as will you!