A Toileting Question

[dotdashdot]

This is not for my own dogs, but for a customer of mine. She has a 5 month old amstaff x pup, Koa (rescue pup, desexed, came home at 11 weeks old)

Koa is pretty well toilet trained, her family is pretty consistent with training (mum, dad, boy about 8 and boy about 2) but they have a slight problem. When say, mum has to go upstairs to get the younger son out of his cot after a nap (weekdays), or they are having a shower upstairs in the morning (weekends), Koa will go to the toilet inside. Never at any other time does she have an accident, it is only in these sorts of circumstances.

My first thought was - take her out first, before they go upstairs. Slight problem, this is sometimes impossible - younger son fell out of his cot and broke his collarbone last week - poor mite. Sometimes there is literally no time to take pup outside (she heard a thump and ran upstairs). And it seems to me, that even if they did do this, and take her out and let her back in, this would still happen. It doesn't seem to be an issue with her holding on, as she happily makes it through the night. It's only in these circumstances.

Can the wise DOLers suggest anything to me that I can pass on? Does it sound like nervousness? To me, she doesn't seem at all like a nervous pup. She is confident, well socialised and happy every time I see her.

[Steph M]

Is it always in the same spot? Would gating off that spot help at all? Maybe try to break the association that way?

[dotdashdot]

A question to ask, I don't have that information. But I will store that in my mind, so if it is, I can suggest that.

[Sandra777]

Some sort of separation anxiety type of problem? What do they do with the pup when they leave the house? Is she allowed upstairs?

[dotdashdot]

That's what I was thinking, except there is no other signs of distress.

I'm assuming she goes outside when they leave, but I could be wrong. I don't think she's left alone for hours and hours, and I would say no to being allowed upstairs.

I think it's the not going upstairs that is the problem, but I can't figure out why. Obviously the family sleep up there, and maybe letting her up there would be a possible solution but i'm not sure if it's feasible for their situation (e.g., maybe they are renting and dog is only allowed downstairs, or other personal reasons, which I can understand)

Last week at training, I talked about crate training. After already introducing a self settling mat that Koa has taken to brilliantly, I popped a crate down to talk about and she took herself in there and had a sleep! For a pup that hasn't even seen a crate since she came home at 11 weeks, I was surprised.

Wondering if this could be a solution? Confine her to a small area (maybe near bottom of stairs for ease of access?) where she feels comfortable and won't be likely to toilet.

[Sandra777]

Low level anxiety can manifest in all sorts of silly ways - having a nervous pee would be one of the least damaging :)

[dotdashdot]

I will bring this up to Koa's mum :) thank you.

[Tassie]

Wondering if this could be a solution? Confine her to a small area (maybe near bottom of stairs for ease of access?) where she feels comfortable and won't be likely to toilet

This sounds like a possible, dotdashdot. How cool that the pup took herself into the crate at class ... Love the way dogs love their crates. (Somewhat O/T ... My best was a greyhound in a foundation agility class, who when class was finishing, took herself off (with owners' permission) into an empty at the time soft crate belonging to a mini poodle .... The grey fitted herself in it just fine. So totally cute :laugh: Oh and my own biggish BC boy, who made himself really comfortable (with room to spare) in his Cav friend's K9 soft crate while she wasn't using it.)

[dotdashdot]

Koa has improved in the last week.

Turns out it was happening in the same spot quite a bit, but she seems to have fixed herself up.

I mentioned the possibility of anxiety and said that a crate or small pen might be a solution if it continued. Koa's mum did say that she does pop her outside if she gets the chance before she goes upstairs, but obviously in some cases this is hard.

Haha Tassie, I was a bit chuffed :D I obviously didn't need to teach that particular activity! Meant to start slowly just getting them to take a treat from the edge of the crate, then get their body inside, etc....haha

When I've taken my eldest dally to work once, I was rearranging the wire crate display and she tried to get into the much too small medium size....so keen for her crate!