12 yr old female howling and peeing indoors

Lailoken · 07-21-2009, 02:36 PM

This is actually my roommate's dog, but I end up having to deal with the problems most so I'm trying to find a good solution.

We recently moved to a new place that accepted pets so my roommate brought his 2 12 year old huskies (brother and sister) from home. The female has had a couple problems adjusting and I was wondering if anyone here could give me some tips on behavior training.

My roommate leaves for work at about 6am and after that the female will sit on our patio and howl constantly, waking me (and our neighbors, I'm sure) up in the process. I try to ignore her as much as I can so she doesn't think I'm rewarding her howling by going out there and keeping her company, but she does it for pretty much 2 hours straight (and possibly more after I leave for work). One thing I've done is open the patio door (which gets her attention) and then just stare at her until she looks away from me. I really have no idea what that's doing to her, but it shuts her up.

The other thing she does is pee indoors. She's 12 and knows to pee outside (at least at her other home), but once we brought her to the new place she'll pee on the carpet almost every day. Even if someone has just walked her and she went to the bathroom outside, she'll save some specifically to pee on the carpet as soon as we let her in. We walk her twice a day and we bought some urine odor eliminating spray to cover up any spots, but she just keeps doing it.

Anyone have any ideas?

TooneyDogs · 07-21-2009, 02:49 PM

For the peeing, back to housetraining 101.....no more freedom of the house...crate/confine when you can't watch her. Watching her is crucial...you have to catch her in the act to teach her that going in this new place is wrong.

The howling is harder to resolve. Your roommate needs to build her confidence to be alone. As she's 12 years old I wonder if he's been slacking off on her exercise needs? Ideally, she would be so tired that she would just sleep when he's gone.

Lailoken · 07-21-2009, 03:03 PM

It doesn't seem to matter to her whether we're there or not when she pees. She'll pee when we're both standing 5 feet away from her (although, I don't think it's submissive). When we do catch her in the act my roommate does all the stereotypical dog stuff that I'm sure is horribly wrong (ie. yelling "No!" and shoving her nose towards the puddle), but what would you say the correct response should be for catching her in the act?

The morning routine (as far as I'm aware since I'm still asleep) is my roommate takes the dogs out of his room, walks them, feeds them, puts them outside and leaves. Walking them is tricky because they both have health problems (one has arthritis and the other has muscle deterioration from chemotherapy), so they can't really move fast or far. I'm never sure if they're getting that much exercise. My roommate feeds his dogs a bit of food in the morning and a bit at night, but would feeding them in the morning just give them too much energy?

TooneyDogs · 07-21-2009, 04:13 PM

When you catch her in the act you must interrupt her...she cannot be allowed to finish (that bladder relief is very self-rewarding). Stomp your foot on the floor, slap a wall, clap your hands, bull rush her, a sharp NO....whatever it takes (in the old days we even threw missles...a rolled up magazine, a book...very scary and not necessary). Immediately herd her out to the potty area to finish. Lots of praise for going in the right place.

Yes, feeding in the morning is like fueling the race car. There's always a burst of energy. That's when my guys start to chase each other....play time!

Pepper · 07-21-2009, 05:29 PM

That's what I do...clap and bull rush haha..It stops them and you just run them outside and see if they finish, if they do, lots of praise!

How long are these twice a day walks? Does anyone do anything to stimulate her mind?

Also most dogs have to go to the bathroom more than twice a day(if that's all your doing)

Cracker · 07-21-2009, 06:09 PM

At her age I would insist on having her urine checked before assuming it is only the change of the routine/home. Stress can actually exacerbate a preexisting condition.
You also may be looking at canine cognitive disorder.
All of the other info given is good (but tell him to stop pushing her nose in it!) for a dog to lose it's housebreaking (assuming she has been housetrained before and for most of her life) it is most likely there is something else going on besides just a behaviour issue.

Lailoken · 07-21-2009, 07:13 PM

I appreciate all the responses so far.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pepper

That's what I do...clap and bull rush haha..It stops them and you just run them outside and see if they finish, if they do, lots of praise!j

Whenever I catch her that's what I do. I make a loud noise (clap, yell her name) and then run over, pick her up and drop her in a spot outside where she should pee, but she just doesn't. What I thought before was that she might not understand the difference between inside and outside because it seems like she holds her urine specifically to mark inside on the carpet.

Quote:

How long are these twice a day walks? Does anyone do anything to stimulate her mind?

The walks aren't long, but like I said they both have health problems. They usually both want to go back inside after 10 minutes or so and it's not 10 minutes of walking, it's 10 minutes of sniffing around the grass near our house.

Quote:

Also most dogs have to go to the bathroom more than twice a day(if that's all your doing)

It's hard for us (and them) because everyone at our house works. When we leave for work we put them on our patio. There's a small patch of grass back there that we had hoped they would use for a bathroom, but they would rather lie in it than pee in it.

Cracker · 07-21-2009, 10:06 PM

If you are sure it's not physical (which you can't be without a vet visit)....

Like Tooney dog says you have to go back to basics. Taking the dog out more frequently (best you can around your schedule) and REWARDING her for doing her business outside (a good yummy piece of something) helps. Is there any way to confine her to a non carpeted area when you are not there?

I still think that if she's always been housetrained that a vet visit is necessary.

TooneyDogs · 07-21-2009, 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lailoken

then run over, pick her up and drop her in a spot outside where she should pee.

Picking her up is a mistake. It's her responsibility to go to the right potty area...not yours....and, of course, to let you know that she can't open the door by barking, scratching, whinning, ringing a bell or whatever method you want to use.

Pepper · 07-24-2009, 01:50 PM

I agree with Tooney, most of my puppies we did that with, and potty training took twice as long. My current puppy I made her walk to the door and sit before going outside to go potty(I skipped using potty pads) She hasn't had an accident in almost a week and a half and will run down the stairs and whine/paw at the door when she needs to go. She's only 10 weeks old. Sometimes I think she just goes out to play, but she goes to the bathroom every time so I think she knows what she's trying to tell me, which is, I gotta go potty!

The most important thing is always keeping an eye on the puppy/dog. So that way you can always correct them for accident and show them the appropriate place to go.