Bathroom issues with 3 year old rescue

[lolathehavanese]

And this is a pic of Lola's sister, Snickers, they get along quite well

snicks.JPG (242.28 KB) Viewed 1287 times

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

Lee, I was SO happy to read your update! Lola looks just beautiful, all freshly groomed with that adorable bandana. You deserve a lot of credit for your patience and consistency.

I think 4 months sounds about right in terms of the amount of time it takes for a dog to fully adjust to their new surroundings. You had the additional challenge of adopting a 3 year old with a history. I loved hearing how she likes to sleep right in between you and your wife each night, on either one of you. She is a darling, and your story is a great one for others who find themselves in your position. Patience and love is the message here.

Snickers is awfully cute as well. I'm glad to hear that your fur family is learning to get along. A friend of mine has a cat that simply won't tolerate her dog. It's rather amusing, but they manage to coexist.

I would love to read updates like yours every day. I'm also pleased that you found the help you needed here. Perhaps now that Lola's bathroom issues have been resolved, you can start a new thread about her in the General Section with updates from time to time....or you can continue to post in here. The choice is yours.

Give Lola and Snickers big hugs from me, please.

[lolathehavanese]

Deb - thanks for the kind words. My wife and I are both extremely excited/happy on how much progress we have seen out of Lola these past few months.

Now that it seems we have pretty much solved the bathroom "issues", I come once again for more advice/techniques.

As you know, right now, Lola is in her crate during the day when we are both at work (usually around 10 hours a day )

We would love to let her have free roam of the house during the day, but we are concerned that the accidents will come back. On the weekends, we will usually test her by leaving her out for a few hours while we run errands and for the most part she does fine. However, I am not sure what the next logical step is.

Would you guys recommend possibly getting a small pen, putting it in the kitchen (since it is tile floors) and leaving her in there for the day and see how it goes? Or should we just keep leaving her out and slowly keep building the amount of time we leave her for? Also, if we do the pen and come home to accidents, how does she learn not to have these accidents if we arent home to see the accident happen and correct the behavior? I just hate the fact that she is cooped up in her crate all day while we are gone. Thanks for all your help.

Lee

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

That is an interesting one. First, as you said, you really, really want to avoid having any accidents as that will just confuse Lola and it really won't be her fault.

Perhaps you could put a comfy bed in your kitchen area (tile floor area) and secure her in there, either with baby gates, or an "X" pen, or doors if your house has them. I would start that by introducing it to her slowly on the weekends and building up to longer and longer times. Right now, as much as we feel they are cooped up in their crate, they find their crates to be their safe place. Think of it like their personal den.

Actually, put her crate in the area in which you wish to keep her confined, but leave the door open! It takes me a minute sometimes. You will probably find that she likes to sleep in there even though she has free roam if she wishes. Again, build up to this new found freedom slowly.

I know she is 3 already, but do get down on your hands and knees and make sure there is nothing that she could possibly get into that may harm her, like the garbage, electrical outlets, etc. Give it a whirl and see what happens.

Do let us know how it goes!

[dog runner]

I hope your problems are getting better. I "work" in the rescue and from my experience it can take six months for a dog to completely adjust. This depends a lot on the situation the dog came from. A puppy mill dog's only means of survival was to urinate in its' own cage.

Patience is hard I know. I have found the best way is to take the dog out every thirty minutes (when not crated- which by the way is an excellent choice on your part to not only help with house training but provides the dog with the pysciological comfort it needs to heal as denning is very instinctual for dogs. Any activity that gets the dog in to this pysicological state is healing for the dog). Stay out only for a short period of time and go to the same place each time. If the dog has not gone the bathroom in ten minutes go back inside.

The other method I have used, usually with younger rescues however, is to stimulate excretion by taking the dog outside and wiping a warm cloth from front to back in it's genital area. This mimics their mother's actions when they were young pups to go the washroom. It triggers a memory for them and often they urinate right away so be ready. As I said, I usually use this method with younger rescues but I wanted to give you an alternative.

Best of luck. Thank you for saving a life. I'm sure your lives will be touched by your pup as well.

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

Dog runner - while your answer was very informative, positive and helpful, the OP (original poster) has already successfully helped this rescue with its bathroom issues by doing exactly what you said.

Now he wishes to know about perhaps leaving the dog uncrated during the day time. Perhaps you responded after reading only page 1. We are on page 3 of this thread now. You should read the whole thread as it's a wonderful success story.

[Nileska]

I think Deb's suggestion of useing an X pen is a good idea.They can be set up anywhere and/or be used as a fence between rooms.You may put down a layer of newspapers and set the pen over them for easy clean up if leaveing for the day.Put the pups bedding in one corner,water bowl in the other,throw in a few doggy toys and you are good to go.

Dogs as well trained as your's hate to go where they live and will do so only in an emergency.I have used X pens for years and and find them quite handy.They are a nessecary tool for Dogshows.Your pup will also be safe from household items while you are away.Its a win win situation...Good luck!

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

Richard, it is always lovely to see you!

[Nileska]

Thanks Deb,don't allways get here as much as I would like to..Heath issues and all that jazz I only have one dog left and she is about 15 and may be my last..She is a Siberian mix and was a rescue long ago,we are both geting pretty old

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

Lee, forgive me as I'm about to "hog" your thread for a moment.

Richard, you didn't say anything at all darling. I'm so sorry for your loss. Sweetie, why don't you tell us so we can at least try and comfort you, or perhaps you prefer it that way. I know that the past couple of years have been challenging.

I will send you a PM as soon as I am able. We need a good chat. I'm sending you all my love and hugs, to you and your lovely wife. ♥

Thanks Lee for letting me "hog"....

Keep us posted!

[lolathehavanese]

Hi All,

Sorry I havent posted in a while, been quite busy. Anyways, Lola has been doing great. No accidents in probably 2 months and we have def seen huge improvements these last few months. So I think we are finally getting her rid of the bad habits she learned and getting the new habits to win out.

So far, we have not tried to leave her uncrated throughout the whole day. My wife is still a little apprehensive to all of a sudden take her out of the crate for an entire day. We are gone 10-11 hours most days, so it is a very long time for Lola to hold out and when we do get home from work, Lola can barely contain herself before we get her out.

We have been testing her though on the weekends when we go out to dinner/meet up with friends. The longest she has been loose so far is about 4.5 hours, and she did not have any accidents. So she is definately progressing. I am ready to test her and put her in the kitchen for the day, but I will have to convince the wife!

Anyways, just wanted to give an update. Thanks again for all the support when we first got her. Those first few months were rough, but shes a great dog and has really become a part of the family.

Lee

[Nileska]

Sometimes with rescues it is a matter of you learning THEIR routine...When I adopted Maggie Mae,a definite Siberian mix,she insisted on going out before she would eat and again right after. If she was in her crate for any length of time she wanted to go out immediately...She taught me HER routine,all I had to do was pay attention

At allmost 15 she is still with me and is the last member of a once busy kennel