I can't seriously believe I'm still having to ask for help here, but I'm still having problems with Toby.

Just to go over the problems:  He messed in the kitchen whenever left on his own, so we shut the kitchen door.  He stopped messing in the kitchen for two months or so, then went on to start messing in the living room instead.  We thought this may be because we got rid of our sofas.  (New ones being delivered tomorrow)  So, after seeking advice here, we got him a crate, and it worked wonders.  He likes going in there and we're having no problems.  Except for now, we have to put him in his crate every single solitary time we leave him alone, even if I'm just popping to the toilet for a few seconds, because the very second the door is shut on him, he goes back downstairs and wees in exactly the same spot in the living room. 

I can't explain how much this is getting me down.  What with the stealing from our shed last night, and now discovering at lunch time that he'd weed again (OH must have left him for two minutes this morning whilst getting dressed) I'm completely at the end of my tether.  At this rate Toby is going to be either sat in his crate or out on his walk.  I just don't know what the frigging hell is wrong with this dog.

Please help.  We've only just washed the carpet too :( which is why I'm so mad.  There was no smell whatsoever to the carpet - it was lovely, and now it stinks of wee once again.  I just wanna curl up and cry - I've had enough.

I am feeling for you.  I don't know how to help but I am sure someone will be on here pretty soon to give some advice.  Try to stay positive, you are having a particularly bad day and you feel stuck but once you get some advice you will be able to move forwards again.  Chin up I am sure the calvalry are on their way :)

Hi Keeley - just a quick thought but have you and OH tried calling to Toby when you are out of sight.  e.g when you have to visit the little girls room just call him in a 'happy' voice a few times to keep his attention then when you come back to him and 'hopefully' hasn't done anything give him lots of praise and a treat for being a good boy ?

Like I say it's just a thought Tara x

Hi, we've not thought of that no, and it's an excellent idea.  How can we not have thought of something that appears to be such a simple solution?!  Thanks for that.

I'd still love to know why he's behaving this way though :(

He might not be weeing :-) he could just be spraying :-( because if i dont watch my dog, thats what he does.

Hi Kerry, he's been castrated, doesn't that stop spraying?  I've seen him wee in the kitchen too - it is only a very small amount.  (thank goodness)

Sharon, Satan has been castrated.....when they only wee a little bit that usually means there spraying

That's probably it then.  What makes them do it?  Do you know?

I think there just leaving there marking when they do it

How do I stop him?  He can't keep leaving his mark on my living room carpet, or I'll start leaving my hand mark on his backside :p

Good question :-) unless i have eye's up my a@@@e i can't stop Satan doing it....i really have no idea how to stop him.

very good advice from Boxer Mum
keeping her attention by calling out to her then reward her with a nice treat when she doesnt wee on your carpet.
keep your chin up you will find a solution.

Obviously not completely sure as I don't know how old he is or how you reacted to him when he did this but it sounds like he has actually got it into his head that this is what is expected of him !  Do you ignore him when he has made the mess or do you pay attention to him (even if it's a simple scold like naughty boy or something) ? 

Hopefully by keeping his attention focused on your voice he may 'forget' leaving you a pressie and you can then give him lots of praise for being a good boy and this should break the habit that has formed :)

Tara x

Hiya, he's approximately 2 years old.  It's soooo annoying because we broke this apparent 'habit' by shutting him out of the kitchen (where he used to mess), and he stopped doing anything at all for a good 2 months and we really thought we'd cracked it.  We don't give him any attention at all when he wees.  (Except for today when I totally lost it and threw something across the room - but not at him!!!!!  First time I've ever done it - it was the icing on the cake today :( )

cant you take him with you upstairs? my dogs follow me anyway so i would see if they did anything wrong

Hi, he does follow up pretty much everywhere, but I'd rather not have him in the toilet with me :D

take him to the loo with you,its ok ive done it at times!!!! he wont mind;)

Hi Keeley,
First of all, get rid of the smell were he wee's in the lounge.
Try white vinegar and warm water.
I do use neat bleach on the floor in the veranda, then warm water and washing up liq.
Don't forget they can smelll things we can't,
I would put him in an restricted area, mine is the veranda, it has marble tiles.
As the kitchen is a galley kitched, no room.
Try leaving a couple of sheets of news paper down. if you come back and he's
wee'd on it, say he's a good boy, if not change your tone of voice and send him
out of our sight. No! love, or fuss. They like to wee were it soaks up.
This works for me. But! I have a bich at 18months that will still come in at night
and wee and poo's straight away on the floor. So I know how you feel. But! I now crete
her for bedtime. I have never ever had to do this before with any of my dogs. But!
it works. Best of luck.
Regards
Denese

Wonder if he thinks that is where he is supposed to go, because of the odour?  Even though you change the carpet I doubt you got the smell out of the floor.  Something I've read is to try feeding him in that spot.  Animals like to keep where they eat separate from their bathroom.  You'll have to be quick and ready to help establish where that new bathroom is going to be.

On a scale of one to ten.. how stressed are you right now??

I think Toby is scent marking in your house, and i suspect it is linked to stress.. if you are wound up, uptight, stressing your head off, it WILL have a knock on effect on him.

Castrated dogs will still scent mark, notably my eldest male will do it in the house if he is stressed. This is definately NOT 'im forgetting that im housetrained', absolutely it is scent marking.

Its a vicious circle, because obviously the more he does it the more stressed you get so the more he does it.

Hopefully, when the new sofa arrives, when other stresses calm down, it will stop, in the mean time, prevent it.

Em

how about shutting the living room door when you go to other parts of the house......its quick and easy!
also clean the spot with biological soap and rub it down with surgical spirit

How good is his obedience training? If it's literally only for a minute while you pop to the loo, how about teaching him down stays - he can't wee if he's doing a stay exercise!! Just a thought, no idea if it has any merit!

Dogs will pick up on stress, for sure.

If you can prevent him from doing it  by management, for say, 6 months, you may find he doesn't do it again as he will have found a different way to do things - perhaps.

To be honest, why not get in a good behaviourist who will work alongside your vet? You are so stressed and upset, wouldn't it be worth it? :)

Lindsay
x

Thanks everyone.

I am feeling much calmer today, but that's probably something to do with the fact that I'm off work waiting for my new sofas :D

I guess I have been a little stressed lately - it's been very difficult without any sofas to sit on, OH and I have hardly spent any time together - so it must have come across as very unusual for Toby.

Re letting him in the toilet with me - no thanks!!!  He sniffs bits I don't want sniffing :D :D :D ;)

I am most definitely going to try (a) keeping his attention when I go to the toilet etc, and (b) making him lay and wait for a treat, possibly just outside the bathroom door with the door open.

Thanks everyone for your kind words and encouragement.  I'm hoping we can get this sorted.  I guess I was most upset due to the stealing of stuff from the shed yesterday and Toby just topped it off, especially as we'd just spent loads of time and cash on having the carpets washed ready for the new sofas :rolleyes:

Dogs eh - who'd have em?!  ;)

Not wanting bits sniffed I can understand ;)  but why not turn it into a training session (I have treats in the bathroom for those 'quiet woman and her dog' moments.....)

LOL @ Digger ! :D :D

Mine just sit there and watch intently at my face ! :D

Puts you off what you are trying to do ! :D

I try to tell them I don't sit and stare when they are going to the toilet but will they listen ?  :rolleyes: :D :D

Lucy
xx

I would add, get an enzyme based pet odour cleaner. Vinegar might work, but i worry then it would just smell like vingar soaked pee... which is still pee to a dog. Bleach would destroy the odour, but maybe the carpet too...

With my pup i never let him out of my sight while toilet training. doing so was setting him up for failure. Admittadely, he can only reach my knees so i dont have to worry about him sniffing bits, but i made him follow me everywhere. A friend of mine (and the book puppies for dummies...) tried the trick of leashing the dog to yourself (that pup was having trouble socialising) and leashing it to points on the wall. In theory a dog wont "go" where it is confined. So you can leash it to the towel rail while getting dressed in the morning, somewhere in the kitchen while cooking etc. and then take him out to "go" on your terms and setting him up to succeed every time. but frequently and when puppy gives you signs he needs to...

In the end i did end up also resorting to "getting upset". Growling, telling the soiled area off (not the dog-no matter how stupid you feel, its "bad poo" not "bad dog"), walking around in a huff... He got the idea that i was upset at what he had done...

As this has been brought up again I'll give you a quick update.  Thankfully for the past few days the carpet has remained dry.  We had the sofas delivered on Thursday so whether he's feeling more settled now there's furniture again or what I'm not sure, but he's not wet the carpet for days and thankfully it's beginning to smell sweeter!  Long may it continue :)

Hi - I just wanted to say, whatever you use, don't use bleach or any product containing ammonia, because ammonia is present in wee, and smells like wee to a dog.

The best thing to use to clean up accidents is biological washing liquid, the stuff you put in the washing machine.  It has to be biological as this gets rid of the enzymes in wee which non-biological stuff doesn't, for a dog.