Dog Help
I need the help of all you dog people reading.
After 4 days at the kennel while we were in Atlanta, Rifle has completely regressed in his house-training. I cleaned up pee all day yesterday. Not only that, but he's a complete nut. He's tearing things up that he never cared about before (like his bed outside).
Is he just mad at us or excited to be home? Are we really starting at square one? What do I do? We have a trip to NC planned in a few weeks, are we going to do this all over again?
Let me just say, I did expect *some* confusion. He's still a puppy afterall. But this? Not this dog I don't even really recognize.
Help.
After 4 days at the kennel while we were in Atlanta, Rifle has completely regressed in his house-training. I cleaned up pee all day yesterday. Not only that, but he's a complete nut. He's tearing things up that he never cared about before (like his bed outside).
Is he just mad at us or excited to be home? Are we really starting at square one? What do I do? We have a trip to NC planned in a few weeks, are we going to do this all over again?
Let me just say, I did expect *some* confusion. He's still a puppy afterall. But this? Not this dog I don't even really recognize.
Help.
posted by MB @ 4:46 AM
6 Comments:
At 5:25 AM ,
Jillian said...
Has he been desexed? Maybe he's hit puberty. My dog wasn't desexed and he became really stupid at 'puberty'. He got those crazy eyes that rolled around and started peeing everywhere. Just a thought:)
At 5:50 AM ,
MB said...
Ha, Jill, I wish it were that simple. Alas, he's been without the goods for over a month.
At 6:22 AM ,
Kathy McC said...
Hmmmm...
He might just be plain mad at you for leaving him. Sometimes dogs can regress just like kids when they are stressed out.
Did you have a chance to tour the kennel before you sent him? You may want to make sure that he wasn't traumatized in some way while he was there.
I chalk it up to puppy anger and stress. Remember how Violet got really sick when Matt went to Israel? She got better real fast after he came home.
Good luck and I am sorry you're dealing with this. If all else fails, take him to the vet. Maybe they can give you some suggestions and just make sure he's not ill in some way.
At 7:23 AM ,
Catherine said...
lol...yep...you're paying for leaving him at the kennel (sorry...don't mean to laugh). Do you have a crate?
At 8:36 AM ,
JMB said...
It could be a combination of things-mad at you for leaving, upset in his routine, or something went on at the kennel. Since he's still a puppy, it might be time to get back to house training basics to remind him of the rules.
We kennel both of our dogs on a somewhat regular basis, and have used two kennels. One includes people and puppy playtime (included in the price) and they both come home tired and happy, since they've played their rather large butts off. The other kennel where we put them when I had Son makes you PAY for walks, etc. Well, when they were dropped off, we had a friend do it, since Husband was with me (you know, in LABOR). Our friend didn't know about the need for specific walking requests. When they came home after a week, they were completely different dogs, out of control, whiney, completely distracted, and it took a couple of weeks for them to get back to normal. I was guilt-ridden for longer-they were our first babies after all! A week without any human time other than when they got fed was a huge problem. Talk to the kennel people about what went on. If they can't tell you, I'd go looking for another kennel. The good ones know your dog, the others, well, they don't.
At 7:43 AM ,
Rachel said...
I am by no means an expert, but I have 2 dogs (and a 3rd for a few more weeks). When my dogs were young, they would tear things up and have accidents after changes to their environment. What worked for me, was giving them only a very small area to be in while I was not around (the laundry room in my case). When I was with them, I took them outside often and we stayed until they did their business. They are now 7 and well behaved dogs. Before I learned my lesson, when they were about a year old, they chewed the arm off my leather chair, and pulled quite a bit of stuffing out of it. On that day I didn't think they would ever make it to 7, at least in my home.
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