New rescue dog: some help, please!

[mitya]

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Hi, all

First time poster.

We just adopted a rescue dog, a nine month-old Staffie. We have two major problems:

1) He seems to favour going to toilet indoors. This he often does immediately after walks, where he had plenty of opportunity to do it on grassy areas.

2) He has major separation issues; if he is left by himself in a room for even a few seconds he starts crying. As such, getting to a point where we can leave him by himself for a while seems a long way off.

With regard to point 2, we have tried leaving the room for, at first, seconds, then minutes etc, but the result is always that he cries straightaway. There seems to be no progress. We have tried leaving the radio on, or leaving him with a chew etc.

Can anyone help with the above!?

Thanks in advance for any help

 

[goldenbear2013]

Hi there,

I currently own a 7 month Lab and used to own a staffie names Tia.

She destroyed my kitchen when left on her own for as little as half an hour, so i understand your concern.

Have you thought of crate training him?

I have done this with my Lab Bear since day 1 and we have had not a single issue! best thing we ever did.

I would start by buying the crate and putting his bed in there along with some newspaper on the bottom of it, this will be his place to sleep from now on.Put his bed in there and leave the door open for him to come and go as he pleases. this way he will know that he wont get locked up in there everytime he goes in.

Also put his crate in the room which is most used so he can always see you. Staffies suffer heavily with seperation anxiety so even if he is locked in his crate he is still with you in the room and this should keep him calm.

also pop a blanket over half of the top of the crate. it will be a little darker for him and he will view this space as his safe place and be more comfortable there when you are not around.

If you do try the crate, pop him in there with a stuffed kong to chew on, lock the crate door and leave him just by going in the other room and the pop back in every now and then.

As soon as he has finished his kong leave him there for a little longer then let out and give him a big fuss.

The crate will also aid in his toilet training. Dogs will not pee and poop where they sleep!

with his toilet training, even after his walk keep him on his lead and take him straight into the garden. stay there as long as it takes for him to go to the toilet and when he does go give him lots of fuss and a small treat. do this EVERY time and then gradually go outside with him without the lead on then eventually he will get the idea that outside is where he needs to go. he will soon start going to the door when he needs to go. a friend of mine owns a jack russell and he doesnt go to the toilet on walks he waits until he gets home too so dont think this odd!

keep up going with him outside to go to the toilet and keep giving him a small treat each time. this is positive reinforcement and he will know that he has been a good boy by going outside.

if he does go in the house, dont say anything to him just pick up him up, or lead him outside until he goes again

i use the word 'weewee's' for Bear this applies to both toilet aspects and when i say it he immediately goes to the door so we dont have any accidents.

Bear started going to the back door about 3 days after we had him.

Staffies are smart dogs so he should pick this up quickly.

I hope this helps you out

Sophie x

 

[mitya]

@goldenbear2013 - thanks so much for your kind and comprehensive advice. I will bear in mind your points and put them into practice.

Yeah I read Staffies are smart so I'm hopeful this is just an early days thing. I'm sure he'll settle - indeed, compared to how he was in the first week, he certainly has.

Cheers

 

[goldenbear2013]

You're welcome!

Good luck and let me know how it all goes!

Sophie x