Our Dogs Are Trashing the House!

I would crate them when you are gone and when you to bed for starters. If they continue to do it when you are right there, start clicker training them with things that have to do with your baby. For example, keep a clicker and fanny pack with pea sized treats in it on you at home. When you take the baby to the changing table, as soon as dog walks in there with you, click/treat. When baby cries (may produce anxiety in dogs) click/treat. The dogs begin associating a positive experience with baby-related activity.
K.

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Hi K., Don't give up on the dogs. It's not very hard to fix this problem. The "presents" are the dogs way of marking their turf. (Yes feces can be used as well as urine.) This is a way for a dog to communicate their leadership in the "pack". (That is the family, you are their pack.) They smell the babies potty smells my the changing table, so they are marking over those smells. They are telling the family that they believe that they are dominant over the child and the parents. When you become the pack leader instead of them, they will no longer mark. First: Feed them at set times, take them out at set times and keep them on leases that are attached through out the house so they don't have free roam of the rooms.(I've even tied the leases to me at times when training a dog, it convinces them that I call the shots not them, where and when I move, they must also, it's all about follow the leader.) You can move them from room to room if you want. (Dogs will not mess in there space unless sick or unable to hold it.) Or you can use crates. Once they learn the pecking order they will be able to be off the teathers. If they relaps just put them back on the leashs. Buy a puppy housetraining book, it will help at any age. Second: The dogs NEED excersise. Ceaser Milon's books are excellent for learning about the importance of this and making sure that the humans in the pack stay pack leaders.(which will end the markings)(marking is not about being able to hold it, watch how many trees a dog can stop at to leave his scent trail.) Treadmills work great for busy moms. You can learn all about that in Ceasers books, "The Dog Whisperer" and he has a new one out, I'm not sure of the name of it yet, but it is about staying the pack leader. Please don't give up on the dogs, rivalry happens with them just as it does with older children. We don't give away our older children due to a new baby comeing home. Instead we learn how to fix the problem. Information is power. This too will pass. Good luck. PS Get a good steam cleaner when their are accidents. S.

1 mom found this helpful

You wouldn't get rid of your child if they were the one doing the peeing on the floor. So give it time like the other lady said your dogs will get use of your son and they will probably become best friends. I am a dog person, my two dogs are like my children and I would do anything for them as I would my kids.

I have 2 small dogs too. I rescued one of them. I find it very helpful to keep the bedroom doors closed at ALL times. They like privacy when they take care of there business. Or is it that they know we will get upset with them if we catch them?
It is also known that small dogs really hate the cold. During the day, I MAKE my dogs take care of there business every couple of hours. As for the night time. I have one dog that sleeps with me. My other dog (the one I rescued) has to be kenneled at night. He was always leaving me presents. He loves his kennel now. He knows when it is time for bed. I let him out for the evening and he runs into his kennel to go to bed. I provide him with a nice pillow to sleep on and he curles up and goes to sleep. I even have a hard time getting him to come out of his kennel in the morning to go out. Dogs will not go to the bathroom in there kennels. Just make sure that it's not to big of a kennel for the size of your dog. If the kennel is to big, then they will do there business in the kennel. My dogs are so small that I have used a cat carrier when traveling.
One more thing. If you have rugs in the bathroom or entry way, you may want to remove them. They don't usually go to the bathroom on a solid floor, but will always go on the carpet. It feels more like grass. The pet store has something called "No More Dog" that you can spray and they won't go in that area.
Good luck!
C.

Hi K.,
I'm sorry to hear about your problems with you dogs leaving "presents" for you. I have an 8 month old (as well as a 15 year old and a 12 year old) and a dog and 3 cats and have had some similar experiences with the adjustment to a baby and how our pets express their feelings about this. It is stressful for them and I guess they are trying to let us know this. My dog, thankfully hasn't left gifts like what you are getting (would be worse, he's a Samoyed) but he takes the baby's toys, etc.. and hides them in his "cave" behind the lazy boy chair regularly. The oldest cat is the one we have problems with urinating on things. I asked our vet about it and because of the cat's disposition (anxious by nature) we decided to try a medication that helps with stress so she'll relax more. It seems to be helping some, she hasn't been as bad lately. I still find cat pee once in awhile and was tempted to get rid of her because it's so hard to get rid of that odor, but she's family and we've had her so long I decided to try a variety of products to get rid of the smell/stains. I have used everything I can find and the ONLY thing that REALLY works for pet urine odor and stain removal is "pet magic" a product by Market America that you can order on line or through me, I liked their products so much that I started selling them myself. The best thing about this is that it's environmentally friendly, non-toxic and non-irritating and you can SAFELY use it around your pets and you baby...it won't hurt them. I spray the pet magic directly on my dog when he stinks (gets wet) and also sell nursery magic that takes care of baby smells without harm. They are natural enzymes that get rid of odors, not mask them. My daughter has asthma and she likes it because it doesn't bother her to spray it in the air, when she tried lysol or other deoderizers she coughs and complains that it still stinks and that didn't work, she prefers this. If you want to give the pet magic a try please call me or e-mail ###-###-#### ____@____.com and I can get you some (free shipping) OR you can order it directly off of my web portal: www.marketamerica.com/jendiehl and see a commercial about it on mamedia (maTV) or read more info. I would give this a little time and ask the vet about something to help them with their stress, it could help. Now the dog and my son are best friends, they get along so well and the cats are more tolerable of him too. My oldest cat is still sceptical and keeps her distance though. I think you can have pets and babies co-exist, but they need time to adjust. Every pet and child and situation is different though, if you keep trying to include the dogs and they just don't stop this behavior then maybe they'll have to go. Meanwhile, try the pet magic to deal with the mess that they leave for you to safely clean your home.
Thanks, hope to hear from you soon,
J. Diehl

Yuk... been there. Try crating them when your not at home. I crate one dog now <foster dogs have to be crated> and one that I used to crate because of accidents, then the other two have always been free in the house. Its a behavioral problem, you'll have to get culprit into a new pattern and routine... start from the beginning by crating and then letting him/her out when you get home. Then out to run in the house when your home and can control behavior.

I had 4 cats when my 4th child was born. They were not your normal antisocial type, they were my babies. My husband found them the in the backyard and they were minutes old. We took them in, bottle fed them, bathed them, watched them learn to walk the whole bit. When my 4th child was born two of them started spraying everywhere--on the counter, walls, clothes the whole house stunk. It was very very hard but I found them good homes and I am happy I did. I first looked at shelters but they would have been put down so I looked for an agency that would adopt them out. As far as I know, they are still with their new owners and are doing fine. I tried to get them to stop spraying by putting them in a time out away from the family, nothing worked I just was fed up with the mess and I wanted my clean house back more than I wanted the cats--but I did find them a good home. You can contact PAWS or look on line, post their pictures at the pet stores for a good home. Other than that, I think you will have to live with it. I was ready to turn our shed into a home for all of them but that would be no way for them to live so we decided to just place them in a new environment. I understand so well what you are going through, we were able to keep two of the four at least. I hope it works out for you somehow.
L.

You probably don't want to hear this, but what you need to do first is stop the dogs from accessing those places. They are choosing those spots for a reason- they are intimate, personal areas for you, your husband and baby. By going to the bathroom there, they are making a statement AND inserting themselves into the private world they feel they have been kicked out of. The dogs need to stay out of the babies room and your room unless you or your husband are in there.
Another thing, are they getting outside as much as they did pre-baby? Outside time usually equals tired dog which equals good dog.
Don't give up on the dogs and if all else fails, see a good trainer (I highly recommend Dan Morris in Livonia). Good luck.

Crate training, showing them lovingly that you are in charge, not them, continuing to give them attention, The Dog Whisperer is a good book to read. They seem to be marking their territory, but it's not theirs anymore. You can do this!

You could try crate training them and keeping them out of the bedrooms until they stop since it seems to center around the beds.

I wish you luck!

Do you have a crate?

Have you tried giving the dogs attention when the baby is NOT around. As much as you probably don't want to admit it - the dogs may be the ones leaving the mess, the baby is the root cause of it. Children need more attention when they are awake, thereby leaving you with more to do when they are sleeping, in the end removing some of that one on one attention from the dogs. We have 5 greyhounds, and it is amazing the lengths that they will go to if they start to get lonesome, fortunately they don't leave messes for that reason. Try setting some time aside every night, after your son is in bed, just for play time or cuddle time with the dogs and see if that helps.

We also limit our dogs to only in the living room when we are not at home or at night time. Because they are big dogs, they choose to destroy other things - trash, food on the counter, etc. This limits their space. We have found that they view the living room as their "bedroom" and do not leave it much during the day, to get a drink of water or go outside mainly. They also don't go to the bathroom in there - unless it's urgent and no one is home. If ther is a way that you can limit their day time location, when you are not home (make sure they can't destroy anything in there - including any chewing they may decide to do), that may help. Otherwise, maybe your vet has some suggestions as well.

I sympathize! I had a cat doing the exact same thing after my daughter was born, we eventually had to get rid of her (the cat not my daughter lol). One day she got right next to my daughter on the floor, looked at me and peed. A definite message! We tried everything, talked to the vet, had her checked for illness, sprays, plug-ins, etc to no avail. I think it's very hard on animals if they were your "babies" before the real baby was born! Seems like dogs are more trainable than cats, however. Maybe they need to see the baby as a dominant being instead of a peer? Good luck!

We have an 8 month old puggle and went through the same thing. We called Down River Dog Obedience and started her in classes. It gave us a chance to spend an hour a week that was JUST about her and it helped us learn to meet her needs without sacrificing our sons. Diane and Peggy are wonderful and I highly recommend them. They will also do private, in your home training as well. We did lots of work together with the baby too, so it brings the whole family into it. Good luck!

I never allowed our dogs into the babies room by putting up a baby gate. That way I knew there was always 1 safe clean place to put the baby down when i needed in a hurry.
Are they dong this when you are gone or while you are in the house.
Deficating and urinating are signs of seperation anxiety. There are a couple options. Crate them while you are out for their own safety ( so they don't eat something that could hurt them) or try a thing called rescue remedy that you can usually find at a health food store.
It sounds like they are having some dominance issues. They like to assert themselves as higher up the chain then the baby. When mine were babies I would put food treats in front of the baby ( while I held them of course) to show the dogs that the human baby gave them treats and ranked above them . ( i always made sure the baby was higher up then the dogs also so they saw a dominance even from the baby.
Just what I do
There is also a great book called dogproofing your baby or childproofing your dog (I can't remember which it is) it can help out a lot

WOW you have your hands full. A wife, homemaker, student, work, 2 dogs and a newborn. I also had a full load when younger,along with all the usual stuff I had 2 dogs, a cock-a-poo and a terrier. The little cock a poo never gave us a day of trouble, but the terrier did for the first year we had her. But I believe that a couple of things were going on with her, she had been an outside dog, and I housebroke her, and she wasn't sure about the love thing. She had to get use to us and to know that she was loved and would not be abandoned. But to get to your question, I would guide you to check out a radio talk show. Here in Michigan we receive it on CKLW am800. It is syndicated and you should be able to get it. I believe the name of the program is simply "The Pet Show" this is on Saturday midday here. He also will take email questions. And he has products that is suppose to help with the little gifts that your "blessings" leave for you. Or maybe your local vets office could help you. Have you check this out? I believe one on one time could also help.

If you have a fenced in yard, you could try leaving them outside for most of the day and only letting them in when you are there, otherwise, you could crate them when you are not there. When they go to the bathroom outside, make sure to give them treats. To save your carpet in the meantime, you can put down 'puppy pads' in the spots they usually go. Small dogs are very hard to housetrain, good luck.

K.,

First let me say, I don't have dogs (and I'm not particuly found of them). However, I do recall a few things the nurse told us in our child birth class. One of them was-- animals should not be allowed in the child's room. She advised starting to enforce this before the baby was born. Obviously it is too late for you to do that. But, maybe you can keep the door close, get a baby gate, do whatever so that the dogs know that is not there territory.

ARE THE DOGS CRATE-TRAINED? iF THEY AREN'T, PUT THEM IN A SMALL ROOM-KITCHEN, UTILITY ROOM, ETC. WHEN YOU LET THEM, PUT THEM OUT TO DO THEIR BUSINESS FIRST. LET THEM OUT WITH YOU AND THE BABY. WHEN THEY ARE OUT WITH THE BABY, REWARD THEM WITH TREATS SO THEY ASSOCIATE HIM WITH REWARDS. SOON THEY WILL BE LESS LIKELY TO BE JEALOUS AND LEAVE PRESENTS FOR FOR THE BABY/YOU. THAT MAY HELP WITH THE DOG WHO DOESN'T USUALLY LEAVE YOU GIFTS. I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THE OTHER ONE. GOOD LUCK!

If you are able to block off the areas where they are leaving their presents and keep an I on them, it may be helpful. They might have gotten into the habit of doing this by now and will keep doing it as long as there is access. Also, if you put them outside, try to watch and make sure that they are going potty before you bring them in. That way, you will know that you have a little bit of time before they will have to go again. My dog started doing this, but it was mostly because we weren't watching to make sure that she was actually going potty outside before she came back in (we have a doggy door). We fixed it by standing in front of the door and telling her to go potty if she ran out and tried to run back in. Now, all we do tell her to go potty and she's great.

Hope this helps.