Separation Anxiety

[mami1323]

I have a 2 year old pit bull.  He used to belong to my fiance's brother and he gave him to us when he was about 1 years old.  I think he was taken from his mother too young but the problem is whenever we leave the house he goes to the bathroom in the house.  He doesn't have a problem holding it because when we are there we only walk him once in the morning and once in the evening.  It's only when we leave.  He gets so upset that he howls.  How can I get him to stop this behavior, he's ruining our hardwood floors?

[stangshelly]

yes you can buy skunk off at petsmart or your local pet store. It works great for hard to kill odors,trust me I've had to use it for skunks that sprayed my dogs 2 times. As for the seperation anxiety try to get him really tired, and the pet stores carry herbal relaxants that may help. I trained a pit bull and boy he was a sweetie!

[vsentz]

holly cow! i didn't know there was medication for doggies!!! (anxiety) that is great! i might ask the vet about it.......=)
Maggie is getting better and better.....still has bad days when she gets the phone and chews on it.....or stuff laying around....but it's something WE can control, but at least she hasn't had those 'pee' days where she would potty 4 times in a day in the house just 'because'.......(i still think it's a pay back for when we used to put her in the crate...) now, she walks by herself to the crate (along with some treats of course;) ) and is not too happy about it, but she has held her bowels so well!!!! she sleeps well at night and boy, she is just a little human sometimes.......she's my baby girl.....such a sweet little face......(specially cute when i wash her face after a muddy play outside and she squints her eyes and starts sneezing......so cute!!!)

[mami1323]

It's weird because all it takes is 5 minutes to leave and come back and there is a mess.  It could be as little as a second to throw the trash in the incinerator and there he is squatting or lifting a leg.  It's so frustrating because he will even do it if my mom is there with him.  He has irritable bowl syndrome so I'm afraid to give him medications.  We spent thousands of dollars on getting him well.  He almost died on us a couple of times.  He is the sweetest pitbull in the world and I love him to death...I just want him to stop going to the bathroom in the house.  I will try the 5 minutes in and the 5 minutes out and see if that helps.  It's rough because I work 9 hour days and my fiance is in and out of the house throughout the day because of his work so it becomes confusing for him.  Plus I am pregnant and I don't want our floors to be disgusting when my child starts crawling and laying all over the floor.  I wanted to nip this in the bud before the baby is born.

[murphy8481]

We adopted my puppy (Golden Retriever) when she was four months old. We actually were not going to adopt, it was really bad timing, but we felt so bad for her, she had spend over two months in a cage. After we adopted her, she had never touched grass before, it was so sad. However, for the first six weeks or so, she was the BEST dog ever. We bought a crate, but did not use it, she was sooooo good. We were redoing our bedrooms and had everything we owned in the living room. She never touched anything, NOTHING, she was sooooo good. Then everything turned around. She gained an attachment with us, which apparently was the first time that she had ever been attached to anyone. Anyhow, she started going to the bathroom in the house and she would eat it to clean up after herself. Apparently, she was ashamed. Anyhow, this behavior progressed into her destroying everything in site. She killed the couch, the table, the coffee table, the end table, the wood floors, the throw carpet, everything!!!  Eventually, she started chewing the walls, I am not kidding, the walls. Anyhow, we talked to a behavior specialist and tried every technique they provided us and I am a psychotherapist, so I had so behavior modification techniques of my own. We tried giving her a room, we tried crating her, but nothing was helping. If we crated her, we would have to give her a bath everyday because of the feces and urine.  It was bad, nothing was working, this went on for about three or four months, so we went to medication. The medication has been sooo helpful, not perfect, but very helpful. With the medication and the behavioral techniques, she is great now. She is so smart, she learns tricks with one attempt, soooo smart. We had her go through positive reinforcement training and she caught on so quick. The smartest dog I have ever met!!!  Such a good girl!!!  Well, now she has been on medication for the past few months and everything is better!!  I high recommend medication if it gets out of control and you have tried all other options, it was the only option that was helpful for us!!!  Good Luck!!!

[lizs]

Hello,
My dog was the same way when I got her.  (She has since died.)  I called the doggie shrink and she said to leave the house for 5 min and walk back in.  Slowly add 5 min. on and walk back in.  That way your dog will realize you will always come home.  

You can also try to giviing him a lot of excersice before you leave.  Get him so tired that all he will do is sleep.  

I now have a chocolate lab who is great.  As he started getting bigger, I would block off the kitchen with his crate open so he could go in and out of his "house".  He had the run of the kitchen.  This worked very well.

I hope this helps.

Good Luck!!!

[mami1323]

Can I purchase skunk off at a local pet store?

[stangshelly]

try an herbal relaxant or a benadryl. It helps to calm them and they sleep while your gone. try to also small trips then extend to longer periods of being gone. for the smell skunk off works well.

[mami1323]

We tried the crating thing, he breaks out.  I don't think there is a cage strong enough to hold this dog.  One time it was so bad that I put a combination lock to hold him in and he wound up breaking the crate and getting stuck because the cage bent and got the lock into some weird position.  It was a nightmare trying to get him out.  Even when he was sick and had a biopsy, the vet's office called us and told us we had to come pick him up because he keeps getting out of the cage.  He was supposed to spend the night for observation but they were afraid that he would hurt himself.  They said that those cages were stainless steel and were impossible to break out of.  Leave it to my dog to do that.  He's good about the furniture, he doesn't destroy it, it's just the peeing and craping that is a nightmare.  Our floors smell also, no matter how many times I mop.  It is terrible.  He also pees on beds if a door is open to a room and noone is there.  We have to close all the room doors if we are not home.  I feel like writing Ceasar Milan, the dog whisperer...LOL.

[vsentz]

mami, i had the exact same problem with my doggie (boxer) she'd throw a fit and just PEE even if we would take 15 minutes and she had just emptied her bladder right before we'd leave........so, we knew it was just a 'fit'!
Then, it went further to a destroying behavior......she ripped my brand new couch's cushions and she'd knock my plants down....and eat the furniture legs......it was a night mare!! my hard wood floors still smell to this day!!! but we decided it was not worth it and we crate her.........she didn't like that at the begining but with time she's getting used to it and now without even 'dragging' her to the crate, she walks to it and accepts her treat (she wouldn't even, before!!!).........she holds it now a lot better while we are out.....(she would still pee in the crate).......and i put her bowl of food in the place she would 'mark'......and her blankets all over the crate, that way she doesn't have a choice......
we also designated a room for her.......we cannot keep her in the living room by herself or she'd rip every little item in there....so, when she needs to run and 'destroy'....and it's too cold outside, we just put her in there and she actually doesn't pee in it...that means she likes it!! lol =)

Good luck to you!!!!