Hi John,
My 3 year old, Molly is peeing and more recently pooping all over the house! Last July, I started to see puddles of pee at our back door. I eventually collected a pee sample from the floor and had it tested. They vet found nothing wrong. We were seeing pee at the back door and also the window ledges in our bedroom, the top of my dresser, the kitchen table. Molly was always trying to get outside any chance she could. Things seemed to get better for a while. Then my Mom came to visit and brought her cat. We kept the cats separated at all times. Before my Mom's visit was over I was seeing pee at the back door again, every day!
Thanks very much,
Andrea
Dear Andrea,
I'd say you've got a cat that is especially territorial by nature that became aware of another cat on or near the premises and started to leave pee-mails to let every one know of the intruder's audacity. To some cats uninvited guests are about as welcome as Michael Richards is welcome as parade marshal at the next million man march.
Cats that give up on the litter box generally do for three reasons; illness, dirty litter box (cleaning won't do, they have to be replaced) and territorial infringement. Note that Molly's soiling patterns are vantage or access points to the outside. Her trying to get outside is another clue. She wanted to go kick some kitty keester. Finally to add insult to injury rather then stand blindly loyal behind the supreme ruler of the household (her) you started cheating on her behind closed doors with another cat right in the catrimonial home. No big surprise here. The number one rule in the rules for living with humans that all cats must read before sharing themselves with us is, “If by your rules they do not play, make them pay, make them pay, make them pay.”
For a territorial cat being merely physically separated from a cat in the same house isn't really separation. It's like separating a man from his television remote and then putting him in front of a television he can't turn off that is locked on to the soap opera channel. He's not going to be thinking, “Oh well. At least I can't see it.” He may not start peeing and pooing all over the place but he'll raise a stink somehow.
I'm not sure why she would be pooping now too. It's not usual but maybe she's thinking you're not getting the message she's sending through her pee-mail maybe you'll pay more attention if she leaves some Poo-pouri as well.
Either way you'll have to find a way from discouraging other cats from coming onto your property and/or try denying visual access. If worse comes to worse you can set a live trap and if it's not a feral cat stick a collar on it with a note for it's owner informing them of the dismal life expectancy of cats allowed to roam neighbourhoods and a warning that next time they can bail the cat out at the shelter.
John Wade
www.johnwade.ca |
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 Hi John,
My 20 year old brother has an un-neutered 16 month old Argentine Dogo. I am beginning to feel uncomfortable in the house, as whenever I am around him as he becomes tense and the hair on his back raises. If I even so much as pet him the hair continues to raise, he begins staring and growling. In some rooms if I show up in the doorway, he stares, growls, bares his teeth and moves towards me in a threatening manner so I back off. He is over a very muscular dog, over a hundred pounds, and I would not stand a chance if he ever chose to attack. What is the answer to stop this behaviour. Becky Dear Becky, Good breeders and rescues know better then to sell even a Chihuahua to a boy of 18. Few are mature enough to provide for the needs of a dog. A breeder of Argentine Dogo would have to be insane to do so. For those that don't know what an Argentine Dogo is, picture a pit bull on steroids and then pretty much double it's size. Picture a dog bred to hunt wild boar and cougars. Magnificent in its courage but not your average pet. A while back the province I live in decided to make Pit Bulls illegal. I wondered at the time, “What do they think is going to happen? The young boy/men looking for courage on a leash are going to go out and buy hamsters? No, they'll find some other breed to ruin.”, and they have. Pit Bulls didn't spontaneously as a breed turn into slathering marauders. They'd been around for ages as a very stable breed and while many still are, they attracted breeders like this breeder with all the ethics of the American mortgage industry and enough owners that were on a first name basis with the local constabulary that their famed stability went down the toilet. Instead of holding the breeders and irresponsible dog owners accountable, some of the powers that be banned them while others held owners accountable. Guess which is working? The breeders or greeders as I call them and the “I have a pit bull because I can't afford a Harley” crowd have moved on to potentially more dangerous breeds that I estimate within 5 years will be in the news not for mauling but killing people. The truth is there are very few people with the ability to understand and commit to what it takes to keep an Argentine Dogo a responsible member of society but they do exist and I'll bet they're going to be just wild that some wannabe Argentine Dogo breeder is being so irresponsible because they know it will sooner or later cost them their dogs. In an amateur's hands this breed could easily become a gun with a brain and selling this dog to someone that hasn't even wore out his first disposable razor is as criminally negligent as selling him a handgun and throwing in a bottle of hooch to boot. As far as I'm concerned, you're in immediate danger. I'm not ignoring the possibility that training might make a difference but in this case forget it. Your brother is not the boy for the job. I predict that by the time that dog hits 18 months of age you or someone else will have made a trip to the hospital emergency. If I were you, either the dog goes or I would and I'm not kidding. Hopefully the breeding industry will band together against the greeder industry and self regulate because if they don't it's going to get done for them by the government and the radical animal rights groups; but it will be just a single regulation, “Illegal to Own.” Paw-sitively Yours, John Wade - www.dogtrainingwithjohnwade.com
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Hello Mr. Wade,
My daughter adopted a rescue dog a female Rottweiler/Doberman cross, about 2 years old. Stella adapted well, has been to 2 obedient courses and finished at the top of her class! My concern is that she is very dominant and recently had a situation while visiting my other daughter who has a very gentle 7 year old Doberman, "Isi”, who gets along well with other dogs, but can't seem to tolerate Stella. We went for a walk, let the dogs off leash to run and they got into a fight, where Isi bit Stella and my daughter needed help to separate them. She is also nervous walking her since she also lunges at vehicles and other dogs and is afraid to lose control and avoids confrontation. To top it off she wants to dominate my daughter and seems to want to protect her all the time. Can she be trained to be more sociable with other dogs and can she be trained to be off leash?
-Dini
Hi Dini,
I wish dog trainers would wake up and smell the dog poop. What passes for a dog training curriculum these days does little to keep dogs off the guests or the kitchen table, let alone heel and come in real life settings for that matter. If the “graduation” test can't be held on the street with real distractions they should be holding back those “top of the class” certificates for a while. There's no way a dog should have “graduated top of it's class” and have the owner in the next sentence say the dog, “is very dominant.”
I doubt Stella's trying to protect your daughter. Based on what you've relayed it's more likely she's trying to protect “her property” that being your daughter, in the same way you see a dog bristle up when someone goes near its food or toy. Provide the dog with a little clarity as to who's the teacher and who's the student and things change quickly.
Isi, probably didn't get along with Stella even though she gets along with other dogs because Stella is a goof and the elder was putting the junior in her place with a goofendectomy. As a rule, dogs don't fight, they argue or provide measured discipline to an underling. It doesn't make sense to injure each other as they need to be in tip top form in the wild to go hunting so they're wired to stop the aggression when the other acquiesces. Arguing vs fighting applies to dogs within an established social group i.e. a pack. Dogs meeting each other on the street or in the dog park for the first time can, depending on their nature have a different part of their genetics kick in and the consequences can be more dire. Some breeds have had the “self-restraint” bred out of them and it can be a fight to the death. There are a few other exceptions to the rule as well.
If you want Stella to play well with other dogs and have some off leash control she's going to need better training. Find another training school. One with balanced trainers that don't think that treats and time outs are all you need to train a dog. I don't know how sociable she can become with other dogs. It depends on her nature. I do know she can be taught to exert self-control around other dogs. As to the rest, I doubt it will take much; your daughter will just need to learn a bit about dog behavior as it works in the real world as opposed to a training arena and how to reward good behavior and discipline when bad behavior rears its head. Otherwise it won't be much of a life for either of them.
Pawsitively Yours
John Wade
www.johnwade.ca |
Hey John,
I am having some problems with my 8 month old boxer. He is always digging holes in the back yard and eating the garbage.
-Thanks Vanessa
Hi Vanessa,
I often mention Nature's Template when I write about dogs and one of the chapters right at the front of Nature's Template's book is the need for supervision of non-adults by adults. The chapter name is “Kids Don't Raise Themselves”. Whether it's a dog, wolf, ape or human being there must be supervision of our youngsters from birth to young adulthood or consequences will be suffered. Once in a while everyone's child will sneak under a parent's radar and get into some mischief; like once my mother caught my three year old brother brushing his teeth in the toilet. It only happened once so no real harm done other then he grew up to have a really bad potty mouth.
If we unplug the radar entirely, what was “just mischief” becomes a bad habit. If your dog is digging holes, and getting into the garbage, you're not supervising him according to his maturity. For some reason we treat young dogs as if they have some sort of innate ability to know the rules and then are surprised when they bark madly in the yard or at the window, eat garbage at every opportunity, or dig holes etc. When dogs, wolves, apes, humans etc. diligently supervise their youngsters, its purpose isn't supposed to wreck their freedom, it's supposed to wreck their freedom to make mistakes so they can enjoy freedom and success once they are adults.
Supervision doesn't only mean being in the same room as your dog. Your dog can be laying at your feet, you might even be petting the dog but if the doorbell rings and the dog can get to the door before you can get to the dog that's not supervision. That's a dog that sooner or later acts like a clown or a bodyguard when someone comes to the door. Stick a leash on your dog in the house and a lunge line out in the yard (and be there with him) and into the crate if you're really spread too thin and do that until your dog is an adult. You'll end up with one of the happiest best trained dogs in the neighbourhood even if you never step foot into a training centre. My dad used a leash on me until I moved out of the house except it came in the form of “Where are you going? When are you coming home? Who are you going to be with? What's the phone number for where you're at?” It's not about whether he trusted me, it's about maturity. There's nothing the matter with your dog at all other then his mother thinks he's gifted and doesn't need her guidance.
A dog depending on breed and blood lines isn't an adult until it's 18 months to 3 years of age. Diligent supervision for that long can be a pain in the butt, but you bought the dog now you have to raise it. It's not so bad though. With the leash it's easier for you to multi-task and after a few days the dog stops trying to sneak away to gulp some garbage as what you see as a leash dragging on the floor, he sees as eyes in the back of your head and he'll throw in the towel and amuse himself in more positive ways.
Pawsitively Yours
John Wade
www.johnwade.ca
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Dear John,
I adopted a now two year old cocker spaniel/poodle mix and he's just wonderful, loving and full of life for me, my husband and most people. There is, however, one problem I am having and that's with small children. I don't know if it's just that he's rambunctious or what but I have some trouble controlling his unacceptable behaviour. He also likes to go after bicycles and skateboards. As for children, my friend has a 10 year old daughter that he tries to go after. He doesn't do this with her 14 year old daughter, just her. What can I do to stop these unacceptable behaviours?
Thank you.
Mary C.
Dear Mary,
I have a series of questions I like to ask people when I'm doing an assessment. “Does your dog come?” A common answer is, “Yes” but sometimes qualified by “Except around squirrels/dogs/cats.” Another is, “Is your dog aggressive?” A common answer is,”No.”, but when pressed often qualified by, “Except if you touch its feet/toy/food.” To me those are yes or no questions, sort of like if you were to ask me, “John, is your girlfriend faithful? If I were to reply, “Yes; when I'm home.” or “Unless the Leafs are in town.” (The closest they're ever going to get to scoring.”) You might think I didn't hear the question clearly.
It's possible that your dog's not aggressive towards children but instead is, as you say “rambunctious” but it wasn't clear if there's a distinction between what he's doing with the children and the bikes/skateboards and you say “likes to go after” which to me implies aggression. There's also the distinction he's making between the 10 year old and the 14 year old which is something that dogs that weren't properly socialized to children often do. It may be nothing more then unruliness but I agree you do need some help and sooner rather then later. Nevertheless, I don't want this to be a situation where we're saying, “My dog isn't aggressive, unless it's around children or bikes or skateboards. There are too many of each around to work around long term so find yourself a balanced trainer to do a risk assessment.
These sort of odd behavioural distinctions are almost always the result of poor socialization which ironically more often then not, are the result of dog trainers and vets telling people to take puppy socialization classes. If there aren't a whack of children, skateboards, bicycles, thunderous overhead sound, vacuums etc. incorporated into the class, it's not a socialization class. It's a play date or a training class at best. In my how-to book and lectures about puppy socialization I say if we equipped breeders and dog owners with the knowledge as to what proper socialization is and some tips on how to do it we'd save dogs and dog owners a world of hurt. It's that big of a deal. It could be done in an hour and all that time spent going to what passes for puppy socialization classes would be better invested actually getting out and doing the job. That is not to say getting a dog into training young is a bad idea but training and socialization are two very different things. Professionals need to educate themselves and make the distinction to their clients. All will benefit.
Pawsitively Yours,
John Wade
www.johnwade.ca |
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