My dog is regressing!

Lieja

Argh!

My malamute sleeps in our utility room at night. Don't worry - we don't have any utilities in there so he has the place to himself!

He's recently evolved to open doors, which I'm actually quite impressed with. Especially as his door opens into the room and has a door knob rather than a handle!

Anyway, normally this wouldn't be much of an issue as he seems to restrict his chewing to mainly useless things that I don't mind chucking. However, he's also taken to doing his business (and I mean all of it!) on my kitchen floor. He's 16 months old and housetrained since a pup, so why is he regressing?!

I honestly think he does it just to wind me up!

Thankfully we're moving house soon so the set up will be different and hopefully he'll be content to sleep in the kitchen, but it's not really possible here because it's all open plan and he obviously thinks the kitchen is the yard

Help!

krlyr

First port of call for sudden behaviour changes would be, for me, to think about any changes to his routine that could have upset him. You mention moving - have you changed your house around to sell it? Packed things away ready to move? Been stressing about the move, taken days off work, had to let viewers in etc.?

I would also prioritise a vet check to rule out a medical cause, for example a urinary tract infection can cause a loss of toilet training.

Could he possibly be suffering separation issues? A dog may desperately try to escape (figuring out the door knob - check), destroy things in their anxious state, and toilet from the stress. Has he shown any distress at being left alone before?

Lieja

All I've done to the house is emulsion the sitting room. We're renting so no viewings or anything, and haven't event started thinking about packing yet!

He's been sleeping on his own since he was a pup so he surely can't be getting upset about it now?

All that's changed is that he's no longer allowed into the garden alone (he used to spend a lot of time in the garden and would live out there full time if I let him!) because he's taken to demolishing the fence and running off. We've had one side of the fence entirely replaced, but he's always finding a new way out so I've just taken to supervising him at all times. Thankfully the new house has a walled yard as well as a huge garden, so he can be in the yard unsupervised. Im currently spending all my spare time outside with him, and take him for a run in the morning, a long walk during the day and another run before bed.

I'm planning to have him neutered soon, which will hopefully help reduce his escape attempts and settle him at home a little more. But I know this won't 'calm' him or anything and it won't be until after the move anyway.

I wonder if it is stress. He's a very 'emotional' dog, if that makes any sense at all? I know we all give our animals human traits but he definitely huffs and sulks if he doesn't get his way, and I'm pretty sure he knows that certain things are 'naughty' and does them just to get a reaction!

joansgirl

My friend has a malamute and he toilets in the house given half a chance, especially on the carpet. He only does it when left alone. Their solution is to restrict him to the tiled areas with no access to the carpeted areas unless somebody is indoors. It's been a long time since he did anything indoors, the last time was when her husband was last to go to bed and didn't shut the lounge door so he crapped on the carpet. He spends most of his time outside anyway, even in the cold. These are very social dogs and do suffer from separation anxiety when apart from their "pack", human or otherwise.

Lieja

I think you're probably right joansgirl - malamutes are a law unto themselves and I really don't expect to be able to 'train' him out of it. I'd just like to understand what's going on because I don't want him to be unhappy, and he's good at letting me know and looking cute so I feel guilty for not letting him take over the whole house.

Set up at the moment is utility room (tiled), door, and then open plan kitchen (lino) and straight into carpeted sitting room. Strangely he never does his business on the carpet thank god, but he has no qualms about walking through his puddles onto the carpet and I really don't want him getting into a habit that we can't break in the new house, where the kitchen will be his room. The new house has a cream carpeted sitting room, so I'm really hoping he doesn't work that door out!

I've had another thought - I've recently bought and started using a dogmatic because walks were becoming miserable. He doesn't particularly like it (although it's my new favourite thing!) and I'm wondering if that might have upset him? He still gets off lead in the same places, and actually gets longer walks because I don't fall out with him and drag him home halfway through the walk anymore, but maybe he just really loved dragging me about and is upset that he can't anymore?

joansgirl

If you can't stop him opening the door the only other thing I can suggest is crating him. It would have to be a bloody big crate though! And he'd probably be woo wooing all night!

krlyr

Lieja wrote: »

I wonder if it is stress. He's a very 'emotional' dog, if that makes any sense at all? I know we all give our animals human traits but he definitely huffs and sulks if he doesn't get his way, and I'm pretty sure he knows that certain things are 'naughty' and does them just to get a reaction!

Do try to look at these behaviours as dog behaviours, not human ones. If he's 'sulking', is he possibly ill or in pain? If he is 'being naughty' for attention, perhaps he is not getting enough physical or mental stimulation (it's not just about long walks, but engaging the brain, and giving a breed like a Malamute enough of a job to make them feel like they've done a day's work!).


It sounds like between stopping his pulling, and stopping the unsupervised garden time, he may be burning off a little less exercise. Not that I'm suggesting you restart either of them, but how about replicating them in a more suitable way.

Would you be interested in Cani-X or bikejoring, where you can effectively teach him to pull you along (you use a specific harness for this, so he knows when he should pull and when he shouldn't)?

How about giving his outdoor time a purpose - I would still supervise him, but you could watch from a window whilst he sniffed out his dinner that you've scattered on the lawn, or chews a meaty bone out there, or digs in a sandpit you've provided him with. Being out there on his own, he's learnt to amuse himself, by finding a way out. If his garden trips involve either interaction from you, or an environment he can interact with, he's less likely to seek his own entertainment.

Seperation anxiety can develop in adult dogs too, so I wouldn't rule it out completely. Mine developed it at 5-ish, as a result of hypothyroidism.

Lieja

I would love to train him into bikejoring, but I've been trying since he was a pup to get him under control with commands when walking but he's just so excitable about absolutely everything that he still won't even heel when I tell him. I would be terrified taking him out with a bike as he'd be off like a shot if there was another dog nearby and I'd be dragged along behind with no way of stopping him!

He does have a lot of energy and I'd love some fun ways of burning this off so I'll definitely look into it. He goes crazy off lead so I let him off as much as I can although I can only do this is certain places or I'll never get him back!

krlyr

Might be worth seeing if you have some local groups where you could learn from those with experience. They're strong dogs so there must be some way to harness the energy but maintain some control! I'm on a few breed-specific groups on Facebook, so that could be something to try. Lots of breed-specific forums too

huskypup

I have a husky and a a malamute - and they have the attention spans of gnats, they will chew, dig, unlock doors (very good at that) and can clear a 6ft fence in one bound, they are also rubbish off lead - though we can do it with my old husky - more to the fact he is 12 and we can probably run as fast as him now - lol.

They are very intellient and need to be stimulated also if not exercising off leads they need to either run on a training lead or extentable - we have kongs filled with frozen peanut butter or frozen food (I can warm kibble so it goes mushy then press it in then freeze). They also have at least 3 walks of 2 - 3 miles a day - some on very long leads so they can run to wear themselves out.

We have also trained to use the word wee wee at night time which is the start of the bedtime routine - when we say that they both automatically get up and go to the back door, we have a different bed time for sleeping as to the daytime - they knew when the big blue duvet (spoiled I know) comes out that means sleep time. Our also sleep in the utility room.

They are very sociable dogs are do better in a group, we have had huskies and moots for 20 years and have never had less than 2.

Sled dog rescue facebook page is brilliant for information as it SHWA page on facebook.

We did have one husky that used to open the oven door and pull the trays out and throw them on the floor to get our attention if she did need a wee at night time - she would also open the dishwasher door to stand on it to look out of the window as she couldnt see where as the large male could.

My mally is very excitable and we just stand still and turn the other way when he is starts pulling.

Ah I love Mallys and huskies xxxx

phill99

Toileting in the house when alone is a typical sign of separation anxiety. The dog doesn't like to be left in the house alone.