Pooping in the House

Question
QUESTION: Sam is a 10 month old rottweiler with a very sweet disposition and good manners. Sam's story is a little long, but here goes... Sam belongs to my boyfriend, John who got him from a breeder at just 5 weeks of age, which I think is highly irresponsible of the breeder in the first place. Sam lived with John for three months, during which time Sam made every vet visit and vaccination required for puppies. Sam was also almost 100% housebroken by 4 1/2 months of age. At almost 5 months old, John, who is in the military, was deployed overseas for 3 months. During this time, Sam was taken in by our friends who have 2 full grown boxers and with whom Sam had been around many many times before John left. While Sam was with our friends, he had very few behavioral problems - only 3 house potty accidents. When John returned home, he took Sam back and was able to spend quite a bit of time with him. In the past two months since John has been back, he was absent for an additional 10 days, and Sam stayed with our friends again. After this, I moved in with John and Sam, bringing along with me my two full grown cats for only 2 weeks and then we all moved into a new house, where we've been for nearly 3 weeks. Sam seems to have regressed in the potty training arena in the 2 months since John has been back. In the beginning we thought he just wasn't used to having to hold it and go only when we took him out because when he was with our friends, he was outside in a fenced yard most of the day and he could go at his leisure. Now it's been getting worse and he'll go in the house just an hour after pooping outside. He's also un-neutered and has sprayed 1 time in the old house. His accidents are picking up pace and problem happen 4 or 5 times a week. We can't leave him alone without kenneling him and tonight he actually did it right in front of me. I don't know if this is irrational thinking, but sometimes I feel like he does it as an attitude thing, like I wouldn't let him come in the garage with me so he pooped in front of the door... I realize that he's been moved around a lot and it's probably not the best thing to have happened to him, but we are trying to reverse that and work with him. We just don't know what to do anymore and would really like some advice. Additionally, Sam has always been well socialized with people and other dogs and loves both. We also think he has separation anxiety from both John and I because he follows us into every room we go into and whines when he can't see us or be with us. Can you please give us some insight and advice?? We love him to death and we just wanna fix this problem.

ANSWER: Hi, Tessa,

How much hard vigorous playful exercise does Sam get every day? Does he get a chance to play with other doggies on a regular basis? Do you ever play fetch and tug with him? Do you scold or punish him when he makes mistakes? (Oftentimes a dog who craves attention doesn't care if it's positive or negative attention and some dogs will do something they know will cause you to yell at them.)

Sam's had a hard time adjusting to all these changes and has a lot of underlying nervous tension.

LCK

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: We try to take him out everyday for either a walk or to play fetch for awhile. Usually once a weekend we take him to a dog park or just a regular park. For the past 3 weeks he has only been around other dogs twice. When he poops on the floor we usually do scold him and send him to his kennel for a little while. Do we just keep being patient with him and get him as much physical exercise as possible?

Answer
Thanks for the info.

First of all it's not that unusual for a dog to still be learning the proper bathroom protocols up to a year. However, it seems clear that Sam has had some trouble adjusting to all these new living conditions.

One of the things that will help him adjust is lots of outdoor play, particularly with other dogs he likes. You should also play tug and fetch with him. When you play tug always let Sam win and praise him enthusiastically for winning.

I also recommend you have John hand feed him all his meals outdoors using what's called the pushing exercise. I've posted a link below. Basically you hold his food in one hand and as he eats you put your other hand very gently against his chest. It has to be done very gently so that he won't feel inhibited about eating from your other hand. As he starts to enjoy his meal you leave your other hand against his chest but pull the food hand back slightly so that Sam has to push into your other hand with his chest. As you help him build this skill over a few times you can get him to push harder and harder until you have to brace yourself while you do this, otherwise he'll knock you over! (That's one reason I suggested you have John do the exercise.)

If he's not eating from your hand, either because the food is all gone or because he's feeling insecure, immediately remove your other hand from his chest so that he doesn't feel any pressure there unless he's also feeling the pleasure of eating at the same time. The point of the exercise is that the harder he pushes into you while eating the more emotionally balanced he'll become as well. The more emotionally balance he is, the easier it'll be for him to re-learn his housebreaking lessons. That's because the basic reason he's making mistakes comes from his feelings of insecurity.

http://www.tiny.cc/SwimUpstream (pushing exercise)
         
http://www.tiny.cc/tug

http://www.tiny.cc/MythofTug

I hope my suggestions will help Sam out of his current dilemma.

LCK