*&^%$$^^ dog

[purr]

Why does my dog HAVE to shit on things that are on the floor? Ie, if thers a blanket, she'll guarantee to shit on it, pillows, clothes, etc.. whatever. Even my comforter got shit on because part of it was on the floor. This is driving me up the wall. Shes over a year old and this is becoming quite nasty.

I have to constantly check the kids room to see if theres something on the floor.. if she goes into the laundry room she'll find something just to shit on. I've started to have enough of this. Any ideas??

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. Yeah..let her out for regular intervals and especially after meals

Dogs need to shit

[Shell Beau]

2. Potty training! That dog needs to be trained to go outside.

[purr]

3. SHE IS!!!!

She is completely house trained except if something is on the floor. like I said the only time she does it is if something cloth is laying on the floor.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

4. Sounds like she wasn't so much trained to go outside as...

trained not to go on the bare floor.

[purr]

7. ???

how is that possible?

[Shell Beau]

9. It is possible. Trust me.

[purr]

10. how do I stop it?

I threw away yet another shirt last night. I never trained her to shit on things, only outside. I never even used piddle pads or newspaper.

[Shell Beau]

12. Does she pee too on things on the floor?

[purr]

13. No. only poos.

[DS1]

18. You have an odd definition of completly housetrained

:shrug:

[skygazer]

5. Need more info before I could throw out ideas

How did you housetrain her? What do you do when she shits on the floor? What is her daily routine in so far as going out for walks or whatever?

I would suggest, on what you've written, a couple of things. First of all, to take her outside frequently - if you can avert these things before they happen, so much the better. I'd take her out even every half hour at first and praise her lavishly if she went. Time consuming but better than having her go all over your stuff.

I'd also use a crate. Since she's out of control in so far as shitting goes, I'd pop her in a crate after the walk. Dogs are reluctant to soil their bed (they'd rather soil yours).

Structure and routine are very helpful in establishing good habits though it's harder to get rid of bad habits. It takes a lot of time and reinforcement.

[purr]

6. When I first got her last year

She had her accidents.. but around 6-7 months she stopped having the accidents. We take her out constantly.. If its nice I'll put her outside for an hour. I always took her out every hour and she goes each time.

She does go in her crate at night. I'm going to have to put her in more often.

She also primarily does this when I leave to do errands. I found a nice pile in my laundry room after I was done trick or treating with the kids last night.

If theres absolutely nothing laying on the floor - she wont do it.

[miss_kitty]

8. Spite Shitting!

too bad!

[purr]

11. ???

I'm lost

[skygazer]

14. They will do that

When they're mad at you for something. My dog used to do it right in front of the door when I left the house so when I came home, I'd step right in it. :grr:

Dogs aren't as dumb as people think.

edited to add - I see by one of your posts that she does it when you leave the house. Put her in the crate every time you leave. Then take her outside as soon as you get home. Greet her lavishly - a lot of times, it's insecurity and separation anxiety. Dogs don't really get the concept of you coming back - you leave and they don't know if you're going to come back or not. If you're consistent about greeting her and taking her outside, that may help.

[purr]

15. ewww!!! how did you stop it??

[skygazer]

17. see edit

[miss_kitty]

16. shitting out of spite

it sounds like your dog is mad when you leave him at home to go on errands. Stell did some spite shitting and pissing after a bath one time. I let her know how unhappy I was. I had to clean my KING -SIZED down comforter two times in one week. :grr:
She's pooped in the house twice since then, but it was my fault-which reminds me-I must take her out now!

[purr]

20. I got it after a bath too... as well as when the pet shop was out

of her regular food and I HAD to get something. She let me know she didnt like it.

I dont get it.. she wont pee only poo in the house. I dont know which one would be worse.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

22. Dealing with spite shitting is challenging but can be done

My dog did it with peeing...I had to be punitive in the moment I caught him which meant paying attention to him...and give him a strong "BAD"

When I sent him outside and he did his business outside, I had to lavish him with praise.

Also, dogs are pack animals. If she shits in the house and you catch her, alienate her from the rest of the house (kids etc) Sooner or later they learn unacceptable behaviors get them removed from the pack and acceptable behaviors earn them praise from the pack

[purr]

23. I'm going to have to try the pack thing..

That sounds like it might work. She does get praises when she goes out and a loud BAD when I DO catch her - not often since she does it primarily when I'm out.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

24. as the other poster said, crate her when you are out

she may simply be afraid in a huge home with nobody there

[purr]

25. Will do that..

I never thought it was a big deal putting her in there at night because she sleeps all night.. I kinda feel bad for putting her in there during the day but its better than throwing away perfectly good clothes!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

26. As long as she has water she will be ok

the other thing you can do is close her in a bathroom with NO rugs on the floor. My dog gets closed in a back bedroom when I am gone as he gets anxiety from being in the yard. He will hold his water for a long time and is much more calm when I come home (but always glad to see me and ready to run out the door and pee a river)

[miss_kitty]

28. She peed where we both sleep and pooped on the floor

at the foot of my bed. I woke up to the fait accompli. What I did do was show it to her (didn't put her in close contact), and asked "WTF is that?" I found the poop later. She was in purgatory already (sofa, head down) and I came bursting out of the bedroom with the offending stuff in a paper towel and asked "WTF? WTF is this?" Then the cold shoulder. It worked well.

[purr]

29. I could imagine that lol...

"HEY DOG WTF IS THIS??!?!!?" omg I'm cracking up here.. thanks for the laugh :)

Since she was abused as a pup if you go after her like that she'll run like hell and hide. I cant do that.

[miss_kitty]

31. Stella was abused too

and it's like someone in this thread said about their pup-"no" could well sound like "I'm going to beat the shit outta you"

But I've trained her to realise a sharp tone is not followed by a beating. But yeah-she was well frightened by that outburst, and I felt very bad because she did cringe. But it was another demonstration to her that I can be pissed, speak sharply, but she is not going to get creamed.

And she still does some whale-eyed skittling, when she knows she's been avoiding the "No Bark!" command. But I don't even get mad at her for that-I just keep telling her "No" and praise her when she stops. She gets better every day. :)

[A HERETIC I AM]

27. Make her lay down on things on the floor.

Make her lay and stay on various items in various places around the house. Make her stay for a while, too. The impulse to not poop where they sleep is very strong with dogs and if you train her to think of the entire house and all the things in it as a place where she sleeps, she'll not want to poop there.

Once when i moved into a new place, my dog pooped in the living room. I cleaned it up and then made him lay down in the living room and stay till he started snoozing. He never pooped inside again.

[philosophie_en_rose]

19. one of my dogs did that.

I have three, so determining the guilty party was difficult.

Dog #1: Older, smarter -- possible spite
Dog #2: Younger, dumb as rocks -- possibly just not smart enough to distinguish house from not house
Dog #3: Smart, middle aged -- too finicky, would never do it.

Caught Dog #2, when Dog #3 barked at him and I caught the little dog in the act. Dog #2 acted like he didn't know what the hell was going on and cringed and ran away.

I'm having a difficult time with him, because he was abused and he doesn't know the difference between outside and inside or stern "no" and "i'm going to beat you."

[purr]

21. Mine was a shelter dog that was abused too..

Took a lot of training to get it out of her that I wasnt going to beat the crap out of her.

[Whoa_Nelly]

30. Could she be acting out because of the new little one in your home?

Pack mentality is about who is the Alpha in the pack. Maybe your precious arrival this past August has created a need for her to show you who is the Alpha kid in the pack.

Crating her, lavishing praise upon greeting her and letting her outside, may have the effect you want in getting her to stop this behavior. You may want to crate her even when you are home, letting her out for limited periods of time, always ending up with outside time coupled with praise and attention, and then move to allowing her greater time outside the crate as her behavior goes toward extinction.

Good luck!

PS
If you do crate her, don't use the crate as punishment for her defiant behavior. She should be "banished" for a period of time to outside when she chooses to take a dump in the house. Then, when she comes back inside, you can crate her and go back to limited time outside the crate when in the house.