Need Help

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pizzalady

New Member
Over the past weekend I responded to an ad for a Chi/Doxie mix. Well I went on Sat to look at her, and the living conditions she was in was horriable. They said when they got her she had come from a home that had beat her. Personaly I think they some beating too. So needless to say I could not let her stay there. So I brought her home and she does seem like she is going to be a great dog. She is attached to me like GLUE. lol And she is okay with the kids, they are trying to understand where she came from was not a very loving home, and she needs to adjust.
They also told me what food they fed her, that she had her shots, was not agressive, didn't have flea's and was house trainned. Let me tell you, all of the above does apply to her. They were not sure on how old she was but were guessing 1- 1 1/2 years. She is not eating her food at all and I have tried 3 diffrent kinds, but she will eat table food. I don't want to continue with the table food, but she has to eat. The shots and fleas I can deal with at the vet. But the reason I wanted dog not a puppy is because I don't do well with potty training. We just bought a new house, and the hubby is throwing a fit about her going potty inside. When I take her outside to go we are like out there for atleast 15 min and she still will not go outside. She does not come right in and pee but she is not even trying to go outside. And I do get up atleast 2 times in the middle of the night to take her out. What should I do, about the potty trainng and her not eating? Any advise would be wonderful. Thanks
 
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dems4me

Guest

I find that praise to a dog goes a long, long way to their little hearts. Generally they always try to please. Next time the dog starts to go potty in the house pick her up in progress put her outside and praise her for being outside. Take her out for more than 15 minuete intervals and when she does go out there praise her overabundently. Or maybe you can carry some dog messings from inside the house and put it outside so she can smell it out there and know this is where she is to go to the potty. If the dog was abused, I'd bet money that it was because they were unable to housetrain the dog themselves and they beat it. So there's a chance the dog is thouroughly confused on anything associated with being housebroken. Also, as you get to know the dog better you can probably start recognizing your dog's "signs" before it goes and can expedite her to the outdoors. Good luck, most importantly, try to have patience and I'll pray for patience for your husband for that poor little dog.
 
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Katie

Guest
Do you have her in a crate? If you don't have a crate get one, that really helps with the housetraining. When you take her out of the crate, take her right outside, and give her 15 minutes to go potty. If she doesn't go potty, bring her back inside and put her back into the crate. Give her 15 minutes, and take her back outside again.

She also is probably very scared right because there has been many changes in the household.
 
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pizzalady

New Member
Thanks for all the help. I really didn't want to put her in a crate because she cries when I close the door to go to the bathroom. lol And she is only doing it at night when we are sleeping or when we are not home. So catching her is going to be a bit hard. I will have patience and my hubby would not hurt her in anyway.

No the food issue, I am going to try canned wet food to see if that will help?
 
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Mr. Blue Eyes

New Member
Start with crate training her. Most dogs will not go where they sleep. The crate may also help to calm her down as this will be her space. For the food problem try mixing some table food with her dog food and gradually change the percentage till it is all dogfood. To house train her you should always feed her on a regular schedule and immediately following eating take her outside until she goes. This may take awhile but she will eventually make the association. A trick to making them go when you take them outside is to walk her in tall grass that reaches her belly. The grass hitting her belly stimulates the need for her to go. Consistency is the key to training a dog to do anything. She obviously has not had that in her life and is confused at this point. Also she has already started to train you at this point. If you let her deviate at all from your schedule then she is the one who is doing the training. Keep her on a schedule of your making and it will become second nature to her. It will definitely take some time to change her already learned behaviours but you will be well rewarded with a happy dog who knows what is expected of her. The extra effort put forth now will pay off for years to come. Good Luck.
 
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starr

Guest
Basically she will eat when she gets hungry enough. You probably shouldn't continue with the table food or she will hold out for that instead of eating her own food. She is obivously a dog with some baggage so she may not eat right away. I adopted my dog when she was 6 and it took her a few days to start to eat. It took her about a month to play and she was never abused. Just make sure you get a healthy food like Iams or Pedigree. Hope everything works out for ya :huggy:
 
Bogart

Bogart

New Member
Many dogs stop eating when they change homes, don't worry. You need to set a food schedule and only offer food at those times, probably either once a day or twice a day. She will eat when she 'remembers' that she is hungry. Offer clean fresh water ALL THE TIME.

Dogs will need to potty after a sleep and after a meal. Take her outside at these times. Stay with her until she does her business, lavish w/ praise etc. Do not punish her if she goes in the house. Likely she will not even know why she is being punished, and if she does this wil just make her not potty AROUND YOU. Any weird pacing/snooting behavior may indicate imminent urination, take her outside. Do not feel bad about kenneling her when you leave the house if she is untrustworthy.
 
teverheart2002

teverheart2002

...
Bogart said:
Many dogs stop eating when they change homes, don't worry. You need to set a food schedule and only offer food at those times, probably either once a day or twice a day. She will eat when she 'remembers' that she is hungry. Offer clean fresh water ALL THE TIME.

Dogs will need to potty after a sleep and after a meal. Take her outside at these times. Stay with her until she does her business, lavish w/ praise etc. Do not punish her if she goes in the house. Likely she will not even know why she is being punished, and if she does this wil just make her not potty AROUND YOU. Any weird pacing/snooting behavior may indicate imminent urination, take her outside. Do not feel bad about kenneling her when you leave the house if she is untrustworthy.
Click to expand...

:yeahthat: Also, when I got my dobie the food, and the new situation, upset her tummy, I had to feed her cooked rice and hamburger meat for a couple of days to settle her tummy and then I started mixing it with the food that I wanted her to eat.
 
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pizzalady

New Member
Well, she did extremely well yesterday she went 1 time in the house all day, and not at all last night. I bought her wet can food and mixed it with the dry food and she went to town! I only feed her once in the morning, and once at night and last night and this morning took her out both times and she peed, but no #2. I put her in the bathroom with a baby gate at the opening of the door, and I hope she does okay. Thanks again for all your helpful advise!!
 
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Sugarhill

New Member
sorry to sound dumb but what is a Chi/Doxie mix? Also, how has things been going with the dog and your husband? You mention the prevoius owners said she was not aggresive, is she?? Just been thinking about the dog and wondering how things were going? :confused:
 
hvp05

hvp05

Methodically disorganized
Mr. Blue Eyes said:
Start with crate training her. {snip...} The extra effort put forth now will pay off for years to come. Good Luck.
Click to expand...
Very solid response; I was about to add all of what he said. Crate training, praise and consistency are the keywords. Direct her what to do instead of what not to do. She likely would dislike being in a crate, but rest assured she will not suffer. There are a plethora of good books and websites on the standard procedure to follow for best results.

As for food, dry food is hands-down the preferred choice. Pound for pound your dog will get much more nutrition from kibble than a lump of meat-like substance. Many folks don't feed it at all, but it can be okay as an occasional treat, or as a tool to coax your pet onto dog food as mentioned previously.

To expound on the nutrition issue, the best guidance can be found by looking at the ingredients list of a given food. Lower-quality brands (a.k.a. "grocery brands") always base their foods on yellow corn or corn meal. What happens when you eat corn? It goes straight through you; no nutritional value whatsoever. The same goes for your dog/cat. It's filler. The lower-quality brands add (spray-on) lots of tasty flavors and fats but there's not much behind it. I have always equated it to McDonald's food: you can live on it, but there's much healthier stuff out there. Additionally, you'll notice a lot of "by-products" in this level of food, which is roughly equivalent to the "85% beef" ground beef at the grocery store.

Higher-quality brands always base their food around more pure, undiminished chicken, beef, lamb, etc. You will still see corn (or other) meal and by-products, but a certain minimal amount is actually beneficial to your pet's health. You will also see a higher price tag on these foods, not surprisingly... but it's worth it. They usually include bonuses like vitamins and antioxidants that the lesser foods don't include for the cost. Also, because your pet is getting better nutrition from the high-quality food than the lower-quality, you will ultimately feed them less. Your pet store may use this as a selling point, but it's not just BS.

So which foods fall into which category?
The LQ foods are: Kibbles 'n' Bits, Dog Chow and Pedigree are the top names.
The HQ foods are: Pro Plan, Eukanuba (YOU-kah-nooba), Nutro NC [Ultra] and Science Diet are the top names.
There are also some mid-level foods like Iams (the cheaper partner of Eukanuba), Nutro Max and Purina One (a couple steps down from Pro Plan).

Yeesh, that's more detail than I cared to get into... but I hope it pays off for you (or anyone else). The most important thing is that your pup is now in a good home, and that's transcends all to having a good life.
 
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