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Old September 28th, 2008, 05:52 PM
rarin rarin is offline
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Exclamation Maltese, pooing and peeing and more..

We have a Maltese dog, Basil, who for the last 5 years has been giving us trouble.
Our first issue appeared about a year and a half after we brought him home. We had purchased a small Yorkie puppy when we purchased him and by this time the two of them, who had previously been very friendly towards one another, began to fight. Basil, the Maltese, also began to pee all over our home.

We gave the Yorkie to a family member, thinking he was the one that instigated the fights. We soon found out that the Yorkie was actually a wonderful dog and that our relatives had absolutely no problem with him. Basil, however, continued to pee in our home.

We tried everything from diapers, to frequent bathroom trips. Nothing worked. He still continue to wreak yellow-stained havoc on our house. Only now, he would pee when he was angry with us as well. Frustrated, we played around with the idea of selling him, but he's very aggressive and we were sure that no one would take him. He'd scare them away with his snarling and barking, like he always did with anyone that visited our home.

So, with no alternative, we put up with his pee-pee fits. We would try to scrub behind him, but it proved useless. In this period, another year and a half had passed. We decided to try keeping him contained to one room. We got a leash and a long chain and put him up in one room. It seemed to work for a minute, until we discovered that upon our leaving the room -he would pee everywhere. So began the ritual of one person staying with him in the room at one time.
Basil was never alone, and he never peed.

This became tiring, as you can imagine and eventually, even staying with him in the room wouldn't work. Turn your head for a moment, and there were 2 or 3 tiny pee puddles on whatever he could manage to reach. Plastic bags have always been his favorites. He will pee on every plastic bag he sees. (This has always confused us.)

So, at our ropes end, we transferred his posting to a small room in our basement. He has food and water and he can move about freely. But now arises yet another problem: He barked incessantly. All hours of the night too. Even when he was in his bed cage. I suspect he did it out of spite, since he can't be around the family anymore, due to his bad habits. (We have another 2 dogs that are female who are almost no problem at all.)

This became irritating, and we decided that it was cruel to keep him cooped up in the room all day. (Potty breaks included.) So we began to let him play around outside. He loved it, as long as one of the girls was with him, and the barking did stop. Unfortunately this solution didn't last very long, because he would begin to bark loudly all day long OUTSIDE. Literally all day long.. (He also has a long history of fighting and barking with the neighbor's dog next door.)

We've tried alternating between letting him stay outside and in the house. That never worked. And now he's presented us with another problem. He's outside barking the majority of the day, but when we bring him in (the alternating.) he poos all over the floors and inside the other dog's bed crates and he pees on everything.

We are at our wits end. What do we do about this dog? He's driving us nuts, and after 5 years we still have no solution. He seems to be getting worse. He started off so nicely too. I never imagined such a small dog could be such a big problem.

Does anyone have any suggestions? We would ALL greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance from a family of four.
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Old September 28th, 2008, 06:15 PM
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MommaKat MommaKat is offline
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Have you taken him to a vet to see if there is anything medically wrong? Your post disturbs me especially the part where you locked him in the basement and "we played with the idea of selling him" Do you walk him? play with him? what kind of food is he eating? have you talked to a trainer? are you sure that he is properly house trained?

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Old September 28th, 2008, 08:12 PM
rarin rarin is offline
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Please don't jump to conclusions. We did not and do not neglect him.

We take him to the vet on a regular basis. We have had him evaluated, but not for medical problems. General things. It never occurred to us that his problems might be medical.

We didn't lock him in the basement. We practically live out of our basement, our office and lounge room are in the basement. It's not some sort of dungeon that we locked the poor creature into. It's fully finished, and he just happens to spend his time in a spare room there because he can't be trusted to roam the house and is too small to stay outside. It's simply his (and at night, the other dogs as well) bedroom.

We walk him regularly around the neighborhood and at various parks in our area.

We do play with him, and the other dogs play with him too. We don't ignore him. At a point he received more attention than our other dogs because we thought he needed more attention. It only got worse.

He eats what the other dogs eat. Dry dog food, moist dog food and an occasional treat slipped under the table.

We cannot afford a trainer at this time and have therefore not talked to one.

Our other 2 dogs are house trained, so I have no doubt that we did at some point have him properly house trained. As of now, I do not know. We seem to be going backwards with him.
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Old September 28th, 2008, 08:27 PM
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MommaKat MommaKat is offline
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You talked about keeping him contained or giving him up like the yorkie and I hear that a lot so for jumping the gun. You are trying to work with him and you have had him for 5 years so that's good The reason why I asked about food was because I have noticed a difference in my own dog when I switched her to a better quality of food. I'm not an expert but if your dog is properly house trained and gets lots of potty breaks then their could be something medical.

That's my (more cleared up I hope ) 2 cents, good luck with your pooch.
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Old September 28th, 2008, 09:09 PM
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Frenchy Frenchy is offline
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I think your dog should be fully checked out by a vet.

Leaving him in another room , even if it is a beautiful room , or tie up outside , will just make the situation worsen. He wants to be with his family , not alone in a room.

I would rule out any health problem first.
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