Hi there. Thanks for reading and hopfully helping.
Tibbetts is six years old, a purebred Dachshund. He had one owner for six years until two months ago when his owner was forced to surrendur him to a great rescue because she was dying of cancer. In the last few months he lived with her (single middle-aged female), she always had him with her (for comfort), and as a result of that and earlier training, he is very very very attached to his owner (me now). The problems are these:
1. He has some sort of seperation anxiety. He hates being left alone and although he isn't doing it now, he was bathrooming in the house while we were gone.
2. I leave earlier then my fiance and while he showers (door closed), the dog poops in the house. This has happened several times.
3. Just a few minutes ago, he peed almost right in front of us (this has happened before).
After all of these, he feels bad. He puts his tail between his legs and slinks around. We don't yell or punish and I have a odor remover spray to clean with.
In about a week, I will be able to spend three weeks working with him (vacation from work). I have the following plans in mind:
1. He is already on a feeding schedule but I plan on making it more fixed, as well as his bathroom schedule.
2. I plan to finish his crate training during this time (any suggestions would be helpful).
3. I was hoping to work on his seperation anxiety but am unsure of how to do it (hints would be helpful).
Really, I am just wondering if anyone has any tricks that have worked with really attached, really anxious dachshunds (or other breeds), to mellow them out a little. I know he will always be attached (I don't mind), and I am hoping to resolve these problems (particularly the messing in the house) because he really is a great dog and if we could work out these problems, I see a long happy future for us.
Oh and I almost forgot the most important part: he doesn't tell us when he needs to go out. We take him at regular intervals and he goes on command but several times I think he has had an accident because we didn't take him out in time but he didnt let us know he needed to go. How do we teach him to let us know he needs to go out?
Thanks so much.
Laurel and Tibbetts
Tibbetts is six years old, a purebred Dachshund. He had one owner for six years until two months ago when his owner was forced to surrendur him to a great rescue because she was dying of cancer. In the last few months he lived with her (single middle-aged female), she always had him with her (for comfort), and as a result of that and earlier training, he is very very very attached to his owner (me now). The problems are these:
1. He has some sort of seperation anxiety. He hates being left alone and although he isn't doing it now, he was bathrooming in the house while we were gone.
2. I leave earlier then my fiance and while he showers (door closed), the dog poops in the house. This has happened several times.
3. Just a few minutes ago, he peed almost right in front of us (this has happened before).
After all of these, he feels bad. He puts his tail between his legs and slinks around. We don't yell or punish and I have a odor remover spray to clean with.
In about a week, I will be able to spend three weeks working with him (vacation from work). I have the following plans in mind:
1. He is already on a feeding schedule but I plan on making it more fixed, as well as his bathroom schedule.
2. I plan to finish his crate training during this time (any suggestions would be helpful).
3. I was hoping to work on his seperation anxiety but am unsure of how to do it (hints would be helpful).
Really, I am just wondering if anyone has any tricks that have worked with really attached, really anxious dachshunds (or other breeds), to mellow them out a little. I know he will always be attached (I don't mind), and I am hoping to resolve these problems (particularly the messing in the house) because he really is a great dog and if we could work out these problems, I see a long happy future for us.
Oh and I almost forgot the most important part: he doesn't tell us when he needs to go out. We take him at regular intervals and he goes on command but several times I think he has had an accident because we didn't take him out in time but he didnt let us know he needed to go. How do we teach him to let us know he needs to go out?
Thanks so much.
Laurel and Tibbetts