Need to vent about Mack!

[juliefurry]

This dog is REALLY testing my patience. Hannah has been housebroken for quite some time now and she's almost six months old. Mack is gonna be a year next month and he JUST DOESN'T GET IT! I just took them outside an hour ago and then go about put Emily in the bathtub and picking up the front room. I go into the kitchen to grab a paper towel and there is a HUGE puddle of pee right in the doorway of the kitchen! Now, if it had been in front of the kitchen door going outside I wouldn't have minded it as much as it being on the complete opposite side of the room! I don't know what to do with him anymore! I have tried everything I let him out every hour and he still pees and poops in the house! He knows he's done wrong because he will cower down when you come in and see his mess (I think he used to get beat for going in the house). I mean even Maverick knows that if he has to go to go to the door, and all Maverick's accidents have been by the backdoor. I just think Mack doesn't care about us and just does what he wants. I know it sounds wierd for a dog but I really don't think he cares. I have tried NILIF program with him I have tried the isolation treatment for two days to get him to realize that I am boss and he doesn't run the house and he hasn't responded a bit. I just don't know what to do with him anymore, he's REALLY starting to make me mad. I had to leave the room today get a stuff animal and beat this poor stuffed animal that is how mad that I was at him. I could see if I wasn't letting him out at all but he had just been out an hour earlier. There is nothing physically wrong with him, he's been checked out by the vet, I just don't know why he's doing this. I know he can hold it for longer than an hour he just won't do it if he's not in his crate he doesn't bother holding his bladder he will just go. I wouldn't have been as mad if he had gone by the backdoor where I let them out but he didn't, he went at the totally opposite end of the kitchen. I can't watch him 24/7 for the rest of his life because of my daughter and there are times when he has to be in the kitchen behind the baby gate because he gets TOO rambunctious. Sorry I just had to vent. My husband is disgusted with him, last night he pooped in the bedroom and he had just been outside fifteen minutes before. And he peed inside the house three times yesterday as well. Do I have to treat him like an 8 week old puppy for the rest of his life?

 

[luvmydogs]

i had a dog like that once before and he was 3 yrs old. drove me crazy. all i did all day was cleaning up pee and poop. which one is mack?

 

[juliefurry]

the pitbull mix. He's the dog with the birthday hat on in my signature.

 

[wildwings811]

OH juliefurry- I know how you feel we used to have a Golden (nothing agianst the breed) that was like 4 years old and we couln't get him house broke and he still isn't (my husbands sister has him now) and he is like 8 years old???????

My sister also has a problem dog he is daschund/JRT/chi and who knows what else this dog is like 3 or 4 and he is still peeing and pooping on the floor

I think some dogs will just never get it

 

[Renee750il]

Why don't you send CreatureTeacher an e-mail? There's your expert - she has such a grasp of WHY they do some of the strange and frustrating things they do.

 

[bubbatd]

This is rough !!!! I guess some breeds or mixed breeds never learn. Not knowing the whole story , I have no opinion. Seems to me he's of medium size.... mostly I think this is more the cases in a small breed.

 

[juliefurry]

Mack's almost seventy pounds. He's a big boy.

 

[luvmydogs]

mack= pain in the a$$.just kidding. just tryin to stay cheerful. let me know if u can get in under control one day. good luck

 

[juliefurry]

I sent CreatureTeacher a pm about it. I hope she can help because I scared myself when I got that mad.

 

[Zoom]

Wow, I commend you and your husband for your patience. I think a lot of people would have given up by now and given him back to a shelter or made him an outside dog. I don't know if I can give you any advice that you haven't already tried, so I'll just give you a big thumbs up instead.

 

[juliefurry]

well we got Mack when he was 7 months old from a breeder. They didn't work with him at all on housebreaking, just kept him in their kitchen and cleaned it up. So by the time we got him he was already set in his ways. He seems to do good for awhile and then he'll go back to not caring. I don't know if it's my fault or what.

 

[Dakotah_2009]

Well i was reading your post earlier about Maverick and Mack playing ruff, and in that post it sounds like Mack is very much the alpha dog and wants to prove it to Maverick. But here I think he knows that he is the alpha dog and he don't have to listen to what you say so he does what he pleases. I really don't know but I think thats what it is.

 

[juliefurry]

He does think he is the alpha dog, and that's the problem. We have tried the NILIF training and we've tried the isolation treatment as well. They seem to work for awhile and then he'll just go back to his old ways. Mack hasn't been allowed on the bed or couch for quite some time and we've always been making sure to have him sit before we pet him, feed him, take him outside, or do anything. We don't want to disturb the dog's dominance order but he needs to know that WE are the alpha "dogs" of this house. I'm so afraid that he will get hurt one of these days because he doesn't feel he needs to do what we say.

 

[Dakotah_2009]

I really don't know what to say at this point. Just keep working w/ him. I guess.

 

[Fran27]

I usually don't recommend it but have you tried pee pads? Maybe at least it would save you from cleaning all the time.

 

[juliefurry]

I've tried them and he just rips them up all over the place. We've used them for the other two puppies and he will get ahold of them (pee or no pee) and tear them up all over the place. He pooped in the bedroom agian this morning (right under the fan so we get a WONDERFUL whiff of it waking up). I don't know what to do with him everytime we give him an ounce of freedom out of the crate or the kitchen he messes it up. We let him sleep uncrated in the bedroom and he's been having accidents very frequently now. I think this is more of a dominance problem with him and we have NO idea what to do with him. I don't know if I should address the dominance problem or the housebreaking problem. I don't know if we get the dominance issues worked out if the housebreaking will just get better as well.

 

[juliefurry]

Well Mack has been at it agian. We woke up this morning and went out in the kitchen to find him in his crate and he had pooped in it. We had to start crating him through out the night, just because of this reason. He knows he did wrong because when we came in he started shaking like a leaf. I just don't know what to do. I don't know if Maverick has been causing him to do this or if he's doing it by himself.

 

[Irish]

For whats its worth, I think he has the most adorable face I've ever seen! I hope Creature Teacher can help you.

 

[juliefurry]

i pm'ed her a few days ago and haven't heard anything back yet. Hopefully she'll be on agian soon and can help.

 

[smkie]

yes you need to treat him like an 8 week puppy and start all over again..he doesn't get it and that is the whole point..plus you need to get some odor remover..sams club sells a great one, steam clean, bleach where you can and remove every trace of scent from your home..start fresh ...set a timer, every half hour and take him outside BEFORE it happens..keep him in the same room as you ALWAYS even if you have to leash him to you until you have this behavior corrected. You have a long term ingrained miscommunication going..i had to do a rat terrier that was the biggest little leg hiker in the universe. Three days and he didn't do it not even one time. I was house breaking him inorder for him to go to a new home..he was an intact male as well. I had a male dog that would never think of doing this in the home..even tho the rat terrier was giving it his best efforts..even while being leashed to me. We just needed to have a clear understanding that this a not allowed in the house period..