Dog is a nightmare to live with, please help!!

emmaro

7 months ago I took in my parents 9 year old chihuahua mix due to health issues that my Dad has developed and a few near misses of him tripping over Max. They had him since he was a small puppy. I was still living at home up until early 2015 so he was well used to me and I know him very well. From what I can remember he was a great puppy - very easy to train and pretty well behaved. My sisters and I used to take him around town and everywhere with us so he was well socialised. I think his issues started when he was around 2. There were no big changes in his life at this point so can not think of anything at triggered it. It has gotten worse as the years have gone on.

I do have another dog, and they get along fine thankfully.

Here are the problems + what we've done to try stop them.

1. Barking. All. The. Time.
He barks at strangers, he barks at us, he barks at other dogs. He barks for attention. He barks for food. He just barks and barks and barks. I brought him to a trainer but he just wanted to use a shock collar, which I am not comfortable with. What we do is tell Max "no" when he starts barking and if he doesn't stop we spray him with water. It does stop him when he is barking at us, but if it's at a stranger he just keeps going. He is also quite aggressive and has bitten my sister, and my boyfriend. He is so small that it doesn't hurt or break skin, but this is still a serious problem. He also has caught people by the leg of their pants.

This seems to be a mix of nerves and territorial issues. He is usually fine when he meets a stranger if he is in someones arms - they can come over and pet him and he doesn't care. But, if he's walking around he goes crazy.

I walk him at least 5 days a week for about an hour, but he doesn't seem to tire out for long. I bought some puzzle toys, but they are very big for him. He doesn't like kongs and doesn't bother with them after 10 mins or so.

2. Peeing inside.
This is a new problem that started around 2 years ago. He has always marked outside, but never inside until a few years ago. He did this at my parents house and now does it at my house. I bought belly bands for him,but he wets them every single day. I am lucky that I work mostly from home so the dogs are only alone for 2 mornings a week, but he can hold on all night in his crate so I know that is not the problem. He also will go to the back door when he wants to go out so he knows he should be going to the toilet out there. He was never trained to pee on pads or newspaper - it was outside from the day we got him as a pup. I have washed everywhere with a cleaner made for dog urine but I don't know what else to do. The belly bands prevent the pee from reaching my furniture, but it's really only a short term solution. I want to get him to stop doing this.

I love the dog but I also really dislike living with him. I feel awful for thinking this, but sometimes I think about how he is old and might die soon and that would just be easier.
I am always worried that he will pee all over the place and I can't even have my friends over to my house because of his behaviour. I tried putting him in another room but he barks and cries really loudly and gets so upset.
There is no way I'd ever rehome him - even if I wanted to no one would want a badly behaved, aggressive elderly dog.

Please give me tips/help! I am desperate!!

Bells21

OP, I can understand your frustration. We had a barker too, we didn't know what to do as we had tried ignoring, saying no etc. We got a trainer in who believes in positive methods and we were given great tips and ideas on how to deal with that behaviour. So if you let people know where you're based perhaps they could make a recommendation?
On the issue of the peeing, have you brought him to the vet to see if there's an under lying reason? Might be worth checking especially given the dog's age?

emmaro

Bells21 wrote: »

OP, I can understand your frustration. We had a barker too, we didn't know what to do as we had tried ignoring, saying no etc. We got a trainer in who believes in positive methods and we were given great tips and ideas on how to deal with that behaviour. So if you let people know where you're based perhaps they could make a recommendation?
On the issue of the peeing, have you brought him to the vet to see if there's an under lying reason? Might be worth checking especially given the dog's age?

Thanks for your reply.

I'm in Limerick. What did your trainer suggest for the barking?

Yes, he was at the vet for something else and asked about the peeing inside and as he doesn't do it at night vet didn't think it was associated with a health problem.

Bells21

I'll briefly outline what was recommended to us but I'm not qualified and circumstance and the dogs may be different and need different approaches. We began using a clicker, timing is key to using this and also have some high value rewards to use. You have to 'charge' the clicker I.e. get your dog used to the idea that the click marks a desired behaviour and is followed by a tasty treat. You'll find videos on line showing how to do this. Karen Pryor would be one to look up. Once the dog has an understanding of what the clicker means, anytime there's a stop in the barking click and reward. As I've mentioned timing is critical so click straight away when there's a break in the barking and then reward. It takes time and is not going to solve the issue over night but my dog really enjoys the clicker(I use for other things too).
As for the peeing indoors, I would go right back to basics as if he were a pup. Take him out frequently, lots of praise and rewards when he does go outside and use a biological cleaner to clean up any areas indoors that he has pee'd in. Is he neutered?What sex is your other dog and are they neutered?

emmaro

Bells21 wrote: »

As for the peeing indoors, I would go right back to basics as if he were a pup. Take him out frequently, lots of praise and rewards when he does go outside and use a biological cleaner to clean up any areas indoors that he has pee'd in. Is he neutered?What sex is your other dog and are they neutered?

Thanks for the advice.

He is not neutered. I figured he would be too old for neutering to help? Ironically my parents never got him neutered because he didn't mark inside or hump things :rolleyes:
My other dog is also male and is neutered.

midnight city

He bites people? Put him down.

Advbrd

midnight city wrote: »

He bites people? Put him down.

Awaiting backlash.

Bells21

emmaro wrote:

He is not neutered. I figured he would be too old for neutering to help? Ironically my parents never got him neutered because he didn't mark inside or hump things My other dog is also male and is neutered.

A professional would give you good insight into all the behaviours as they will look at the whole picture I.e. peeing, aggression and barking and give you better guidance on how to work with him. I'm in the south east so can't recommend someone in your area but perhaps someone else will be able to.

Mongfinder General

midnight city wrote: »

He bites people? Put him down.

Vicious little bastard should be put down. He's not going to change at this stage.

emmaro

midnight city wrote: »

He bites people? Put him down.

He never even left a mark. He is not a threat to anyone.

DBB

Mongfinder General wrote: »

Vicious little bastard should be put down. He's not going to change at this stage.

Mongfinder General,
Please do not post in this thread again. The posting style you used is not acceptable in this forum.
Thanks,
DBB

DBB

Op, you've a lot going on there, and it seems like there may be some underlying emotional issues which are causing those problem behaviours... Problem behaviours are a symptom of emotional problems
You obviously have good instincts... You've turned down the services of a trainer who uses electric shock to stop the symptoms, rather than addressing the underlying cause. This approach is usually doomed to failure and often causes additional problems.
Unfortunately, there are quite a few trainers in Limerick who are all too happy to use shock collars. However, there is a girl who's a certified trainer, uses positive and ethical training methods, and will go to the ends of the earth to help you. Her name is Sylwia, here's a link to her site: http://sylwiadogtraining.com
Good luck op... You definitely need an expert to help you, and there's no reason why you can't bring about an improvement and better management

Bells21

Little Max landed on his feet with a diligent owner like you. Keep us updated on his progress, wish ye all the best.

emmaro

DBB wrote: »

Op, you've a lot going on there, and it seems like there may be some underlying emotional issues which are causing those problem behaviours... Problem behaviours are a symptom of emotional problems
You obviously have good instincts... You've turned down the services of a trainer who uses electric shock to stop the symptoms, rather than addressing the underlying cause. This approach is usually doomed to failure and often causes additional problems.
Unfortunately, there are quite a few trainers in Limerick who are all too happy to use shock collars. However, there is a girl who's a certified trainer, uses positive and ethical training methods, and will go to the ends of the earth to help you. Her name is Sylwia, here's a link to her site: http://sylwiadogtraining.com
Good luck op... You definitely need an expert to help you, and there's no reason why you can't bring about an improvement and better management

Thank you! I will definitely contact Sylwia!

Bells21 wrote: »

Little Max landed on his feet with a diligent owner like you. Keep us updated on his progress, wish ye all the best.

Will do! Thank you for your help

JPCN1

Bark collar worked for one of my dogs.

midnight city

Mongfinder General wrote: »

Vicious little bastard should be put down. He's not going to change at this stage.

I knew a dog like this about 20 years ago same breed. As it got older it got very vicious. Used to hide under couch and then tear out and nip at your legs as you went to sit down. Frighten the life out of you. Horrible little dog. Sounds exactly like the one described in op.

jimd2

midnight city wrote: »

He bites people? Put him down.

Tbh, that was my first thought and then I maybe calmed a little. Are there ever any babies around?

To me the biting of people is far and away the biggest issue, Your problem is that it happens so infrequently that it is difficult to police it but the dog needs to be seriously reprimanded after this.

Nody

jimd2 wrote: »

To me the biting of people is far and away the biggest issue, Your problem is that it happens so infrequently that it is difficult to police it but the dog needs to be seriously reprimanded after this.

And what do you think a reprimand will do? Will it a) suddenly gain human intelligence to connect the punishment with the action or b) start to get even more afraid of their owner who it feels is randomly punishing it?

Honestly the first thing coming to my mind reading what OP shared is that he has a dog who's greatly afraid of anything and everything. Biting, barking at strangers etc. are all part of him trying to tell he's afraid and the bite is coming after the bark does not work. I'm willing to bet because it's "such a small cute dog" it's been ignored and he's been approached over and over again helping said fear simply build and build over the years and your solution to the problem is to kill it. Great plan; really getting to the root of the problem there.

emmaro

jimd2 wrote: »

Tbh, that was my first thought and then I maybe calmed a little. Are there ever any babies around?

To me the biting of people is far and away the biggest issue, Your problem is that it happens so infrequently that it is difficult to police it but the dog needs to be seriously reprimanded after this.

I genuinely do not believe he poses a risk to anyone. I think the most harm he could do is frighten a child by barking. He doesn't just randomly go around attacking people. It has happened twice in almost 10 years. Maybe I could have explained it better in the initial post - the main issues are the barking and the peeing. Even when I describe him as aggressive, it's the way he barks and growls.

He has bitten twice. But, I am not sure if it was really bites. I was only there for one of them. He didn't seem to apply any pressure and there was no mark left. He just seemed to put his mouth around but not actually bite down. It was the same the other time - no mark. He got annoyed at the people for invading his personal space and gave warnings that he may snap.

There are never babies around. I wouldn't leave either of my dogs around babies or small children when not very closely supervised anyway.

midnight city

jimd2 wrote: »

Tbh, that was my first thought and then I maybe calmed a little. Are there ever any babies around?

To me the biting of people is far and away the biggest issue, Your problem is that it happens so infrequently that it is difficult to police it but the dog needs to be seriously reprimanded after this.

It's not good on any children to be exposed to a biting and aggressive dog like that. For the OP to say the bites don't break the skin as if that means it's not very serious is wrong. It could make children wary of dogs. And it's scary to be attacked or have the threat of attack even if it's a chihuahua.

emmaro

midnight city wrote: »

It's not good on any children to be exposed to a biting and aggressive dog like that. For the OP to say the bites don't break the skin as if that means it's not very serious is wrong. It could make children wary of dogs. And it's scary to be attacked or have the threat of attack even if it's a chihuahua.

I would never put him in a situation that would allow for that to happen. I am a responsible person and would hate if it was my dog that made a child afraid of dogs.

Again, he does not randomly hide under furniture waiting to attack people. He has "attacked" twice in almost 10 years and it was when people did not listen to his warning signs. He barks at people. He does not attack them out of the blue. He actually won't go near people he doesn't know anyway. He stays away from them and barks.

DBB

Okay folks,
With a degree of sadness, I can see this thread going the same way as all of these threads go... We get people who've rarely/never posted here before wading in with nuclear options, giving no regard to the fact that even qualified behaviourists don't necessarily advocate killing every dog that bites... There are bite scales and interpretations of contexts used by professionals to grade the degree of risk presented by dogs that have bitten.
So, I think we'll leave it now for a real-life expert to help the op and to put a realistic plan in place based on accurate and educated observation, because this thread is swiftly spiralling down the toilet.
OP, if you would like to update this thread in the coming weeks or months, please pm one of the mods and we'll reopen it for you.
All the very best
DBB