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For context my fiancé and I have a dog that’s part chihuahua, rate terrier, and ACD. We got him when he was only a couple months old. Since then we have done extensive research to make sure we are raising our dog the best we can. We’ve done plenty of socializing through daycare, visiting relatives/friends and even getting plenty of exercise. A couple of months after he got neutered, he suddenly became very fearful of people. Even the friends and family that he’s already met when he was younger. This escalated to him being scared to even going outside to potty. We live in an apartment and it’s a short walk down the stairs to go outside but he gets so scared when I put his leash on to go that he’ll try his best to run or hide when he sees me getting up to get his leash. He sometimes starts to pee while we’re going down the stairs as well. Recently he has started to just start going potty in our apartment now too. We have tried taking him out at various times as well and it’s the same. He also used to love going to the park but is now very scared of going there. We have worked with a dog trainer and even him on meds with a behavioral plan but it’s been several months now and it doesn’t seem like he’s getting any better. We have tried desensitizing him by slowly introducing him to the outside by having our apartment door open and treat him every time he gets close to outside our apartment. However, once he’s outside he’s so scared that he won’t even accept treats. He so hyper focused on his surroundings that he doesn’t listen to commands either. What other methods can I try ? Or is this just his personality? We have tried mostly everything from our research and we’re just lost on what to do.

TLDR: Dog is very very scared of people and as a result the outside because he knows that’s where people are. Starts to go potty in the apartment because he’s scared/anxious. Doesn’t enjoy/scared of the things he used to love as a puppy.

Adopted a three year old chihuahua who has been wearing diapers his entire life. He’s basically lived with a bunch of other chihuahuas who wear diapers and use a litter box in a crate. He’s not used to walks and won’t pee or poop when you take him out either.

I got both a doggy lawn and a litter box for him to use. He’s pretty smart so he figured out the use for the doggy lawn. He has no issues pooping in either the litter box or lawn. However, he holds in his pee for an absurd amount of time and will then pee on places that he shouldn’t (his own blanket and my bag). I now recognize when he is looking to finally relieve himself and will take him to the lawn or box but he refuses to pee. I gave up and decided to put a diaper on him before it becomes a medical emergency and thought of hiring a professional who can help fix this. Very shortly after I put a diaper on him, he went to the lawn and peed! So he knows he is allowed and should pee on the lawn or litter box, but will only do it if he’s wearing a diaper. How do I get him to pee without a diaper?

Hi all! I have 3 male (neutered) mutts, youngest are 5 eldest is 7!

We recently moved to a new house and discovered after that the previous owner had a dog who was left to pee/poo around the house….

First few days we moved in we had no issues and got the dogs back on their normal routine of walks and potty breaks, one day I saw one of my dogs lifting his leg at a curtain, of course I rushed him outside but thought it was strange because they had just been on a walk 15 min earlier.

As time when on I noticed marking "piddles" in random places. Now it has gone to full blown every day i find 5 or 6 spots!! They started marking our furniture, carpets, its a mess and i dont know what to do about it! They are out in the kitchen with a doggy door when we are out, but I cannot walk away from them at any time with out them marking….

Can any one offer any advice to help reverse this behaviour?

She was fine on the walk, she got picked up outside and placed down inside at the end of the walk because there was some stuff in the way but when she was placed down she immediately got aggressive. I know Corgis don't like being surprised with a pick up but I think she hurt her leg, I was able to coax her out away from where she was laying down giving me a mean side eye, and she wasn't necessarily LIMPING but her leg movement was very weird. Also if I reach out towards her or try to reach for the harness (or just reach in the general direction of "behind") she freaks out.

Vet wants to see her tomorrow, gave her meds so she should hopefully relax. Not sure if I can really take her out on a walk again tonight so she might just poop in there but she's in a weird mood so I don't think I can do anything about it.

My main concern is in the morning, I don't know if she's still going to be feeling weird but I'm going to have to pick her up regardless if she won't walk with me. Can I just wrap her in a big towel and run her out the door before she can figure out how to bite me out of it? Should I go get some big biteproof gloves from ACE Hardware? So many options. Mostly I don't want her to freak out or associate us with danger.

We brought puppy home (12 weeks, male) 1 week ago and have been *solidly* consistent with potty training.

This is what we ARE doing:

1. Sticking to a strict schedule – puppy goes out after crate time, nap, play, training, meals, water intake and before nap. We also have alarms set 2-3 times per night to take him out.

2. Using a tracker to keep track of bowel movements and times.

3. Feeding schedule – feeding at same times every day.

4. Crate training – we have a divider in his crate only allowing enough room for him to turn around, have him in there for all naps. The crate is encompassed by a small xpen for supervised individual play at certain points in the day.

5. Treats after all potties – have been very generious with treats and praise after he goes potty.

6. Cue – I carry him outside to the same spot, say "go potty" and he pees almost instantly.

7. Locations – have been taking him to potty both in our back yard and front yard (he is not fully vaxxed yet).

We are NOT using pee pads.

Despite all of this…he is peeing in his crate and x-pen and is HAPPY to lay and sit in it. Today, we had a cycle of pee outside > crate > pee in crate > pee outside > crate > pee in crate within 5 mins …. five times. Yes FIVE TIMES. IDK how his bladder could even be that full. Is it possible i am letting him drink too much water? His bowl always has fresh water in it.

After the first 2 times this happened I had a thought to just spend more time out pottying in his designated potty area to allow for more chances to pee, but he will pee once and pull with all his might to NOT be in the potty area (hence, my initial decision to go back in the crate right after potty).

Thoughts on how to address this?? I am NOT expecting him to be perfect, I fully expect accidents to happen!! I also know it's only been a week, but this seems like a strange cycle/frequency especially with how consistent we've been. Is there something we should do differently?

It’s only day two and he’s already improved so much, but man the first day was horrible. He cried nonstop in his crate. The loudest, most blood curdling cry. It was awful, and the longest I had him in the crate was an hour and he cried the whole time.

He’s already down to whimpering for only 5-10 seconds, which is fantastic but that first day was brutal. I don’t know how anyone can sit through any more that that.

Hello! I currently have three foster puppies, about 8 weeks old, and when I first pulled them from the shelter I'm pretty sure they had nearly 0 human exposure in their short lives. I've been very hopeful seeing their progress, but am looking for some advice to see if I'm on the right track with them, as I've never encountered puppies who are so severely undersocialised before! I'll give some details below, but TL;DR is there a possibility for these puppies to turn out somewhat 'normal' given how feral they were? What else can I be doing for them during their time with me to help them progress?

To give some background on where they started and how far we've gotten in about a week and a half: When I first got them, they were completely shut down. They would just cower in the back of their crate and shake, would not interact at all, wouldn't eat around humans, etc. They had been abandoned in a box by the river, and truly acted as though they had never been around people before.

After a week and a half, they will now play with me, they get excited and wag their tails when they see me, will vocalize at me (in a playful manner), and two of them will ask for me to pet them and even give me kisses and sit in my lap! One puppy of the three still won't willingly let me go beyond scratching underneath her chin/chest. They will eat from my hands, and know the command 'sit', but don't respond to being called to, and don't quite naturally follow humans as puppies this age typically would. They are still a bit avoidant when I'm standing up and are much more comfortable when I'm at their level. They are still very avoidant with new people, but can exist around new people much more comfortably than before. They won't totally shut down around them, but will avoid them. They love other dogs though! They don't seem to be food or toy aggressive towards people, and will let me handle them (although they are uncomfortable and shut down of they have to be picked up etc, which I try to avoid).

What I've been doing with them: I haven't been pushing them too hard with socialization since they were so terribly shut down, so I've mostly been focused on getting them used to me and normal day to day life in a home. I spend a lot of time sitting on the floor with them, playing, talking to them, rewarding them with treats and praise etc. They've traveled in the car, been to the vet, and I've had random people over to just exist around them and toss them treats.

Is there any hope that these pups can become "normal"? If so, how can I help them along?

Thanks in advance for any and all advice!