Troubles of a 9-month old Pug rescue dog

15 years ago

I need some advice. 3 weeks ago we took in a pug from a rescue foster family. He is now 9 months old. He was originally given up due to house training issues; the original family lacked dog experience and didn't know how to train a dog. We understand he ended up doing his business in a mud room and have noticed he doesn't seem to mind being near his own waste.

For the past 3 weeks, we've given him lots of praise & treats for doing his thing outside. We have a 5-year old Chesapeake who relieves herself the minute we go outside but the pug doesn't always follow suit (seems to require a certain spot and certain conditions). We live in Vermont so there's lots of snow and cold air to contend with. I'd like to think we are making progress on the house breaking, but then we have a set back and he poops or pees right in the kitchen.

The pug has pooped in his (small) crate twice since we had him, right in our bedroom during the night. Now I am nervous it will happen again so as soon as I hear him move, I run him right outside but it happens to be usually at 4 a.m. Will we forever need to go out at 4 a.m.? Note that of the 3 weeks we've had him, he has slept through the night approximately 8 nights.

The dogs are home with a human every day so they get lots of short mid-day walks.

I take both dogs out at 8 p.m., 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. and the pug is SO sleepy, he can hardly walk, much less poop. His meals are 6:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. We eliminated a 3rd meal in order to get him to poop before bed time but it hasn't seemed to make a difference. Even if he poops at bed time, he still wakes up at 4 a.m. and I am so worried he will poop in crate, I get dressed and go outside.

Can a 9-month old Pug learn to "hold it"? Can I ignore his whine at 4 a.m. and pray he won't eliminate in crate? Do I stretch it out by 10 or 20 minutes every night until we get to 6 a.m.? Should I move his 3 p.m. dinner to 5 or 6 p.m. in the hopes that the 4 a.m. poop will move to 6 a.m. or so?

We'd love any suggestions that you think may work! We would really like to be his "forever family" as he's been in 4 or 5 homes in his short life.

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Comments (4)

trinigemini
15 years ago
Sounds to me like it may just take the little guy awhile to learn. If he has been in 4 or 5 homes chances are he has had as many different schedules. Give him some more time. Also I'm no dog trainer (not even close) but if he has already given up keeping his bed clean I'm not sure that crate training will work...maybe you have to do something different now. I know they say a dog won't poop and sleep in the same area. But if he is doing so already it sounds like you may need help reminding him that he does not like that. Maybe instead of the crate you need to put down a wee wee pad in one area of a room and his bed in the other....maybe that will get him to start pooping away from his bed. I have no idea though....hopefully someone with more experience will chime in. Just don't give up yet.
eandhl
15 years ago
3:00 PM until 6:30 are a long time between meals. He may be waking during the night because he is hungry. I would give the second meal about 6:00 PM. And if he is eliminating 12 hrs after eating 6:00 AM sure beats 4:00 AM.
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luvdogs
15 years ago
punish him somehow - humanely of course but it'll help him learn. sometimes you have to be tough.

Troubles of a 9-month old Pug rescue dog

Comments (4)

trinigemini

eandhl

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