Need Advice For My New Rescue Dog?
Filed under Care & Training Q&As
I just adopted a 2 year old Italian Greyhound/Chihuahua mix a few days ago. She was already crate trained, but not totally house trained. I adopted her last Saturday, and starting on Monday I’ve been taking her to doggie daycare. Everyday on the way to daycare (about a 30 minute drive) she poops in her crate, sometimes twice. She also poops on the way home. The crate and the car are becoming negative associations for her. I’m not sure how to fix this. I also changed the type of dog food she was eating, so this could be contributing to upsetting her digestive system. I live alone in an apartment and I thought doggie daycare would be a nice alternative to being home alone all day, but so far it seems to be creating a lot of stress for her. I know she probably just needs some time, just wondering if anyone can think of something I’m doing wrong or something that would help her enjoy the car ride more. She’s a very sensitive little dog.
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Get her used to being in your apartment so she knows that that is her home sweet home. Since she is a rescue, she is probably nervous about the back and forth to daycare and confused about which is which. Plus, assuming she is skittish, her being around the other dogs at the daycare and her knowing that the car ride means going to daycare is probably making her quite nervous. A lot of rescue dogs are like this. It is their defense mechanism. So, get her used to her home and her environment first, and then lead up to taking her everyday to the daycare. Hope this helps and best of luck!
You’re not doing anything wrong! You’re doing a great job.
It really sounds like it’s anxiety.
She needs time to get used to you, and the day care.
It may not have been a good idea to immediately start taking her to another strange place right after you adopted her.
She needs time to adjust to YOU. Once she’s done that, after a month or two, then you should start taking her to day care.
She just needs to get used to everything. Give it time.
Congrats on saving a life!
I agree the change in diet may be a problem, the car ride may be a bit too long and stressful for her and she may just need a little more time adjusting to her home before she starts doggie daycare.
Food switches should be gradual by mixing food together over the course of a couple weeks. Without this, digestive upset is almost a certainty, especially with a stressed dog.
Keep car rides shorter for now too – maybe just around the block or to a close by park. Then gradually lengthen.
Give it a month or two and then try doggie day care again – and maybe just for an hour or two at first till she gets the routine.
Just too much too soon.
Treat it like if she were going in the crate in the house. Reduce her space in the crate. Put a box or other blockade in the crate to limit her space. If she has to stand in it if she goes she’s less likely to do it. Praise her for going into her crate and the car so that she knows they are good things
A food change should be done on gradual way and could be causing her to poop in the crate. My dogs when they were pups had a couple of accidents in the car on the way to the vet until they because use to living with me. Could you try having someone come in and walk her for a few weeks until she get use to living with you and then gradual begin taking her to doggy daycare. Maybe start out with a couple of days and then work up to all week. Sensitive dogs need change to happen slowly and only one thing at a time. Also walk her right before you put her in the car, and make sure she poops in the morning before putting the the car.
On the weekends try taking her in the car with you to a park or a fun location. She could be associating the car with you leaving her. She is a resuce dog and they tend to want to be around just one person or their new family. I actually leave my dogs at home with the animal planet going. They seem fine with this. I think it could also be the other dogs, Greyhound chihuahua mix is probably on the small size she could be afraid of the other dogs. Being a rescue dog it is hard to know what enviroment that she came from before, If she was terroized by other dogs before she was rescued, Most of all be patient. If you still want to take her to doggie daycare, Stop midway through the trip and take her out. A lot of changes are occuring in her life right now. She just found her forever home, change of food, crates, etc.
Well the pooping in the crate an happen if you just fed her beore the ride. Maybe give her less before the ride and then give her the rest when she gets home. Also take a 15 minute break on the ride bavck and forth. Shorten this gradually. chihuahua can be difficult to train.
First of all: Hooray for you for adopting!
The car ride might be a negative association for her because she isn’t quite sure if you are going to abandon her or not. With the house-training, I teach all my dogs to go “potty” on command. Start by taking her outside on a leash at “high-risk times” (after eating or sleeping) and telling her a cue like “go potty” until she does her thing. Then get really excited for her and tell her how wonderful she is for going potty outside. Doing this every time she goes out will help her develop a positive association with “potty outside” and eventually she will know that when you say “potty” its time to potty now. She will learn that to earn praise she should do her business outside. If she has an accident inside, put her out in the yard for a while by herself if you can. If not tell her how disappointed you are and send her to her crate. In this case: Practice makes Perfect.
Good Luck!
I have a rescue that does the same thing…although she throws up also. It can be a 5 minute car ride and she does it!!! Although I do not put her in a crate. She is in the back seat and I put a cheap plastic tablecloth upside down (it’s easy clean up then). What I will be trying in the next few weeks, is take her around a few blocks in the neighborhood. I’m hoping that will help her. There is products on the market for pets that have motion sickness. I have not determined if my pup has that or not.
Is there any way you could take a few days off?? I know this sounds totally crazy to some people! But if you could take off a Monday and Tuesday and spend 4 days in a row at home just relaxing with her, going for walks, etc. I wonder if she’s associating the car ride with being sent here and there, and not having a “home”. If you can’t, it may be better to crate her while you’re at work, so she know that where she is–is home. If you can get away at lunch time and are close enough to home, go there and take her out for potty, then put her back in her crate (or as we call it– “your room”). I think every time she’s in the car she’s probably wondering “where are they taking me now!!!”
She’ll get used to things at your house and her habits will improve. Try food from http://www.radiantpet.com and maybe hire a pet sitter until she’s ready for day care.
Hey there. Are you 100% sure that your dog is being rewarded, and is totally empty from, successful potty trips outside?
Are you cleaning the crate with an enzymatic cleaner?
Have you removed all bedding from the crate?
Do you feed the dog in her crate?
Can you play “we love the car” and “I love my crate” games with her? For more on this, visit:http://www.finchester.org/dogs/dog_diary…
Good luck! The best thing to do for rescues is to set up clear, consistent rules.
You should NEVER immediately change a shelter dog’s diet – even if the food that the dog was used to was inferior. Especially so in a small dog like that. Put her back on whatever food it was the shelter told you they were feeding her and then GRADUALLY mix in whatever food you want to feed her – slowly making it less and less of her old food. I adopted a shelter cat who was on Cat Chow from her former owners and slowwwwlly transitioned her to Royal Canin/Innova Evo with no ill effects. I even tried to get her to finish off the rest of the Cat Chow a few weeks later when I ran out of the good stuff and she looked at me like “Um… no.” lol
Try this at first and then see how she does. I would think your dog would be MUCH happier alone at home while you’re at work than having to endure daily care rides and all the noise of the other animals around her. It’s pretty much like being back in a shelter. If I was you, I’d stop the doggy day care.
I think that this site will be useful in helping you understand how to help your dog become more confident. You say she’s sensitive, which can also mean scared. Time on its own is not necessarily going to help the dog and forcing it to deal with things that upset it can make it worse.
http://www.fearfuldogs.com