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OT: Do any of you have trouble with rescue dogs?


Ron Burgandy

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I've always been a proponent of rescue dogs given how much I love dogs. We've adopted several dogs over the years and they've all had their own unique set of challenges.


We adopted our girl pug the week before we found out my wife was pregnant with our first son. She has always been kind of neurotic but nothing harmful. Just had her quirks and the occasional accident inside if she wasn't taken outside timely. She also loved our old pug we had at the time. 3 days before our son was born the older pug died unexpectedly so she was an only dog for a while. She seemed to love it.


Then we adopted another pug to replace the male that had passed away. The girl pug started getting territorial and peeing in the house. Not good. The more time that has gone on the worse it has gotten. We'll have months where things are normal then she's peeing inside 2 or 3 times a week.


This past week she's gotten really bad. She has peed inside several times a day to the point I have to keep her crated because I can't afford to keep paying to have the carpet cleaned. At the same time I'm not going to let my house go to hell since my kids can't be subjected to the problem areas. Of course the girl is really a sweet and loving dog and I feel if we give her up then she may be put down frown.gif My wife is bawling and honestly I do want to keep her.





tl;dr rescue dog developed potty training problems and I'm about to give her back to the rescue org.

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Quote Originally Posted by Ricky Bobby

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Oh {censored}, honestly I didn't even think of that frown.gif



Scheduling an appointment. She seems healthy other than this problem which started when we got the second pug.

 

Yeah, it could be incontinence. The gf's dog (red Doberman mix) has had that. There's a medication you can get for that called Proin that pretty much stops all accidents. It has a VERY high success rate. I suggest you look into that before doing anything drastic, mang.
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Both our dogs are rescues/shelter pups. No serious accident problems past the retraining dog #2 needed because she was in the shelter too long and had lost her training.


It's very possible your new pup brought in a disease that your other pup didn't have an immunity built up to. It's also possible it's a behavior problem developed due to attention split. It may end up being as simple as somehow reinforcing your dog's place in the family/pack after the new addition. I would definitely wait to find out what the vet says. If your vet is anything like ours, they may also have suggestions based on their knowledge of your particular dog's disposition on how you can work with your dog to deal with the problem even if it isn't an infection. Our vets have been really good at helping us through a the few minor problems we've had over the years.


Good luck. Hope you get this figured out.

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could be anxiety due to losing a member of the pack and then having a new one introduced too abruptly. could also be due to the baby, and IIRC the wife is preggo again? she (the pug) could be aware of the pregnancy (smell, probably) and is anxious because she knows another change is coming.


in a nutshell, rescue dogs *tend* to have fragile attachments at best, and get very anxious whenever big things change within the family.


think about what precedes the behavior...is there some kind of trigger, or is it just random?


we had a rescue pug that marked in the house; we determined that he was just anxious and wanted to be sure that we knew that he was there (that's what marking is all about to dogs) because he'd been abandoned in the past. it's pretty sad, really. maybe she was given up by her first family after the arrival of a new baby or puppy, and now she wants to be sure you don't leave her behind idn_smilie.gif


ultimately, if it's just generalized anxiety there's an option other than crating. for male dogs, you can buy this thing called a "belly band" that, combined with maxi pads, acts like a diaper for peeing problems. i'm sure there's an equivalent for females.


we used the belly band on our rescue pug for a couple years, and he eventually quit marking in the house because it didn't do any good. effectively, we used the diaper to force extinction of the marking behavior.


most of the time, rescue dogs are given up because of behavior issues...and the owner rationalizes it with stuff like "we're too busy" or "we can't afford to have a dog right now". what's ironic is that most behavior issues are caused by the original owner's lack of training and proper socialization of the dog.


don't give up on her. someone else already has, and it wasn't her fault that it happened. figure out what the cause of the behavior is and help her change it. everyone involved will be better off for it thumb.gif

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dave- seriously-- kennel the dog during the day for a while. our dogs start piss wars if we don't. you just have to retrain their brains to be disciplined enough NOT To just whiz anyplace. they get the jist pretty quick, and life goes back to normal- or at least it works for us.

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Thanks all, I do appreciate the support and possible solutions.


Zach - that makes a lot of sense and gives me a few options to explore in the mean time. Her appointment is scheduled for Monday to do the UA. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it's something treatable and not an emotional issue. We just had our second son last month which I'm sure is making things awkward for her.




Ugh, I have the carpet cleaning place on my recent call history too many times frown.gif








Odd to note. I just took her for a walk and it almost looked like some blood came out when she was done urinating! {censored}



Apparently that's a classic UTI symptom. I'll call the vet back and see if I can get her in sooner. frown.gif {censored}, she's gotta be in some pain frown.gif

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Quote Originally Posted by newholland

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dave- seriously-- kennel the dog during the day for a while. our dogs start piss wars if we don't. you just have to retrain their brains to be disciplined enough NOT To just whiz anyplace. they get the jist pretty quick, and life goes back to normal- or at least it works for us.

 

That's kind of what I thought was going on but the male dog has an iron bladder! He hasn't made a mess inside since we house trained him.


She's on the left in this pic:


25cf9b5d.jpg

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yeah, bloody urine is definitely a sign of a UTI which will certainly cause incontinence.


always remember that dogs think like dogs, not like people. when you look at their behavior from their perspective, it can really help you get them to behave the way you want them to. especially pugs.

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Try calling back with the blood story and offer to come in any time. If not your regular vet try someone new. Most vets won't want to have a dog be uncomfortable through a weekend.


Visit will include history, physical examination, probably a urinalysis (see if you can bring some urine). Try to keep an open mind. There are a number of reasons this could be happening.

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Quote Originally Posted by Ricky Bobby View Post
That's kind of what I thought was going on but the male dog has an iron bladder! He hasn't made a mess inside since we house trained him.

She's on the left in this pic:

25cf9b5d.jpg
Too damn cute. My male pug still hikes in the house. I thought he was doing better but last week I found 4 spots and about blew a gasket. I tried the belly band and he just pee'd in it. He knows what he is supposed to do but he hikes outside also. I wonder if it is just some weird thing with him. I had him checked for a UTI and he was fine. He is just rotten. I seriously thought he was dumb until I had a dog handler show me some things things about him. Then I realized that he is far from dumb, but he is stubborn. My puppy on the other hand, is a handful and we crate her (and our pug). However, within a few weeks she was going to the door to go outside. No accidents, knock on wood, since a few weeks after we got her. I crate her mainly because she gets into trouble when I am watching her and a big dog can create quite a mess quickly. Best of luck. Vet and crating seem to be the best route at this point.
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Quote Originally Posted by Ricky Bobby

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That's kind of what I thought was going on but the male dog has an iron bladder! He hasn't made a mess inside since we house trained him.


She's on the left in this pic:


25cf9b5d.jpg

 

Dude...


It really doesn't get any cuter than that. LOVE pugs. Such sweet dogs. Hope things work out with her.

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Sounds like she'll be fine once she gets some meds to clear up her UTI. If the problem persists after her UTI clears up, go back and re-read the posts from Knucklefux, he gave you some really good info/insight into what else might be causing the whole thing.

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Are there OTC meds for UTI? I'll go pick those up immediately if that's the case.



My vet told me she will be fine until Monday but to keep a close eye on her and to take her to the 24 hour hospital if anything changes. If that's bad advice I'll take her to a different vet ASAP, however I will say I do trust our current vet.




Man, I thought this was behavioral this whole time. I'm really glad I posted this.

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I mean she SHOULD be fine, but it may be worth it to look into this:

 

 

 

 

 

Cystex

Cystex contains methenamine, an antibacterial, and sodium salicylate, a pain reliever. Cystex claims to be the only over the counter medication to act not only as a pain reliever, but also keep the infection from getting worse.

 

 

 

 

im just such a spaz about my pups, that if the vet is booked, I will try anything and everything in the mean time lol.
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