Would a dog defecate to cover the scent of a parrot?

Hi,

We just adopted an 11-month old fox terrier/beagle cross from a rescue group. He is very well behaved with no signs of abuse and is very social and obedient as well as house-broken. My roommate has an amazon parrot that is kept in a cage in her room upstairs that is usually babbling to itself during the day.

He's been here for 5 days now. The first night he was here, he urinated and defecated in the house, as well as urinating outside while on a walk. The next 3 days he was great and went only outside while on walks. Yesterday when returning from a walk (he urinated), he came into the house, went upstairs to the door of the parrot room, and defecated in front of it. We didn't catch him doing it, but found it after, so we cleaned it up and tried to get rid of the scent. Today I took him for a 20 minute walk upon waking up. He urinated but did not defecate, and not 5 minutes after we came home, he went upstairs and defecated outside the parrots door in the same spot.

Could he be trying to mask the parrot's scent or responding to his squawking? My room is in the basement of the house and Ozzy will be allowed into the ground floor and basement, but I am going to put a baby gate in front of the stairs going upstairs where the parrot room is. Is there anything else I should be doing?

I suspect is more of a marking issue with the dog. He's trying to find his "place" in the "pack." He's possibly feeling competetive with the parrot. This nice little dog just needs to know that you and your roommate are his leaders and that you decide things, you take care of things and that he doesn't need to.

Some obedience practice every day and walks are a good way to show him that you've got it all covered. When walking, only reward for his staying along side you. Don't let him pull or lead you. Having him sit or do a down/stay before he gets some of his privileges, food, treats etc will help him look up to you as his leaders. Take him out often, just in case he's confused about where to go, even though he may have been housebroken and just in case this is not marking, but that he's just confused in his new house.

The leadership exercises are still a good thing to practice with any dog anytime. See if that helps.

You need to do a little better job supervising the dog.

Get a baby gate, and prevent his leaving the room you are in when he is home with you.

Sometimes marking doorways or near doorways is a demonstration of ownership by the dog. That dog is crossed to view small animals as prey, since he is from a cross of terrier and hound.

You will find my piece on how to housetrain your puppy on this training forum somewhere, it might be helpful to you.

Redyre,

We have put a baby gate on the stairs going up to the parrot room and we don't let him out of our sight. He didn't do it (or get the chance to) yesterday and today he has been good as well. We are following your post on getting him to go on command as well and are not trying to teach him anything else during his walks until he gets that.

Thanks