hiding to poo

[brem]

Yoshi is housebroken. He knows he can pee and poo outside. And usually barks at us when he needs to go out.

However, this morning, and lately, he's been quiet, and hehid behind some boxes and pooped right at the door.

Why's that?

He knows I wasn't happy and that he shouldn't have done that. Yet, he did.

How do I change this behaviour?

 

[Fran27]

Well, if you really think he knew that he was bad, it's that you probably housetrained him the wrong way.

By yelling at your dog, putting his nose in poop etc when he poops inside, you just taught him that it's wrong to poop in front of you... so he hid to do it. The most efficient way of housetraining a dog is to praise outside, ignore inside. You do NOT want a dog that is afraid to pee or poop in front of you.

Just a guess on what methods you used.

 

[brem]

I never put my dog in his poop.
Don't accuse somebody of things if you don't know. sheesh.

 

[Fran27]

Well, where would he get the feeling that you are not happy and he shouldn't do it from then?

 

[brem]

Cause he knows he's supposed to go outside.

I keep praising and giving treats when he goes outside. Yet, from time to time, though rarely (but THIS morning )...

Very rarely does he pee inside too.

Like I said, he barks when we "forget" to take him out usually. Why not this morning?

 

[Fran27]

How old is he? My boys forgot from time to time until 6 months or so.

 

[Dizzy]

Bodhi likes to hide when she poos too!

Will poo in long grass, in bushes etc, and only go in the open if she can't go anywhere else.

Some dogs are cleaner than others.

And for the record, I don't EVER shout at my dog.

She has learnt from praise, praise praise.

You will find some dogs just have places they prefer to go.

 

[Fran27]

Yes, but his dog does it inside.

Anyway, dogs don't know when they are being bad... they're just being dogs, and do things the way they want to unless the owner changes their behavior.

They can however associate pooping when being yelled at, and it can explain why puppies often end up hiding to poop in the house... Dogs don't understand that it's pooping inside that is wrong, but that pooping altogether is wrong (or at least that it makes people yell at them). They have to do it, so that's why they hide, to avoid being yelled at... which is why ignoring a dog that poops inside is the best way.

Which is why I said what I did in my first post - if a pup ends up hiding all the time and still pooping inside, it means the owner did something wrong in the housetraining attempt. It's not always hitting, yelling or putting the nose in the poop like some people do (although they just don't know better sometimes), but if they just feel you getting angry when they poop inside, it might make them want to hide too.

So again, ignoring is just the best way to deal with it... IMO.

 

[PoodleMommy]

I agree with Fran.

With my first dog, we did not know any better and when she went in the house we showed it to her and yelled at her.
Well anytime after that, even if she was very sick, she would try and hide going in the house, and act as if she "knew she was bad".

With the next dog we knew better, we praised outside and ignored inside unless we caught her in the act then we said NO once and took her outside. Any accidents she had as a puppy she did right in front of us like nothing was wrong with it.

Hiding.. usually means they are scared to go in front of you because they know you will be mad.

Elissa

 

[Doberluv]

Dogs don't know right from wrong. They do not share our values or morals so their sense of right and wrong in the way we see it does not exist. They do not have that ability. If you think that your dog "knows" that he did "wrong" you are mistaken. Dogs only know safe or dangerous. It's safe to go to the bathroom or it is not safe. If it's not safe, a dog still has to go, but he will hide it. The only way to teach a dog to be housebroken is to prevent accidents by constant supervision while the dog is loose in the house. And to give ample opportunity for success and reward lavishly....in other words reinforce the correct response. Punishment, even as mild as showing them displeasure will tend to shut a dog down....keep him from trying to guess the correct response and cause him to be apprehensive of his owner.

When people say, "My dog looks guilty. She knows she did wrong when I come home and find poop." Well, that is untrue. The dog has experienced enough times that the owner came home and was displeased or angry that the owner coming home is a predictor of a worrisome or anxious time for the dog, hense the look of "guilt"...the lowered head, the slinking body language. I'm not saying your dog is doing this. I'm just trying to get it across how we can misconstrue what is going on in a dog's mind.

I am not saying that you used punishment. How would I know? I'm just brainstroming here, and coming up with the usual reasons for dogs who hide their accidents or don't go when taken outside very well. If they have associated the owner's displeasure at their going in the house, they may take it to mean that going to the bathroom is not safe, not that going to the bathroom in the house is not safe. They don't think about outside, inside until they're trained well. If they're punished, it all boils down to: it is not a safe thing to go to the bathroom. So, they hide it because of course, they can't hold it forever.

This is why behaviorists and trainers now urge people to supervise very, very carefully, crate when the dog can't be watched, take the dog out very often, praise the instant the dog is finished and give a treat. You have to prevent accidents or the dog will repeat that behavior and if there are accidents, it's not the dog's fault. It's ours. So, have patience and don't worry about peoples' explanations here. No one means anything but to help. You may be taking it the wrong way. No one accused you of anything. It's all guess work and surmizing here since we're on the Internet. These are the typical reasons based on animal behavior that usually cause the problem you're describing.