Hello all, I was hoping for a bit of advice. We have rescued a 3 year old staffie dog, who isn't neutered yet, but shall be in a few weeks.

He is a lovely natured lad (to some extent I am a little surprised as I was unsure at first, having had a bassett hound for 4 years). However when we leave him in the day he will poo, even though he has been walked in the morning. We have only had him 1 week, but I'm concerned that he may get into a routine with this. He is left for long periods, but so was our old lass, and she held it until we got back!

He doesn't seem to be a great fan of doing his business when on the lead, so we have been encouraging him in the back garden (we are reluctant to let him off the leads when walking as we are just learning about him, and him us!).

Can anyone advise me what is the best thing to do to get him out of this habit??

How long is he left for exactly, what time is he fed and what is he fed on, what do you do when you have found that he has poo'd?

Sorry for all the questions but it helps to build a clearer picture of your behaviour and his.

Hi Gemima. He has a bowl of Bakers meaty chunks put down as I get up, around 6.30-7am. He gets up with me and most mornings he will go out and have a tiddle. My husband then gets up around 7.45 and will take him out for 30 minutes, and also go into the back garden with him for 5-10 minutes, to encourage pooing!!

I then get in at 4.30, and he is always in our bedroom, and the parcels are in there. When I/we find them we say "What's this?" at which point he cowers and leaves the room and sits at the top of the stairs. Once it's cleared up we go straight out for a walk for 30 minutes (where he doesn't poo!!). Then back home and a final walk around 10pm.

He has access to the food all day, but the only times I have really seen him tucking in is after we have eaten in the evening. He's a lovely lad, and would be nearly perfect were he to stop using our bedroom carpet!!!

My dog gets left most of the day and we don't have any accidents, maybe feed him once a day at dinner time if you get a chance to nip home or wait untill you get in from work, it should of worked it's way through ready for the toliet first thing in the morning / evening walk then :gag:

D always goes to the toliet at the same times, 1 in the morning walk and one or two in the afternoon walk and occasionally in the garden inbetween. He's worked out a good pattern for him and us :lol:

Hi

We had the same issue with a rescue dog too. They have been used to doing their business where they want, when they want in the kennels so it does take some time to sort them out. We ended up getting a dog psychologist to ours in the end.
He suggested giving food once a day at a time when you will be there for the next few hours as they tend to need to do their business within a few hours of feeding. This will help get them in a routine with toilet time, oh and praise them loads when they do, do it outside.

Also when you come home and see 'the parcels' just ignore, let dog out straight away and clean up while they are outside so they don't see your anger/ upset about 'the parcels'. We made the mistake of telling ours off when we got home but they might have done them a few hours ago and are unable to link the telling off to the poop, all that happens is dog thinks uh oh they're coming home soon am gonna get told off and basically poops then through fear.

He also asked us to see if anyone could come round in day to let her out so she could have a toilet break.

Once you have a routine they begin to hang on for when you get home.

He also said she might miss us while we are out and that might make her poop too so he recommended getting a fabric doll - we had to sleep with it for a day or two to put our 'smell' on it and then give it to her to have in her bed. This one didnt work with us but €i know others that it has worked for.

Hope this helps x.

hi try leaving him in a room without carpets,cos once he's done a poo its very hard to clean carpet that well.Dogs have such a fantastic sense of smell he will just keep going back to that same place,try using surgical spirits where he's done it.Remember everything is very new to him and he's probably nervous,scared,unsure etc,he needs to build the trust with you where he will feel safer and more secure.When you take him outside to toilet give him a treat to reward good behaviour if he does anything.from what you said from his response he knows it was wrong to do it there.As for the food bakers is not so good,try burns it's fantastic,for dogs and cats.Good luck,he needs tlc and time to get used to his new life with you.

The reason I asked about the type of food is that a poor diet produces more waste. The body disgards what it does not need. Bakers is probably the worst food to feed a dog, so firstly I would change that. Bakers is full of colourings and made from animal derevitives which is a cheap ingredient so that it costs them hardly anything to manufacture and they can charge you "the consumer" a packet. The colourings are there to tempt you, not the dog. Dogs cant tell and dont care what colour the food is, but it looks tasty to you, so you will buy it, they are very clever.

You will have noticed that the poo is a horrid colour and soft (poo should be dark brown and hard) the dog poos more,as there is more waste.

Secondly I agree with what everyone has said about the times that you feed and dont chastise the dog after the event, he wont know what he has done.

It is quite a long time to leave him during the settling period and he cant be expected to hold himself for that long, particularly as someone has already mentioned that he is from a kennels.

Make a big fuss of the poos outside and ignore the poos inside, he will soon get the idea, but changing the type of food will help. Hodgepig mentioned Burns, this is a great natural food, which only contains what the dog needs without the need for chemicals and unnatural colours and preservatives. Dogs on a quality food will poo less, the poos are smaller and not smelly, soft or unpleasant.

I think you can expect a few more incidents until he gets the idea but good luck with him and its great to hear you have taken a rescue dog into your life. He will repay you once he knows what is expected of him.

Thanks for the replies, and yes the poo consitancy is very different to what we were used to picking up with the old bassett. We are going for a change in diet and feeding at night. As well as the avoidance of chastising him, poor lad will be so unsettled anyway...

We will be fine, just don't want to upset him, as he is lovely....just introduced him to the rabbit, whom nicked a piece of his food, brought it into the living room and started to munch on it!!! He was lovely and calm, we have a beautiful one here! Very much in the essence of the rescued bassett!

Oh, and we have been making a big fuss of the outdoor poo's, I did think about the treats but didn't know if it was a good idea, so we will introduce that as well.

Finally, we were expecting an unsettled period, especially with our hours, we just don't want him to fall into bad habits.

Poor little one, I guess this is because he is a rescue and as previous suggested he has got into the kennel's habit of pooing anywhere, anytime, any place.
You could try giving him one meal am, another pm and then take if for walk directly after? He should do the do...other suggestion, if you have no choice but to leave him, is confine him to one room pref kitchen and put newspaper down?
If he has ever been housetrained, he will remember his puppy day's and do on paper....praise him like hell when it gets it right, then put the muck in the garden a place where your not going to tread...obviously.
Clean newspaper each day and repeat this process, gradually move the paper nearer door, then when he's defo got hang of it, move the paper outside, weighted down on each corner with bricks.
He should carry on using this spot till eventually you have what you desire NOT IN HOUSE!
Rescue's take a lot of time and patience but seriously don't give up, he'll make a perfect dog given time.

He may pick the new trick up in a couple of day's, it may take a few weeks.

Oh yes....remember a dog will never poo where he sleep's..lol

Oh and obviously when he does get the hang of going outside, you can then shift the previous dollop, if still there as that was to show him where and this is HIS family and HIS garden.....His scent.

Thanks to you all for the advice, will do the one meal when I get in from work. Then a walk, and later in the night (hopefully following digestion) another walk and pooing opportunity. I shall also use the newspaper....

One meal at night, ignoring the accidents and lots of love have resulted in the first day of no accident in the house on our return from work....things are looking up!!!!! Thanks for the advice.

So glad to here it! It's so nice when you don't have to worry what your gonna get when to come home, good luck, keep going!

you dont think he could be getting anxious do you while your not there ?a dog will do naughty things sometimes just to get attention even though it may be a shouting at , have you thought of crate training him? it would give him secuity & dogs dont like soilling
their dens ,just a thought

Hi, we just ignore the poo's entirely, so he gets no extra attention for his accidents, however we do make a huge fuss when he does the deed outside.

Unfortunately the poor lad is alone for long periods in the week, so popping him in a puppy crate would be really mean....

We are considering getting him a friend for company, but we'd like him to be trained before then. There is a (spayed) staffy bitch that may need rehomed in the next few months, so we may try her with him....

Hi, we just ignore the poo's entirely, so he gets no extra attention for his accidents, however we do make a huge fuss when he does the deed outside.

Unfortunately the poor lad is alone for long periods in the week, so popping him in a puppy crate would be really mean....

We are considering getting him a friend for company, but we'd like him to be trained before then. There is a (spayed) staffy bitch that may need rehomed in the next few months, so we may try her with him....

if introduced to the crate propely ,he would see it as his den & a place for him to feel secure all my 12 are crate trained in they go lay in the crate during the day of their own free will, with the doors open,i know of many cases where dogs that have been kick out ,handed over to rescues & pts when simple crate training would have solved the problems , i am by no means trying to tell you what to do with him im just advising from my experiance , good luck with him i hope he does settle down for you .:thumbsup:

Hi, please don't feel like you are telling me what to do, I posted for advice and that is what you are giving me!!

We need to get him a crate for the car, so it would be a good idea to pop it in the house for him as you suggested, it may make him feel more settled.

As for kicking him out....never!! Horrendous that people take on dogs and expect them to be perfect, one of the joys of them is that they aren't!!