my dog is acting weird...

Hey all! I haven't been in here for a long time!! Nice to be back...

I have an interesting situation that I have never seen before... I have an Australian Shepherd that just turned 1 year yesterday (4/29). A few months ago she peed on my bed a few days in a row, it was confusing me but I figured maybe it's a stage they go through so I cleaned it up and went about... Now, probably 2 months later, on her birthday she did it twice!! She had all the chance in the world to go outside because I had her out with me all day. I was home for probably an hour and I went in my room to find a little wet spot, as soon as I said her name, she knew she was in trouble (because I was sitting on the bed)... So my big question is: WHY DO IT IF U KNOW YOUR GOING TO GET IN TROUBLE??? but she still does it. And even after punishing her that time, a little bit ago I found another piddle ON MY BED... Why could she be doing this? Our cat is in heat right now and I don't remember if she was a few months ago when she did it, but could she be marking her territory because the cat is in heat, even though she's a girl and they are different species?? Please help me out if you can and give me an idea of why she is doing it and what I can do to teach her not to... Thanks in advance for any replies...

Ashley

 

You may well have hit the nail on the head. Does your cat lay on your bed? Another pet (or even a person) being around can be enough for some dogs to 'mark their territory' and it makes no difference of the sex of either, males do it more commonly but Ive had a few female dogs that have done it, my Whippet was pretty bad for it although not inside the house...but things like if the neighbours cat had been in the yard during the night, Bonnie (whippet) would do a thorough 'sniff through' and pee all over the place, just small squirts.

She may be doing it because the cat is in heat but I dont think it would be necessary for the cat to be in heat. Any changes in enviroment can trigger this off.

I did want to add that unless you catch her actually in the act of peeing then its unlikely that she will know why she is being punished so she wont relate it to "last time I peed in here I got in trouble"....what shes responding to is your own body language, tone of voice and eye contact.
(try and explain this better) Ive had a lot of people bring their dogs in for training, they'll say..."the biggest problem is the dog is destructive in the house and that I know the dog knows he shouldnt be destructive by the way he acts when I walk in, he cowers/hides or his ears and tail go down...he creeps over to me"....whats actually happened is the dog has trashed the place....owner has come home and seen the mess, yelled at the dog in an angry tone, pupils in the eyes of the person got bigger and the general 'stance' has sent a very clear message to the dog that your angry, he doesnt know why he just knows you are.....then the next day, the same thing happens....you react the same way on discovering the mess.....dogs learn by repetition and consistency, its how we teach them good behaviour.....but it goes both ways....after a couple of times of you walking in and finding the mess, youve responded in the same way.....in the dogs mind though he has started to relate your walking into the house to being angry....the reason for your anger is not an issue, he will still 'cower' put his ears back and his tail down even if he hasnt destroyed anything.

I do think that after a long period of time some dogs will actually associate certain actions with some consequences prior to them doing 'that action' but all of the studies Ive read on that, theyre inconclusive.

Your best bet to stop her doing this is to stop her having access to your bed, once theyve peed in a specific area unless you clean it thoroughly with an enzymatic cleaner (natures miracle or something similar) then theres a good chance that the scent is still there.....any other animal (or person) that puts theie own scent on there, then she is likely to go back to it and let those animals (people) know that its 'her space'.....not that people can usually smell anything with some disenfectant over it but she doesnt know that.

On a final note whenever a dog does start to have 'accidents' in the house its always a good idea to have things like bladder problems ruled out, with a mild infection they may well go to a place theyve gone to before or a place they are 'comfortable' going in inside if they cant get outdoors.

Just my opinion.

 

The cat is actually not allowed in my room because I have birds and she happens to think they are hers So whenever I see her in there I take her out, but I very rarely, if at all see her on my bed though...

Well the thing is, she hasn't been allowed on my bed since she was doing it before. She was allowed on my bed until she decided to mark it so I don't let her up there anymore... but for some reason, she still does it. Also, yesterday when I found the 2nd piddle, I just said "Roxy (my dog) come here" in a calm tone and immediately she cowered and wouldn't come to me... I didn't show any aggression towards her, I just called her to me, and it is weird cuz it was right after I felt the bed and smelt it... And when I am angry about anything else, when it has nothing to do with her, she doesn't cower, she comes straight over to me.

A few months ago when she did it I thought maybe she did it because she was mad, for me leaving her at home instead of taking her for a walk, Do dogs think that way? And do something becuse they are mad at their owner? That couldn't be it this time though since yesterday she was with me all day... and we were outside where she could've went potty, but I wonder if that was the issue the first time she was doing this...

 

Dogs dont think the same way people do, if she was due to go for a walk....but then you left without her it would probably cause some frustration, maybe she had got herself worked up into going for a walk...not meaning she has to look to you like shes excited but the anticipation is in her head, maybe you did something that you would normally do before you normally take her for a walk....knocked her leash, put your coat on....anything that you normally do when your about to walk her looks exactly the same to her whether shes going with you or not. And it works the same if there are things that you normally do when your not taking her out, for example, my dog Krissie, we go for our last walk pretty late, when we come back in she goes to her bed, if I sit down on the couch she comes up and sits with me but if I go straight to the kitchen and she hears her treat jar opening she goes straight to her crate....I can open that jar 10 times a day and she doesnt go to her crate automatically...now if Im going shopping and I cant take her with me, she gets a little excited when she sees me putting my shoes on, I usually say something like "aah! sorry pup, I cant take you"....in a 'sorrowful' tone....she goes straight to her crate.... How does she know? its not something that Ive intentionally taught her to do its that she has got to know by just the sound of her treat jar opening after that late night walk then its time for bed and by 'that' tone I use when I cant take her.

When you mentioned about how you called her to you and about not showing any agression, I just used an example in the other post, you dont have to show any aggression at all, it can be your tone of voice....not necessarily shouting, a lot of people have that 'disapproving' tone that is quiet and calm, with my own dogs all I have to do is tilt my head very slightlyand raise an eyebrow and theyre gone....in the crates, they may or may not have done anything at all (it might have been my daugher that I was 'annoyed with') but the times that they had done something my usual reaction is to do what I just mentioned...and I might say, in a calm but disapproving voice....."okay...what have you done"....like I said its a combination of your body language, eye contact and voice but it doesnt have to be all of them it can either/or, the longer a dog is with you the better it gets at reading you, sometimes its like they know what mood your in before you know yourself. (sorry I was trying really hard to figure out how to explain how the slightest difference in your tone of voice can have a completely differenct reaction from a dog...not easy on a computer ).

Well, I dont know if that helped at all, I hope it at least made sense

 

Another weird thing I forgot to mention that me and my family have been noticing is that lately, along with peeing on my bed, my dog has been getting into the trash and scattering it all over the house... She used to do that when she was a puppy, which everyone should expect with a 4 month old puppy, but she started doing it again, and now she is a year old... Do u have any possible explination for this also happening?

By the way, you made perfect sense... Don't worry about it...

 

Another weird thing I forgot to mention that me and my family have been noticing is that lately, along with peeing on my bed, my dog has been getting into the trash and scattering it all over the house... She used to do that when she was a puppy, which everyone should expect with a 4 month old puppy, but she started doing it again, and now she is a year old... Do u have any possible explination for this also happening?

By the way, you made perfect sense... Don't worry about it...

Ashley

 

Has something changed in your houe recently? Seems to be a pattern in 'old behaviours' being revisited. This often happens when there are changes in the enviroment, it can be anything from a visitor staying for a couple of days, change in your work schedule, redecorating (another pet coming into heat....and without getting graphic in any way there are some dogs, usually head strong-dominant males that can be a nightmare when there is a female in the house and at a certain time of the month)....anything that 'upsets' the usual flow of what is the 'norm' for the dogs surroundings and they dont necessarily go back to their 'normal' behaviour once things have settled down again, by then the negative behaviours....or different behaviours have already become a habit. Dogs notice and react to a lot more than we think they do. I dont recall if Roxy is spayed, if not and she is going into heat then that in itself is enough to turn her into acting like a dog youve never even met before, with the majority of dogs the changes at this time are more subtle and dont create a problem or concern for the owners but some dogs actions can be more severe, anything from not eating for days, some will be lethargic...seem depressed others will turn into raving nutters and act like theyre on drugs or something.!!! or appear that there sole purpose in life is to do anything and everything to make you nuts. Obviously if she is spayed then this wont be the issue.

As for the trash, could be that she just found something that tasted/smelled good to her and went digging....they only have to do something one time and it can set off like a 'new pattern'.

 

Besides the cat going into heat nothing has changed... She isn't spayed and she is due for her heat in like a month or two, which might come early... Who knows?

Another thing that made me think the cat might've made her act like this is because (Don't ask me why!) but she tries to hump the cat and then realizes that nothing is happening so she stops... Sad, but funny because they are both girls and the male mounts NOT the female lol

Anyways I have no idea what caused the whole trash thing but we always have chicken fat or the ends of wings in the trash and she never touches it, its weird that she started doing it again. She spread napkins and orange peel all over the house, thats what was in the garbage, and as far as I know, orange peels never interested her It's all weird, maybe she is almost ready for another heat herself like you said...

 

I'm no expert on anything like this or anything, but around a year of age, my dog Ranger went through a rebellious stage, where he started up a lot of old behaviors. nothing had changed, i mean, i did get out of school for summer, but I had been out for about amonth before the trouble started. I basically retrained him, treated him like I did when I first got him, taking about two segments of 15 minutes a day to train him with sit and stuff, watching him constantly, and putting him outside about every hour to go to the bathroom. You may want to try that, although I don't know if that is your problem or not, but what your going through sounds similar to what Ranger did.