Need advice on strange behavior in a rescued Great Pyr.

One of my co-workers adopted a Great Pyr about two months ago from a rescue group. Initially the dog was severly under weight and displayed emotional signs of being hit or beaten. The dog has made nice progress both physically and emotionally and seemed to be well on the way to a happy noral life but now on two different occasions in the last week the dog defecated on two different sofas while the family was away.
My friend contacted the rescue group for advice but they had never heard of this behavior and neither have I. There could be several reasons for urinating but this has us stumped.
Has anyone here heard of behavior like this? The only possibility I can conceive of is maybe revenge type separation anxiety.
Considering the dog was adopted to provide security for the home as well as a family pet, crating would not be an option. Any other ideas and/or suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks.

 

Sounds like separation anxiety. It's not out of spite or revenge or anything. Is gating into the kitchen also not an option?

I would probably work on it from a separation anxiety angle and make sure the couch is cleaned very well.

 

we had a HUGE mal/shepherd mix years ago that would poop now and then in the house - and it got really bad when we moved into our house we now live in.
I swear she was leaving her scent for all to witness. She did it a couple of times when we first moved and luckily stopped.
I was at the point where I was going to start not letting her have the run of the house during the day when no one was at home but she stopped w/out me having to do that.
She was a very headstrong dog.
But maybe confinement will help with the Pyr.

 

the strange thing s it just started and they have had the dog for 2 months, have they changed anything in their routine the would upset the dog, I would think SA would be shown right off unless something has changed

 

I was thinking a little of the opposite honeybears, after 2 months the dog feels confident and comfortable enough to 'mark its territory' (its not always just urinating)...a cocker mix I had years ago, whenever we went to a house he hadnt been before the first thing he did was run around in circles on the carpet and defecate....very embarrasing I can tell you, of course after he did it a couple of times, he got 2 circuits around the carpet them back outside quick where he would 'proceed' with his "party trick". Once hed been to the house once he never did it there again.

There are some 'plastic' type covers that give off a small electrical zap that can be used on couches or across doorways for when you dont want a dog to go in a particular room, Ive never used them but I know a few people who have, its nothing major in the zap...one friend said its similar to....you know how sometimes we give off like a little static zap, its kind of like that. Ill see if I can find them on the net.

ADDED:
Found a couple of sites, theyre called Scat Mats, the second link has other methods also.

http://www.safepetproducts.com/pilot.asp?pg=scatmat

http://www.geocities.com/jetflair/off_furniture.html

 

once i had a cat who would do that. well actually I cold never really figure out which cat, but at the time, I had 2 dale (my cat) and mellissabeth (the other cat). it started one weekend when I went out of town, it was the 2nd week end i had the new cat. i left the door open to my bedroom and when I came home...some special pieces of choclate were awaiting me. another time it happened a few months later. but it only ever happened in the bedroom on the bed with the other cat around. I could never figure out, if it was seperation anxiety, jealousy orjust plain spite! But I always assumed it was the other cat, bc my cat never did it otherwise (unless it was jealous/seperationa anxiety brought on by the 2) but i think it also had to do with territory bc it was on the bed, no where else.

 

I was going to say that I dont believe dogs are 'revengeful' (is that even a word?) :shock: spiteful, hold grudges etc....however, cats.....I dont know....I think they do, science says they dont, my own experiences seem to prove science is wrong

 

I agree with DeLaUK in that the dog may now feel comfortable enough to start misbehaving. Bonnie has all sorts of bad habits now that she has been with us long enough to know we are not going to smack her no matter what she does. She feels free to misbehave. It's like how a human child often behaves the worst for his mother, because he knows she will always love him anyway.

 

Cats...definately. My cat Punk lives up to his name. One time I wouldn't pet him when he wanted b/c I was doing homework, so he walked right in front of me and peed on my homework and then ran away.

Dogs...there are a few. I had one, Samantha. She'd never actually do anything bad, she'd just ignore you and pout. She was so sensitive, I could just look at her wrong and she'd get upset. She also didn't like my brother b/c he called her fat one time. She'd bark everytime she saw him after that.

 

Jamiya I was looking at your aviator what breeds are your dogs?

 

Zoeysowner, they are both one of those famous breeds called the "shelter dog."

Seriously, they both have some sort of herding dog in them. Nala (the black one) is actually ILP'ed with AKC (for competing in agility) as a Border Collie. I think she actually behaves more like an Australian Shepherd, and her coloring is EXACTLY the same as many aussies I have seen, but since they don't come in a short-coat variety I couldn't call her that. There ARE tri-colored smooth coat border collies, though.

Bonnie Blue is often called an Australian Cattle Dog (blue heeler) mix. She could be. Although, she favors heading off other dogs rather than heeling them usually, which is more of a border collie trait.

I have actually had real border collie herding people tell me either dog COULD be purebred border collie, since border collies have a great variety in their looks, being bred for work rather than appearance. I doubt either one is a purebred anything, though.

How's that for a long answer to a short question?

 

:lol: :lol: