Spiteful accidents?

[LouCerbone]

So Eddie is house trained, but he does have accidents, especially when I am outside lets say mowing the lawn. I come in and he has gone pee somewhere usually same spot in kitchen. He only does this when I am home and not right by his side. Any suggestions?
Definately seperation anxiety but it is getting annoying at this point.

[Mike D'Abruzzo]

The spiteful dog is really a myth. It seems logical that the dog might be angry and pee to get back at us. That logic can certainly make sense and you can even read about that theory in old dog training books.

But, in reality I never knew a dog that would want to purposely cause us to be angry at them or have a "I'll show you!..." attitude.

Seems like you are aware it is seperation anxiety problem. Some dogs have worse seperation anxiety when they can actually still hear or see their owner and can't get to them.

Remember, anxiety is like a partially filled water baloon in your hand. You can squeeze it and keep pushing parts back in between your fingers, but the water filled balloon will keep popping out between other fingers. You can't make it disappear - just like anxiety in the dog. It just comes out a different way.

Sounds to me like you did a good job housebreaking Eddie, but when his anxiety works up he can't force him self to prevent the body's natural tendency to expel anything unnecessary when under stress.

The proof to this theory is when you return and see the pee and the dog looks upset rather then "ha! ha! take that!" attitude.

I would start by first refreshing on your basics and make sure Eddie is cool with seperation when you are present (not all over you) then treat outings to the yard by yourself the same way you would treat leaving eddie home by himself when you go to work or how when the whole family leaves.

Test him with very short durations and try to give him something special that will last a while if he will care enough for it when stresses. If hes not caring for something special you will have to do the leaving the house for very short durations routine until he is cool enough to take that something special.

You can also trouble shoot by crating him and giving him something good to see if he will hold it in the crate when you are just outside.

This is just a suggested starting point to start troubleshooting from.
Keep us posted any other input on this from anyone is welcome.

[LouCerbone]

Yea I know that the spiteful thing is not real. It just seems that way sometimes. I have tried leaving him in the crate when I go outside and he will never go in his crate, but he just barks like crazy. (which he does not do when I am at work I have spokken to neighbors about it) So I also tried maybe if he can see me and have ability to roam a little bit so I pu him on the deck, which has a gate, while I mow the lawn. He completely freaks out running the length of deck and back, ramming the gate with his feet, barking like crazy.

[780kennels]

hey guys,

so like the title says my malinois has very runny stool and a friend of mine said it even looks MUCOUSY and i should get him tested for Beaver Fever.

theres no blood but it is always very runny, nothing solid. another friend of mine said that some malinois have very sensistive stomachs and theres nothing i can do about it.

and another friend said he may be allergic to the food i was giving him so ive tried many holistic pricy foods such as:

grain free type, allergy restricted ingredients type, vegetarian type, fish instead of chicken or beef type...

and another friend said to try a pumpkin digestive help additive which seemed to help a little but is 4.50 a can and lasts 3 meals, and it only helped a little.

now the pet shop has adviced me to try an all natural enzyme supplement, which ive tried for just one meal but it hasnt helped so far.

im running out of ideas of what to do and DEFINATELY RUNNING OUT OF PATIENCE for cleaning up his runny accidents in the house almost daily... but i dont want to go to a vet and have them charge me 6 times while they slowly do a process of elimination that ive already done.

some background on my malinois Beau:

beau was a rescue who has a lot of anxiety and i have 1 male and 1 female dog living with him. we all do 1.5 hr walks together and we have an established daily routine. another thing to know is that beau takes many shits throughout the day, not just 1 or 2 or 3 good ones but a whole lot of runny ones. hes very energetic amd playful, ALWAYS ready to go, i dont see any behavior that would suggest hes sick and his age is hard to know because hes a resuce but id say hes mid age at the most.

please give me advice on what i can do to find out whats causing beaus shitty shits and how i can help him have solid shits that he can hold overnite.

ps. is it possible that his runny shits are a just a biproduct of his anxiety and if so would it be a 2 step solution such as work on his anxiety and make sure he doesnt have anything seriously wrong with him cuz i dont wanna just find out one day that he had stomach cancer after he flops over one day.

[Mike D'Abruzzo]

It sounds like you really won't be able to get around going to the vet to troubleshoot this properly. You really have to rule out intestinal parasites. At the very least you would want to do a fecal floatation, giardia, coccidia, and whatever other tests the vet recommends for parasites that are common in your area. He may also have a gastroenteritis.
Too much jumping around to different diets can be doing more harm than good for both your malinois's health and a financial point of view if there is an underlying issue.

If you feel your current vet will give you the runaround - tell him/her your financial concerns or find a better vet that is more concerned with solving the problem than running up the bill.

[780kennels]

hey so i decided to bring my malinois back to the basics and take it from there. the good news is that when i feed him just boiled fish and basmati rice he has solid poos! so were both grateful for that but now the challenge is making sure that hes getting enough too eat and enough nutrients.

last nite i tried to add just a handful of his natural balance fish and sweet potato kibbles and he had the runs again. soooo since hes ok with the boiled fish and rice, what can i add to his diet to make sure hes getting enough to eat, for instance should i just add some more raw foods (vegs and fruits etc) and not try any store bought doggy kibbles...

i dont think he has any parasites cuz hes been having solid poos for the last week since i switched to the boiled fish and rice diet (other than when i added the handlful of kibbles)...

thanks!

adam

[Mike D'Abruzzo]

Like I said in previous post - I would still rule out parasites. He doesn't need to have constant runs to have them and some dogs can be loaded with all kinds of parasites and you wouldnt know just by looking at the stool - rather their failure to thrive.

As far as adding to what you are giving with natural foods you may want to check out some forums that specialize in raw and natural foods. When you are making your own food you want to be sure to keep it balanced which is an art in itself.

For dogs that are having trouble with kibble I have had clients have good luck with Nature's variety kibble. Its expensive but certain bags use tapioca as the starch - which is one of the most tolerated of any out there. California Natural - also is a line of dog food that has very limited proteins which is good for troubleshooting. Regardless, if you try to get back on a kibble or any food you have to expect the normal stomach upset that comes with switching foods too quick. When you don't have solid stool to begin with it gets very tricky.

Being that he was a rescue, as a Licensed Veterinary Technician, I would still have to stress a vet visit. Do you have any history of a past stool check with him or deworming when you rescued him?

[780kennels]

hi mike,

yes the shelter spend something like $2,000 on finding out if their was any medical issue/parasites with beau and they all came up negative, they basically decided that it was stress related. thanx for your reply, i ll try those raw diet forums and the kibble brands youve suggested. let you know what happens!