House training issue

Roobarb is 4 years old and in the most important way he is ultra obedient.

No matter where he is or what he is doing if i say come he comes straight to me, if he has something he shouldn't and i say drop it he does, tell him to get off the couch and he's straight down....but

He still poos and wee's in the house. not every time or even every day. He has constant access to outside as i am home all day and he will signal me when he wants to go out. The back door is open most of the time and even when it is he's still gone upstairs and done it...the worst thing is occasionally he'll wee on my bed- going to bed at 11 and finding he's done that is not my idea of fun. Bedding has to be stripped i have to scrub the mattress and then sleep on the sofa until it's dry.

He's not neutered.

I cant feed him raw and he doesn't like kibble so he has the next best thing i can find in 'Nature Diet', he is fed at the same time every day and walked relatively soon after.

Any help or advice much appreciated

does he sleep upstairs ?
normally if they wee on the bed its a dominence thing so i believe

he does yes, when we first got him we made him abed in the kitchen but i had no door frame left in less than an hour! and sleeping a dog downstairs seemed cruel to me when he's alone. If a had another dog i would have worked harder at it as i would have been more comfortable knowing they had each other.

No idea what to make of it at all, i've tried all sorts!

the only thing i can think of it keeping the bedroom doors shut when you are not in there and even putting a stair gate up keep him from upstairs during the day .
id say try crate training but if you are in all day and he has a bed to lay in i dont know if its worth it we have a brill topic on house training ill see if i can find it for you might help

chttps://staffiezone.forumotion.com/puppy-section-f19/house-training-your-puppy-t156.htm

might help hun

There could be many reasons why he is doing this, but as it is irregular here is my take on the situation.

As he is allowed on the bed he feels that it is his domain as well and so when his scent vanishes which takes some time even though you scrub and can't smell it, he does it again to reinforce his domain scent and make his presence known.

The idea of a crate is a great idea he can have that as his domain and because you won't be going in it the crate becomes all his own smells and he has no need to scent mark. If you are really dead against a crate try having a bed just for him in the corner of your room, a few nights of get down and get in your bed will teach him where he needs to be, he will then begin to feel safe and secure in his own place. If you scold him for weeing on your bed you are just reinforcing any insecurities he may have.

A lot of dogs will scent mark a special place if they are feeling insecure or if there is trouble going on, (raised voices, loud noises etc.)

i never thought of the insecure bit buffy will wet if there has been anything different going on and she is confused

How does the crate work? i assume it's the same theory as a bed but with walls?? I can see how that would give him a greater sense of security over his area. Does the crate stay open?

As with staff's in general Roobarb (i usually call him roob for short so will do on here from now on lol) is fantastic with kids, too fantastic actually. he's over-protective. For example if someone walks a dog past the house he doesn't acknowledge it, if however, there are children playing in the street at the time he is straight to the window and gets really really agitated. He's fine with other dogs when we are out walking, unless either mine or someone else's kids are nearby. This is the only area that i can think of where Roob is insecure, and he has scent marked in the children's room but unfortunatley at night i cant keep that door shut. I'm always telling my husband that feel really sorry for roob, being on guard around the children. His job is to lie around, and sleep and be fed from the table by the children (i do tell them not to but they say he has 'those eyes' lol) not to protect them.

Actually there is another area where he is insecure, the rats. He also love's them too much! Rat's fight....alot lol and when they do he runs straight over to the cage (and he ALWAYS knows which one it is) and sits whining and again gets really agitated. When i see them fighting, as its not a wise idea to put your hand in at that moment lol, i tap on the cage to get them to stop-he's even started to copy that. He paws at the cage and instantly the rats stop and run to the door like 'ooooh look, big rat!'

Would castrating help is tendancy to over-protect and mother things and people?

Thanks for the advice so far it's really made me think about roob's behaviour in a different way.

buffys crate is open when we are in and can supervise her at night her door is closed to as she will be upstairs and in bed before we can say jack lash lol although once my stair gate has been fitted she will have the run of the kitchen and hallway at night ,
i still say even if you have a crate ( which he may take some getting used do some dogs do ) have a stair gate to keep him downstairs i know you will probabley think its cruel as he is part of the family but its cruel to be kind if he not upstairs he cannot mark his territory because at the end of the day its not his its yours he has just been allowed to share it .
buffy is very protective of the kids if someone walks past us she will move so that she is inbetween as if to be able to protect all of us if imout with the pram she generally walks on the left but someone coming on the right she will move and walk inbetween them walking past and us although if they got down to fuss her she will let them and fuss back .
i dont know if castrating will work as ive never experienced a male dog but im sure someone on here will answer you hun .

Thank You, not sure what roob is crossed with but it appears to be a frog.... he can clear 6 foot with no run up. We used to have a stair gate because the children were only one and two and when they were old enough to use the stairs i left it their to stop the dog going up, but if they went up wanted to follow and he'd jump it but being on the stairs was terrified he'd fall and hurt himself so it had to go. Am defo going to give the crate a try though x

you can get dog gates which are a lot taller than a safety gate .
lololol poor Roobarb maybe you should have named him kermit lol
i never used a crate before in my life with any dog but for some reason it was one of the first things we bought for Buffy and that was before i read up on them and i am so glad i did .
Mandy on here with Tyson and Bruno have just started to use one and her dogs love it xxx

In general castration does not change a dogs character, it may make them calmer or a little quieter and generally stop them from trying to hump everything in sight, but if protective now he will probably stay that way.

Could it be he feels he has to protect everything as he is 'allowed' to be in charge in the house? Does he know that you are the boss?

The dog gates from Argos are great and like Jo I had never used a crate before with any of my dogs before but they are a godsend. If you do decide to buy one let him gradually get used to it and make it a nice place for him to go

Funny story, my middle child will get where water cant and as such could scale a stair gate with ease.... so i upgraded to a dog gate. That both he and the dog got over with ease. Again i removed it for safety (how mad is that to remove a safety item for safety's sake! lol)

I am looking into a dog crate, what size would you recommend? Roob isn't as tall or wide as a full staff.

As far as i knew roob was under no illusion as to who was in charge, but alot of what has been said about dominence makes alot of sense to me so maybe i'm not as in charge as i thought i was. He does whatever he is told to do exactly when i say it, but it's not that simple with dog's is it? It seems to me now that he CHOOSES to answer me and obey because he CHOOSES to, i've just been lucky so far that he has chosen to do it everytime i have asked! lol

you are a well trained human hun lololol just like me glad im not alone buffy is the same obeys me because she chooses to not because i tell her or ask her to do lololol
although she will do everything my hubby asks of her but from what ive been told its the voice low tones and high tones .
buffys not as big as a full grown staffy being only 12 months old but she has an extra large crate she did have a medium one but she looked scrunched up in it ill try get a pic of her in to so you can roughly see the size

ignore the looks she doesnt do posing for the camera and i think she thought i was putting her bed early lolololol
pics not to brill as its hard to get her stay for me and take a pic but this cage is big enough to hold two staffys with plenty of room for both although my next wont be sharing as buffy likes to spread out the full length lol it actually had two full grown alsations in it originally ( not mine was given to me by a kind person )

also this post might help you better to see size
https://staffiezone.forumotion.com/staffordshire-bull-terrier-pictures-and-stories-f5/my-boys-love-the-crate-t887.htm

That looks huge!
Am gonna get one and try.... it cal always go on good old ebay if it fails! lmao

And buffy looks stunning!

thank you lol
why not try your local freecycle group or even pets rehoming on yahoo put a want on good for cages for little furries to might be worth a shot before you buy one

That's great, will try that in the morning! Thanks for all your help x

no problemo hun we all here to help each other

I would take him back to the beginning and retrain him, dogs don't understand the concept of a house to live in, we have to teach them that they toilet outside. Take him out every hour and when he goes, lots and lots of praise, if you know when he is due to toilet then you can stick to those times but the idea is not to give him the change to toilet inside.

Wetting the owner's bed is insecurity, that is were your smell is the strongest and he is putting his with yours to say it is his as well. The only way you can stop this while building up his confidence is to keep the door closed so he doesn't have access to any beds. Re training him will give him the confidence he needs.
first close the door and don't allow him free access to outside, dogs don't understand the concept of a house to live in, we have to teach them that they toilet outside.

Take him out every hour and when he goes, lots and lots of praise, if you know when he is due to toilet then you can stick to those times but the idea is not to give him the change to toilet inside.

Quote :

He is not neutered

Doesn't have anything to do with house training. Personally I wouldn't have a dog neutered unless there was a health reason for it. The incidents of testicle cancer is lower than the danger from anaesthetic.

Feed what he is happy with, just make sure there are not many additives in his food, it is additives that can do the damage.

It has nothing to do with dominance, dogs are not trying to dominate us, far too many dogs are permanently damaged because of the dominance theory. Dogs like children need boundaries, if they are not in place they keep trying to find them just like children with no boundaries, they become little gits. Put the boundaries in place, be consistant with them and you will have a well behaved dog/child.

Thank You for that Mattie, It has all been gratefully recieved and is being worked on