Please stop pooing in the car

[candypants]

Hi there everyone, any advice would be very much appreciated as I just don't really know what else to do. I bought my 4yr old shih tzu called Candy in Aug last year and instantly fell in love:p . The owners assured me she was fine to be left alone for up to 2hrs at a time, as I work as a home help this meant she would only be left for a maximum of 1hr at any one time, so this was ideal. When it came to leaving her alone in the house she barked solid for the hour, much to my neighbours dismay, to cut a long story short I have now moved house away from them, as they were very anti dog!! So I decided to take Candy in the car with me every time I went out, so as to not leave her distressed in the house, although I had left lots of toys, music ect... to cure any boredom. She loves the car and enjoyed coming out with me, although she did bark for the first 10 min she settled quickly and got treats and fussed on my return. As time has gone by, she will not leave my side in the house (not even on the loo:rolleyes: ) and gets very distressed if I leave her with my partner to go shopping ect... so yet again I gave in and took her with me, now she is a complete nightmare and even if I leave her for 5 min or half hour I am always greeted with a poo in the car,:eek: she always has opportunities to go before I take her. I feel its almost as if she is teaching me a lesson for leaving her... Please, please help I am at my wits end and dread each time I take her out in the car, I do not want to leave her in the house as am so afraid of upsetting the new neighbours. I know it seems cruel leavin her in the car (although very ventilated) with access to water and toys, I also feel its cruel leaving her in the house crying and pining, She is fully toilet trained but either way on my return to the house or the car, she has messed and has got herself into a right stressful state. Any advice would be very much appreciated Thanx Jenny and Candy:o

[Cheetah]

How hot does it get where you are? It's very dangerous to leave a dog alone in a car during warm seasons. Temperatures in cars can skyrocket in a matter of minutes, even with the windows open.

I would work on training your dog to be left alone in your house. It sounds like she has seperation anxiety (freaking out when you leave because she's alone). I would start by getting her some kind of interactive toy that you can stuff food in, such as a Kong. Stuff her favorite food or treats in there and see if she'll work on it. Get her used to it. Try giving her this special toy only when you leave. Pick it back up when you come home. I would try leaving only for a matter of minutes the first few times and then gradually increasing. >^^;<

[candypants]

Thankyou for your reply and thankyou for your concern as to the temperature of the inside of cars and how dangerous it is for any animal, I do fully understand that and agree 110%, but please rest assured I have never left her in the car when it has been remotely sunny or warm, forgive me for not mentioning earlier that I am extremely lucky as I have a lovely sister who takes care of Candy on occasions, I have only had Candy since Aug last year so have not experienced any hot weather yet, to my dismay. We live in cold, rainy Cumbria North England. So this was also something that was preying on my mind as to where the heck I was going to leave her when or shall I say if we are lucky enough to have Summer this year;) , I agree that I am going to have to work on leaving her home alone, although as I stated before it is only for an hour tops here and there, It is the barking and the messing that is the main problem, I leave her great toys and chews also the television or radio on, but this does not seem to settle her. I will try the kong toy however that sounds like a really good idea, as long as it isn't too big as her mouth is tiny ha, but could keep her occupied nevertheless, I will write soon with the outcome of that. As for the pooing no matter how hard I try to entertain her, she always leaves me that parcel, I'm finding it hard to differentiate whether it is the cause of a nervous tummy because I'm leaving her, or is she teaching me a lesson???? any replies are very grateful x:o

[Cheetah]

Does she only poop in the car? Or does she do it when you leave her home alone as well? If you don't leave her at home for that long, you might try a crate. Most dogs will not soil in what they consider their den (any small space where they eat and sleep). You would of course have to make her like the crate. Make it a positive place to be. I did this with my pup by feeding him and giving him his special toys like the kong only in his crate. You have to start slow with it though like anything... only leave her in it for a few minutes at first and stay by it... let her out when she's being quiet. After a while you can start walking away from the crate for a minute or so and just gradually move up from there. Give her lots of praise and attention when she is being calm and quiet. NEVER let her out of the crate if she starts barking and carrying on. That will teach her that if she barks you come running and let her out just like she wants lol... Ignore the noise she makes, and praise her/let her out when she quiets down.

I crate my puppy anytime he is not being supervised to prevent accidents or things being chewed up. Once he is fully reliable at potty training, I'll be able to give him more freedom, and eventually I'll be able to let him roam the house when I'm not home like my other dog can.

In your case, you'd only be crating for an hour or so at a time when you went someplace, so I think it would be acceptable. >^_^<

[candypants]

She only poops in the car really, although she does wee quite frequently in the house even when I am around. She always has access to the back garden, but she is terribly lazy and I think she just leaves it too late. She never used to poop in the car but since the first time about 2months ago she has done one every time since?? I do think its her nervous tum as I have left her and defineatly am going to try harder with leaving her in the house rather than the car, it was surprisingly warm this morning so I left her for the 2nd time this week in the house and great news no mess to come home to, although barkin could be heard when walking towards the house, I dont know if she senses me coming or if she has barked continuously? I have left a note for the neighbour to let me know if the barking is continuous but have yet to speak to her to find out. So maybe a tape recorder may be the answer and I have taken your advice and ordered a kong toy which hopefully will arrive in the next few days. As she doesn't generally poop in the house do you think the crate is still a good idea, do you use them purely for untrained doggies or do you think it will help if like you say she is in her "own den" and wont mind being left, She does rule our house and I think she considers the entire house to be her "own den" lol.

[Cheetah]

Some people with perfectly-trained dogs still crate them when they leave the house. It's a matter of preference I guess. My oldest dog is allowed to roam when I'm not here because I've had her for 6 years and she's 100% reliable. My puppy on the other hand... >@.@<

If a dog is soiling in the house at all I don't think they've quite realized that the house is part of their den. It sounds like she needs some potty training and a crate would be useful for that. But like I said, start slow, or else it can backfire, and you'll have her barking and carrying on in the crate lol...

[Jake2006]

A long shot - could she have IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). This is exaccerbated by stress and she obviously gets stressed when you leave her. It may also account for her accidents in the house. If she doesn't know she's poo'ing or wee'ing maybe the vet should have a look at her to rule out any physiological causes.
Just a thought!