That's so generous of you, Julie.
I am in the middle of re-modeling my living and dining rooms. Cosette has begun peeing and sometimes pooping in unexpected places. Had blood work done so I know it's behavioral. She is walked often and is a very happy dog but the re-modeling is making her uneasy. Any suggestions?
You'll never have a bad day with a Frenchie in your life!
Hi Julie! I look forward to any advise. I am a first time Frenchie owner of my little Leo.I don't see really an bad behavior from him yet and he is pretty laid back.. The only issue we are having now is marking/housebreaking, but we are working on it and hopefully some of that will be addressed once he is fixed.
Michelle - Asheville, NC
Mom to Leo (5/21/2010-3/26/2019)
Mom to Molly (DOB 8-1-09)
They are all beautiful! Ha I just had to show my husband your pictures because to me its so ironic we have identical dog households lol. Even our frenchies have similar fawn markings, even though yours is a blue
All of our dogs are family couch dogs as well that sleep in bed with us and are our babies. Looking forward to chatting more with you and learning how to control my pack lol...
How old is Cosette? You are probably right in that she is uneasy about the remodel and dogs will do odd things sometimes when things in the house are moved or when they are moved to new surroundings. My suggestion would be to start the fed water walk routine with her and go back to potty training 101. I like to have my dogs on a schedule. It helps everyone and it regulates their bowels which allows me to be better prepared to "catch them" if I need to correct behavior. Here is the routine I use adjust to your schedule as needed. The basic principal is to get them eating and drinking on a schedule and that should regulate her bowels too. In order to correct any behavior you have to catch them in the act in order to correct. If you see the mess later you can't correct becasue they don't coralate the behavior with the punishment. So in order to correct you need to be watching her, this is where baby gates come in very handy to keep them in the room you are in so you can watch them. My schedule:
5:30AM - Wake up take all three out to potty.
6AM - Feed and put water down for them to drink
6:15AM - back outside to potty - praise when they go if potty training
5PM - Feed and fill water
5:15PM - outside to potty praise
6PM - pick up the waer bowl for the night.
During the day I always leave water down as they have to drink but I was keeping the puppy in an area where it ws OK to potty and easy clean up (kitchen). I never scold when I got home. Just take him out often when I was home and when he would potty outside I would always praise him and give a small treat. He learned quickly that when he pottied outside he got treats. I tapered off the treats as he got the idea. Now if you have older dogs this HELPS a lot as they learn from one another. My puppy would follow the big boys outside right after meals and would potty with them. He's 5 months and we leave him in the house with the back door open and he goes outside to potty, no messes when I get home. Now if he can't get outside he will make a mess but it's only if he can't get outside and he will scratch at the door already too. He's s smart one I got lucky.
Hang in there. Go back to the basic's of potty training and retrain and start a schedule if you can, it will help. In the meantime, grab a bottle of lysol kitchen spray and some paper towels and be ready to clean up the messes and realize these things happen. Love your girl up when she does well and correct when you catch her. Just say NO in a firm, loud sharp LOW tone. No hitting with anything. Your voice should be enough of a correction.
Let me know how it goes.
Julie
Hi, Julie. Thank you for the wonderful suggestions.
Cosette will be three next month. I keep her on a schedule especially the morning and night. I will definitely try the reward system for every time she potties outside. I also like the water suggestion at night!
The builders were not here for a week and she had no accidents but returned today and she urinated in the hallway. Luckily they have dogs too and pet her often so she doesn't fear them; it's the loud noises that make her anxious.
Thanks so much and welcome!
You'll never have a bad day with a Frenchie in your life!
Hi Julie.....Maybe you can help with something we've been working on with Hanna since we got her. She's now 5 months old. We have 2 cats in our house. One has always just stayed away from Hanna and is very vocal/let's her know she doesn't want to be friends with her...Hanna for the most part leaves this cat alone. Our other cat doesn't know how to be mean and tell Hanna to buzz off so he is constantly getting mauled and pushed around and you can tell for the most part isn't enjoying it lol. It was fine when she was smaller but now she is getting too big and too rough with him. We've tried telling her no and breaking them up... and have tried praising her when she leaves him alone...but it doesn't seem to be working. It's not constant I mean there are times when he can just walk around without getting jumped on but I would say that is only about 40% of the time. Any ideas of what we can do to get her to leave him alone??
Yup - use a spray bottle and when the dog starts to go for the cat jump in there and spray the dog and tell her NO in a sharp tone. Does the cat have claws? If so, I'm quite sure the cat will begin to defend herself if she gets fed up with Hanna. If not, then yes you need to step in and make sure Hanna isn't playing to roughly with your dear cat.You can try and shake can too if you prefer. Just want to get Hanna's attention on you so you can correct the behavior. I would say it needs to be an all or nothing choice. It needs to be yes it's ok to play or no its not. Hanna is not going to understand its' ok sometimes and not other times. If the cat has claws then I would let them figure it out themselves. If not, then I would definitely step in. Hope that helps.
Shake can is a empty soda can with a few pennies in it with tape over the opening.
Julie
@Cosette Girl one thing that worked well with Buster, when I discovered a pee in the house I would wail and cry, "oh no look at the mess I have to clean up" and keep repeating that while cleaning the floor. None of it was directed at Buster, but he figured out it upset me to have to clean the pee off the floor. It sounds like Cosette's problem is temporary.
@mix123 our cat is a scaredy cat. She runs and Buster chases. We have told Buster "NO" enough that when we're there he doesn't chase her, but if we're in another room he does. She has claws, but won't scratch him. He doesn't hurt her when he catches her--he just sniffs. If she would scratch him he would learn to leave her alone!