Dog pooping in crate

I am still wayne_tw wrote:

RFCN2 wrote:
She is mad because you are leaving her.

Sorry, but dogs don't have that kind of an emotional thought process.

I disagree - especially a smart-but-stubborn breed like a ShihTzu.

I went through this for a while when our adult daughter and Bailey, her Shih-Tzu moved back in with us. They had lived with us when she got him as a pup - so I know he was completely housebroken; and he went to obedience class, too. Then she moved to New York - and he was the King of their apartment for several years. Then they came back - and he was relegated to being "one of the pack" and he didn't like it.

I'd send all of the dogs out to potty first thing in the morning - then before I'd get into the shower, I'd send 'em out again. Would come downstairs a half-hour later and find a pile of poop behind a chair. YES I would yell at him (I knew it was Bailey because my other 3 dogs were a LOT bigger). It went on for several weeks (along with other out-of-control behaviors) until I finally cracked down on him just about the same time my Aussie Ike did (and that was really weird because Ike was a gentle heart and completely dog-friendly). Bailey also liked to "attack the door" as someone walked towards it - scratching at it in a furious/destructive manner - until Ike would bite-and-roll him. Or Bailey would bounce around excitedly in the car - until Ike would pin him in the back corner of the SUV. So there was something going on with Bailey's emotional state - that "didn't fit in with the pack" as Cesar likes to say.

And I just treated him like a brand new pup - he wasn't loose unless he was in sight of me - and when we went outside - he was leashed until he pottied. He slept in his crate, NOT in the bed. He ate when I told him to. There's a training style called NILF: Nothing In Life is Free - and it works well with headstrong dogs. The KING OF THE WORLD became the peon. And finally, he figured out that being a "good dog" earned him more freedom and fun, etc - and he did fine.

My daughter bought a house, and now Bailey has a dog door to go out into a dog run any time he wants, 24/7

He stayed with us for a long weekend a few weeks ago - and he was still Mr Perfect Manners.

But Little Mr Tyrant is taking out his anger on my daughter, because he's pooping on HER carpet now..... even when he has access to the outdoors.

So yes, I DO believe that dogs can take their anger out on their humans.....