About five weeks ago, baby Ruth was doing #2 in the back yard as usual and she yelped and ran right in the house, leaving a trail of little turds all up the back steps. She's one of those sweet but ditzy dogs who will scream bloody murder and do a helicopter jump if there's a stick she didn't notice at first because, to her, it's a snake about to get her. But still, after seeing that, we took her to the vet to be checked out. The vet found absolutely nothing physically wrong with her. Not her back, not her anal glands, no stuffed back in there, normal looking stools.
The problem is, this has become a sort of weird cycle in that she now seems to be afraid of all "rear-related" functions. She holds it and won't go more than once a day. She tries to do it in the back yard, but she freaks out and runs in the house in the middle of the process and I have to clean up the trail. Sometimes she holds it so long that she has what I call a "freak-out" in the house. She runs frantically from room to room (she won't go out, if I physically carry her out she runs up onto the back porch and does it all there) popping out everything that she's held in all day. Then (because actually, she is one of the better dachshunds we've had in terms of housebreak) she is totally mortified and goes under the bed and won't come out for an hour.
So, yes, if it's psychological, I've done all those types of things. "Make it fun to go out." "Praise her whenever she does her stuff outside." "Revert back to housebreaking methods, more time in the crate and no unsupervised time around the house." We've started to go on walks (which she does enjoy and occasionally she will do a normal #2 calmly on the leash during our walk. But there always seems to be more backed up which then pops out when we come back in the house. So I can't win, it seems. I'd really appreciate some insights if anybody has had a similar problem. Thanks.
The problem is, this has become a sort of weird cycle in that she now seems to be afraid of all "rear-related" functions. She holds it and won't go more than once a day. She tries to do it in the back yard, but she freaks out and runs in the house in the middle of the process and I have to clean up the trail. Sometimes she holds it so long that she has what I call a "freak-out" in the house. She runs frantically from room to room (she won't go out, if I physically carry her out she runs up onto the back porch and does it all there) popping out everything that she's held in all day. Then (because actually, she is one of the better dachshunds we've had in terms of housebreak) she is totally mortified and goes under the bed and won't come out for an hour.
So, yes, if it's psychological, I've done all those types of things. "Make it fun to go out." "Praise her whenever she does her stuff outside." "Revert back to housebreaking methods, more time in the crate and no unsupervised time around the house." We've started to go on walks (which she does enjoy and occasionally she will do a normal #2 calmly on the leash during our walk. But there always seems to be more backed up which then pops out when we come back in the house. So I can't win, it seems. I'd really appreciate some insights if anybody has had a similar problem. Thanks.
