Q: Hi, here is my problem. I have a 7 year old Miniature American Eskimo. We have had her since she was one years old. My 8 year old daughter adores her more than life itself. She has become increasingly difficult to deal with in the following ways:

   1) She has a nervous habit of licking the inside of her paws. A vet did say it was a nervous habit, and basically not to worry about it. But the insides of her white legs are pink from the saliva... yucky. The vet recommended Paxil. Can dogs take people Paxil in smaller dosages? 

   2) The minute you walk out the door, whether it's to take the garbage out or go to work, she eats the cat litter. Drags it out everywhere. She gets fed canned food. She is not an overweight dog.

   3) She also pees and poos everywhere when she's left home. At night if she sleeps under my bed, no problem, but if for any reason she is left downstairs, she goes right in the laundry room and goes... everywhere... you can tell she's mad. So if we leave her during the day, she does the same thing.

I don't know what to do. I know she doesn't want to be left alone... but what can I do? I bought her her very own cat... and still she's angry.

At the moment, we have a fenced backyard, the dog has a cage she spends some time in, she sleeps under my bed at night. During the day she stays outside because she eats the cat litter and makes a mess everywhere. I hate for her to go from cage to under the bed back to cage... we are gone during the day working. We do have the cat that the dog is very friendly with and they keep each other company. They play together quite a bit.

I would like to be able to leave Chloe in the house during the day without coming home to more cleaning.  Help! S.F.

A: Thanks for numbering your questions, that makes for a nice clear way to respond to them!   You have a lot going on, but happily, all your problems are trainable ones.

   1) I would recommend following the advice of a vet for this problem. However, I have dealt with dogs licking themselves raw on several occasions. It sounds like "hot spots" which can be caused by allergies (often to something in their food), fleas, or other indeterminable causes. You can always go to a second vet to get a second opinion. There are even pet allergy specialists! It is not uncommon for human medications to be prescribed to dogs, but there are side effects (just like with humans) so do proceed with caution. I would highly recommend first trying the homeopathic soothing liquid called Rescue Remedy, made by Bach. You simply put a dropper full in your dog's water dish. You cannot give them too much and it can not hurt. You can click on this direct link to purchase it online from Bach, for $10.49 + $4.50 shipping - though you can probably get it for less if you can find it at a local pet store or health food store. There is also a Rescue Remedy creme that might help.

   2) Cat poop is irresistible to most dogs, mine included. I tried a covered box (didn't work). I tried putting the box in a cabinet with the door jammed open just large enough for cat to enter but too small for dog's head - that worked, but it was too difficult for me to clean the box. I had a friend who cut a cat-sized opening in a door of a closet and put the cat box in there, but I couldn't do that in my rental unit, so what I ended up buying a cabinet (actually I think it was intended for a bedside table) with a door on it that was big enough to hold the cat box, and I cut a hole in the door. The cats love it (total privacy) it's easy for me to open and clean, and the dogs can't get at it.

   3) This must be a frustrating situation for you! I will give you my opinion and advice, but would recommend consulting a certified trainer before trying any behavior modification programs. Also, have your vet check that she is in good health, so that it is not a medical condition that is contributing to her soiling.

I would suggest that your dog is NOT soiling your laundry room out of anger at you. Many dogs learn that if they do a bad thing out of sight of their owner, they don't make their owner angry. They don't associate your anger later on with what they did a minute ago - it is really hard for dogs to make associations over time like that. They do make a very easy association: if I go in front of my owner inside, she gets mad! So I certainly won't do that, I'll wait till she goes upstairs. What you need to do is re-housebreak her.

   Housetraing Methods:
   a) Dog door. If possible, the easiest thing to do might be to put in a dog door (in the laundry room if possible) so if she has to go, she can go outside. She seems to understand not to do it all over the house, she tries to do it in an out of the way place. In fact, she may be to be trying her hardest not to make you mad (out of your sight, in an out of the way place). 

   b) Paper training. You can train her to go on newspapers on the floor to go on in the laundry room, to try to make the mess easier for you to clean up. First, you would need to train her to go in front of you. Will she go in front of you in the yard, or outside? If so, great! Because then you can teach her a command for going, like "get busy" or "go potty" or "hurry up" - whatever you like. Just like you train a dog to sit when you say "sit", you can train a dog to go to the bathroom on your command. If she will or won't go in front of you, try the following:

Go outside with her on a leash, after she has been in her crate or under your bed all night, and she really has to go. When she gets ready to go, or right as she starts, say your command word. Then as she goes and afterward, give her tons of praise and even a bit of hot dog or some super special treat. Repeat a few dozen times, i.e. every time you can when she might need to go to the bathroom. If she doesn't go after three minutes, then back inside into the crate for another 30 minutes, then back outside again. Eventually, she'll have to go badly enough to do so in front of you! 

Then, instead of going outside, go to the papers in the kitchen and use the command. If she walks off the papers (make them pretty big, in fact cover half the room at first, and nice and thick with multiple layers) use the leash to guide her back on. Use the three minute limit. Again, praise and treats when she goes. Repeat. Now make the papers smaller and smaller, and if she ever misses, no praise, maybe just sigh and act disappointed (I would avoid any correction like "no" or anything else, cause it might make her think she shouldn't be going there at all) and keep trying.

Next step is to do it with no leash, just calling her to follow you into the laundry room, and lots of praise when she goes. During all this time, you are going to have to keep her crated or attached to you with a leash when she is inside, because you want to avoid her making a mistake and going by herself off the papers during this training period.

When she is running to the papers almost by herself first thing in the morning, you can try the test: leave her alone downstairs. If you've done enough repetitions, she should go on the papers! If not, you'll need to go back to repeating the exercises. This can take 4-6 weeks or longer.

If you would like to read more about housetraining, try Penny's Housetraining Program for Adult Dogs.

Good luck!

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