Wow, do I ever feel sorry for these dogs. You don't say how long you've had them, only that it's been less than seven weeks.
I realize that you have been going through a difficult time which has made caring for these dogs more difficult than you had hoped. But reading your post, I can only imagine how frightened these two dogs must be. Regardless of their history, they now find themselves in a brand new home with brand new people. To make matters worse, They day after you got them, you went out of state for a week. You don't say if you took them with you, but no matter what happened, it would be more new people and even more new places. No wonder they don't know what to do.
What concerns me even more is that you have a two week vacation coming up that you knew about even before you rescued these dogs. Again, if you are taking them with you, they will have to go to a new place before they are used to their new home!
It sounds to me that what these dogs need most of all is a routine, and the opportunity to get used to their new surroundings. I am going to assume that they were housebroken before you got them, but even if they weren't, the same can still apply.
If you want to train them to go outside, start by taking them out every hour. Sometimes they will pee, and sometimes not. When they do, praise them a great deal, and then take them inside right away. For me, that helped to teach Spike that outside was where you pee, but also that not every trip outside was for exercise.
If training them indoors, is there a room in your house that has a linoleum or similarly easily washable floor that you can enclose them in, either with doors or baby gates? To start with, put pee pads all over the floor. After a while, you should notice certain ones that they use over and over. Then you can start removing the ones they don't use at all. After a while, they should be trained to use the pads you leave for them in a specific area.
The rest of their behaviour seems like typically doggy behaviour to me. They smell like dogs because they are dogs. If they play in wet grass, they will get wet. Dogs like to dig. He is interested by everything in the backyard because it is new to him, and he's exploring his new surroundings. And they chew. That's what dogs do. Make sure they have things to chew that you want them to chew. Also, dogs chew things when they are bored. Make sure they have things to do.
Until they are comfortable in their new surroundings, they are going to be curious, nervous, and some of their behaviours may seem strange. Until they get used to you they need a routine, and they need to stay in the same place. If you keep taking them out of their new home, it will take longer for them to adjust!
Good luck! |