Update on Legg-Perthes surgery and house breaking question
 

Our pup J. Crew had surgery on his hip Oct 20 2005. He did not use his leg much at all for the first month. With the lack of use there was quite a bit of atrophy, causing his leg to be about half as muscular as the other. So it has been over three months and he is using it much more. He will now trot using all four legs but still does limp about half the time. The muscle tone is coming back and I am sure once it becomes full strength it will be fine. I would like everyone to know who may have to have this type of surgery to do it as soon as you can so there is as little "pre-surgery" atrophy of the leg as possible. I think if we would have done this sooner before he was loosing muscle tone due to lack of use the recovery time may have been shorter.

I would also like to as the forum a housebreaking question:

We have a dog door for J Crew that is out on a "deck room" which he is confined to during the day. So he can go out side when he wants and come back into his room when he wants. He will never have an accident in his room and will go out his door regularly to go pee and poop. I have noticed he does however like to be taken on walks to poop.

Anyway, my question is why is he still having accidents in the house when we are home and he has access to the entire house? He just turned one year old. If we see him acting like he needs to go then we say "go out your door" and he will go to his door go out and do his business. When he does have an accident his is very ashamed and covers his face and lays down.

I just don't understand if he knows he is doing something wrong by going in the house why wouldn't he just go to his door to go out??!!

This is driving me crazy, any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks

Awww...poor little guy...I'm glad he's improving and that was really nice of you to share that as that subject comes up here sometimes. I hope he makes a full recovery.

On the potty training...I am no help - one of mine trained in a few weeks - my other took Months...but he does sound like he knows he had an accident...Cheri my youngest NEVER looked guilty ;)

maybe after all he's been thru it's just something that will work itself out ?

I'm glad your little guy is doing well. I think I can answer part of your housetraining question. First of all, I've read it in several good books and been told by our trainer that dogs don't feel "ashamed" If he is covering his face and laying down it is in anticipation of your reaction. He is not feeling guilty. He needs more reinforcement about how to please you. Dogs just want to make us happy. He also may associate the deck room as his "den" but not the rest of the house. Others may have advice for you about how to fix this, but my *best* recommendation is to contact a trainer who is certifed in animal behavior. They know how dogs think and can help you communicate with them. In the mean time, get your hands on a copy of "The Other End of the Leash" by Patricia McConnell. Hope this helps.

P.S. My best guess is that since he has a doggie door, he does not have that constant reinforcement about pottying outside. For example, my Loki rings his bell, goes outside in the front yard on his leash, and then gets a treat. He's a year old, but it's still necessary. He is totally housetrained, but it's taken that consistency to get there. When J Crew goes outside when you are home, does he get a treat? Obviously he has mastered it when he is confined to his space, all you need to do is extend that training. :-)

This is OT, but my daughter, who is now 42, had Legg Perthes disease when she was a little girl. I think the treatment for it is different now, but at that time, they had to completely stay off of the affected hip (leg) She was off of hers from the time she was 5 until she was 7 1/2. She used crutches during the day at school, but as soon as she came home they were tossed and she hopped on one leg. We lived in a two story home and she even hopped up the stairs and down. She could hop and keep up with all the other kids playing outside. Her good leg got very muscular and her bad leg got very thin. THere was a big difference in them, and it took a while before they looked the same, but eventually they did.

I am glad to hear the J. Crew is recovering well. Regarding the potty issues, ugh no help here sorry. We don't have doggie doors.

thanks for the responses!

Erin, you may be correct! I was always under the impression that J Crew was ashamed that he had an accident. I never thought that maybe he knew what he did is going to cause me to scold him.

We used to give him treats when we told him to go out his door to potty. But I noticed that he would just go out his door and do nothing then rum back in to get his treat.

I think I will start giving him the treats anytime I know that he has went outside to potty. I have also noticed now that I think about it he seems to have to go when we get home even though he has had access to the door all day long. This maybe due to him wanting to get a treat from us after he goes :confused:

I also need to add that the grassy area he has access to all day long is fairly small. It is about 4'X15'. He also is pretty small around 5 lbs.

Any other info would be great!

Thanks!

In this case, you're not giving him a treat for pottying, you're giving him the treat for going outside and coming back in :) He doesn't understand - dogs can't read our minds, even though it seems like they can. Try to catch him in the act and treat him outside, or what I do now is yell out the door "GOOD BOY! Come get your treat!" when he goes. (Yes the neighbors must think I'm nuts) Loki used to try to go out and come back and get a treat, but I didn't give in so now if he doesnt go he doesn't even ask for one when he comes in. He was just trying to figure out what the treat is for. And sometimes even when he goes out he doesn't want one - he will go back to playing with his toy or chewing on his bone or whatever.

About him needing to go when you get home. We crate Loki so he always has to go when we let him out, so this is a WILD guess. Maybe he was sleeping? Loki sleeps during the day. My husband is home with him most of the day and he sleeps and only wakes up to pee like twice, and in the evening he goes out every hour or so. When I get home I find him stretching and yawning and one of the first things he does is want to go outside. He wasn't exactly waiting for me, he was just asleep and I woke him up :)

The size of his area seems OK, I don't let Loki have much more than that - his leash doesn't go very far. I just pick up the poop a lot because he doesn't like to go in a dirty yard - who can blame him. It's easier to pick up in a small area though!