I'm smiling!! it's not often I allow myself a ' pat on the back ' but I have reason. When Bertie first arrived, he was such a difficult dog....so hysterical, aggressive, frightened and unmanageable frankly!! This was a year ago this month.
One of his most objectionable daily habits was peeing in the house....not once, twice but several times a day and in several different places. In those days, one had to be very careful about how you picked him up if you didn't want to get bitten!! He would see me find his wet patches....rush to his bed, growling and threatening to defend himself with attack.
I had advice from the Vet of course and read some very wise comments on Dog Sites plus one friend who suggested I should pin him down and hold him there until submission!. None of this Advice appealed to me.
I decided to make no comment but continue to notice the wet patches and to make sure that Bertie saw this. It was clear that He suffered the most appalling Anxiety and particularly when I went out. Rosie's 'Separation, Anxiety Essence' has achieved wonders with that, and of course because I had no aggressive reaction to these misdemeanours, he gradually became more relaxed.
At the next stage, he would rush to the bed and observe me whilst growling....he dropped the ' I'm about to attack' posture. After about 6 months, the peeing became a little less frequent. The next thing I did was to investigate the wet patch more obviously and thoroughly....sniffing and touching the area whilst looking in Bertie's direction from time to time. After about a couple of weeks ,growling stopped....he just had a ' guilty' expression.
Finally since the beginning of this year, I've begun to reason with him....to say how much I dislike him doing this in the House. He really looks at me with his head on one side and appears to listen intently. Most recently, about 1 month ago, He would come over to the wet patch that I was making a point of investigating to join me, listening intently as I explained! In addition, the habit became less frequent!!
Now...at this moment, we have not completely eliminated the problem but it does not happen every day and less and less when I have to be out. I feel sure, that He will finally give it up altogether.
This whole approach was based on the argument that Aggression cannot Heal Fear. This ,of course is totally obvious and yet every day on our walks, I see examples of owners aggressively ' correcting ' their dogs for what has clearly been a demonstration of Fear!! Usually the Owner's Fear of course....projected on to the poor Dog.
I can't say with any confidence that the aforementioned approach would work with every Dog and certainly would not appeal to many Owners....But , it works for Bertie and Me. xx