New cocker in the family

[Tammy]

We picked up our new rescue cocker last weekend and I wonder if anyone could help with a few issues. We already have a 12 month old boy blue roan, the rescue cocker is a 7 month old boy also a blue roan.

The 7 month old rescue cocker is not house trained, he knows where to go when we are in providing we have the back door open, which is fine now as the weather is nice, the problem comes when we go out, I think he panics, he poo's all round the house (often standing in it so it's in every room he has access to)

He's clean at night but because we have to put him in a crate. I really don't want to use the crate in the day as he hates it at night (he cries most of the night) He is only usually left around 4 hrs max and that's not everyday.  I know or think I know he'll get used to the crate as our 12 month old did when he was a pup, he was quite excited to see it again the other day.

The other issue is our 12 month old cocker, they get on ok, unless they have a treat each and they fight for each others. It's also almost impossible to have a fuss from either one of them because as soon as you go near one or one comes for a fuss the other comes over and a fight starts.... :cry:

I know it's early days but is this normal??? Is it possible that this could not work??? (Praying it does)
 :?                    

[Cathy]

I am no expert in this area, and only have one dog. I would maybe suggest getitng your new dog used the crate more, which may means encouraging them in it during the time you are at home, maybe with a kong, or feed them there dinner in their to begin with, so it becomes a happy place for them.

Then hopefully, they will get used to going to 'thier 'safe haven' to rest and sleep.


When I was getting Jazz used to the crate I gave her the odd treat when ever she got in there, and either did a sit, or a down.  I used to lie in down half in with her, and pet her until she went to sleep.

It may be trying different things. Do you know the history of her rescue? was she shut up for periods of time?

cathy                    

[Jane S]

Hello Tammy

I would have reservations about homing 2 Cocker boys together who are so close in age as whilst it can work if they have complementary personalities, it can be a nightmare if they are both pushy personalities. Is the Rescue you got your new Cocker boy from able to give you back-up & advice? It does sound as if your new boy is suffering from separation anxiety if he is messing out of panic when you go out. Separation Anxiety can be cured but it can take a long time & you have to slowly build up the time a dog is left alone, starting with very short periods to begin with. The same applies with crate training - you have to slowly get a dog used to a crate little by little. If the Rescue cannot give you advice, you might find a book like Gwen Bailey's "The Rescue Dog" helpful, especially on Separation Anxiety & how to overcome it.

Good luck! I hope things settle down for you soon although it might take a while.

Jane                    

[PennyB]

With a rescue sometimes it takes a little while to get housetrained again as they are settling in to a new/strange environment. I had a foster rescue (border collie) and she would wee in her bed for a while until she settled in. It can be confusing for them sometimes as they have to try to get into a new routine (i.e. yours, which may be quite different from their 1st one).

You also now have two dogs who are going through or are about to go through adolescence whereby they can forget everything they've been taught anyway and so both may start to test your patience.

It will take time and a lot of patience as while you may know the reason why the dog was a rescue some owners don't always tell the whole truth. It could just be that the dog had become a handful because that's what 7 month old cocker boys are like (and some people can't handle the fact that beyond the puppy stage there is another 'lovely' boisterous stage).                    

[Tammy]

Thanks for all your replies.

I think the problem with the house training has always been there.
The family who had him were out all day and were never really able to spend a decent amount of time to house train him from the start.
He would mess in the house throughout the day and have nobody there to tell him it was wrong and let him out.

We were told he had the odd accident but I don't think this is the case.
We were advised he had major chewing problems but I think our 12 month old is keeping him entertained in that area and so has not chewed (yet!) plus a job lot of chews etc has helped..

We had an incident last night, they had a little fight and the rescue dog caught my 12 month old in the eye, as there is no obvious damaged that I can see it is still bothering him this morning, he keeps closing his eye and pawing the area.... even more concerend now..

I am very aware that my 12 month old has had his routine up-routed, as with the rescue dog, which goes without saying, but I don't think my 12 month old is taking it too well, he has become very distant to us and even growled when moving him off a chair to go to bed, he has never done this before and this has happend twice now in just a few days.  :?  :cry:  I did tell him off for as we cannot allow this but I was wondering if this is because the pecking order has been interupted and he is not sure where he fits in at the moment.. I really don't want to have to start shouting at him but I know we need to if he does this sort of thing. He even did a wee in the kitchen the other day and I was mortified as he won't even do anything in our garden now, he has to be away from his home to do his business, he's been house trained since about 2 1/2 months old with no lapses. I feel really terrible for telling him off, as we realise there must be a good reason for this in doggy world.

It would be so much easier if we spoke the same language!!!                      

[Jane S]

We had an incident last night, they had a little fight and the rescue dog caught my 12 month old in the eye, as there is no obvious damaged that I can see it is still bothering him this morning, he keeps closing his eye and pawing the area.... even more concerend now..

I would get that eye checked out just to be on the safe side - there could be a tiny scratch to the cornea which could develop into a painful ulcer. One of our girls injured her eye playing with one of our others a while ago & while we couldn't see the damage, it was there & needed quite a bit of treatment. Hope your boy feels better soon

Jane