Ok, I recently came into possession of a two year old male chocolate lab. He is very well potty trained, he comes very well to his name, he sits on first command, yadda yadda yadda. When I first got him, he was absolutely terrified to go down the basement stairs. I'm not sure if it was a natural fear or a conditioned fear, but since we wanted to put his food and water in the basement, I decided to ease him into the basement. After about a couple weeks of coaxing and treat giving, I got him down about half way before he would grab the treat from me and scramble back up as fast as he could. Because of his behavior it seemed to me he was conditioned to not go in his previous owners basement, so I figured once he knew it was okay to go in ours, he wouldn't have an issue. I had my dad help, and he picked him up and carried him down while i held my hands over his eyes and soothed him as we descended. Once he was down there he had absolutely no trouble, and from that moment on he ran up and down the stairs with ease on a daily basis. About a week after we got him accustomed to the basement, was the first time he was left alone, and he was left alone for about two hours. Before leaving I let him out and made sure he went to the bathroom, and departed thinking he would be fine. When me and my family returned, my trash had been torn apart, and he had peed and pooped all over the basement. My first thought obviously went to separation anxiety, when we left he didn't make it a secret that he was unhappy about it as he tried to dart out the door between me and members of my family. I cleaned up the mess, sprayed lots of Lysol, as I've heard that you have to get rid of the smell because dogs will mark their scent and then go repeatedly in the same place. I looked up tips on separation anxiety and planned on starting easing him out of it as soon as possible. This incident was two days ago, and since then I have not left the house, and I have not even been home alone. I went into the basement today to find a huge puddle of pee in the exact same spot he had peed before. Because he did it with people home, even though he is very well potty trained and didn't go once on the main floor since the day we got him almost a month ago, I thought maybe for some reason he thinks its okay to go in the basement, and thats why his previous owners trained him not to go there. In addition just to give some more information, I let him out regularly whenever he gives me any sign that he may need to go, and I walk him for at least 45 minutes every day, and I really don't think in either incident that he did it because he couldn't hold it, or even that he had to go.

SO, my question is, do you think he has separation anxiety, and only went to the bathroom in the same spot again for the second time because I was unable to get rid of the scent? OR do you think that for some reason he thinks its ok to go to the bathroom in our basement? Any tips to train him out of this behavior before it becomes a real habit would be much appreciated.

why not just crate him upstairs? obviously he has serious emotional issues with the basement

After we carried him down for the first time, all of his hesitation was gone. For the week in between the first time he went down and the first time he went to the bathroom down there he treated the basement as another extension of the house and displayed no odd behavior towards it. That leads me to believe that it may not just be the basement, and I'm afraid if thats the case and he's left home alone without access to the basement he is going to go all over the house. The basement is tile, the main floor is carpet, you see my dilemma. I would much rather do whatever is necessary to train him out of going anywhere in the house period than have to seclude him from the area. Especially because it took us the better part of three weeks to get him down there in the first place, I feel that after a week, enforcing that he isn't allowed to go down there anymore would really confuse him.

I didn't say a word about not allowing him to go down there anymore. if you are down there certainly let him come down.

I said crate him upstairs when you go away.

he obviously has anxiety about something & I agree it would not be a pretty sight when you came home if her were left loose

If you are looking to crate train your puppy, you are certainly not alone! Crate training is one of the most popular ways of teaching a puppy not to relieve itself in the home. It also helps when you need to leave the puppy alone for various periods of time. So just how do you crate train a puppy in a week? Well, it really does not have to be that difficult.

[lil mutt]

there are also a lot of dog crates available on the market to help you crate train your dog.

Can a two year old large dog be easily crate trained? This dog seems confused and stressed already. Is this a good idea?

it seems to me that he is going to the bathroom out of fear/anxiety...something to do with the basement. i also dont think its because he thinks its ok, or because you couldnt get the smell out. hes peeing down there because hes afraid of something or extremely anxious, regardless if you are home or not. if you are determined to make him comfortable down there, i would spend a lot of time playing with the dog in the basement....hanging out with him down there...after awhile he will hopefully forget his anxieties, and he will associate the basement with fun! it may take some time...but the result should be worth it.

hi,
i think its important to stop wondering as to the reasons why your dog behaves in a certain way because this anticipation can escalate behaviours,
i know from experiance that you can go on forever with my dog does this because someone horrible must have done this and i find it is just stalling and i dont know about you but i used to get myself quite upset wondering why my dog would do strange behaviours such as being too afraid to eat if i was in the room, sometimes ignoring undesirable behaviours is the best way to see them disappear.
i would contact an animal behaviourist who can observe your dogs behaviour and give you advice tailored to you and your dogs needs.
the most important thing you can do is not reward nervous behaviour by trying to sooth your dog because he will not understand and this will just add to his stress by almost reassuring him that there is something to be worrying about.
i wish you the best of luck
x

[sniff-sniff]

I think it may be separation anxiety, it says in this article Separation Anxiety in Dogs - All About Dogs and Separation Anxiety

" Separation anxiety in dogs usually are destructive or otherwise inappropriate when an owner leaves the pet or is not in close proximity."

[CorkyMax]

Do not wish to 'embarrass' you in any way--I was new here once too and made mistakes before I got familiar with things! Don't think you realize (noticed) that you are posting to posts that are going on 2 yrs old and that the members that wrote these posts have all moved on and are not members anymore--So you will not get any response from them. This part of the post (far left side) will show you what I mean: 02-19-2008 #7 (permalink)
Brindle_Baby
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Note the date--) 02-19-2008. And under the member name (Brindle_Baby--note the word Guest which means the member is not here anymore (due to not posting in a certain amount of time) And under that --the words--Posts: n/a Which means their posts are not available anymore. These former members can still come in and be a guest but are not able to post anymore ---at least under their previous username!