We have a Maltese dog, Basil, who for the last 5 years has been giving us trouble.
Our first issue appeared about a year and a half after we brought him home. We had purchased a small Yorkie puppy when we purchased him and by this time the two of them, who had previously been very friendly towards one another, began to fight. Basil, the Maltese, also began to pee all over our home.

We gave the Yorkie to a family member, thinking he was the one that instigated the fights. We soon found out that the Yorkie was actually a wonderful dog and that our relatives had absolutely no problem with him. Basil, however, continued to pee in our home.

We tried everything from diapers, to frequent bathroom trips. Nothing worked. He still continue to wreak yellow-stained havoc on our house. Only now, he would pee when he was angry with us as well. Frustrated, we played around with the idea of selling him, but he's very aggressive and we were sure that no one would take him. He'd scare them away with his snarling and barking, like he always did with anyone that visited our home.

So, with no alternative, we put up with his pee-pee fits. We would try to scrub behind him, but it proved useless. In this period, another year and a half had passed. We decided to try keeping him contained to one room. We got a leash and a long chain and put him up in one room. It seemed to work for a minute, until we discovered that upon our leaving the room -he would pee everywhere. So began the ritual of one person staying with him in the room at one time.
Basil was never alone, and he never peed.

This became tiring, as you can imagine and eventually, even staying with him in the room wouldn't work. Turn your head for a moment, and there were 2 or 3 tiny pee puddles on whatever he could manage to reach. Plastic bags have always been his favorites. He will pee on every plastic bag he sees. (This has always confused us.)

So, at our ropes end, we transferred his posting to a small room in our basement. He has food and water and he can move about freely. But now arises yet another problem: He barked incessantly. All hours of the night too. Even when he was in his bed cage. I suspect he did it out of spite, since he can't be around the family anymore, due to his bad habits. (We have another 2 dogs that are female who are almost no problem at all.)

This became irritating, and we decided that it was cruel to keep him cooped up in the room all day. (Potty breaks included.) So we began to let him play around outside. He loved it, as long as one of the girls was with him, and the barking did stop. Unfortunately this solution didn't last very long, because he would begin to bark loudly all day long OUTSIDE. Literally all day long.. (He also has a long history of fighting and barking with the neighbor's dog next door.)

We've tried alternating between letting him stay outside and in the house. That never worked. And now he's presented us with another problem. He's outside barking the majority of the day, but when we bring him in (the alternating.) he poos all over the floors and inside the other dog's bed crates and he pees on everything.

We are at our wits end. What do we do about this dog? He's driving us nuts, and after 5 years we still have no solution. He seems to be getting worse. He started off so nicely too. I never imagined such a small dog could be such a big problem.

Does anyone have any suggestions? We would ALL greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance from a family of four.

Questions first.

Is he neutered? Are your female dogs spayed?

Have you had a vet evaluate him for medical problems, such as prostate enlargement or urinary tract infection? Has he had any blood work done?

Would you consider crate training? Are you willing to start all over, from scratch, to rehouse train him?

Are you willing to take him to obedience classes?

He is not neutered, yet. Our female dogs are not spayed.
We have had him evaluated, but not for medical problems. General things.
I don't think he's ever had blood work done.

We had him crate trained when we first got him, so yes we would be willing to crate train him. Or re-crate train him from scratch.
We definitely are willing to re-train him from scratch.

Obedience classes are a little iffy. We don't exactly have the financial means at this period of time to afford obedience classes.

Why have you put up with this behavior for 5 years without taking this dog to the vet to be evaluated for medical problems???

I don't mean to be harsh with you but I cannot understand this. Also, with his behavior problems of barking and fighting with other dogs, you should have done something about that by now. I know you say you can't afford obedience training, but have you not been able to afford it in 5 years??

If it were me, something would have been done about it a long time ago or he would be gone. That said, this is YOUR fault. You had the power to do something about this and didn't, just like you would have done if your child starting acting crazy and uncontrollable. Do you see that?

Have you replaced your carpet in 5 years? It must be a filthy, stinking mess!

[reeskujo]

Wouldbedogowner please try and be a little nicer with your replies to other members posts.




It sounds like your going to have to start from the beginning with crate training....I would first start with a trip to the vet to make sure it's not a UTI.....If he clears medically then your going to need to start over with crate training....It's very important to have a strict and consistent feeding and walking schedule...
You also need to be sure that when you can't supervise your dog he is put in his crate....When he is out you need to supervise him at all times to make sure he's not given the chance to have an accident.