[Luvhairz]

Lately we have been known as the "take-in-a-stray-a-day" household around where we live. It seems to be the word on the doggy block that we love the strays! Having said that, we have had a run of good luck with them. Some have manners and we reinforce them and others have no manners at all :???:. The latter is the problem I'm having right now.
Last night we were oh so fortunate to have our newest member of the family show up on our porch. He is a beautiful Black and Tan Coonhound (maybe mixed), we named him Cabo. He is just the sweetest thing. Whoever, if anyone, (and I better not run into them) took care of him...didn't take care of him :evil:. First off, he is so emaciated I don't think he would have made it many more days before becoming a past memory. He looks like he hasn't eaten in weeks and has definitely been outside for some time. We live in the mountains, so who knows where he came from . He looks like a puppy and has puppy mannerisms (but he's a big boy even without any mat on his bones) and he doesn't know diddly about ANYTHING! We brought him in the house, fed him (a little at a time), and gave him a bath. He was so exhausted he laid in the shower, drained. I didn't get any sleep last night due to not knowing what he might do (chewing, bathroom in house, etc) and around 6:30 this morning, it happened. Three HUGE piles of poop and a pretty big puddle of pee. I was home all day with him and he was not shying away from me when he needed to go, he just leaned forward and went. Immediately I would take him outside, but it was too late. I didn't yell at him, just said No! and brushed him outside. I tried to head it off at the pass, sometimes he went outside. I got three pees and two poo's but had another later accident inside with the pee.
He doesn't try to get on the couch or anything but he sure does love the kitchen. I've stopped him a good ten to twelve times jumping on the counters and I'm trying to teach him "out of the kitchen", all of my other babies know this and it makes for a much easier cooking situation for the chef (me).
I'm sure right now he is still gaining strength and a little skeptical of us, but he does wag his tail when we praise him, coming in the door from outside and sometimes when we call his name. He still has a long way to go on building up his body but that will all come in due time.
Sorry this is so long, I've been having trouble with my computer and it's taken me since last night and all day today to get this one post out. I would appreciate any suggestions you have (especially for potty training). I thank you all in advance.

[lange]

Hi. Glad you were able to get your post in. How many dogs do you have? Do you adopt out the dogs you bring in or do you keep them? I'm just curious...

You don't mention crating and you're worried about him being destructive when you're sleeping so I assume you don't crate train. I think people are often put off with crates but in our world a dog needs to accept & be comfortable in a crate through out life. If your dog ever stays over night at a vets, goes to a groomer, has an unforeseen problem at home, needs to be transported, ect, ect it will not stress him if he's been crate trained. There are just too many benefits IMO for the dog itself.

I'm not an expert but I would crate any new dog I brought into my house for two more reasons;
1 - for potty training purposes.
2 - to make sure the dog adjust to being in my home on my terms from the get go. Meaning, if I can't watch the dog every minute, it wouldn't be free to roam.

If I allow a dog to roam free without constant supervision, it means
- I trust the dog with all members in the house (people & other dogs),
- I trust the dog knows it's place,
- The dog is reliable with house rules (potty, chewing, destroying, respecting).

That is just what makes sense to me & it helps to encourage harmonious behavior from the get go. Good luck to you!

[Luvhairz]

Lange,
It's funny that you say that because we crate our lil one in a huge crate (it's just what we've always had for her). The one stray we ended up with a few months ago didn't need to be crate trained because he was house broken and he roamed outside during the day and just came home at night, so he was never a problem (then he disappeared, still haven't found him). Then Cabo came along. Savannah was still put in her crate at night and Cabo would be put into a spare bedroom. I did this for two nights using everything I could to blockade the door (we couldn't close the door due to no heat getting into the room). Luggage and ironing boards don't do the trick if your dog is persistant enough to get out! I learned the hard way at 6 in the morning haha! So I went and got a smaller crate, which is still huge for Savannah and put Cabo in her crate. We have a little dog apartment going on in our living room but it sure beats coming home to god knows what...and where. He is doing much better. We also took what we did with Savannah and started using these tips to train him as well...it's just been a while and so we had forgotten. But things are coming along much more nicely with the crates and our little mister! It's the little things in life.
Thanks again Lange!

[lange]

I know what you mean. I added a puppy to our family last year. I had to relearn some of the little things I took for granted with the older one too. I'm glad things are working out with your new guy! It must be hard starting from scratch with a dog you know nothing about. Cabo is a lucky boy to have found you!