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My little daschie is far too smart for her own good. She is pretty much toilet trained after an arduous process but "vengeance poos" as her latest revenge tool. Basically she is fine but if I go out without her when she's made it VERY clear she would like to come, acts of vengeance are perpetrated on the house. From pulling the washing off the clothes horse to delicately unwrapping and chewing presents left within reach she takes revenge for us leaving her (how rude!).

Her latest one is the vengeance poo upstairs in the carpeted area of the house. She hasn't had an "accident" for months, but just occasionally, like this morning, I come home to an upstairs poo. How do I stop her doing this? Even in the middle of the night she will go downstairs now to go to the toilet, so she knows where to go, and when I see the poo upstairs she looks very guilty and slinks out of the way. She knows it's naughty alright! And does it anyway! Any ideas? She is under no illusions generally as to who the pack leader is and is otherwise so good people comment on it regularly. Any ideas?

>>My little daschie is far too smart for her own good. She is pretty much toilet trained after an arduous process but "vengeance poos" as her latest revenge tool. Basically she is fine but if I go out without her when she's made it VERY clear she would like to come, acts of vengeance are perpetrated on the house. From pulling the washing off the clothes horse to delicately unwrapping and chewing presents left within reach she takes revenge for us leaving her (how rude!).
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>>Her latest one is the vengeance poo upstairs in the carpeted area of the house. She hasn't had an "accident" for months, but just occasionally, like this morning, I come home to an upstairs poo. How do I stop her doing this? Even in the middle of the night she will go downstairs now to go to the toilet, so she knows where to go, and when I see the poo upstairs she looks very guilty and slinks out of the way. She knows it's naughty alright! And does it anyway! Any ideas? She is under no illusions generally as to who the pack leader is and is otherwise so good people comment on it regularly. Any ideas?

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This is not vengeance, it's separation anxiety. The more you punish her for it, the worse it will get, to the point that you may have very serious problems indeed.

Confine her to an area where she can't make mistakes, whenever you can't watch her. Go out with her and praise and reward for pottying in the right places. Don't punish for mistakes. Her acting like "she knows she has done wrong" is not guilt, it is submission to your anger. If you continue to push her, she will eventually have no choice but to defend herself. A good training class could help you develop better ways of communicating with her.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series at www.veterinaryforum.com

Thanks very much for your feedback, that's interesting to know. The other day she actually had a wee in the room whilst I was in the next room, so I'm not sure whether that was the same thing or a different type of behaviour. She has spent a lot of time with me home over the holidays (it's summer here) though so that does fit with separation anxiety now that I'm back at work.

You are right, she does seem to be frightened although the "punishment" I use is to tell her "uh uh" in a lower than usual tone as per my dog trainer's instructions.

She has different reactions to this, sometimes she just stops the behaviour (picking up bits of food, jumping on people, whatever, chewing cushions), sometimes she looks really frightened. I pretty much use the same tone each time. Any suggestions for what else I could do? (I have had a dog trainer come and work with her from the time she was a puppy to ensure I got everything right).

>>Thanks very much for your feedback, that's interesting to know. The other day she actually had a wee in the room whilst I was in the next room, so I'm not sure whether that was the same thing or a different type of behaviour. She has spent a lot of time with me home over the holidays (it's summer here) though so that does fit with separation anxiety now that I'm back at work.
>>
>>You are right, she does seem to be frightened although the "punishment" I use is to tell her "uh uh" in a lower than usual tone as per my dog trainer's instructions.
>>
>>She has different reactions to this, sometimes she just stops the behaviour (picking up bits of food, jumping on people, whatever, chewing cushions), sometimes she looks really frightened. I pretty much use the same tone each time. Any suggestions for what else I could do? (I have had a dog trainer come and work with her from the time she was a puppy to ensure I got everything right).
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Dogs vary as to how sensitive they are, and she sounds very sensitive. Just a word or tone of voice is enough to devastate some dogs. In those cases, of course you need to work hard to get all anger out of your voice.

A critical factor is your timing. When you correct the dog in whatever manner, including verbally, you then need to make an INSTANT switch into a POSITIVE behavior for which you can praise and possibly also reward the dog. Lingering over the correction really causes problems when dealing with our dogs. Timing this switch so quickly does not come naturally to humans, because we want to see the dog act sorry, make sure the dog understands what she did wrong, etc. That doesn't work with dogs! Switching an undesired behavior INSTANTLY into a desired behavior and praising/rewarding--that is what works, because that is how dogs learn best.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series at www.veterinaryforum.com

My boy does this. It took me forever to figure it out. He needs attention. I'm too tired to pet him all night when I get home, but if I give praises and tell him what a good dog he is and hold him (for and hour or 2), no more pooping in the house.

I did read a book once that told me that when your pet poops close to your personal space, and they only do this when you're not around...they miss you and they want to make sure you find you're way back home. It's the strongest scent they can leave. If they poop at the front door, the back, or the girls room, it's something personal...or they miss you. They're putting that scent out there for whatever reason.

It doesn't happen that often anymore with us because I give Rocky a treat whenever he goes potty outside...spoiled d0g!