# 6 y/old maltese needs to be housebroken... again :-(



## DavidG (Mar 28, 2008)

Hello all.
My little guy is almost 6 and has been fully housebroken for the past 5 years at least.
About a month ago he started peeing and pooping inside the house a few times a day. His food and water consumption has been the same. Recently had a check up done by the vet - no issues. It seems like a behavior problem, he acts like he doesn't want to make an effort to hold it in at all. 
My wife and I had a baby 15 months ago, and the amount of time we spend with our dog has definitely decreased. Our little girl also likes to chase our dog around the house and she doesn't know how to be gentle with him yet. I'm thinking that it can be a contributing factor.

I really have no idea where to go from here.
Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.
David


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## k/c mom (Oct 9, 2004)

Oh, gosh, your little guy is probably confused and frightened in his own home. Do you think it is fair for you to allow your baby to chase your Malt around the house and not be gentle around him? I don't mean to sound harsh but I guess everyone has their hot button issues and mine is young children allowed to be unsupervised around dogs, especially Malts, who are small and somewhat fragile. Not only is his physical well being an issue but his mental well being concerns me. Can you imagine what a huge adjustment this has been for him. Bottom line is I think his potty problems will get better if you can make sure that your child is never left unsupervised with your Malt and certainly is not allowed to chase him.


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## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

Stress is a common cause for lapses in housetraining. Sounds like your dog has had a lot of stress recently. Housebreaking lapses are fixed by reducing the stress and going back to housetraining 101. Check the pinned threads. Essentially you treat your dog like a new puppy. Take him out and reward him when he goes in the right spot. If you are not actively supervising him he needs to be confined (crate, gated room, x-pen - whatever he will not potty in). A schedule for eating, potty, play, etc. will also help his body readjust to a normal schedule. 

On the kid factor...
My current dogs have been raised around small children (newborn and up). You are setting yourself up for disaster by allowing your dog to be stressed by your child. You need to have rules for your child to interact with your dog and you need to provide your dog with a safe place to stay so it will not be chased or bothered. In addition, you have to put some effort into making your dog and child get along. With very young kids, doing "training" sessions where they drop the food for the dog is a great way to make a positive association. Allowing your child to set the dog's food bowl down (and then walk away and leave the dog alone to eat) is another good association. 
The children my dogs interact with learn the rules as they get older and are always supervised around the dogs. If a dog shows stress, that's the end of the interaction. The kids also learn that when they bring on the stress, the dog leaves. It works with "kid training" as well LOL

Here is a book on the subject:
http://www.dogwise.com/itemdetails.cfm?ID=DTB852


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## drclee (Jul 16, 2008)

I agree. Please only let your daughter be around your malt when you're there to supervise. I have seen too many babies/kids being rough on these poor babies and it's really unfair for the dogs. It's up to you to teach her what is and isn't appropriate behavior with your malt.


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## Kissi's Mom (Apr 21, 2006)

I have a 6 year old maltese and 22 month old grandtwins that live with me...Kissi (and my daughter's silky) use my bedroom as their "safe-haven"...there is a gate at my door with a doggy door in it. The boys are never with the small
dogs unsupervised...Kissi loves them and cannot imagine that the boys would "defluff" her (unintentionally of course) soo we have taught the command...RUN...which means the boys are coming look for a safer place!! LOL 
The boys are working on "gentle" but that is a hard concept for little boys to understand at this age. They really love the
dogs and want to be good to them...so we work on it everyday.
good luck,
Linda


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