Bruno had to go to the vet for his annual booster yesterday, one that he only ever goes to for his vaccinations and is set inside a pet store. Before we went I told Bruno to do his business, he did. Got there and what was the first thing he did? Urinated right in one of the aisles, embarassing but cleaned it up ok, took a couple more steps and he pooped! At this time i was stressed, but got on with it. Waiting to be seen by the vet then a Staff x also comes in and growls, barking at Bruno so I tell the owener to go first. Bruno being his playful self cries, barks just to see the dog. Ok try to distract him, dog comes out and goes home we go in, what does Bruno do? Mark all over the wall! By this time ive had enough and just want to get home. Need some help on what to do with this please!?
I'm sure that the vets have seen the urinating over the wall before . Could it be that Bruno is stressed going to the vets inside the pet store as I notice you say you only use the vets for vaccinations and the stress is shown through the need to pee and poop in the store. It might be worth taking him to the store on a regular basis for a walk round, buy some treats, go and sit in the vet area so it becomes a good place to visit. Hopefully familiarity with the store and vets inside will resolve the problem.
I first thought of this, but getting him familiar with places like that is going to be torture as he is going to wee and poop in the store again and again.
Start small by just standing at the front of the store and then moving away and gradually increase the amount of time you stand at the entrance. If Bruno is calm just enter then the store wait, turn around a walk out again. Again if he is happy you can gradually extend the time before entering the store a little further. It is a slow process, much the same as for those with dogs who don't like being in the car. If it is only in this one store that there is a problem and you only use it once a year for vaccinations, why not try another vet clinic for vaccinations?
As Rosemary said, you won't be the first, nor the last. If they invite dogs in, they're going to get dogs weeing and pooing there. Try not to be embarrassed; they'll be used to it and it will just be all in a day's work for them. If he's doing it from stress, then he'll do it less as he becomes more relaxed by the place being associated with good things. Yes, it may be awkward at first, but by persisting, you'll end up with a happier, less stressed dog. Is there a receptionist or veterinary nurse in the vet area? If so, ask her if she'll feed Bruno some treats. If the vet can do this too, all the better. My two love going in to the waiting room now, because the VN feeds them loads of treats and makes a massive fuss of them. Willow is nervous of the vet himself and the consulting room because "bad things" have happened there, and she has weed on the floor a couple of times. He now spends lots of time on the floor with her, rubbing her tummy and giving her treats and she is getting better with him and we haven't had a wee incident in a while. The surgery is too far away to just pop in every now and again, but I definitely would if it was closer.
This vet is not close, about 25 miles away, the only reason we just use this for vaccinations was beacuse there was a "Vaccination 4 Life" scheme there for a reasonable price. I stopped going there for health issues after they didnt seem interested in treating Bruno, just making money. I can definitley try sanitise him to this place, at the vets we go to for health issues he has never had a problem, gets very excited by other dogs but thats a seperate issue. I suppose it will just take time, but I just did not expect it, has never had this kind of problem.
Charlie has an ambition to pee on every vertical structure in the world - a pet store is the most exciting place to pee in the world wide world... I trained a "close" cue which is a tight heel, no sniffing, no peeing, no pooing - and now I'm proofing that against the pet store.
Can i ask how you trained a close cue. I havent taught Bruno to walk by heel, as long as the lead is loose i'm happy.
There is a big difference between loose lead and heel (my close cue). For heel the dog is glued to you (or very nearly) and constantly adjusts his position as you change your position. I've found it a long process, and I think there are better ways to train it than I did. I started with my dog off lead and kept upping the critieria until his position was tight. This didn't get me a great result. I then went back and worked and worked on my dog coming into a heel position on my left when I was stood still. Then I incorporated movement. I used a broom cupboard at one point to encourage him to stay glued to my side as I rotated 360.....that worked much better. I now realise that I should have also trained him to pivot around on the spot to train rear end awareness, so I've gone back to do that too. Some people use a hand target, which looks like a good technique. I'm sure there are better ways....I sort of muddled through finding my way. Here is one good starting video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elKsANmYVTI
