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Boerboel behavioral problem

3.5K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  Madra Anamchara  
#1 ·
Hello all,

I have a Boerboel female, now 15 months old. We have done the basic training with her and she has been really good behaving dog since she was puppy. No barking unnecessarily, no aggression, gets well along with anyone, a little bit of chewing wrong things when she was younger but not anymore, listens and obeys well normally.

However, just now about a month ago (after she got her first period) she has started acting strange somewhat. When I played with her catch, she suddenly just started to look nervous and peed on the floor inside the house. As mentioned above, she has not done that for almost a year (since we completed her potty training). I was shocked at first and punished her verbally and stopped playing with her. Then the next time same exact thing happened again, and again and this time I punished her a little harder by giving her a slap. Which I probably should not have done, since she stopped completely playing with me after that.

Now slowly she has started to play with me again a little bit again and the same thing happened just today. After picking up the ball I threw, she stopped on the middle way and peed on the rug. She never does this with my wife. Only with me. I am kind of lost here. I hope someone could give me an advise?
 
#3 ·
My guess would be that it's just a little loss of control with the excitement of playing. Maybe restrict that type of play to outside but if she continues to do it, get her checked by a vet.

But scolding her and punishing her isn't the way to address it. In fact, scolding a dog for indoor accidents can make them think they are being scolded for toileting and not for toileting indoors, so they seek or create opportunities to toilet when you are not there. Then you find the result much later. Not what you want.

So hard as it is, try not to react.

Edited to add - cross posted with @Mad Murphy
 
#4 ·
Please do not punish your dog like that, and especially do not ever slap her. that is very unfair to her and also counter-productive.
If she peed on the rug it may have been from a medical issue so take her to the vet. that should be your very first reaction, not hitting her.
Now that you have scolded her and slapped her while playing with her she may be associating the scolding and slapping with the play and is now afraid or nervous to play and that is making it even more likely that she will pee in the middle of it, assuming it is not a medical issue.
But if this is a urinary tract infection, she needs to see a vet right away before it gets worse.

If she checks out OK at the vet, don't ever punish or slap her again like that.
I would suggest playing with her outside, so if she does get overexcited or nervous she will pee outside....no problem. When or if she does, ignore it.
If you do that for a couple of weeks and don't play the game with her inside, it may let her feel comfortable with the game again and you will not have the problem.