I have been in contact with the BRAT coordinator that handled Gracie and Britty in Texas. She thinks it may be that Britty is jealous of the bond that formed between Gracie and Deke. This seems to fit. Britty was alpha now Deke is alpha and Britty is the bottom of the pack….even Gracie pushes her around. We are going to work together to try to figure this one out. She is going to talk to a breeder/behaviorist. I have no idea how I can change their interaction but we will see. If we need to find her a new home away from the other two I guess we will do that. We will have to wait and see what the answer is....I really want Britty to be happy and the people in the house as well.

@dash:

Have you tried restricting her feed or at least feeding/watering when there is plenty of time to go potty before you leave?

Increasing her exercise?

Do you start to notice the nervousness when you are getting ready to leave?

Was she fine in the beginning and then all of sudden she started messing the crate or did she always have accidents and you just weren't sure which one was doing it?

Have you tried videotaping her when she is in her crate? I am guessing she probably pees and poops within 10 minutes after you leave.

You mentioned that she freaks out when you are all outside together and wants back in the house. Is it possible that she was startled when whe went outside to potty and now does not want to go back out? That happened with my previous fosters.

My daughter feeds them all in the am before school, then they all go out for potty time. If I even start to get ready to go some place I can't let Britty out, she won't come in. If I call her to come in she thinks I'm leaving and won't come in.

I know she pees almost right away…sometimes before I am even out the door.

She never wants to be outside whether we are out or not. The only time she stays out is when she thinks we are leaving.

The baby steps of breaking the anxiety have been explained to me, I wish I had that kind of time. I don't leave for long periods of time but I leave often. My daughters are athletes, my 12 year old plays soccer and softball, my 8 year old ,plays soccer, does gymnastics and is in girl scouts. I help my parents a lot(my dad is having some health issues) I don't get a weekend off to spend trying to leave my house 100 times to get her over it. For that I am sorry.

@sharronhurlbut:

Let me ask, are they crated when your at work and then again at night?

I am a stay at home mom so I leave for things but no set schedule. Deke and Gracie are crated when we leave and at night. They love their crates and go right in, curl up and sleep. Britty is only crated when we leave because if I don't she pees and poops in the house. At night she is fine.

Thank you all for trying to help. The bad behavoir started way before the baby was born. We did try a diet change which seem to result in flaky skin and poor coats….we thought we were trying better foods but in the long run we went back to what we have raised our boy on. He is from a goo breeder and we have never had any issues with him. Gracie does have accidents but if we crate her at night and make sure she potties in the rain we can deal with that....we want to keep her, but they came together so I don't know if we can keep one without the other. I am in contact with BRAT. I am trying everything before we give up.

The time line just doesnt match with the changes. They are due for vaccines so I will see if there is anything wrong that might be causing the issues. I know she has separation anxiety, I wish she could be with someone that could take her with them all the time. That's not an option for me. I know I could put her on meds but I don't want to drug her for the rest of her life.

We thought at one point is was that my husband had to be away at work for an extened period of time, 2 and 1/2 months. He has changed jobs now and doesn't travel, but it's worse not better. Our kids are 12, 8, and 9 months. I found out I was pregnant right after we got them….(we weren't really trying so that was kind of a surprise) This all started before she was born. Actually Britty and Deke is really good with the baby. Gracie will growl, but doesn't try to bite her.

I don't know what to do. It makes me very sad but I may have to give them away. We have had our boy since he was a puppy, he is now 6. About a year and a half ago we wanted to get another B. We went through BRAT and adopted 2 girls. We wanted to help out two older dogs that had less of a chance finding a home. Britty and Gracie were 9 and 7. We flew them in from Texas and were thrilled when they finally got here. The first 4 months were good. We had some little accidents but nothing too alarming. Then things kept getting worse. We had been letting them loose in the house, they started peeing and pooping when we left so we crated them. They were still loose over night but then they started peeing and pooping over night so we crated them over night. They soon figured out how to get out of their crates and would pee or poop in the house. We tried different things and we were able to keep them in their crates. Then one day we got home and Britty had gone nuts in her crate…...she destroyed it! We figured out she was fine over night so she is left loose at night but crated Gracie(Deke loves his crate and is not an issue). Hoping less crate time would help her. I am a stay at home mom so they are not crated all day just from time to time. Britty continued so go nuts and ripped off a toe nail trying to get out. We have crated them together and seperate. Britty started peeing and pooping in the crate and eating and drinking it, at times vomitting the poop after we let her out GROSS. We still just never know what will be waiting for us. For no reason we will find pee or poop through out the house, not even knowing when they do it. Our boy loves outside and spends a lot of time there in the summer. Gracie will also stay with him but Britty is a physco, she destroys the screens scratching to get in the house. We trying to let her in most of the time but if we are outside we worry she will pee and poop while we are out. If we don't let hear her right away she will even jump the fence. She doesn't go far and we always get her back. They even go in the house sometimes when I am in the shower and no one else is home.

I feel like a failure. We have tried all kinds of things I guess I just don't have what it takes to deal them. We love Deke so much we thought more would be better and I love watching them play but they are destroying my house and my marriage with it.....HELP!

Hi all. I haven't been on in a while…We have a 5 month old baby, but we also have 3 b's. We are in Narvon PA. Almost in Chester county but actually in Lancaster County. I probably can't do a cold weather meeting with the baby but if anyone plans anything in the spring I'd love to be included....thanks, Stacey

Beautiful….....congrats !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

glad he's ok. one of mine got chicken bones one time. she actually got out of her crate and grabbed a chicken leg off the table. she didn't choke, we called the vet and she was able to pass it. she did cry when it was on the way out…..no fun I feel for you guys it must have been very scary.