So I have a bit of a back story. In 2016 my ex and I lived in a 1 bedroom apartment. He insisted we get a dog. I love dogs but I told him that it wasn’t a good time, since he would be cooped up in the apartment all day and it wouldn’t be fair to the dog. He worked 12 hour shifts, and I worked 8, so the dog would be alone for 8 hours a day.
Against my wishes he brought home a dog (shocker). Leo was a 4 month old Jack Russell Chihuahua mix. The cutest little guy ever. He took to me immediately. Although I was upset about him getting the dog, I knew that he got him from a lady who was a hoarder and had been getting rid of a bunch of her pets (weird I know). So Leo was never trained, and we couldn’t return him. Of course I grew attached to him. He didn’t care for my ex at all because he was always gone, would never walk or feed him, only really used him to take photos and cuddle with occasionally. I did everything.
Originally, he would destroy our apartment, so we got him a crate. He did well in the crate but I felt guilty every day leaving him for the length of time we had to. When I could I would go home on my lunch breaks, or get someone to watch him, but obviously I couldn’t do that every time.
A few months later, my ex and I split because he was cheating, and he threatened me with the dog. I knew I was moving back to my parents and so was he. His parents wouldn’t allow pets, had no back yard, and not to mention my ex worked 12 hours a day. Leo would have been miserable with him. I fought and won to take the dog home with me and my parents. They had a huge back yard, another dog that Leo got along with, and between my siblings, parents and I, the longest the dogs were home alone was maybe a few hours a day.
When we moved to my parents Leo started eating shoes, peeing on things, ripping up anything he could find. We’d come home to messes daily. We brought the crate and started to crate him. We chalked it up to anxiety, and eventually after a few months of crating him, he was fine to be out of the crate and roam with our other dog. We’ve had no major problems from that point until my parents moved to their new house.
My current boyfriend and I got an apartment. Leo is now 3 and a half. I was planning on taking him but my parents insisted on keeping him as he grew close with the other dog and liked that they had companions in each other, plus they had a yard and I didn’t. I still see him at least once a week. They started having issues recently with him pooping in the basement. They thought maybe he was stressed from the move and put up a baby gate. That worked for a while, but now he’s started to relieve himself in the upstairs too. I’m thinking it could be stress related but it’s strange because they moved to the new house in July, and it just recently started getting bad.
I feel awful because it’s my dog, and my parents are getting stressed out. I want to do what I can to help them, and of course the dog. They’ve been crating him again, but I’m wondering why he’s regressed? Any advice on what we can do would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/df4b5o/why_has_my_dog_been_suddenly_relieving_himself_in/
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