Help! Before my OH blows a blood vessel!

Ilovefoals said:
Oh and can't really take her for a walk as such as both me and hubby work nights and have a 6yr old child. So if he's working or I'm working, can't really leave her alone asleep in the house :(
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I haven't read past this post and this is going to sound harsh but you sound awfully lazy. You have got your dog into a habit of going to the toilet during the night and now expect that to change?

First thing do a PROPER clean of your kitchen she can obviously still smell where she has been before and its become a habit.

Sod being 'lazy and likes her bed' I don't know a single dog that doesn't get excited at the lead being got out, afraid it is a case of get up put it on and take her out once she is out the door you'll be fine. When she poo's or wee's do as someone else here has suggested teach a key word. It can be anything so long as you don't use it for anything else bizzy bizzy is popular. When she goes repeat so she gets used to it and associates with going to the loo and PRAISE for going! So many people for get that little bit.

Check your food, if your feeding something like chappie or bakers or any of those type of foods then they poo huge amounts try a better quality food or look into BARF (although that might be a bit expensive for a dane).

having a child and a husband working late nights etc is all well and good but if you can't cope with your dane then really there is only one option left... give rescue a call and ask to rehome her. They will at least put her with an experienced home rather than some numpty through the websites or papers that will use her as some sort of breeding machine or guard dog or at worse as bait.

Just out of interest does your dog play with your other dog when they go out at night? Sometimes a distraction is a disaster other times having another dog to run around with encourages them to poo more.
I am sorry if this sounds harsh but sometimes there is no glossing over these things.
 
Having been brought up with great danes yes they are stubborn!

Drag her out of bed at night for the toilet and get her off cereal.....danes are notorious for bloat and shouldn't be on such a cereal bed diet.

Feed her once in the morning....she doesn't need two feeds a day!
 
My male Dog got into a habit very similiar to this, if he didn't want to he would sit at the bottom of the step, with me stood at the door and refuse to go any further. Some nights he would go but others he parked his bottom and wouldn't budge with no amount of cajoling from me. Presents left every morning.

I started to stick his lead on and let him meander around with me in the garden, take his lead off further round and he would then head for his favourite 'poop' spot, do the toilet while I waited and then come back indoors together. Whatever his reasoning was, I am still not sure (the cold, rain, uncertainty, the dark, not wanting to go alone in the dark to his poop spot?) but if I accompany him late at night then he is more than happy to go, he even looks back and checks I am still following before he continues.

So do you go out with her have a meander around and stay with her? Maybe she is insecure at night? Doesn't like the cold of the night? Just a thought.
 
I wonder if the maize isn't agreeing with her. I'm sure I heard somewhere that maize is a filler, and many dogs are sensitive to it. Could you try another dried food? Check out the dog food analysis website. I've got mine on Arden grange Lamb and Rice and they all do great on it.
 
Haven't had the chance to get on here to read replies til now so quite amazed there have been so many!

Ummm, where to start. Yes, she did occasionally have accidents when on a raw diet but not nearly so often. I live in a little village in NE Scotland so don't have easy access to places which do raw food since my local one stopped and due to location, delivery is nearly £30 for a months supply. I used Natures Instinct when she was a pup but it's very expensive so no go I'm afraid. I have now swapped the night time meal from Burns to chicken wings which I can get from tesco. I've also been adding tinned sardines in oil and raw eggs to breakfast and giving less biscuits. I've also been feeding her earlier and am happy to report that the last 5 mornings have been poo free :)

I have to add that although we were getting fed up with the morning presents, we never shouted or scolded her as didn't see the point. We do have stables at home and yes, she could have been sneaking access to horse feed or to the cat food bowls when we weren't paying attention so I've made sure that the tackroom door is now always shut. There is no way I could only feed her once a day. She needs a lot of food and it'd be far too much to give it all in one go. I follow the rules for bloat so am aware of what she should and shouldn't be having.

horseloaner - your post made me laugh my head off!!! I am so dedicated to this dog (and my collie) it's unreal and I'm the LEAST lazy person you're likely to meet. I WILL NOT leave my 6yr old child asleep alone in my house in order to walk the dog though I do spend at least 10 and sometimes 20 mins in the garden with her in the evening. We have 8 acres which she runs around most of the day with the collie as well as a 2hr walk while my daughter is at school. I'd say that's plenty. I have no intention of rehoming her. She's an absolute gem of a dog and I only wanted advice so I'm afraid you can stick your post where the sun don't shine :)

She is terrible with the rain and cold, hates it. But I'll be investing in a nice warm coat for her so she'll have no excuse. Thanks for all the advice. Hoping things continue to go well.

Vicstress - no she's not a harli. She's supposed to be black but is more like a very dark brown and she got blonde highlights in the summer. I'll post a pic from my home pc when I get a chance as at work at the mo.
 
I was thinking about your problem as I was driving today ! funny the things that you mull over and I've no useful advice except to ask if perhaps the problem is that your dog doesn't realise she's not supposed to poo in the kitchen ? Maybe she started and instead of getting a telling off for it you said nothing and just cleaned it up ....just an idea but it would make sense if it's becomming a daily occurence.
 
Possibly. We never told her off as always thought it was the wrong thing to do. Hmmmm. Hopefully the new diet and change of feed times will continue to be successful. Fingers crossed!
 
Sounds like feeding her a bit earlier is helping so keep at it! GDs are lazy unfortunately but sounds like you're making all the right changes!
 
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