Harry is a nightmare!

I am the devoted owner of a none month old shi tzu called Harry who was neutered about 7 weeks ago. We have been through the usual toilet training isssues (very slow to get control of his bowel and bladder) but had it cracked by about 5 1/2 months. Have also had teething and chewing everything ( also under control with lots of varied textures, shapes, smells, variety of chewey toys).

My problem is that Harry seems to have regressed lately! He has started chasing feet, biting and worse is peeing and pooing in the house again. He peed on our bed yesterday! He is walked 3 times a day and has access to a garden as well. I do not know what to do about this and my husband is very tense about the whole thing.

Help please!

Hi Pauline and welcome to the forum, it's great to have you here.

Please don't panic about Harry's behaviour, he is still a baby and it is not in the least bit unusual for housetraining to still be going on past the first birthday, sometimes even later. It sounds like he is actually scent marking if he has used the bed for a pee. You need to go back to square one again and start afresh. You may find that a lot of the problems are related to his neutering as he would have been at the age when his hormones would have been starting to kick in.

Have read of Simaloves thread here about housetraining

http://www.shihtzuwhispers.org.uk/t1479-house-training-potty-training-your-new-puppy?highlight=house+training

We are a very friendly bunch so please feel free to join in wherever you are comfortable. We love to see photos so please upload some of Harry for us to see.

Thank you sujay for the advice about going back to basics and Harry's behaviour. Will start all over again with the exaggerated praise and rewards for good toilet habits and other behaviours.

That's right, plenty of praise and rewards will get the message through. You may think you are not getting anywhere, but just keep going and once it clicks in Harrys head you will realise all the work is well worth the effort. You often take three steps forward and then one back, so just keep calm and the calmer you can be about it the sooner Harry will learn what to do.

Hi Pauline and a very warm welcome. It has been known for toileting problems to come after neutering so Harry may well be regressing on account of the surgery. 7 weeks is relatively recent in operation terms so I would try not to panic too much. As Sue says the neutering at this age is at a time when his male hormones would have been kicking in and he would have been starting to mature but the loss of these hormones may well be the cause of his regression. But he is also a teeny baby yet and liek all babies learning is not a straight path. All your work will be worth it in the end when you have your loving boy by your side (because I don't care what anyone says the boys are special ) xxxx