New dog is bad when I leave the house! Help!

Hi,
We just got a new dog last Thursday, he's a Jack Russell Terrier mix. (Not sure what he's mixed with, but he looks mostly JRT.) The shelter estimated him to be about 2 years old. He was a stray before they got him, but he doesn't seem abused or anything at all. He's very friendly, and doesn't even bark when meeting new people. He's not totally housebroken, and he is not yet neutered, but soon will be. (scheduled for surgery in one week.)

I'm hoping someone will be able to give me some advice. As it is right now, we are pretty much unable to leave the house because of the dog. (We live 60 miles out in the country, so when we leave even to go to Walmart, we're gone at least 2 to 3 hours.)
We had planned on crating him while we are away from the house. (We got him the plastic kind of crate.) So we put him in his crate on Saturday, (making sure that both pegs were in their slots and the door was securely latched), but when we came home, the dog met us at the door! The crate was sitting on end, with the door side on the floor, and only one of the pegs was out of its slot. How he got out without getting hurt is beyond me, but he did. Thankfully, we couldn't find any damage anywhere in the house, so he wasn't destructive at all, beside the fact of getting out of the crate. Going with this thought, we decided to try a baby gate, and use to it close the dog in the kitchen while we are gone.

After the fiasco of him getting out of the crate, we decided to set up a camera to see what he does when we leave. Basically, we are just acting like we are leaving, but then we just go out into the garage and watch what he does on our laptop (I set up the camera to send a live video to the laptop in the garage).

Our first 'test' was yesterday. We acted like we were leaving, and we went out into the garage. All he did was run around in the kitchen, and whine a little bit. After about 5 minutes, the whining lessened, and after he had been quiet for about 20 seconds, we came back into the house, and praised him for being good. The second test (a few hours later), went pretty much the same, but this time we were in the garage for about 10 minutes. The dog whined, and ran around the kitchen, but he eventually laid down and seemed to settle down a bit. After he had been quiet for a minute or two, we came back into the house, and praised him.

Today, we've done three more 'tests'. Since yesterdays tests didn't go too bad, we wanted to increase the length of time we were gone to about 30 minutes, but we were unable to do so. The first time, we'd only been gone (aka, in the garage) for about 2 or 3 minutes, when he suddenly jumped up onto a chair that sits right beside the counter, and then he jumped up onto the counter. Fearing he would get hurt, we immediately (but calmly) went inside, just in time to see him jump down onto the hard tile floor. So we lined this section of counter-top with cardboard boxes, and after a few minutes, we went back into the garage as if we were leaving. Once again he started to run around the kitchen and whine, and he looked up to the section of counter-top he'd gotten on before, but as we had moved the chair and the counter was lined with boxes, he didn't try to get up there. Instead, he went over to his bed and lifted his leg on it, soaking it. Seeing this, we went into the house (calmly), told him he was bad, and took him outside. A couple hours later (the 3rd test for today), we once again acted as if we were leaving, and went into the garage. He did the normal whining and running around the kitchen, and then after a few minutes he stopped and lifted his leg on one of the kitchen cabinets. I repeated what we'd done earlier, going calmly into the house, telling him he was bad, (this time I tried to put his nose in the urine as punishment, but he is too strong, and I couldn't get him over to it) and then took him outside. Both times that I took him outside after he went on his bed and the cabinet, he didn't 'do his business' when he was outside.

Does anyone have any suggestions? It's so frustrating, as we really can't always stay at home, we need to be able to leave and go places. Our 13 year old dog has always loved her crate, in fact she naps in it every afternoon, so this behavior in our new dog came as quite a shock....

I'd really appreciate any suggestions.

Hi, it is good that you wrote so much and in detail about your problem.

Here are a few things that i think might help.

When you catch your dog doing something he is not allowed to do, it only makes sense to tell him that immediately (2 seconds is the limit), otherwise he will not be able to connect it with his action. Holding or pressing his nose into his pee will not help at all i think. So whenever you catch him in the act, show him that he was bad and then leave him. So he can learn that this particular action was not one you like him to do.
If you want him to stay in his crate, make it interesting for him. Work with him with the crate, give him some treats into the crate, maybe his favourite toy, anything that he likes very much.
Maybe you can arrange to walk him for a longer period before you leave the house and leave him alone. If he gets the opportunity to drain his energy (and terriers certainly heve a lot of energy usually!) before he is left alone, he might not be interested in walking or jumping around in the house. Especially, if something interesting is inside the crate.
Play with him before you leave, make him tired a little bit, so he is happy to take a rest when you are leaving.
Make your leaving and coming home as "unspectacular" as possible so it won't be anything big for your dog. If you leave, just leave, don't talk to him or stroke him, the same procedure when you come back home: don't watch him or talk to him. Come home, do everything you usually do after arriving, and then, after that, say hello to him. But don't praise him, because he doesn't know what he is praised for (remember the 2 second limit).
I hope i could be of any help and i wish you all the best for the future.
If you have any further questions, just ask.
Best wishes from Vienne
Michael

Because he isn't housebroken he really should be crated, so it would be worth your while if you can find a crate he can't break out of. To make being left alone not feel like such a bad experience give him a special treat that will keep him busy such as a kong toy stuffed with food. The special treat is something he gets only when he is left alone so that he will associate being by himself with something good.

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Sticking a dog's nose in his mess will only make him harder to housebreak. It'll "teach" him that potty is bad.... not potty in the house is bad, but potty in general. So he'll never tell you he has to potty and he'll hide his pottying in other rooms. Some dogs manage to get potty trained despite having their nose rubbed in it, but many do not.

You've only had this dog a week. Bond with him before you go to great lengths of time figuring our why he does what he does. Yesterday's "test" might have simply frustrated him and he releaved his frustration by spraying. It could be that simple. My suggestion is to bond with him for a few weeks then try the test all over again. In the meantime, get a metal crate since he's already escaped through the plastic one. Return the plastic one to the store. Most pet stores will take it back (and I know Walmart will). Keep him crated when you're not able to watch him... in the shower, at night time, etc. Otherwise, make him go to whatever room you're in so that you can watch his habits and leanr what every muscle move means. Leave him alone for two minutes while you microwave a burrito can give him enough opportunity to wander into the bedroom and potty.

Basically, spend some time getting to know your new dog and him to know you. How a dog behaves their first month in a new house is NOT their true selves. Give him time to adjust. Give him time to recover from his neuter. Then try to fix his behavior (if there's any misbehavior after he settles in to his new life with his new family)