The clients, a young couple with two boys ages 5 and 8 years, called on referral from their veterinarian. the doctor proclaimed the dog, a 2 year old neutered male Labrador Retriever, to be in excellent health, even if a bit overweight.

The complaint: "Laddie" was barking "nearly constantly" when left in the back yard. The barking was triggering more barking from the neighbor's two Dobermans, who never barked at other times. Both sets of owners had received warnings from the county animal control authorities about the barking.

During our consultation, both boys were well-mannered, as was Laddie. However, when we told the boys they could play with a ball outside the office, Laddie became highly agitated, whining and obviously desirous of being out with the boys. "He always wants to be where the boys are," Betty explained. This opened the door to a discussion about why Laddie was out in the yard alone when the boys were home inside the house, especially in the evenings.

"We can't trust Laddie inside anymore. He poops and pees in the boys' room whenever he gets the chance, and he has started eating his poop, too. It's been going on since young Peter started school," Frank, the father responded.

Our preliminary fact-finding had revealed that Laddie was fed once a day in the morning. His diet was a commercial dry food. We discovered from Frank (who picked up stools on a daily basis) that Laddie's stools were not formed and firm, but rope-like and infrequently on the loose side. We also discovered that feeding once a day in the morning began because both parents worked in their own business and they often picked up the boys from school and attended after school sports activities, delaying their arrival home until after 6:00 pm several days a week. This was also just before the house soiling problem started.

All the elements of the "causes" for the problem were now in place.  The dog was being fed several cups of a food that was more than 55% carbohydrate, which is converted into sugar. Dogs, like all carnivores, have no need for carbohydrate, which can lead to problems of obesity and hyperactivity, among other problems.

One feeding a day, especially with a high carbohydrate diet, taxes the dog's digestive system and leaves it with an empty tummy for up to 12 hours a day, inviting the urge to fill the void with under-digested stools. Being shut out of his home and precious relationship with the family at night creates social frustrations and, hence, tension and stress, which Laddie is prone to try to release vocally... barking. Other dogs might dig around the back door, scratch at doors, pace constantly around the yard, and others might start chewing articles like lawn or patio furniture, etc. And some do all these things.

When asked how they felt about having to keep Laddie out of the house, all family members said they didn't like it, but they also couldn't put up with the pooping and urination in the house. When the elements of the problem, outlined above, were explained, they were anxious to institute changes the would address the problem's cause. They investigated several high protein/almost no-carbohydrate commercial foods and switched Laddie's diet, feeding him twice a day. After a few days Laddie's stools firmed up and he began defecated immediately after each meal, which was administratively perfect for them and solved the in-house defecation. The urination stopped as soon as he was brought back into the house during the day and evening hours.

They instituted the "Learn-to-Earn" praise and petting program and the Leadership program from the BehavioRx Series instructions, "Obedience Training - A Primer." They used the BehavioRx "Housetraining" instructions to retrain Laddie and rid the boy's room of the old toilet odors.