Not what I heard from breeders, but since your the expert I'll listen to you.
And Rocky does know it's wrong, otherwise he wouldn't be "embarrassed or in fear" as you put it. The words are merly spoken, not yelled. He knows exactly what he did wrong too because he starts cowering even before we see it sometimes...and NEVER cowers if he hasn't done anything. He's not dumb, I just don't know why he doesn't just go on the pads, when he had in the past. In fact, let me tell you what he used to do when he piddled in the house. After watching us go in the bathroom and grab toilet paper and then go clean up his accidents that were over by the weewee pad, I came home one day to find the toilet paper (still attached to the roll) dragged out and layed in his piddle. At first I thought maybe he was just playing with the toilet paper and that's were it landed, but it happened over and over again. He knew we were cleaning it up with the TP so he was trying. He didn't do it when he peed on the weewee pad...only when he missed.
Also, canines can and do definitely disobey their masters when pissed off at them. It's why they go rip up a house after the master leaves. They are upset that the master left and go through anxiety of being left and they take it out on the house. You can't tell me they don't think it's wrong what they are doing.
As far as your last statement. Actually the Chihuahua can be more aggressive than the pitbull by nature, lol. But I wasn't stating that the breed is fickle regarding his bathroom tendancies. I was told by toy breeders that their bladders (along with the majority of their organs) are very tiny and don't hold much, that they have a lot of accidents. I don't mind Rocky having accidents at all. I just would like him to have them on the pad, not on the floor.
Laura, so much stuff in this post reads like any decent Q&A section you'd read in any good dog psychology book about certain behaviors and the way owners perceive them, vs the real reason.
Dogs don't do things they know are wrong. Period. My dog never turns around and goes "Hey I think I'll shit in the middle of the living room floor to see what dad does", or "Hey let me go jump on the couch and wait for a reaction". He is embarrassed and or fearful because I am sure at some point there was a negative connotation associated with whatever the phrase you used. At one point in time, I am sure either you or Mike was pretty pissed off and he knew it. Toy breeds can be very sensitive if not raised properly, and can be more prone to being spooked off of one bad experience. Some dogs are afraid of thunder from one event of hearing it and being scared and then being coddled by their owner.
Generally separation anxiety is because the dog believes its in charge and is protesting because you left. In the wild, subordinates don't leave the pack or get to say when they do, only the leader does. This is also the reason why dogs fail the simple portion of the CGC test where the dog needs to be left unattended for 5min with a friendly person.
With all due to respect to dog breeders, they are experts on breeding. Just as veterinarians are experts on medicine regarding canines. Not behavior, not nutrition...the overall health of the dog. I've had a vet look me right in the eye and say that Science Diet is one of the best dog foods out there, when in actuality it is shit. I am sure "Vet" would chime in here if he saw this and agree that his field of expertise is the health of animals, and not their behavior. It doesn't go to say that hes clueless when it comes to behavior, Vet is smart and he knows his shit, but for example with humans there is a reason why there is primary care doctors and then 50+ diff kinds of specialists. There is a reason why there is a million vets in Philly but if you have a highly specialized issue, there is a vet specifically for that at U Penn. There is a reason why people like Cesar Milan and even that british idiot have TV shows...because they are experts on dog behavior.
I just said in my last post that Chihuahuas do not have the bowel control of larger dogs, I am not disagreeing with you on this. This still doesn't explain your issue.
Lastly, and which I've tried to beat into peoples heads on this forum but very few listen...in regards to your Chihuahua vs Pitbull aggression comment...
Aggression is not innate, it is
by and large a learned behavior. No pitbull right now that is somewhere in Alabama fighting another dog in an underground ring came out of the womb with a desire to kill another dog. They were taught to do it.
But, I'm just some shmuck know-it-all on the internet, I mean, we are on getbig aren't we?
I also bench 600lbs and am 250lbs ripped with 5% bodyfat at 5'7''. So go to amazon.com and get a few good books. Leader of the Pack, The Other End of the Leash, and anything by Cesar or the Monks of New Skete is good, for starters. All easy reads as well.
