Help! Abused/ neglected dog!

About three months ago I adopted a two year old pomchi male dog named Charlie. He's sweet in nature, friendly, and loves me to no end. Here's the problem. When I talked to the owner he said he was fully trained, and a perfect loving dog. When I took him home I realized I had been lied to. He's very jealous of anyone who comes near me and will snap at them, bark or growl. I can't interact with my family at all unless he's not around. I've had my family interact with him and show they love him too. I include him on the movie nights and allow him to cuddle along with all of us but he will continuously snap, growl and weasel in between my husband and I. He acts as if he's been hit all the time.. If I go to pet him he will shake and submissively urinate on there floor. If I go with a training session. Ask him gebtly to sit he wil lower himself to the ground, scamper across the floor leaving a ribbon of pee across the kitchen carpet. I've never raised my voice, made sudden movements, or have hurt him. In three months nothing had had a slightest improvement.. He will still urinate all over my floor. He also defeated in the house and he's let out all the time. I had caught him hunched over my toddlers pillow going to the bathroom.. I started crate training and he will even go in there! The crate is the right size and spends only a total of 5 hours a day inside it. When we first got him he tried to dominate us all and tried humping my husband, making himself first, most important, and if he doesn't get his food first he will show his teeth and urinate on the floor and making himself the man of the house. I can't understand the constant switch of dominant and submissive behavior. He will not do that to me but everyone else..We got him out of that but the behavior returns if he's fed early than his normal time, is cuddling on me while my son is awake and gets to stay there..from the looks of it his former owner beat him horribly and his back legs will lock up or not work right sometimes. He will also spitefully use the bathroom if I gently say no or put him on the ground if he snaps at my husband or toddler if they come near me. Some days he will act like I had hit him and will shake, lower himself to the ground and look at me like I had hurt him. I don't know what to do and I have tried everything. Not raising my voice, clicker training, crate training, he spends a lot of time with me, I will stand outside for hours waiting for him to potty, and even in the rain will bring an umbrella.. His former owners obviously had not taught him anything as he's completely untrained and doesn't know commands at all and he was obviously hurt a lot.. I'm trying so hard and I won't give up so easily. I love this poor little dog and won't just dump him off at a humane society.. I am just at my breaking point.. What can I do? Has anyone else had a similar experience? Sorry the post is so messy but I'm just losing my mind.

Personally if it were me I would go right back to basics and treat this poor little might as though he were a very young puppy. Teaching him that everyone is a food source by throwing food into his food bowl and then walking away to start with and then sitting up high and throwing food into his food bowl so that he knows it is a good thing for people to be near him when he is eating. Be careful when throwing food into his bowl that he doesn't misinterpret the throw with a raised hand. With the food make sure that it is low in protein as this may be making him more hyper. Dry complete food is best or natural food. Not tinned or wet processed food. Don't rush doing this though. It will take a few days for him to understand. For toileting introduce a word for when he goes, a different one for weeing and pooing. Hurry up do a wee, good boy and be quick for the other always with a good boy when he goes. Take him to the same spot everytime for that. Always take him out after he has eaten or woken up. It will take time. Don't let him feel trapped if someone approaches him. Make sure he can move away if he wants to. Share the load, make others do things with him that he is comfortable with. If they feel in anyway apprehensive then don't let them do anything until he has started to except people and started to trust people around you. Don't let him sit on a settee or chair with you if others want to sit with you. For the time being his place should be on the floor. When you say hunched over a pillow is this because he hasn't been neutered? Always make sure he is in your eye line and not in another room with a youngster. Most rescues take between 6 months to a year before they settle into a routine with new people. Hope all that helps. He sounds very much like one we have at classes at present and he is gradually getting better. He has been coming to classes now for 10 weeks. So that should help you to see that it does take time. He is still showing different things to us which means he still has a long way to go.

Hi Alainelizabeth!

It sounds like his former owners taught him rather a lot, actually... of the wrong things. It sounds to me like you have a deeply confused and unhappy dog on your hands. You're probably right that he's been mistreated in the past. Pooing in the crate-- that could indicate that he's been left confined for such long periods of time that that was his only option and he doesn't care anymore. The rapid switches in behaviour might be showing that he doesn't really know how to act, snapping and snarling one minute, going all-out submissive the next. Maybe it's his equivalent of shouting, since no one has listened to him in the past? Of course we don't know exactly what's happened, and it's extremely unlikely that his former owners are going to tell you. One thing that I notice is missing from your description is him acting normal. Does he ever seem to be happy and relaxed, or is he always this way? It seems evident that the poor dog has been damaged. Unfortunately you probably have some work cut out for you fixing it.

Don't dwell on the past too much, though. He doesn't-- he's been saddled with a terrible upbringing, but his situation is different now, and now is where you need to focus. Now he can expect not to be whacked or shouted at. Now he doesn't have to growl and snap to get some space. He doesn't know that yet, and it will take him some time to learn normality. I agree with Brenda above: go right back to basics and treat him as if he doesn't know anything.

It'll be hard, but try not to coddle him. Of course you see he's not happy and you want to comfort him, but you might be inadvertently reinforcing behaviours you need him to unlearn. If he's fine with you on the couch, ok-- but he doesn't need to be included if he's snarling and biting other people. He's almost certainly not doing it because he likes it (and he can't be doing it out of spite; dogs don't have the neural architecture to support that particular brand of cognition); more likely he finds the situation stressful and is reacting to it in the only way he knows how. If you remove him from that situation, you're also taking away the source of the stress. He will probably find it confusing, but that's okay-- and he needs to learn that he can't bite your family and friends. Put him on the floor, or in another room, away from things that are going to trigger him. Give him something to do, a stuffed treat to chew on or a cardboard box to shred. He might put up a fuss, but you're not hurting him, you're just treating him like a normal dog, and every single time you calmly put him in a safe place, don't yell at or hit him, and give him something nice, you're reinforcing that he can expect such nice, rational behaviour from you-- and coincidentally that you don't like him snarling at your family. With the submissive urination, try to make as little fuss about it as possible. Totally ignore it if you can. That signals to him that he can make this display all he likes, but you don't care. Not to fuss over him, and not to scream and smack him: it has no impact. If you can let him outside while you clean it up, that could help, since he won't see you do it and as far as he's concerned you had nothing to do with it at all. Bear in mind that even negative reinforcement can be seen as desirable by some dogs, if that's what they've learned to expect. By ignoring and blanking the submissive urination you're showing him that there's no need for it.

He's probably scent-marking your home by doing his business all over the place. He'll want to target areas of high use, that smell most like you-- like your toddler's pillow. Ecch. As he starts to learn more balanced behaviour, this will likely get better as well... think of it as a holistic approach. There aren't going to be any overnight solutions, but you're a kind, rational person from whom he can expect caring, consistent behaviour-- unfortunately he doesn't know that yet and you're just going to have to keep reinforcing it by keeping being a calm, nice, rational, normal person. I am wishing you well on this one. Please keep us posted!

Thanks for the advice both of you! He had learned some awful habits from his previous homes. The owner mentioned he was rehomed a lot. I don't think anyone actually did work with him or took time to show him how to actually be a dog. You know? Recently I've been treating him like a puppy sort of retraining. He hates it really but as you said above just go back to the basics. I don't give him treats anymore when he sits or goes potty outside because he gets this idea that he gets one every time and if he doesn't get one he will spitefully poo on the floor. I stopped that and he only gets treats as a snack or bring good for the day. He has potential to be a good dog and actually enjoy living his life for once. He was wrongfully treated. At first I thought maybe it was just his personality but the more time I spend with him and training him I can see he was hurt. Sometimes when I open his crate door he will sit there and Stare at me like I just hit him. He was afraid of it at first but I have gotten him to the point that he sees it as a bedroom or a safe place. He will willingly go in there. I also have him earning privilege to run around the house freely if he used the bathroom outside with no accidents he gets one room at a time and the baby gate gets removed. Otherwise I keep him in the same room where I can see him. It's going to be a long road and it's honestly not what I really wanted in owning a dog. I fell in love with him and don't want him thrown through another billion homes or hurt anymore. Thank you for your advice and I'll do my best to apply it

You have had some really good advice here. Please don't think your boy is being spiteful - dogs do not have any concept of spite - try to think of it as having lapses, like potty training a child.
Re. Holding back on the treats. Your dog will not be able to remember what they were for by the end of the day. To be effective, treats should be immediate, and of high value ie. really tasty, (cheese is a good one). Don't be afraid to let him know how good he has been by peeing or pooing in the right place. Play is also a valuable reward. Try to just ignore the lapses, as making it an issue creates anxiety, and that makes accidents more likely. If you think he is territory marking, castration might help.

My latest dog is 6 years old and lived in kennels till I got her 6 months ago. She still has an occasional mistake, as her signalling is far more subtle than that of a house reared dog. Old habits are hard to break, for dogs and ourselves, give him time and praise and I'm sure he will respond.