Ok...not quite that bad yet but good grief!

My Shih Tzu is driving me nuts and my family has just about had it.

Our dog is a 3 year old Shih Tzu male. We have had him since he was 6 weeks old.

From the start I have worked with him on his behavior but I guess I must have done everything wrong because he just hasn't gotten the message.

He poops and pees wherever he wants, he is sneaky and always seems to be trying to 'get back at' members of our family. I don't want to attribute human behavior to him but he is very specific about his targets.

I have read about what the problem is...he thinks he is top dog although honestly, I do not understand how he could possibly believe this since I consistently correct his behavior. I have controlled his entertainment and food, I have controlled everything so that he would know he only gets what he gets when I allow him to have it. He has been loved and played with. He has premium foods, mostly grain free, raw and home cooked but even his kibble is grain free and top line. He is regularly groomed and attended to. He has plenty of toys to play with. He has kids to play with. He goes for walks although he would probably like more.

I just don't know what to do with him.

Here are two examples of his behavior:

Yesterday, my daughters and I got up to my mom's for dinner. She lives right behind us so it isn't like we were gone for a long period, about 1.5-2 hours total.

We come home to candy spread all over the house that he got from the top of my husband's computer desk (about 6' up), a brand new box of tea ripped open and scattered AND a soaked pee pad (he has a litter box with pee pads)that he specifically picked out of the trash without spreading trash everywhere. He then smashed the soaked pee pad onto my daughter's blanket.

Another example:

The other day my daughters and I were sitting around crocheting various things and just having a good time. Our dog never even asked for attention, he was contentedly (we thought) sleeping on his back most of the time.

The next day, I find a ball of our yarn dragged into a part of the house we have banned him from and barred off (so I have no idea how he even got in there) and he POOPED on the ball of YARN!

Another example:

Usually our dog is never alone but since my mother and I got into a car accident back in April, we have been going to the chiropractor and other therapists regularly throughout the week.

I was concerned about Ziggy (our dog) being unhappy so I began taking him with us since he has always been a good car dog.

In the approximately 45 seconds that it took us to go in and ask our chiropractor if Ziggy could come into the session with us (which he was allowed), he POOPED in the car!

Now he isn't allowed to go in any of our cars because he also pooped in my husband's car.

He has pooped and peed in our bed.

He is sneaky, always waiting to pull his bathroom behavior when we can't catch him.

He waits for us to go to bed and then rampages in my husband's computer desk.

BTW, he does use his pee pads as well so it isn't that he doesn't know how to use the appropriate place.

There are a lot more examples of his bad behavior I could list but it all ends the same...with Ziggy crapping somewhere he absolutely shouldn't...or peeing.

I cannot fathom what he is trying to tell me and it is getting to the point that none of us even want to know anymore.

Any ideas?

Please understand before posting, we have been very consistent with him. I have read reams of information about these issues and how to handle them and nothing has worked.

The only thing I have not done is actual crate training and that is what is next if for no other reason than I cannot trust him to be in the house alone or otherwise unless directly supervised.

Thank you for your help in advance.

-Stephanie

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