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Pupforum presents your training questions answered by professional dog trainers.
When not coordinating trainers for MAGDRL (Mid-Atlantic Great Dane Rescue League), Tressa Everts has been saving dog owners from their dogs for thirteen years.
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[Edit]
8/15/2004
1 yr, Minature pinscher. My little man Madison is having all kinds of issues with housebreaking.
I've had him in the home for 7 months. He will not soil his crate. He will, however, hike a
leg and potty OUTSIDE of the crate.
We do not have a fenced
yard, so we have installed bells for Madison
to ring when he needs to go out. 30% of the time he will ring the bells and we immediately
take him outside to do his business. 70% of the time, he will find a nice quiet corner on the
carpet to do his business.
If we take him outside every single two hours, he will stay accident
free. But that's just not an option every day and every night.
We have special treats that he only gets when he does
his business outside. We don't reprimand when we find an accident, as we are worried that
he won't know what he's being reprimanded for, and it will just confuse him. HELP! (Jessica, Maryland)
Jessica, Is Madison neutered? This may not be lack of ability to hold it as much as marking his
territory. If he isn't neutered start there. If he is, you need to keep him in sight of you all the
time. If you can't watch him then he needs to be crated. If you need to keep him leashed to
your body. Invest in a big bottle of Nature's Miracle or find a reliable company to come out and
clean really well, and then start from scratch on the house training. Don't get frustrated.
If he's still soiling in the house, he doesn't understand that he isn't supposed to. As his person,
it's your job to help him learn.
I have a six month old rescue pup ( Samoyed/Aus. Sheppard Mix) who likes to play rough once
in a while. He will run around like crazy and then jump up on and nips me. I'm sure it's my
fault for not correcting him when he was younger...but now that he has bigger teeth...I'm
finding bruises on me. How can I correct this behavior? Please help. (ksz713, Maryland)
Kathy, at my house we call this the zoomies. Perfectly reasonable w
ay for your pet to burn
energy right up to the point where it causes you injury.
The best way to correct the behavior
is to find some other outlet for the dog. When you see him approaching make sure you have
a rope toy or something else he enjoys playing with and either play a good game of tug -
or throw the toy as far from you as you can possibly get it.
If this doesn't work then you
need to physically remove yourself from the situation. IF you're not there to jump up on he
can't do it. He'll soon learn that when he acts this way mom leaves - not the result he wants.
Don't know if you will have any experience to draw on here, but I'll ask anyway. I live in a very
rural area and have a BIG rat overpopulation problem. My cats catch the smaller rats but my 7
dogs are all couch potatoes.
So, I've been considering getting a young terrier to patrol the yard.
I think I would probably need to make this dog live outside at night so s/he would hunt when
the rodents are most active. I certainly don't want to end up with one more pet to care for
unless s/he is going to perform a useful purpose...but I've always been pretty indulgent with
my animals. Any management advice?
I'm certainly not going to have this dog out in the yard
with no training/human contact; probably s/he will get daily agility training and long walks on
the beach with the rest of the pack. Do you think the dog will be okay with the role I want
her to play, or will she whimper and bark because all the other dogs get to sleep inside on the
couch while she's locked out? (shane, Canada)
Dogs were bred to have jobs, they are also very much social - pack animals, so while adding
another pet to your household to do a job for you isn't a horrible idea, in all honesty I think
you're better bet is to set traps.
While I'm sure the new dog would be loved and cared for by
you - being banished from the pack every night would be torturous for him or her
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