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Pupforum presents your training questions answered by professional dog trainers.
Jean is a graduate of Animal Behavior College and teaches basic obedience using positive motivation training techniques. She is a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers and has been teaching family dog basic obedience for three years. Jean is also a graduate of Northeastern University and is the co-founder of pupforum.com.
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11/5/2006
My husband and I added Kihei, a beautiful black Labrador Retriever puppy, to our home a month and a half ago. We currently live in a large apartment and have her in a playpen with puppy pads while we are away at work. The longest stretch of time that she is alone is 4-5 hours in the afternoon. Our problem is this: She tears her puppy pads to shreds! As we have carpeted floor where her playpen is located, taping down the pads has not worked. We were thinking about purchasing a puppy pad holder, but have read varying reviews. Is there any other way to cure this bad, bad habit? Help please...any suggestions would be appreciated! (MomofKihei, California)
Lab puppies seem to shred any kind of paper within reach; magazines, newspapers, puppy pads, utility bills. I can think of a few things for you to try.
Instead of leaving paper down, hire a dog walker to come during the day to take her out. This is my first choice solution, since your ultimate goal is to have your puppy relieve herself outside all the time anyway. This will help her learn to hold it, and you will only need to have someone come walk her until she is about 5 months old. At 5 months, she should be able to wait for 5 hours until you get home, but only if she has learned to hold it. You could have the dog walker come an hour or so after you both leave for work. Then as time goes on, have the dog walker come 15 or 30 minutes later each week, until she is going out just before you come home again.
You may need to mak
e her playpen smaller for this period of time to prevent her from relieving herself in one corner and then playing comfortably in another part of the pen. For starters, she should have just enough room to stand, turn around and lay down. This will help her want to hold it until someone comes to relieve her. You can put a plastic mat under her to protect the carpet. Don’t put anything absorbent in with her, like a towel or blanket, because we want her to be uncomfortable should she decide to relieve herself in the pen.
If you can’t have someone come to walk her, you could also try spraying the newspaper with Bitter Apple spray. Spray it into her mouth once when you first get the bottle, and she will not ever forget that she doesn’t like it. When you lay the paper down, give it a good spray and she should leave it alone. Make sure she has something else to chew on, like a hard beef bone or indestructible rubber toy. You want to make sure she has something to do besides shred paper, but also make sure there is nothing she will choke on while you’re not there.
My last thought is that if you give her some good vigorous exercise right before you leave her, she will be tired and more likely to sleep while you’re gone rather than making confetti.
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