House Training, Crates, & Puppies

Still messing her kennel

Fenris — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:22:00 GMT

My 11-month bullmastiff is reliable in the house but still makes a mess in her kennel. She's confined during the day to her 3-by-8 foot kennel with a safe house at one end. This is in the garage, not outside.

She pees and poos just about every time she's in there, whether it's one hour or eight. It's also where she eats, but she doesn't seem to mind at all.

Not sure how to break that habit. I can't catch her in the act, because if I'm there watching the dynamics are completely different and she won't go -- she'll just be waiting for her dingbat human to let her out instead of just sitting there watching.

Ideas?

Sleeping in a crate

MalOwner — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:26:29 GMT

This isn't really a problem, it's more of a question... when we got Hugo @ 8 weeks, we started crate-training him, and he slept in his crate every night. He is now almost 10 months and we recently decided to try and transition him to a bed... so we bought him a nice, big round bed (he seemed to like one of his dog friends' round beds), and basically he refuses to sleep on it. He much prefers his metal crate, which he is now almost too big for. Has anyone else experienced this? How have you guys transitioned your dogs to sleeping on beds, or do you just let them sleep in their crates (if that's what they prefer)? I was just thinking that for traveling purposes, it's easier to not haul a crate around, but other than that it's not really a big deal.

When to start crate training and stop free feeding

thetruejuliet22 — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:35:24 GMT

I have a 2 pound 8 week old pom, and I'm currently free feeding in hopes of avoiding hypoglycemia.

I have also been working on crate training during the day by randomly crating him and teaching him that the crate's ok to be held in.

And he is fed in his crate with the door open so he knows that's where he's fed, not where he's supposed to eliminate. He sleeps in there with no issues during the night, as well as taking naps in it during the day, but always with the door open.

During the night, his crate door is left open with potty pads on the floor so he can relieve himself OUT of the crate...but when would be a good time to start closing his crate for the night? This would also mean taking his food out of his crate for the night, and I don't want to do that until he's past the risk of becoming hypoglycemic.

Thanks for the help!

Laying puppies on their backs to socialize??

sharismom — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:32:47 GMT

I've never heard this one before until yesterday. We have yet another little of pitbull puppies at the shelter. The employees are concerned that they get enough socialization. Two different people said to me that they are handling the pups and how important it is to get them to lay on their backs and let people rub their bellies or they will have behavior problems later on. In my head I was thinking WTH?? Is this a legit training necessity? Just because I've never heard it doesn't mean I am right. And I haven't had a puppy to raise in 18 years. Thoughts?

Establishing Bite Inhibition in Puppies

spiritdogs — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:46:27 GMT

As a trainer, I see a lot of adolescent dogs these days with very hard mouths. It always makes me regret not having met these dogs when they were puppies, since the default behavior for them will most always be to grab things hard when they get excited. Many of them fail to make the cut as therapy dogs because that behavior is just unacceptable in a dog that *must* be gentle. As I see it, the problem is twofold. Many pups simply do not receive adequate socialization with other puppies and dogs (and humans) early enough (lots and lots of off leash play between age 8-16 weeks). Bite inhibition, or the ability to use the mouth gently without causing pain or injury, is not established solely by the pup's interactions with his dam or litter mates. But, puppies that play with others throughout puppy hood are often less mouthy, and don't chew up owners' belongings as much either. But, many people don't see the need for puppy class until it's too late. They may have had adult dogs in the past, or they may have had exceptionally soft mouthed pups, trained them themselves, so they think that all pups should be as easy to deal with as the others. Also, many humans have a hard time sticking with a non-aggressive, but effective, method of teaching pups, because it doesn't yield instant results. This is a problem that is very hard to correct once the dog reaches adolescence. Sure, you can install a cue that says "easy" or "gentle" but if the dog's default is to grab, you can't always be there to preempt the grab, therefore the dog is not reliable. Punishment almost never works, and has its own set of difficulties, not the least of which is to create an even more mouthy, and even aggressive, dog. So, my advice to puppy owners is socialize early and often, go to puppy class (one that has off leash play time before the class session) and take all your attention away from your pup when he puts his mouth on human skin (no eye contact, no commands, no touching - just a total lack of attention).

HELP! my dog refuses to use wee wee pad anymore....

Nicole0806 — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:25:58 GMT

Hey everyone! I have a huge problem... my dog has been a house dog since we got her. She is a 2 year old maltese and always has been so good about using the wee wee pads... never has accidents. All of a sudden, the company changed the wee wee pad to quilted and she is going right next to it on the floor... on the edge... anywhere BUT the wee wee pad. I dont know what to do but cleaning up pee every single day is not fun. There must be a reason why she's doing this other than the quilted wee wee pad... We tried not giving her treats or table food, but it's still not working.

Any advice?

Looking for someone's opion...

hono-lulu — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:42:06 GMT

So Lulu has taken up shredding her pee pad that is in her cage (it's in my pics) with her. She never did it until a couple weeks ago. Her pee pad is now in the small enclosed part of the cage and her bed is on the open side. I would leave for work at 7:30 and not get home until 4:30 so I always left her a pee pad just in case she couldn't hold it. She used to use it and now she seems so want to shred it into the tiniest pieces. Im trying to think if having her in there with no peepad or having her in her crate would be the best? Today was my first day back at work from 8days off and she shredded it AND THEN pee'd on her bed. Does anyone have some advise? Im trying to outsmart her but Im doing too well

Litter Box Training

vbmike73 — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:05:44 GMT

I have a 16 wk old Maltipoo, and we're having trouble getting him interested in the litter box. It is in the laundry room, where we can shut the door, no distractions, and we put him in there and use the same key phrase “go potty” as we did outside. When we take him outside (b/c we can’t get him to go inside) we do not use the key phrase anymore, so as to not mis-encourage him to go outside. We also do not praise him for going outside. But he knows immediately when he goes outside to do his business. Now we have gotten him to go a couple times in the box, and we praise the crap out of him, but now we put him in and are very positive, and he just lays down. We can’t get the routine established. We have soaked some of the litter pellets with his urine. We have not tried the spray scent thing yet available at PetSmart just b/c we don’t think it will be worthwhile. My wife stays home during the day, so he is rarely in his crate (also in laundry room). Any suggestions??? Need to get this process going steadily. Should we take the box outside with us, and put him in it as soon as he squats?

Poll? Pee pads, yes or no?

Chuffy — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:17:39 GMT

Do you use pee pads?

Wait, let me re-phrase that:

Does your dog use pee pads?

Are you happy with that? Is it a short term or long term measure? Ever had a bad/good training experience with them? Know anyone else who has?

I am looking for a shelter dog to adopt, but don't know if some are housebroken or not

Wileycat — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:22:40 GMT

Hello -

I am currently looking for a rescue dog to adopt. I have two in mind so far. One of them is housebroken, based on what the family who found him said. He's a 1 year old fox terrier. But the shelter says they "think" he's housebroken.

The other dog I fell in love with is a 9 month old wire haired terrier mix. Nothing is known about him other than he came in as a stray. This dog is in the regular municipal animal shelter, whereas the other is in a no-kill shelter.

I am torn between the two, though the first place is not making it easy for me to actually see the dog out of its cage so I can see how I bond with him or not. But some of that is due to misinformation and now he's got kennel cough. But they are really picky about whom they adopt to. However, I think I have filled out a great application with nice references. Of course, they won't take it until they can go through it with me personally.

Anyway, I have heard that terriers are the hardest to housebreak of all dogs. My mother has the concern that the 9 month old mix may not be housebroken and if he's not, it might be a real pain as I live in an apartment and would be running up and down the steps with him in the cold and all that all the time - not to mention ruining my new rugs.

I guess my question is this: Is it most likely that a dog who has made it to 9 months has a greater than average chance of being housebroken? (He was not thin, though he had some matting of his long fur in the back. My mother thinks this may be a sign he was not being paid enough attention to and may be in a bad habit of peeing where he wants.)

I need to ask the pound this - but does anyone know if most shelters can test whether or not a dog is housebroken as part of their routine to make sure it is adoptable?

If the dog is not housebroken at 9 months, does that sound like it might be nearly impossible to get him 100% housebroken? Would crate training help?

Thanks for any ideas - especially since I am looking at terriers.

Cat

Opinion on getting rid of crates

slmore — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 20:08:55 GMT

Hello!

We have two English Setters, one almost 4 years old and the other just turned 2. There temperment, which is typical of English Setters, if very mild and friendly. They are also very calm unless there is something to be very excited about - someone walking toward the house, a visitor coming into the house, us getting home from work, etc. Most of the time while we are home with them, besides the time that we are playing or exercising, they lie on the back of the couch looking out the window! They have been crate trained since their first day in our home. They both slept in their crates at night until 6 months old, then we started letting them sleep wherever they wanted. They still stay in their crates while we are at work, with a short stretch/potty break at lunch time. When we are home with them, every once in a while they will each go in their crates to snooze, or when there is storm, etc. They like their crates. Well, we would really like to get rid of the crates - they are huge and they are in a small spare room! We have experimented with leaving them free in the house while we run errands (no more than 2 hours) and when we get home they are just watching out the window, nothing in the house out of place. I am pretty confident they would be very well-behaved if we got rid of the crates. BUT, I am worried about their safety. What do you guys think about this? Have they been in the crates long enough? Or is it better to be on the safe side?

Thanks for any and all opinions!

Having problems transitioning from crate to house...help

tilnih — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:49:36 GMT

I have two approximately 7mo female puppies. We got them both when they were around 3mo. One is a whippet/terrier mix, around 20lbs and the other is a rat terrier/chihuahua mix, about 6lbs. They have both been crate trained from the time we got them and now can successfully hold it for 6 hours while we are gone.In addition, they hold it for 9+ hours at night.

The problem arises when we let them have time out of their crate. They play constantly, which isn't a problem, but I think it's a factor it why they have accidents. So far we are always home when they are out. However, both of them will not hold it while they are out in the house. We only give them access to the living room and kitchen area. The chihuahua is the worst, she can barely hold it for 2 hours when she is out of her crate. The other one can go longer, but still has accidents.They seem to know it is wrong because they always hide someplace or wait until I'm out of the room to have an accident, which doesn't help with the 'catching them in the act' process.

This is my first time ever owning puppies, so I know there is much I don't know. So please correct me when I'm wrong, but I think if they can hold it 6hrs in their crate it is reasonable to expect them to be able to do the same outside their crate. I always take them outside and have them potty right before they are going to be loose in the house, but that doesn't seem to help. I've also tried putting puppy pads down in the kitchen, but they never use them. I live in an apartment with no yard, and I would like to get rid of the crates eventually because they take up so much space. I just don't know how to teach them that they have to hold it until I take them out. I've considered trying to teach them to ring a bell at the door when they want to go out, but I know I would end up taking them out every 15 minutes...not because they have to pee but because they want to go outside to mess around. They already go to the door about as regularly now, and I've just stopped taking them out because they don't actually have to go, they just want to go out.

Any help would be appreciated...I'm really new to this puppy thing, having only had older dogs in the past.

housebreaking question

Loretta L — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 16:18:01 GMT

I've got a problem that I can't seem to figure out so I thought that maybe someone has an idea what to do... The thing is, I am going to be dog sitting for friends while they go on vacation, which is fine BUT the problem is that the dog in question isn't housebroken ! Lady is a rescue, shes been visits us quite regularly for about a year now and she always, ALWAYS manages to P somewhere, most often on the carpet ofcourse! Shes a small mix breed so the Pee isn't usually huge but it is ruining my carpet... I've tried taking her out every half an hour which is better but does not totally solve the problem... What is frustrating is that Lady isn't a puppy, shes somewhere between 3 & 5 years old ! old enough to know where to go Pee... Any ideas ? HELP !

I use a great how to program to train my dog

james k. — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:37:08 GMT

OK i had this American pit-bull (harmless) i raise him from a baby, even fed him with a bottle. His name is King. I treat him like my son. I only had one problem with King. Every time i put him on a leash to try and walk him...he would get really upset. So i look it up on the web and stumble across this great *LINK REMOVED BY MODERATOR* Not only can i walk him now but we have so much fun in pet-co together. Just sharing, hope it helps

Leash Reactivity....

Mygirlcricket — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 22:39:07 GMT

EDITED: (I reread this and noticed it sounded sloppy. Let me try again lol.)

Okay, I'm in need once again for those of you here to help me if you can! I'm not sure if anyone here has experience with fearful or reactive dogs but I need help. Diesel was fearful when he first came to me and still is a bit shy. I'm sure this is part of the problem and is being worked on however Diesel has gained another problem I never saw coming but perhaps should have because of the history of the dog. At 2 months old Diesel was tied to a log chain that he could hardly move with and beaten daily because he was a "bad" dog. When a friend of mine called me at 5 AM I helped her get him to an E-vet because he just wasn't in great condition. Upon Evaluation we found out he had parvo, worms, ear mites, eye infection and weakened muscles. My friend offered the people 100 dollars to take the dog out of poor conditions because she wanted to see him healthy, she says she knew he would be a sweet lovable dog one day and she hit the nail on the head. She begged me, pleaded for me to take Diesel and that if I could she would pay his bills from being at the vets and for his first years shots and tags.

She couldn't keep him herself because of circumstances I won't get into but eventually I caved. I came home with a pup looking 10 times better then when he first went to the vets 2 weeks prior. Diesel loves other dogs, cats, my children, any children for that matter, they are his favorite and of course other people however this is only when in the yard or house. Outside of his turf he turns into a hellion, barking, growling and backing away from people. Why do I assume this is leash reactivity? Because if I take the leash off he stops. He's fine off it but not on it. Diesel is now almost for months old and ways almost 30 lbs. He is growing rapidly and I'm sure will continue to grow fast. He is a Great Dane/ Pit Bull. He's strong, bullheaded, and big. I love him, everyone here loves him. My 6 month old laughs when he sees him. Handing him over is not an option. I seriously need help.

I don't want to put him on a muzzle but this may be temporarily necessary. I've got a clicker and treats and I'm willing to work with him. I already give treats for calm quiet reactions to people ANYWHERE. Because I feel this might help. I need to get a treat bag to make treats easier to grab but that's about it. Any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks

Malissa.

Crate training - older dogs

Mom of 2 — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:49:11 GMT

I have 2 ***-a-poo dogs (>20bls each). One male is 5 and the male is 4. Both neutered. Both have never been crate trained and sleep in bed with us at night. At first dogs would just sleep at the bottom of the bed and didn't bother us. They would just cuddle up together and it was fine. Lately they are wanting to "take over" the bed. They still cuddle, but they want to be basically in the middle of the bed! We are also noticing in the middle of the night they are peeing and not waking us up like they used to.

My question is, is it too late to start to crate them? They are best buds and are always together. They constantly sleep touching each other. If I do crate them, should I crate them together? Also, we give them free rain of the house while we are out. The really only have access to the living room and kitchen because we close all other doors. If it is OK to crate train them at night, should I also crate train durring the day when we are gone?

If okay to crate train, what type of crate should we get for them? single, double, play pen? I don't know much about crate training.

new puppy won't pee outside

lolamom — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:50:52 GMT

Good morning! We took in a puppy yesterday that a co-worker found lost on Monday. I don't yet know how old she is (going to the vet this morning for check-up and an age guesstimate), but she is itty bitty. If I had to guess, I'd say maybe 10-ish weeks.

So far, she has peed one time outside, and that was when we were bringing her home for the first time, from the car. I gave lots of praise for this! Every other time, she has peed inside the apartment. She's pooped twice outside, and none inside - yay! Yesterday (1st day) we took her out pretty much every hour or so, each time staying out there 10-15 minutes, one time was a 25 minute walk, but she did not pee at all outside these times. A couple times she peed almost immediately after coming back inside, most times she peed later... when she peed inside, we scooped her up immediately and brought her back outside, but no more pee.

When we are outside, she whimpers/whines, sits in defiance, and sometimes tries to walk back to our front door. It's like she doesn't want to pee outside, or even be outside! She'd rather be inside for potty

I have been watching her like a hawk, but never once saw signs that she had to go; she just squats out of nowhere and goes!

What's the best way to start getting her trained? Is she too young to expect that she'd understand pottying outside? We've got a crate for her - what's the best way to use this in house breaking? I've read that those potty pads can be more of a detriment, but would that be the best thing for her at this point?

We've got a 3 1/2 y.o. dog, Lola, if that matters at all for this.

THANKS!
~ Heather

Crate training and adult dog

Sowilu — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:37:48 GMT

How do I crate train Abigail? I worked with her for 30 minutes on sitting and layding down and I have introduced the crate to her. She is really afraid of anything new so I went about it slowly. I took her by the crate and gave her treats, when she was relaxed I opened the door and started giving more treats. After she was fine with the crate I started to throw treats inside the crate for her to get them. She was doing fine with it until I started to throw them farther to the back. She would grab one and quickly come out. After a while she relaxed and would eat them from the back but if I leaned on the crate and it made noise she would again quickly come out. After a while she ignored the treats and would only take from the front. My question is am I doing the right thing?

How do I train Apollo...?

BlackLabbie — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:48:29 GMT

I've been crate training Apollo because we have several trips planned for July and August and Apollo (and Patty and Molson, already crate trained) can come he just needs to be crated when we're not around (which should be very, very rarely).

We've been crate training for about a month now and he's doing great. When we're home he will go in his crate, no problem, lay down, and nap. I've left him in his crate a few times when I go out on short trips running errands and he's fine, but, he sits up (doesn't sleep), and waits for me to come home.

How do I know how he'll be when we're in an unfamiliar place? Like a cabin or hotel? How do you train for that??

Is there any way to tell...

georgie4682 — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:59:43 GMT

how big he'll get?

We got Finn on May 27 and he was 26 pounds. The shelter said he was 4 1/2 months old.

On June 11 we went to the vet and he weighed 31 pounds. The vet said he wasn't even 4 months old yet.

Today he weighs almost 36 pounds. My guess is he's a little over 4 months old now.

The vet is guessing he will be quite a large dog, however, I'm not noticing any growth in him. He still seems to be the same height - about 18". His length has grown, maybe 2-3". So, is there a time when dogs go through growth spurts like people? I sort of thought that since they do all their growing in a very short time that I would have noticed some growth by now. What do you think? What can you tell me? When I tell people his size at 3 1/2 months, they are always amazed and say he will be huge, but I'm not seeing any growth at all.

Update: Crate training Apollo- we got a crate!

BlackLabbie — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 03:11:32 GMT

We're going to begin to crate train Apollo because this summer we're going to a few places and he needs to be crated to come. Plus, I think it's important for him to learn to be contained and calm.

Some facts:

he was crated once at our house when we first got him and ripped through his crate. it was a wire crate... we never tried it again.
he was crated when we boarded him, and he ripped through their crate (within 10mins), it was a vari-kennel.

So...any advice?

We're going to start feeding him in there (with door open), giving him treats and toys in there....and just work up to closing the door. We're going to do some "crate games", too. We were thinking of putting his bed in there and letting him sleep in there (with the door open) because he does know "go to your bed" at bedtime, and will stay and sleep there all night.

Potty Training question.

georgie4682 — Sat, 30 May 2009 11:36:13 GMT

How important is it to take Finn to the same spot everytime we go out? During the day, I will take him to our small fenced in yard. However, at night he doesn't seem to want to go down the steps into the yard (I don't blame him, neither do I), so I have been taking him to the front yard. Is this going to confuse him?

coping with stress

tex123 — Tue, 12 May 2009 05:11:41 GMT

at what age do you start to teach a puppy to deal with stressfull situations ?

Example: sooner or later the pup is going to have to spend the night in his crate, and it is going to be stressful, no matter how gradual the introduction, unless someone knows a no-stress method of house training?

Got the clicker out with Lumos

Benedict — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:10:54 GMT

Just to charge it, really, but honestly it's a bit weird with him. With Ben, I clicked to teach him things necessary to appropriate behaviour - sit instead of jumping around, lie down and stay put, go potty in the right place etc, and then later to teach him tricks to keep his mind occupied so he'd stay out of trouble.

The thing is, with Lumos, he already behaves appropriately in those situations. He "goes" where he should, he chews what he should and almost nothing else, he follows me around so I know he's not getting into trouble...it's all a bit odd LOL. I'm still putting work into training because at the very least I need that solid base when he's bigger and stronger and more stubborn, but right now all I can do is capture the behaviours he's naturally offering - 99% of the time, they're the right behaviours. The famous Maremma intelligence and sense for situation assessment, I guess.

I was warned about this, my breeder was telling me when we picked Lumos up that several of her dogs basically trained themselves and the only real thing that needs work is teaching them how to alert appropriately. Still, he's such a different kind of dog than Ben, and although I knew this and wanted it, it's a bit of a shock.

The clicker didn't bother him at all, he's not in the slightest bit sound sensitive right now likely due to living in a household with so many other barking dogs and people coming and going. He's responded to his name with me since Sunday night (he's been named since before his conception, so my breeder and her family have been calling him by name almost since birth) so I was just clicking for looking at me when I said it. After doing it every time for about 3 minutes, I decided we were probably done with that and let him take a nap.

This is all....such a different experience LOL.

Clicker Training A Shy Dog.

Mygirlcricket — Sun, 03 May 2009 04:36:09 GMT

My baby Cricket is very smart, we are working on clicker training but ever since she was a pup when I first got her she has been shy, somewhat skittish and to the point at times she will start shaking if she thinks something bad is coming. I was working on a down stay today. I told her down and she did however when I told her stay she rolled over on her belly and peed all over...She's not really a confedent dog. I'd like her to be though and I've read several books but...I dunno what to do. I also wanted to know if she is acting scared but doing what she should, should I still CT? Or would that be rewarding her fear...