Puppy Dog Training Tips

Common House Training Problems

House coaching is one in every of the areas of dog ownership that’s most subject to misunderstanding, confusion, and just plain dread!

Today’s newsletter is going to house 2 of the foremost common problems surrounding the difficulty of house coaching:

- Submissive/excited urination

- Scent marking

Common house training drawback one: Submissive / excited urination

What is it?

A ‘submissive urinator’ is a dog that urinates on the ground and himself (and sometimes on you and any guests you’ll have!) in situations of extreme excitement or stress – like when you come home at the tip of the day, or when he’s being told off.

Why will it happen?

Puppies are the same old candidates for submissive/excited urination, however it’s not uncommon to work out adult dogs with the problem additionally: sometimes, these are highly sensitive and timid dogs, and/or ones from a shelter/with a history of abuse (usually these last 2 go hand-in-hand.)

When will it happen?
Things when an excited/fearful dog is likely to urinate:
- Greeting time after a protracted absence
- Play time
- The arrival of guests
- Stressful things at home, eg arguments
- Throughout a correction (you’re telling him off)
- Sudden loud noises (thunder, fireworks)

What can I do concerning it?

Fortunately, it’s not difficult to “cure” your dog of his submissive/excited urination.

1st of all, you should take him to the vet to form positive there’s no medical reason for the problem (like diabetes or a bladder infection.)

Next, it’s time to take control of the problem:

- Limit his intake of water to assist him control his bladder additional effectively. Don’t limit his water intake over a protracted amount of time, but if you recognize there’s a situation coming back which would normally end in urination – as an example, you’ve got guests coming back over, or are designing on a play session soon – take his water bowl away for a amount of your time (maybe half an hour to an hour) before the event.

- When greeting your dog, keep it calm and mellow. The a lot of excited he’s, the harder it is for him to control his bladder, thus don’t encourage him to induce worked up: ignore him for the first few moments, or provide him a neutral “hello”, a quick pat, and then go regarding making yourself at home.

- It’s vital that you DO NOT punish or harshly correct your dog for this behavior. It’s not something that he can simply management, and he’s certainly not doing it on purpose. Once you catch him in the act, you can interrupt him (a firm “No!” followed by praise when he stops should suffice) however don’t punish him. Keep your cool, and try to be sympathetic: he doesn’t mean to try to to it, after all!

- If he urinates out of fear (submissiveness) when scolding him for another offense, attempt to take the stress levels down a notch by keeping a firm, authoritative, however not angry tone. Bear in mind, you’re handling a sensitive, highly-strung dog: if you get angry or worry him more, the problem will worsen.

Common house coaching downside 2: Scent marking

Scent marking – where a dog “marks” his or her territory with urine – is technically not truly a house coaching drawback, since it’s based on problems of dominance and territoriality rather than insufficient house coaching (a dog can be perfectly house trained however still mark inside the house.)

However, as a result of – since the matter centers round the unwanted presence of urine in the house – it looks logical, during a method, to link this problem with house training: and since this is one in all the most widespread problems among dog homeowners, we tend to thought it worthwhile to incorporate some sensible advice.

Scent marking and lack of house coaching: how to differentiate between the two

Your dog’s probably scent marking, rather than genuinely relieving himself, if:

- The quantity of urine created is comparatively little, and tends to be directed against vertical surfaces (walls, doors, etc)

- He’s male, unneutered, and at least five or six months old. Unneutered dogs are a lot of additional territorial than neutered ones –if you have got an unneutered dog in the house, you’ll just about expect a bound quantity of scent marking. (Unspayed females also mark, but it’s less common; spayed and neutered dogs can conjointly exhibit marking behavior, but it’s comparatively infrequent)

- It makes little distinction how often he’s taken outside for a toilet break

- He frequently targets items that are new to the house: new possessions, guest clothing/footwear, etc

- You live in an exceedingly multi-dog household and there is conflict between 2 or additional of the dogs

- There are other, unneutered or unspayed pets in the house

What to try and do about the problem?

First things initial: spay or neuter your dog(s) whilst you most likely can. If you’ll try this early enough – ideally, at six months old – this typically halts marking altogether; but if your dog’s been marking for a prolonged amount of time, she might continue to try and do therefore when being spayed or neutered, since a pattern of behavior can are established.

Clean soiled areas thoroughly. Use a non-ammonia primarily based cleaner (as a result of it smells just like pee) and stay off from vinegar too (it smells similar to pee.) Oxi-Clean mixed with warm water is notably effective; there are lots of business cleaners designed specifically to raise pet stains and odors, that you can get from pet stores and some supermarkets.

As a result of dogs tend to re-mark the identical places, you’ll want to redefine the places that you recognize he’s marked to forestall repeat offending.

You can do that in an exceedingly range of ways in which:

- Feed him next to or on high of the spot
- Play with him there
- Groom him there
- Put his bed over or next to it
- Spend time there yourself: hang out with a book or sit down and work

If there’s rivalry between dogs in the household, you’ll want to take steps to resolve it. Any conflict is probably to be hierarchical in nature (a “power struggle”), that suggests that that all you have got to try to to to stop the tension is listen to that dog appears to be additional dominant than the opposite one (which one eats initial, gets the toys he/she wants, “stares down” another dog), and reinforce this position.

How to try and do this: feed the dominant dog first. Pet him/her first. Provide him/her a toy before anyone else gets one. This makes it clear to all dogs in the house which one really is the dominant dog – and when this hierarchy’s been recognizably established, territorial/dominant behaviors like scent marking typically vanish overnight.

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Feb 12, 2010 | 0 | Dog & Puppy Training