I was at the vets office and a man walked in with his new rescue dog, excited for a new beginning. He asked me about housebreaking his dog, he was planning to keep his new dog outdoors until she became trustworthy. He wondered if that would have any downsides to training his dog that way.

Here is the scoop on leaving your dog outdoors 24/7. Leaving your dog outdoors all day and all night can have a huge downside. Behaviors like excessive barking, destruction, boredom, digging, barking and sometimes (territorial) aggression, can develop overtime. Of course, this depends on where you live, the age of your dog, breed and other factors. Especially with new adopted dogs and puppies the training involved should include housebreak your dog. This means teaching your dog to hold the urge to go to the bathroom you must teach him inside and take him outdoors to go. Not the other way around. All dogs love to spend time out doors, just make sure is not too many hours in length! Just don’t keep them outside in the yard excessively. Know that dogs are very social creatures and will get lonely if left alone in the yard too long. They are den animals and should be thought of as a member of your family!

A beautiful day in Venice Beach California. Surf’s up. This picture is a perfect example of a happy rescue pup and his new owner! Jonesie is a young female Pit Bull mix that lucked out and found her match. Her owner stopped me for a bit of advice. He explained that Jonesie is the perfect pup except for the occasional spot peeing accident. I asked him to explain what he meant by spot peeing…

There is a big difference between a non-housebroken dog and a dog that pees when excited. Jonesie falls into the latter category, only having accidents when hyper! This happens when guests arrive or when he and his girlfriend come home and say hello. I asked if their normal greetings were party-like.

Party-like? Yes, happy, hyper, high pitched, and excited! He said, yes. Well, there you go. Sometimes new dogs, or dogs that have had little training or routine can get super anxious and pee out of nerves. How do you solve the occasional spot peeing mistake? By reducing your voice inflection, overly happy hello, and using the leash to guide your dog outdoors to use the potty. This will definetly reduce and stop this behavior overtime. Remember, you can show love in many ways. If this is one of your dog issues too, walk in silently and say hello to your dog. Give your dog a slow rub, or silently give your dog a treat, put her on a leash and go directly outside for a potty. Then have a party!

Are dog doors a good tool for housebreaking your dog? There are definitely pros, cons and things to look out for. Having a dog door and not housebreaking your dog properly can create other problems down the line!

Here are the pros, cons and my thoughts about the use of dog doors and training your dog. In general, the concept is good and handy for those longer days. However, what I tell most of my clients is that the key to long term success is to housebreak your puppy or shelter dog without use of the dog door first. Why? Mainly because even though the long term goal is to be able to have your dog use the dog door at his leisure, you should still teach your dog to hold the urge to go to the bathroom from all areas of the house. This formal approach of crating your dog and introducing your dog where to potty (in your yard) helps teach him how to please you! This gives puppies and new dogs the confidence of a pattern. Your pattern. After he knows how to hold the urge and where to go you can introduce the dog door concept. That way you have the choice of closing the dog door sometimes and still have a housebroken dog with no accidents, or allow him to use the dog door!

The cons of putting in a doggy door without training and foresight can sometimes create a multitude of  bad behavioral problems, such as territorial behavior, excessive barking, and even other unwanted animals coming in your house. This can happen over time as your dog learns to bolt out the dog door to protect his property or bark at noises in the neighbor’s yard. In addition, having a dog door never teaches your dog to control his urge to relieve himself.

I feel a dog door works if you have already formally potty trained your dog, and when your dog has matured. Then you can have the benefits of both–the convenience of the dog door, and a trustworthy, housebroken dog. Waiting until your pup is housebroken and fully mature is the best idea if you want to install a dog door.

After many months of applying the steps to housebreaking, you can incorporate a dog door. Take the time to teach your dog in a consistent manner. using a leash, take your pup from the gated area, saying “Outside” while guiding your pup to the doggy door. Show your pup a treat and throw the treat through the dog door. Your puppy should bounce through the dog door after the treat. If he doesn’t, lift the flap of the dog door and, if necessary, throw an additional treat through the opening. Your pup should follow after the treat with a little encouragement. Then open the door that has the dog door opening and meet your pup on the other side. Take the leash and guide your puppy to his toilet area in the backyard. Repeat this process every time you initiate “Outside” with your pup. Repetition of this process will bring success!

Get the Perfect Pet Door, shown above, here!

Good morning! I hope you’re having an amazing Saturday. This week I had many questions from my dog training clients regarding reprimands. When should you reprimand your dog? Does reprimanding your dog really make a difference in the training? There seems to be much conflicting information out there as to what one should do when their dog is bad.

No matter what issue you have with your dog that might require a reprimand, there are a few things all dog owners need to know about scolding their dog. There are many myths in the dog training world that are, well, just plain wrong.

Some owners feel or have heard that you need to catch your dog in the act of going to the bathroom or chewing something in order to reprimand, and that is the only time you should scold your dog. Other owners feel that even after finding the puddle or destruction that yelling at their dog achieves the understanding that their dog knows that their master is pissed off and will never attempt to chew that shoe again!

Here is the real deal. Yelling “No” may get your dog’s attention and he may even react and run out of the room or appear to know that you’re mad. BUT, he is not identifying the object or understanding what he should chew or where he should go to the bathroom!

What I have told all my dog owner peeps including my celebrity clients is that dogs associate through smell. They also look to you to guide them. Do you have to catch them in the act? No. Should the reprimand have a beginning, middle and end on a positive note? Yes.

Is it cruel to reprimand your dog properly? No. They, like people, need to know what they’ve done wrong and how to please you. They need guidance though. If you have discovered that your dog has done something wrong, don’t react initially. Get a grip and calm down. Then get the leash and put it on your dog. Not in an angry way, though. I know your dog will think he’s going on a walk. Never mind that. Just put on the leash anyway. Then silently (without a dissertation) guide your dog over to the mistake and put his nose near the shoe or the puddle and then say the word “NO.” Then in a happier voice say the word “outside” or (in the case of chewing) give your dog a chew bone and say “O.K.” and then take off the leash and the reprimand is over! Most importantly, you have guided your dog on a leash and associated the scent of what you disapprove of to what he can chew or where you want your dog to go the the bathroom!

Hey! Also check out one of my favorite dog radio programs at www.animalradio.com

Many people ask me if wee-wee pads are the way to go in teaching their puppies the housebreaking protocols. Here is the key tip on the wee-wee pad theory. These pads are great for the very young infant puppy and toy breed dogs. The great thing about wee-wee pads are that they are easy, absorbent and meant as a temporary aid. The training part is up to you! Many people think that these pads will actually train your dog where to go. Nope, that part’s up to you and has to happen in developmental stages leading up to trusting your pup loose in the house one day with no accidents. That takes time.

Having said that, the big mistake people make is that they use these pads all over the house! This is especially a habit with Maltese, Yorkie and other very small breed dog owners. This can really give your dog a huge mixed signal.

Larger breed puppies sometime begin to play with the wee-wee pads instead of dong their business on them. All in all, these pads are a good idea for a period of time. The general rule goes like this: At 16 weeks old a puppy can hold their urge to go to the bathroom all night long. Meaning, the wee-wee pads should come up–never to return! Your dog should be also simultaneously learning to go to the bathroom outdoors. Which of course means you are guiding your dog outdoors for (2 minute) potty breaks up to 5 times a day.

The main thing that the owners of tea cup dog breeds need to know is that these small breed dogs can be housebroken! I will say it again! Absolutely, undoubtedly they can be potty trained. Yes, yes, yes. The main problem is that the owners do not realize this! I know the mistakes are small and relatively easy to clean until your dog becomes older. After about 3 or 4 years of mistakes, however, it does become really problematic. I call this the potted plant syndrome (where you visit someone with a toy breed dog and potted plants cover the pee stains that have accumulated).

Keep reading…

Hi Inger,

We have an 11-week-old Maltipoo puppy and for the most part she’s great. She cried a little the first night, so we gave her something to sleep with that had our scent on it and she went right to sleep. She’s been doing great ever since. We currently have her crate on one end of a “corral” type area. She can come in an out as she pleases throughout the day, but we close the crate at night. The area outside of her crate is completely covered with newspaper. I know she’s really too young for “paper-training” since she will be a strictly indoor dog.

My main issue with her are the mornings. She wakes up around 6 am every morning and the howling and barking starts. I don’t know what to do with her. Yesterday, my husband couldn’t stand it any longer, so he picked up her crate and put her in the garage and covered it with a blanket. She hushed up really quickly. In my husband’s defense, he works really hard and needs to sleep in past 6 am every morning. Do you have any suggestions? Is there any way to re-train my puppy’s schedule?

Thanks,

Dolores

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Hi Dolores!

Nice to meet you! I will start by saying that I get that hearing your puppy crying is hard to take, but do not put the puppy in the garage n a crate and cover it! That’s bad. That will just create trauma for the puppy. The main issue here is that you are crating your puppy all night long at too young of an age! Your puppy is crying to tell you that she needs to poop! Just like an infant baby eats and goes to the potty a lot– so do puppies that age. So yes, I do have a few suggestions for you!

1. The Corral: Your setup for your pup seems correct. Setting up a corralled space within a central area of your house is perfect and is the safest place to keep any baby 11 week-old pup. However, where you’re going wrong is closing the crate door at night. It’s too soon to do that. Shutting a crate door on an 11 week-old puppy can create anxiety. I know, shutting the crate door is ultimately your goal in housebreaking your dog. However, one needs to socialize the puppy into this space slowly, and over time. A general rule of thumb is that when a puppy is 14 to 16-weeks old it can biologically hold the urge to go to the bathroom all night long. So you are closing the crate door too soon! Let her acclimate to her area a little more. Play with her and tire her out before bedtime.

2. Potty training: Papers within the corralled area are great, for now, but not covering the entire space. Your puppy needs to learn to use the bathroom in a specific spot. Initiate over the next few weeks occasionally going potty (guiding her on a leash) to the ultimate designated spot you want to her to go potty (She’s still young enough to potty on the papered area too). At the age of 14 weeks, remove half of the papers in the corral, making a smaller space to potty. At 16 weeks, remove all papers from the corral.

A good idea for you, since you have a Maltipoo (a toy breed) and want to paper train your dog to use the bathroom inside the house, is to get a Pooch Potty. Start guiding your puppy on a leash over to the Pooch Potty and saying, “Outside!” just like you would if you were actually going out to use the bathroom.

Another option to training your dog to potty on command is to build my outside potty area using gravel or chips.

3. Feeding: Your puppy is crying at 6 AM because she wants her breakfast! Pups that age are ravenous in the mornings. That will subside, 6 am will turn into 7 am soon, just like with an infant. Make sure you are time feeding your puppy, never leaving food out for her to graze on all day. Put her bowl down for 30 minutes and if she doesn’t finish, “Sorry, Charlie!” until the next feeding time.

Best of luck!
Inger

If there was ever a shopping list required by law when bringing a dog into the family, this product would be at the very top. In my 20+ years of dog ownership and training, Nature’s Miracle products have saved carpets, couches and relationships like you wouldn’t believe. If you’re a dog owner and haven’t heard of Nature’s Miracle, you must be living under a rock, and you must immediately go to your local pet store and purchase it. This is a must for a dog of ANY age that is not housebroken.

There have been many instances where I thought that my carpet was dunzo, whether it be stained with blood, poop, pee, vomit and even the occasional red wine spillage. This stain and odor remover is aptly named, as I, and I’m sure many of you, have needed a miracle in the process of integrating a new dog into the home.

The first time I used Nature’s Miracle, I never expected anything more than just a stain remover that got half of the spot out, leaving yet another attraction for my dog to come and mark the next day. Many of my clients have what I call, “Potted Plant Syndrome,” where each accident spot has been covered by an excess of growing decor. Boy, was I wrong. Nature’s Miracle has even completely removed bloody paw tracks from the middle of my living room, with not a trace of a spot left to be seen.

This is a must-buy for housebreaking your dog, as it completely removes the odor, ensuring that your dog will not pee on the same spot again, unlike many generic household carpet cleaners. The entire line of products even includes a stain and odor remover formulated just for cats, in case un-neutered Fluffy has started to spray (Shame on you, your cat should already be neutered or spayed!).

Check out all of the Nature’s Miracle products and test them for yourself. I promise you won’t be disappointed!

Who me? Yes, you. The spot pee-er! You know who I’m taking about…

It’s the excitement peeing dog, the type of dog that if you look at too intently or get too rambunctious–it suddenly goes pee! Not alot, just a little piddle — enough to drive you insane! Yes, I know that dog well and I know the owner of that dog well, too. This dog owner actually can be contributing to the problem and not even realizing it. It may not be you, but you may know someone with this issue. Usually this type of owner has a huge personality, very affectionate and talkative. And there is nothing wrong with that! However, for this shy type of temperament in a dog the extremes may be scary.

Here’s a little secret and info about why this happens and how to cure the problem. Usually spot peeing occurs in very submissive dogs. Meaning they are shy to begin with. Sometimes they are toy or medium breed dogs that live in a busy, loud household and have a shy temperament due from lack of training, guidance or boundaries. You add loud noises and scary kids or guests to that equation and viola– you have a spot peeing dog. Now that you’re reading this and you’ve identified your situation, here are some solutions.

1. Check with your vet first. In some cases, spot peeing can be a bladder infection. Best to rule that out.

2. Don’t over react to the spot peeing by going crazy with the word, “No!” Yelling at a dog like this from across the room just makes a shy dog more submissive. Try to not reprimand your dog for spot peeing. Think about it. If your dog is peeing nervously and then you scold it, your anger is just going to make the problem worse. Often this type of urination is not because the dog needs to go to the bathroom, it’s simply out of nerves.

3. The only thing that is going to create a self assured, confident, well adjusted dog is positive training. What I mean by that is a routine. Take your dog on potty breaks often on a leash. Just for a few minutes. I know this sounds like simple, common sense but you’d be surprised how many toy breed owners don’t do this stupidly simple routine.

4. Watch out for your voice inflection. Coming home and going cookoo with excitement in greeting your dog often will induce urination in a very shy dog. If you combine the excited greeting with a frustrated scolding you have just contributed to the issue you’re trying to get rid of in the first place. Best to stay calm. Clean up the mistake and begin simple 5 minute training sessions on a leash in the house a couple of times a day. This process assures your dog and creates eye contact which allows you to then verbally praise your dog. This process teaches your dog what to expect. In time the issue will go away. Enrolling in a training class is also a great way to socialize your shy dog.

Most dog parents have to work and, therefore, can suffer tremendous guilt about leaving their dog alone all day. Guilt leads to making excuses for their dog’s not being housebroken. A schedule helps diminish any guilt you may feel. Even if you work at home, keeping a schedule gives you the confidence that your puppy is on his way to becoming trustworthy.

Many of my new clients begin by telling me that their dog is sort of housebroken. Or the words pretty good, come out. For the record, a dog is either housebroken or not. So if your dog is having accidents in the house. He is NOT housebroken. Teaching your dog to hold the urge and truly understand to go to the bathroom outdoors gets rid of any guilt.

With rescued adult dogs, it is also helpful to set up a schedule, since many were kept in cages and had to relieve themselves in the area in which they were kept. You should always reestablish housebreaking for these dogs. Keeping to a schedule also helps a new pooch become familiar with your daily patterns.

Any breed of dog can be housebroken, even the small ones. It is up to you to guide the dog. I have found that the biggest challenge in teaching people housebreaking techniques has always been owner–not dog–resistance. Dogs are always eager to follow their master’s lead, provided the master acts with confidence and offers encouragement. Owners, on the other hand, can come up with many excuses and complicate matters by not questioning simple gating and crating techniques, which is key in teaching and training a dog to hold the urge to eliminate.

People usually feel guilt about the wrong issues when it comes to their dogs. Everyone feels terrible about leaving his or her dog home alone for long periods of time. If your dogs needs are met by being feed, loved, exercise, trained and have plenty of water and chew bones available, all you have to do is set a routine and they are happy.

Chew on this: This feeling of guilt comes from not knowing your dog’s needs. The feeling is especially prevalent in people who live in apartments and who own small-breed dogs. However, no matter what size of dog you own, your pup can and should learn to be housebroken. Often times the people who feel the most guilt about leaving their pooch alone all day are the same people who don’t exercise their dogs for weeks. I always tell people, if you really feel bad about leaving your dog gated,in order to teach them the proper potty protocol, then by all means make time to exercise your dog in a park for an hour every morning. Believe me, your guilt will go away.

It’s not a bad thing to teach your dog to hold the urge to go to the bathroom. You wouldn’t want a five year old child in diapers would you? Do your dog the favor of helping him learn control.