I recently got a question from a reader of my website.  The reader had two problems they were struggling with concerning their dog.  The dog was peeing on the floor and the dog was begging at the table.

These are two, incredibly easy problems to fix.  I recommended the following to fix the problems:

1- Supervise the dog.  I told her that a dog that is peeing on the floor is an unsupervised dog.  A dog that isn’t house-trained should never be unsupervised.  Either the dog is with the owner or in a crate.  Simple enough.  This breaks the pattern the dog is in and only allows the dog to urinate outside.

2- I recommended that the dog be taught a ‘place’ command on a bed or pillow.  When it is dinner time have the dog lie in the place and stay there.

The response I received shocked me.  The dog owner lamented saying that supervising the dog and teaching the dog one simple command would be too hard.  “Oh well,” was the response, “I guess we won’t be able to fix the problem.”

I responded back by email saying that if she wasn’t willing to train the dog to fix the problem why did she ask me, a dog trainer, how to fix the problem in the first place?

Her response was that she was hoping for a miracle cure to her problems.

Ladies and Gents, there is no such thing as a miracle cure for dog behavior problems.  Dogs are animals with their own behavior patterns, thought patterns, drives, desires, and needs.  If you want to change their behavior you have to work at it.  There is no magic wand to wave that will magically change a living creature’s behavior.

If you get a dog be prepared for work.  It is going to take lots of effort to care for, bathe, feed, water, train, entertain, and mentally stimulate a dog.

I feel for this person that sent me the email and also her dog.  I only see two scenarios resulting from this situation.  The dog continues in her behavior pattern and the owners deal with daily urine on their floors and a begging dog or the owners finally give up and get rid of the dog, all because of their laziness.  Neither of these scenarios would come to pass if they only put forth a little bit of effort to help the dog realize her potential.