Dog Training Video
Comments (0)Just a quick video to show how much dogs can improve in a short time with the right methods. These Labradors have been in training for about two weeks at the shooting of this video. Before training they couldn’t even walk on a loose leash let alone follow along off leash.
A crate training question
Comments (0)This is a recent question from a reader of my website.
Question: I’ve adopted an eight month old Labrador. He’s been raised in a kennel all his life, never taken out of the kennel except for hunt training. He’s done his business in the kennel, all his life. I need advice on housebreaking him. I’ve got him crated but he relieves himself in his crate, just as he’s been doing all his life. I’ve now got him in a crate that he barely has room to lay down in, and that seems to be helping somewhat, but there are still times when he just pees and sits in it, he doesn’t seem to care. I take him outside to a designated spot regularly, every three hours at least, after eating, before he goes in the crate, as soon as he comes out of the crate, etc.
Answer: This is my least favorite problem to deal with. Most dogs have a natural aversion to being in their own waste but dogs like yours have been trained to lose that distaste. It is a shame and you likely have some work ahead of you. Here are some tips:
- If you are able to take the dog out every three hours I wonder if he needs to spend so much time in the crate. If you are home with the dog don’t leave him in the crate. Supervise him heavily while he is outside of the crate.
- Be very judicious with his water. If you notice that he will often pee in his crate first thing in the morning limit his water in the morning. If he pees in his crate overnight limit his water in the evening. Try to learn his schedule a little better and see if you can avoid the problem before it starts.
- Is there any way to not use a crate. Do you have a way to keep him safe outside while you can’t watch him? Have you tried a laundry room?
- Make sure the dog is healthy and an infection isn’t causing this problem.
Good luck. Experiment with as many techniques as you can.
A cat chasing Labrador puppy
Comments (0)This is a question from a reader of my website:
Question: I have a Labrador puppy who is 14 weeks old. We have a couple of cats that are not in the least aggressive. The dog insists on chasing and mauling the cats. We have tried everything to get her to stop. The cats will not fight back. How do we get her to stop?
Answer: Regardless of the puppy or the behavior problems that may be present I always recommend that a puppy as young as yours is always under supervised control. What I mean by that is that if you can’t be there the dog stays in a crate.
If you are home, however, I recommend you keep your puppy on a leash at all times. This accomplishes several things:
1- It allows you to see every behavior. Your job is to mold your puppy’s behavior. If you want to mold it, you have to see it. You can see everything if the dog is right next to you on leash. 99% of ‘bad’ puppy behavior is because it was simply allowed to happen. If your dog is on a leash you are in control of what happens.
2- Keeping a puppy on a leash establishes the proper rhythm and tone of the home. A dog can’t run around like a mad man if he is on leash. A dog that is conditioned to being calm in the home pays dividends for years. Too many dogs never learn how to just ‘be’. A puppy on a leash learns this skill from a young age.
3- Most importantly for you the leash method allows you to correct bad behaviors when they come up. When your puppy goes to terrorize the cats use the leash to give a correction as you tell your dog ‘no’ and then redirect him toward something constructive (a sit or down command, a toy, etc). Through repetition your puppy will come to learn that chasing the cats never gets him what he wants.
Good luck with your puppy.
The disposable dog
Comments (0)Today I had several dog training appointments. The first one was with a deaf boxer. We made some great progress using an e-collar to communicate with him. I then went to work with a mixed breed dog who had an owner who simply wanted to learn some new obedience training techniques for mental stimulation with her dog. My last training appointment of the day was to be with a five month old Labrador retriever. It was going to be our first training appointment and we were going to work on housebreaking and basic puppy obedience training.
I showed up on time for the appointment and knocked on the door. The husband came to the door, “Oh, I’m sorry. My wife meant to call you but didn’t have your number. The dog was having a few behavior problems and we didn’t feel like getting a crate. We got rid of the dog.”
I was ticked. First of all, I was mad because of the time and money they had cost me. I had set apart that time for them. In making the appointment with them I was not able to make an appointment with someone else. What that means is that I had an afternoon that I could have been earning money for my family but wasn’t able to. I was also pretty upset that they claimed they didn’t have my number even though they were the ones who called me in the first place.
Perhaps what made me the most upset, though, was the callous attitude toward the dog. The dog became inconvenient and their solution was to just get rid of the dog. I can’t believe people do this.
Everyone knows (or should know) when they get a dog that it is a big responsibility. Especially when you get a puppy you have to realize that there are shots, medications, training equipment to buy, and quite likely professional training to purchase. It makes me so upset to see people throw away a dog when the dog actually requires work. The ironic thing is that this client, in particular, could have had almost immediate relief to their problems with the methods that I would have shown them.
So here I am on my soap box asking you, pleading with you. If you get a puppy or adult dog make sure you get the dog for the long haul. That means if your dog gets sick you make the sacrifice to pay for vet bills. If your dog develops behavior problems or aggression don’t toss the dog out with the trash. Get professional help to get rid of the problems. Don’t just give up because it isn’t easy.
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