House soiling cure part two

GRADUATE DAY: What a clever dog!

The problem

JUST like a human infant, for the first part of his short life, your dog had no control of his functions.

Then, when control started, he learned that it was ok to go anywhere except in his bed. That is his world now.

As far as he knows, it’s ok to go anywhere else, whenever the urge strikes. The basic rule When you can’t monitor your pet’s behaviour he must be in the crate.Easy, no?

When he makes a mistake, and he will, you must see it. If you miss it, even by a couple of seconds, it’s too late. Don’t get angry at your pet, it’s your failure, not his. He didn’t do anything wrong.

The process

When you first bring him home, take him outside. Try to use the same door to take him outside all the time, preferably the one you want him to go to when he has to go outside.

Start saying over and over again, ‘Busy, busy, busy,’ in low soothing tones. As soon as he goes, get excited. Keep saying, ‘Busy, busy, busy’ and add ‘That’s a gooooood dog. What a gooooood dog you are. That’s a gooooood puppy.’

Repeat these phrases as long as he is urinating. When he’s finished, bend down and stroke him, still repeating,‘Break, break, break,’ and ‘That’s a gooooood dog.’ Your tone of voice must be happy and upbeat.

Act as if he has just given you the best present of your life. Take him inside and put him into the crate with an old towel. He’s used to lying against his mother or his brothers and sisters and this will help comfort him.

Try not to leave him alone at this point. If you do, he may start crying and whining. Leave him in the crate except for when you can monitor him every second.

He will need to go outside after every meal and every three to four hours. When you take him outside, behave just as you did when you first brought him home. Coax him into urinating with, ‘Break, break, break’ and praise him heavily when he does.

Let him explore a little and remember that your command, ‘Busy, busy, busy,’ is just starting to mean something to him. When he’s outside the crate, he will try to urinate on the floor. You must be there to see this. As soon as the first drops hit the floor, grab your dog by the scruff of his neck and loudly yell, ‘No, bad dog.’ Pick him up, shaking him gently and carry him outside.

Put him down where he’s gone before and immediately start saying, ‘Busy, busy, busy,’ and within a few moments, he’ll start to urinate. When he does, praise him lavishly just as you did the first time he urinated. When he’s finished, take him back inside and again monitor him. If he tries to repeat it, do the same thing as before.

With a couple of repeats of this he’ll catch on. Use the same technique when he tries to defecate. If he manages to urinate or defecate away from your view, you will have set your training back several days, perhaps a week. If you try to discipline him after he’s walked away from his mistake you’ll only confuse him and teach him to be afraid of you. If he’s more than two or three seconds from the act, he has no conscious memory of it.

He may try to duck out of your sight to urinate. Don’t let him succeed in this. Follow him. He doesn’t yet know that he’s supposed to go outside, only that he’s not supposed to go inside.

He has to go and associates his unpleasant experience of being yelled at and shaken, with you, not with his inappropriate location to urinate. After a few more repetitions he will realise that it’s his act that draws the unpleasant response from you, not just your presence.

At some point in his training he’ll go to the door that you’ve been using and whine or scratch to get outside. When he does this, praise him very heavily as you open the door to let him go out. Remember to start saying, ‘Busy, busy, busy,’ as soon as he is clear of the door. As soon as he hits the grass, he’ll probably urinate.

When he does, go crazy with praise but don’t get him so excited that he stops urinating.

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