Where oh where?

Where oh where has my puppy dog gone? Oh where oh where can he be?

I think he’s peeing behind the couch.   Why do I think that?    Ummm -because that’s what he Does.

And you know why?  Because someone Lets him.

When I taught classes, there were always women ‘of a certain age’ who would come in with a new puppy and I’d ask ‘do you have any housebreaking issues or questions?’   And they would look at me as if I’d grown a third or fourth head and say NO.

To them it just wasn’t an issue.  Dogs peed where they were told, there was no discussion.  It took as long as it took.  Yes, many of them did it in many different ways, but it was important and just a chore to be done.

Then I had a man come in with a twelve week old small puppy.   He told me his wife was at home with their four kids under the age of five, and she was NOT doing a good job housebreaking this puppy.   The puppy was peeing in the house, not in the unfenced back yard.   I told him his wife was overwhelmed and no way could she house break this puppy with four tiny kids in the house to…do what with while she took the puppy out as needed?   He didn’t understand the question.

And the rest of us fall in between.

So what do I do?

Most of my dogs are ‘housebroken’ in two rooms of the house.   The Kitchen.  The den.  Two of them have run of the house, because they have proven themselves worthy.  (And my son and I want a dog to sleep with)

The dogs know, if they need out, to let me know  They go to the back door,  They circle in front of me.  One whines.   But they all have a ‘way’.  Its my job as mommy to figure it out.  If -I- mess up -and I do sometimes – well –   Sometimes I don’t pay attention, sometimes I’m lazy, sometimes my head is in another world – its a writer thing- but there is Zero excuse for that.  They told me and I messed up.

I have them on a loose schedule, that probably should be tightened.   They go out first thing in the morning, a couple more times during the day,when I’m home,  and before bed.

The good thing about my dogs is they are confined.   That doesn’t mean that they are in crates all the time – that’s just mean, and why  have  a dog, if not for fun?  However – they are not the be all end all of my world.  I have a job, volunteer work, I take classes, I have kids and grandboys,  - and my grandboys are also allowed to have fun and toy play withouy cold puppy nose up…anything or chewing on their stuff.

So the dogs are confined to two well used rooms in the house.

Housebreaking is a step by step process.   I don’t expect a two week old puppy to pee outside.   I don’t expect an 8 week old puppy to be fully housebroken.  Just like kids, they mess up.  You did too.  Just focus on the basics.  Be calm, be patient, tell puppy what you want, when, where and how.

It can happen.

Be a Tree

Taking a bit of a break from the housebreaking topic to discuss something else today.  I seem to get the same questions in  waves, and this one has been at high tide for a while now.

It involves puppies and kids.  Two of my favorite things!  I always say, though, that the hardest thing is to have a puppy and a two year old because they both jump and squeal and you can’t reason with either one of them!

But!.  They should be best friends, right?  That’s why you got the puppy, wasn’t it?  Well, its not quite working out.  Kid runs and screams and waves his arms and that darn puppy tries to jump on him and mouth him!   Knocks him over!  Makes the kid either cry and be afraid or get more screamy and excited, which in turn gets puppy more excited which…well, its a never ending cycle that drives you insane!

First of all realize that This Too Shall Pass and in a few years, they WILL be best friends, but right now they are just little.  That’s right, just little, nothing ‘wrong’ with either one of them.

But ‘young’ is a great excuse! Between that and my cute self, I’m going to get away with everything!

BUT, it is not up to your toddler child to try and make the puppy behave.  That’s why kids come equipped with this handy thing called Parents.  Yup, its your job to teach them both.  So, the first thing you are going to do, is get the  kid away from the puppy and teach him to Be a Tree.

Be a Tree means he will stand still, bend his knees a little, give himself a hug, with fists tight against his body and shut his eyes.  And you practice this at random times, “Be a Tree!” until it comes automatically to kid.

THEN when you hear that familiar squeal and scream of ‘Puppy is getting me!’  You know its time to yell, “Be a Tree!”.   Now kid is calm, puppy is getting no attention – and attention and the excitment of it all is why he jumps and grabs – and will realize kid is now BORING.  As soon as you yell ‘be a tree’ you get up and go tell puppy to do something else.   Sit, come, chase your ball.

What this accomplishes is stopping what could be a bad habit of behavior and reaction before it gets ingrained in both of them.  It also gives kid a sense of something to do when he’s not yet old enough to be a firm commander of the puppy.

Try it, you’ll like it!

Check out the new post over on the website – www.longroadkennel.com

Keep them close, but walk them around

Today’s quick housebreaking tip – keep them close.

When you are housebreaking your new rescue dog or brand new puppy, don’t start out thinking that you are Housebreaking.

Try instead to think of it as ‘room breaking’.  One room at a time.  One area.

I like this area.

Your dog doesn’t realize that just because he isn’t supposed to pee in the kitchen, he also isn’t supposed to not pee in the bedroom.   (How many negatives was that?  I lost count.  But I think you get the idea.)   He just doesn’t know, can’t realize.  His brain doesn’t work that way.

One trick I’ve found, when you start letting them explore more, to break out of the kitchen – in the den – watch tv with the family!  Is to put them on the leash and keep them close.   I worked with a cocker puppy a while back who had it in his head, he ran to the basement room and peed every time he got loose.   Driving the mom nuts with frustration.   I told her to put the dog on the leash several times a day and walk the dog TO the basement, instead of trying to keep him out!  He needed to realize this was part of his usual house, not the outside, or the bathroom or whatever he was thinking.

Because until we explain it to them in a way they understand, they don’t understand.

So during your housebreaking time, think small.   Housebreak them in This room first.  Then one more room.  But walk them around the house, on the leash, let them know its all part of where they live.  Its not the outside, their place to pee.   It will take them a while to figure it out, but they will.

As an aside – my attempts to make sweet potato treats over on www.longroadkennel.com today.   Check it out, give me some better ideas if you have them?  Thanks.