House training question...

WeirdoMagnet

mrsr wrote: »

Thankyou all .I am going to carry on with going outside with him praising him cant see that theres any other choice at the moment.Of course being a male hes not so clever as my female :rotfl: but hes not daft ,he does ask to go out and he never dirtys in the house ,so its a bit of a mistery ,there must be something going on in that head of his .

Thats great mrsr. Being consistent will pay off in the end. I've heard that keeping a poo/wee diary will help you to get into a routine and decide when he goes - after food or a drink, after play, when you get in, when your OH gets in, when you get up, when your OH gets up. Obviously as you're working shifts both of you would need to do it!

To really reinforce (praise) him for going outside, try using a superduper treat - cheese, cooked meat etc, and praise him just as he's finishing going, and then give him the treat. :j Don't wait for him to run back to the door, as he'll think he's being rewarded for coming back in, rather than going for a pee!

Georgie

PS. Just another thought - if your dog has been in bed all day, maybe you need to let him out before you do anything else. (Sorry if I have mis-interpreted your post).

gemmaj

Whats a Belly Band not heard of this

Basically, its a strip of fabric that goes around the male dogs, err, lets say belly when in the house. If he pees, he gets himself wet and so should learn not too. I have never used one so couldn't say whether they work (or will cause more problems/ or are ethical?) but I have heard lots of other people talk about them on another dog forum I go to (Greytalk) so thought I'd mention it.

Georgina, as an aside, that link says

There have been a number of books and papers that have started to dispel the idea that our pet dogs, given the chance, would try to raise their status in their human "pack".

- I just have to say that I have one dog with which I agree with this wholeheartedly, and another dog whose aim in life seems to be do EXACTLY that .. she made it clear from the outset that she wanted to be in charge, and a few years on she now knows she isn't... but give her half a chance and she will have a go at being the boss! Anyway, sorry for taking things off topic!

WeirdoMagnet

gemmaj wrote: »

I just have to say that I have one dog with which I agree with this wholeheartedly, and another dog whose aim in life seems to be do EXACTLY that .. she made it clear from the outset that she wanted to be in charge, and a few years on she now knows she isn't... but give her half a chance and she will have a go at being the boss! Anyway, sorry for taking things off topic!

That's interesting. How does she try to show that she's in charge? That sounds like I'm being funny, but I'm not, I'm genuinely interested.

For instance, my dog sleeps in our bed, sits on the sofa, goes through doors before us etc etc. In fact, just as I'm typing this, she's jumped on my lap - some would say that's to gain an elevated position, but she just wants to get a better view of squirrels on the TV! I don't think she's dominant or wants to be in charge, just because she does these things - she just does them because it's cosier/warmer for her, or runs out the door because it's exciting for her.

gemmaj

Georgina, I have sent you a (terribly long) PM (didn't want to hijack this thread!) - be interested to see what you make of it? Thanks! Gemma.