new dog owner - some questions

Ms Tootsie

Op speaking from my own experience with paper training - AVOID AVOID AVOID!

Our guy was paper trained when we got him and we thought it was great. Used paper training moving it closer and closer to the door eventually hoping to move him outside. We only used the paper training for the first 10 days that we had him when he was 3 1/2 months and now at just over one year old we are still working hard to undo all the bad habits that paper training instilled in him. Thankfully taking him outside and eventually teaching him to pee on command and offering him treats and tons and tons of praise when he peed or pooped outside we are getting there. We still have the odd accident in the house - just last weekend was a particularly bad one, he had three accidents in the house and all in the spots where we had placed paper for him all those months ago. No amount of dog pee smell remover has completed irradiated this problem. We even took him to the vet a few months ago to check in case he had kidney problems but the vet confirmed our worst suspicions, paper training had simply encouraged his bad habits.

So my advice is from the minute you get him into your home you need to be teaching your pup inside is not the place to go. Paper training will only make him think going to the toilet inside is perfectly acceptable. Then months down the line you cant blame him for having accidents in the house as basically that is what he was originally taught he could do. As other posters say if you catch him in the act inside, clap your hands to startle him, take him straight outside where he should finish hiis business, say lots of things like 'yay and good boy' (maybe even start using your command phrase, ours is go pee) and give him a treat in the few seconds after he has finished. Best of luck!

foreversky

U sud train him to go outside.got my lad when he was 2 mths old, brought him out every hr saying time to pee..and a pee before bed to.great fun training him to go outside.a few accidents .hast gone inside in mths.he was sick last week so kept him inside,still didt poo or pee inside.:-). Good luck. Got him in the act once stopped mid flow. Straight outside now he will stand there looking at me ,then go to where his lead is.and wait while staring at me to go.

fangee

DBB wrote: »

Lots of us have had pets since we were kids!
Many dogs like the company of another dog. Some dogs couldn't give a hoot or would really prefer not to live with other dogs. Almost all dogs prefer human company to that of other dogs. Having a second dog somewhat eases loneliness for many dogs, but it is not a remedy for keeping the dogs outside with not enough human contact. I'm assuming you're advocating keeping the dog outside, based on your first post.



I can guarantee you I've seen just as many dogs who live outside and don't have enough human contact who display what you describe, it's called resource guarding. Sometimes, it's because the pup has been allowed away with blue murder. Sometimes, it's because no training has been done. Most of the cases of resource guarding I see, personally, are in pups who were reared outside in a shed, fed communally from one food bowl, not given enough attention or resources, and have been given an excuse for guarding what they perceive as valuable to them.
There are also some breeds with a disposition to resource guard. The Westie is one of them.
Are you claiming that dogs who live inside have more behavioural problems? My experience is the reverse.



My dogs have always lived inside, and allowed up on furniture, and sometimes in the bed, and I have never had an issue either. I can guarantee there are loads of others here who'll tell you the same.
I think it's incredibly egotistical to say dogs WANT to please us. Do they? I'm more inclined to think they want to get the best out of any given situation with us. They may WANT to be friends with us. But to "please" us? I doubt it. If that was the case, there'd surely be far fewer behavioural problems in dogs.



Yes, okay... so what do you do when your dog does something really unacceptable, and won't stop when you say "No" in a stern tone of voice? How do you tell your dog you're "the boss" then?

[/QUOTE]

Yeah. I'd a feeling it was about getting the last word.

Suppose that makes you right then eh.

One rule for all !!!

DBB

fangee wrote: »

Yeah. I'd a feeling it was about getting the last word.

Suppose that makes you right then eh.

One rule for all !!!

What?
Is someone trying to prevent you posting? Are you saying that I have somehow manipulated things so that you didn't have the right to reply? I have no idea, no idea at all, what your above post means. Very odd indeed.
It's nothing at all about getting "the last word", unless of course, putting certain misapprehensions to rest is called "getting the last word"? The fact that I asked you a question at the very end of the post surely indicates that I was not, in fact, trying to get "the last word", so I'm sure you'll understand my confusion over this odd assertion you're making.
This is a discussion board fangee, everyone is allowed have their say, as long as it's civil. We are, contrary to what you seem to be insinuating, allowed to disagree with one another, and challenge one another's posts... As long as it's done whilst showing due respect to the other poster.
Perhaps you'll answer the question I asked you before, now?
Thanks!