There’s no such thing as a ‘partially’ house-trained dog
By Pet Connection Staff
October 27, 2009
In this week’s Pet Connection feature, Dr. Marty Becker and Gina Spadafori want to make one thing perfectly clear: there’s no such thing as a “partially” house-trained dog:
Why is realizing this important? Because if you have a dog who is “sometimes” reliable, you have a dog who doesn’t understand what’s required of him, probably because no one taught him properly in the first place. Punishing your pet isn’t fair, and it isn’t the answer: You have to go back to square one and teach him properly. No shortcuts here.
Before you start training, though, you must be sure that what you have is really a behavior problem and not a physical problem. This is especially true with a dog who has been reliable in the past. You won’t be able to train your pet if he’s struggling with an illness. So check with your veterinarian first for a complete checkup.
If you’ve ruled out medical problems, house-training an adult dog uses the same principles as house-training a puppy, except you have to be even more diligent because you need to do some untraining, too. And a lot of cleaning: You must thoroughly clean any soiled area with enzymatic cleaner (available through pet-supply outlets) to eliminate the smell that invites repeat business.
You’ll need to teach your dog what’s right before you can correct him for what’s wrong. To do this, spend a couple of weeks ensuring that he has nothing but successes by never giving him the opportunity to make a mistake.
Dr. Becker and Mikkel Becker Shannon report that pet theft may be on the rise:
Is dog-napping on the rise? The American Kennel Club has kept informal tabs on the stolen pet numbers and says pilfered pets aren’t uncommon. Last year there were media reports of at least 71 stolen dogs, with more than 100 thefts so far this year. Some states are considering legislation to strengthen penalties. Pets are stolen for many reasons, including keeping the pet as one’s own, resale or trying to get a ransom. One California woman paid $10,000 to have her dog returned after it was stolen from her parked car. Crimes that occurred just in one month over the summer included a puppy stolen from the lap of a 5-year-old in a public Idaho park, a 16-week-old boxer stolen from the owner’s yard in Oklahoma, and a Lhasa apso taken from a North Carolina backyard.
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Amen.
Charlie hasn’t had an accident in the house all week. But I’m not fooled. Charlie is not the least bit house broken, he just lives with an obsessive-compulsive, hypervigilant dog trainer who hasn’t let him make any mistakes yet.
Comment by Janeen — October 27, 2009 @ 3:39 pm
Just as with missing people, I am sure many reports of stolen dogs turn out to be dogs that have run off due to a gate blowing open or an unnoticed hole in the fence. But, I am certain there are dog thieves out there - from personal experience. Our dog Buddy - a well-mannered and unadventuresome dog of about 14 years - disappeared from a fenced and locked back yard last year. He was never seen again. He had had many opportunities to leave the yard in the past when gates had been left open, and never had accepted the offer. When he was found to be missing, the gate was closed and the fence was intact and essentially unescapable. I have worried many times about his fate, and I have a bad feeling it wasn’t a good one.
Comment by Dr, Tony Johnson — October 28, 2009 @ 9:59 am
Sorry about your dog, Dr. Tony. That sux.
One of the best pieces of dog training advice I ever got was if your dog screws up, roll up a newspaper….and smack yourself hard over the head with it.
Comment by Anne T — October 28, 2009 @ 5:15 pm