Are you having trouble house training your dog? Perhaps you just got a puppy and need advice on the best way to socialise him. Never heard of clicker training and want to know what it entails? Whatever your dog training question, this is the best place to ask it!
You can submit your dog training questions by leaving a comment on this post (you need to provide your email address, but it will not be displayed or used – unfortunately, the old question page that didn’t require an email address had to be removed because a sp*mmer was making two or three posts advertising unsavory items. By using the wordpress comment form, Akistmet filters will make sure my readers are not subjected to it again). I will try to answer all of them either in the newsletter or publish them on the dog training answers pages. Even if I can’t give you an answer to your dog’s problem, I will be able to point you in the right direction so that you and your dog can get the best out of your relationship.
A quick note on Potty Training/House Training: Before posting a “new” question, please check it hasn’t already been answered before! For more advice, read this post first: Toilet Training Woes
I don’t routinely email people to let them know their question has been answered, but you can check on the latest answers or subscribe to the site RSS Feed to keep updated of new posts (I use Google reader to view mine)

I have 2 medium size mutts (4 yrs. and 2 yrs.) and I’m having a small problem house training the younger one. He’s fine anywhere in the house with the exception of one bedroom. If he has access to this room he will it’s almost a guarantee that he will pee and poop in there. This behavior has us keeping a gate at the bottom of the stairs (which I can’t stand) and our bedroom door closed at night when he’s in there with us overnight. Keeping the particular room’s door closed is an option, but not what I’m trying to accomplish. I read somewhere that maybe he needs his pack scent in that room but I’m at a loss at this point. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
my husband and I have a 7 month old boston terrier mixed. we adopted him. everytime we sit on th couch he always has to sit right ON us. it is really tarting to get frustrating. he also jumps up on us alot. he still does this even after we take him potty. our dog has seperation anxiety big time. he HATES his crate he works himself up so much he pees on the outside of his crate when he is in it. this is our 3rd crate with him. he broke the other 2. please help. we don’t know what to do
I have an 11 week old English bulldog. I am not sure how to go about training. I have her sleep in a crate at night, which she doesn’t mind-But when I am at work, I put her in my kitchen which is hard wood floor, and easier to clean up messes. Is it ok to leave her out of her crate in the kitchen when I’ll be at work for 8 hours and then crate her when I sleep? Or will it affect her potty training??
Read our advice here: Toilet Training English Bulldog
I have a 4 month old female bull mastiff i can not get her to walk with on a leash it ’s like a stand off she will just lay down i do not use a chocker i don’t thank it would help can you please give me some suggestion’s on how to do this so it’s not so painful on both of us thanks
You can read my reply here: Leash Training Problems
We recently(2 mos ago)adopted a 12 month old Lab mix from a neglect situation where he was crated 23 hours a day. Our dogs are routinely fed at 6:30 AM and again in the evening. This new dog begs to go out several times a night because he knows eventually after 1 of those trips out it will be breakfast time. We are getting up about 6 times a night to either let him out or give him attention. He sleeps with our daughters at night and we close their bedroom doors so that he can’t have free run of the house. How do we get him to sleep during the night and patiently wait until morning for breakfast? He was very thin when we took him and is gradually putting on weight. I am also concerned because I have never seen a dog eat as fast as this one. Thank you
Read my advice here:Getting Lab Mix Into A Routine
I have a 2 yr old golden retriever, female, who weighs 80 lbs. she is generally very well-behaved, but I try and take her for long walks each day. Where we live the walks are usually limited to the same 2 or 3 places. And she also has an affinity for other animal’s feces. Through either attempting to get at animal feces along our walk, or just for no apparent reason – she will decide to just stop walking and no treat or command will prompt her to continue. any suggestions? She’s too heavy to really ‘nudge’ along very far.
You can see my response here: Golden Retriever Misbehaving
I have a 2 year old American Bull Dog. He’s very socialized with other dogs. The only problem he has is that he will show aggresion to another male dog that is not neutered. Why is that.
See my reply here: American Bulldog Male Aggression
I have a 5 month old chocolate lab. I also have a 9 month old yellow lab. When I first got the yellow lab I had him house broke in a few days. I got him at about 8 weeks. I got the chocolate lab at 8 weeks as well and she is still not housebroke. She thinks it is ok to poop in the house I suppose. Help!!
my bf and i recetnly bought a 6 month old blk lab/ golden retreiver puppy hes not housebroken….we’ve had him for almost 2 weeks now. he ends up pee’n and pooping on the carpet right infront of me.. the family we bought him from said he was house broken as soon as we brought him home he went on the carpet … and then we took him on vacation with us to VA and he does nothing but go on my friends brand new carpet we’ve been here for about a week now my bf takes him out every hour and he wont go.. he’ll end up going when he comes home.. and weve tried alot of ways to make him go outside… we only leave the house for about 2 hours a day and leave him home alone. .please help.. i dont know what to do.
My suggestions can be found here: Lab/Golden Mix Housetraining Problems
I am adopting a 6 year old springer spaniel and one of her pups. I am going to crate train the puppy, but should I put the older dog in the crate with the puppy when I am training?
See my reply here: Crate Train Mum and Pup Together?
Hi
I have a six month old cocker spaniel bitch who is very energetic and loves her walks. I myself am a very keen walker but have tried hard not to over walk her when she was younger. How far is she able to go everyday now would you think? I live in very hilly countryside so she races up and down.
I have left some advice for Jill here: Cocker Spaniel Walking
Hello,
I have two boxer dogs a one and a half year old male (Bailey) and a 16wk female (Daisy). They are both very good in the house and listen to both my husband and I however whenever we take them around other dogs they both start barking and the male even lunges at other dogs. For instance, we recently signed them up for training classes and the whole class Bailey was barking and lunging at the other dogs. Some times it would be at a dog that wasn’t doing anything and some times another dog would growl at him and it would set him off. Daisy was good until Bailey started getting out of control and then it would set her off and she would start barking but not lunging.
We just dont know what to do, we take him on long runs so he gets a lot of exercise and we made sure to socialize him as a puppy, he does ok at a leash free dog park when the other dogs are behaving but as soon as theres a scuffel he tries to be right in the middle of it. Is there any hope for him?
I have given some pointers for Monica here: Boxer Out of Control
I have a 10 week old Wheaten Terrier- wonderful dog and learning things amazingly fast.when he eats he takes pieces of food from his bowl about 2 feet away and eats it from the floor. Its not that big of a deal but was wondering if there was an easy fix to get him to just eat from his bowl.
i have a 7 month rednose pitbull and when im home he wont go to the bathroom in the house but as soon as i leave for a hour he goes in the house what do i do to get him to stop
I have (2) small puppies. they are brothers. can they be crate trained together?
Hello,
I have a wonderful 3 year old choc lab… we just had a new baby and all of a sudden he has gotten very protective of the house. He has been a great dog always very well tempered but up until now was a only child. He is great with the baby! But has been getting aggressive with new visitors to our home. He has growling and nipped on one occasion. this is not like him at all! We are concerned and need to get to the bottom of this.
Can you please help us! we love our Dexter and know that he is a great dog. We just want to fix this now before he decides to hurt someone god forbid!
Thank you so much for you time!
i have a 10 weeks old maltipoo and i want to know if outdoor potty train will work in cold winter tempetures ( -10 ish) in toronto canada?
the reason i ask is indoor potty training doesn’t seem to work at all! we bought training pads but he refuse to use it! we have his urine on the pad, but he doesn’t go on it to pee, he would pee else where.. everytime he sniffs and circle we pick him up and place on the pad, but he walks away and then pees in other places..
my puppy is a labador (8 weeks). I have been training her to do the restroom outside for a week. When i take her outside she does potty but i have to be watching her to take her outsdie. She still does not let me know when she needs to go outside. I am on vacation but will have to go back. I was thinking of leting her stay outside and in the evening let her in. Will she get used to doing potty outside. please help i am getting fusrated.