Cindy asked for advice regarding her Lab puppy:
“Hi, We have a 8 mos yellow lab. Sweet as can be when you are with her. SHe is outside alone 4 days a week. She has managed a couple of time to get inside the house while we are gone and wreaks havoc this time is was all the xmas decorations ..shredded. Other than the obvious of making sure she can’t get in, do you have any suggestions? My husband and I are thinking she is bored and may need a playmate. What are your thoughts?” more…
Michael wrote:
I’m getting a 2 month old Chihuahua mix in a week and we plan to put his bed in a large laundry room separate from our house. I was wondering, at night should I leave the door open so he can “go” outside or should I leave it closed, like my mom suggested, so she can learn to control herself.
House training is going to be the most important piece of training your dog will need if she is to be an indoor dog, so it is really important to get this right more…
Maria contacted me with this problem:
“I have a 19 month old chihuahua mix and a 5 month old chihuahua. My 19 month old was already potty trained but since we got the 5 month old she has picked up the pup’s bad habits. Now they both leave their mess all over my kitchen,dining room, and living room. In the mornings we take them outside to do their business and pick up after them. I also do for lunch and dinner. What is it that we are doing wrong because my husband is getting fed up with them and i do not want him to leave them in a shelter?”
I asked her for a little more info about where they slept, how much freedom they had in the house, what the walking/exercise regime is and I got the following extra information
“We take them out in the mornings,afternoon, and evening. They usually have half of the house when we are home. When they are alone i put them inside their gate. That’s also where they sleep at night,have their food,water, and their potty spot”
By the looks of things, Maria is doing everything she should here, so I will have to offer a couple of different suggestions to try out. more…
Patty posted a follow up question about het malti-poo:
“Thank you for the advice on getting my malti-poo to eat. It has helped and today she ate almost all of her breakfast! I have one other question, When you take the puppy outside to go potty on her normal routine, I say “Go potty”. She will pee and then just walk around, try to play with leaves, etc. How long do you wait for her to go Poo? I repeat over and over again “Go poopoo” sometimes if she has to go right away it’s simultaneously, other times I can sit there for 20 minutes and nothing. So now I’ve missed the opportunity to tell her what a good girl she is for peeing, because I’ve waited so long for her to poo! I can’t find an answer that addresses this specific issue. I hate for her not to know how proud I am that she went pee the first time. I bring her back to the crate afterwards and then I have to go to work. So if she really does have to go???????????
I look forward to your answer.
Patty” more…
Lots of readers seem to have similar problems with house training their dogs, most of which I have dealt with in previous posts and in my Squidoo lenses. Here are a couple of questions posted recently:
“i have a 4 months old golden..got it one week ago..tried to train her by confining her to the kitchen..and placed newspaper with doggie scent sprayed on it..but didnt work.. more…
Patty has recently got a puppy and asked this question:
“I have a 9 week old maltese/poodle mix who is very smart and is holding her bladder all night as long as she’s in her crate. My problem is getting her to eat! she is sweet and loves to be held and cuddled. My husband and I work all day so we have a kennel outside with a crate inside for her to nap in and I leave her a dish full of food and water. However when we get home her food has hardly been touched. After snuggling her for awhile after I get home, if I put some food in my hand she will nibble alittle. But thats it! we have tried different brands-even cat food. she is very healthy and active and drinks alot of water. When I make supper she smells the people food and I know she would eat that in a heart beat, but I told my husband no we weren’t going to start that! Do you have any tricks or suggestions? I worry that she will get sick eventually. Do small dogs (2or3 lbs) only eat a tablespoon at a time?” more…
Marcia asked for help about her 6 month old Labrador:
“We think our 6 mos old lab is having separation anxiety. Every morning when it is time for the last person to leave the house we go outside with the dog to walk around so that she can take one last “pee” break. She will not go to bathroom (just sniffs around) and as soon as we get back in the house she will either run away from us and immediately urinate on the floor (or the couch as it was this a.m.) or she will wet in her kennel as soon as we put her in. On weekends or other times when someone is home, she does not do this. Help please! Thanks.” more…
Angie posed this question:
“I have a 4 year old chihuahua mix that weighs about 25 lbs., is it possible that she cannot hold her urine or bowel movements the entire day being a small dog? The problem is that we take her out in the morning and she won’t do anything because it seems like she’s always more worried about what the squirrels are doing and then she ends up going in the house, this even happens at night, she does go outside sometimes and is usually good on the weekends when we’re home with her but during the work week she goes back to going on the piddle pads in the house. My Boyfriend refuses to use a newspaper on her but then we rarely catch her in the act either. I am also 7 months pregnant and was wondering if she can sense this and that might be making her make a mess as well. I don’t want her doing this when the baby is here so I could really use some help in the matter. Thanks!” more…
