How to Identify Common Pet Problems ?
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Luckily, in most cases, house-training an adult dog is quite simple and new habits can be taught quickly. However, it does require time and patience, and if you want your dog to do well you need to make sure you are dedicated. How long it takes depends on: how well you keep to the routine.
She may be less eager to please and more likely to test the rules. She`s also enjoying a big dose of hormones that may cause willful or rebellious behaviors — just like a teenager. Your potty-trained puppy may start having accidents in the house. Be patient and consistent, and reinforce training.
This is the time your puppy starts to test their boundaries within their world. They will test the limits with their owners and other animals. At this age many adult dogs will start to enforce manners. Problematic behaviours can begin to arise in this period.
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Training your dog on a cued “leave it” command is useful because it will give you the ability to tell your dog to stay away from any number of undesirable objects on your command. Training your dog to perform a more desireable behavior when it sees a squirrel or cat will substitute a behavior you find acceptable (sitting, laying down, coming to the door, etc.) with a behavior you dislike. Your dog can still react, just in a positive way. If your dog pulls on the leash every time you see a squirrel/cat, training not to pull will make your walk safer and more pleasant.
The ideal training method to use with dogs, or any animal for that matter, is positive reinforcement training, particularly a method called “clicker- training.” The basic concept of positive reinforcement training is to pair a reward (reinforcement) with a behavior you want to increase in frequency. In other words, when your dog performs the behavior you desire, it receives an award, which reinforces the desired behavior so you get more of that behavior. There are many excellent books in stores or on-line that describe positive reinforcement training in detail and many give step-by-step instructions for training common commands like “leave it”. Look for books that specifically mention positive reinforcement training or clicker-training. You can also take dog training classes to learn the techniques, find a mentor who already uses clicker-training, or request a consult from one of the pet experts on this site to guide you.
Is she crate trained? If she is not crate trained, I have some wonderful crate training exercises I could go over. Crate training and potty training go hand-in-hand. Any time you cannot keep your eyes on the puppy, she should be in the crate so accidents do not occur. The main idea when it comes to potty training is to keep your puppy successful.
After a while of bringing her outside every 30 minutes, you can try to increase that time. What you should do is wait until the 30 minute marker strikes, and then begin some basic obedience using treats, or some puppy-play! Then go out a few minutes later. Teach her it’s fun to hold her bladder!
Remember to never scold your puppy for grabbing these things. They are just curious little cuties, and they don’t chew things up to bother us.. Dogs do not have intentional thought, so they aren’t ever doing anything ON PURPOSE to us.. The most important thing you can do when your puppy is chewing something you don’t want her to be chewing is TRADE her the inappropriate item with a toy of hers, so she understands “no honey, that isn’t what puppies chew on… THIS is what puppies chew on!” and then begin playing with her using her toy to show her that TOYS ARE FUN.. Way more fun than a boring ol’ coat hanger.
Another helpful thing you can do is have two bags of toys. In each bag is many different kinds of toys. Lots of chew toys, lots of soft squeaky toys, lots of rope-type toys, a bunch of balls.. All kinds of things! For one week you have bag#1’s toys out for your puppy to play with.. At the end of the one week, you collect those toys, and you bring out bag#2! The toys will be more interesting/feel like new to your puppy, which will in-turn, make her chew less inappropriate things. Her toys are too fun to care about that dumb Wii-mote that you left laying around.
Hope this helps!
I could go over a crate training exercise for you so you can start crate training right away. Crate training is a very SLOW, careful, and positive process. It needs to be handled very delicately to ensure the puppy has a positive experience.
Of course dogs are alright to be left alone some of the day. About as long as the “rule of thumb” allows, and absolutely no longer than 8 hours (as I find that just cruel). Crating ensures dogs safety.
Have treats on hand that you know she loves, then simply click and treat. She will come to associate the sound with getting a treat. Start putting distance between you so she has to come to you. Call and click and when she comes to you for that treat, treat him and give her lots of praise. Move to hiding somewhere in the house, call and click. When she comes to you reliably inside when you call, click and treat. When this behavior is consistent, move outdoors with a very long leash. Call and click, if she doesn’t respond, give a light tug on the leash. If she takes even a single step toward you, click, treat and lots of praise. Keep doing this until she comes eagerly. Next, try her off-leash in a securely fenced area. Call and click. At this point she should be responding well and coming easily to the call and click. If she does not, go back to the last step she performed reliably and work on that again until she responds well. Eventually, you can start not treating her every time, but still praise her. Gradually lessen the frequency of the treats until she comes just to the click and praise.
Keep training sessions short, ten or fifteen minutes to start, no more than 30 minutes at a time and do it a few times a day. Try not to do it any time she is overly excited so that she can pay attention to you. Always end a training session on a good note, even if it is just getting him to do something she already does well on command. And never, NEVER punish a dog when they come to you, no matter how far they’ve made you chase them, no matter how frustrated and angry you might be. That teaches your dog that coming to you is a bad thing.
However, if your puppy is not having normal periods of play, eating and bathroom breaks, there may be something more serious going on. If your puppy appears sleepy at all times, scheduling a wellness check with your local veterinarian is best.