Any advice for housetraining?

A couple weeks ago, I received a comment on a very old post on housetraining.

Hi, we are also having trouble with our 8 week old Shiba. We live in an Apt in New York City, and can't take him out until he's vaccinated. What is happening is that when he has to go to the bathroom (and this is after he is holding is for a long time), he get's so frustrated/anxious that he runs around the apartment biting us! Finally after 10 minutes of this he'll finally just go on the floor. 

Any tips on how to get him to use a pee pad, calmly?

We were actually never very successful about potty training Loki until after he finished his vaccinations. Once, he could to on the grass and trees and bushes, he was good to go. Before that, we were getting accidents at the rate of maybe one a week or one every two weeks. After he was done with his shots, he became very reliably potty trained. So, given our poor track record, I'm not sure if I am qualified to offer tips.

My advice would be to always praise and treat when your dog goes on the correct spot. Throw a potty party! Never scold your dog for going in the wrong spot.

Use crate training. The dog goes in the crate (with toys and treats and maybe a kong) whenever you aren't able to watch his every move. Or you can tether the dog to you, so that you'll know if and when he feels like eliminating.

I think the rule of thumb is that a dog can hold his pee for as many hours as he is old. So a 2 month old dog should be given the opportunity to eliminate every two hours. If I recall correctly, Loki was able to do more than that. I think I added on an additional hour to his age in months. When he was 2 months old, he could hold it for 3 hours. Etc. I think by 5 or 6 months old, he could hold it for 8 hours. And generally, even now, I don't ask them to hold it for more than 8-9 hours, even though they probably can.

At one point, I used to give out the advice of picking your dog up. That worked well for us. If I caught Loki peeing in the wrong spot, I immediately raced over and picked him up mid-pee. He would stop peeing and then he's finish after I placed him down at the correct spot. Unfortunately, I've heard that this advice doesn't work for everyone, and for some people, pee just got everywhere. So, you can try it, but it might not work for you.

Anyone else have tips to offer?

Happy Birthday Jujube!

Happy birthday, Juju. She turns 6 today. Gasp! I can't believe she's already six. The time sure flies.

Loki and Juju: Opposites

Despite the fact that Loki is our problem dog, he is really easy to train. It sounds strange to say, but he's actually a really good dog ...  aside from the fact that he bites. But, no really, he is! I'm not entirely sure why, but he is so easy to train. He's willing to please. He's willing to listen. He just gets it faster. I even think that he really enjoys training. He loves it that we tell him what to do. He feels more secure when we do. And that is exactly what we want -- for him to feel secure and safe.

Juju, on the other hand, is incredibly difficult to train. We've been working on "down" with her all week long, and I still don't think she gets it.

So, we have one dog who is really easy to train and is very well-mannered, but has a bite history. And a second dog who is frustratingly hard to train, has no manners, but is a complete sweetheart. A baby and a vet can do anything and everything to this girl, and she won't complain. But don't try asking her to give you a "down" or to "come" or anything else for that matter. She is one stubborn dog. She wants to do what she wants to do and no one can convince her otherwise. Or she's stupid, but I don't think so. A stupid dog wouldn't do this or that. She just doesn't like anyone to be the boss of her.

Two dogs as opposite as opposite could be.

A Dog Trainer

We recently decided to hire a dog trainer to help us with Loki, and well, Juju could use some training too. We didn't agree about the dog behaviorist. I thought the dog behaviorist was fine, but Yun didn't care for her and moreover, felt that she was way too expensive for what she provided. It was hundreds of dollars for a consultation. From what I had gathered her services and fees were market price for a dog behaviorist.

Anyways, given that obedience training is always suggested as a way to help an aggressive dog, we thought a trainer might be a good alternative solution. This time, I let Yun do the research and pick one out. He found someone to do a set of private lessons for us at a reasonable price.

Today was our first session. She was a tall, mild-mannered lady. (We're short people, so everyone seems tall to us.) Actually, she sort of reminded me of our dog walker. She went over some basic commands, like come, sit, down, focus, and settle. We signed on for a set of seven sessions in total. It's not so much that we don't know how to train our dogs, but rather that having the structure will help ensure that we keep up with the training. Also, she'll help us do exercises outdoors where there are more distractions.

The source of Loki's problems is anxiety. He is a very anxious and insecure dog. I'm hoping that the obedience training will give him more confidence and trust in us. Surely, it won't hurt. And as an added bonus, Juju will get some training too. We never taught her anything other than her name, come (which isn't reliable), and sit.

Loki is one very lucky dog in that we have the resources to hire all these specialists for him.

Why do dogs rub against smelly scents?

Both of my dogs love to rub their whole bodies against random smelly scents. At least it seems random to me. Why do they do it? The explanation that I've always been given was that dogs are trying to hide their own scent. But is that the real answer?

Slate reports something different. I thought their explanation was pretty compelling, and certainly much more convincing than "hiding their own scent". What do you think?

Sigh... another fight

That there is Juju. She's hiding in the corner behind my glider. She is sporting a pink bandage on her front paw and the cone of shame.

The pups got into a fight this morning. It's been a while since their last fight. The two of them were outside in the backyard, and I think they were chasing a chipmunk or something like that. It must have been running around inside the gutters. Anyways, the two of them would make a horrible pack in the wild. They don't cooperate to get prey; they compete against each other.

Her paw was bleeding and we took her to the vet. It's a good thing that she is so well-mannered with people, so that she could be checked out and treated. Loki is also sporting some damage to his face. But his cuts weren't as severe as Juju's, so we left him alone. And well, if we really had to take him to the vet after a fight, we'd have to crate him to be transported and then he'd probably have to be sedated just for the vet to check him out.

To say I'm frustrated with Loki is an understatement. I was frustrated two years ago. I'm way past frustration now. I feel like I'm just surviving with him. Trying to make it through the day with him, one day at a time.

Baby Playing with Jujube

Jujube is a such a sweetheart. She puts up with Baby wonderfully. I caught the two of them playing under our dining room table. She tolerates his clumsiness so well. At least I have one dog that I don't have to worry about.