My 2 dogs go from bed to bed peeing

Question
QUESTION: Hi,

I would like to know why if there is any reason that my 11 month and 11 week old dogs go from all 3 of our beds and pee. I am on the verge of a breakdown with it. I keep scolding them, the know its wrong...as soon as I go into that room, the run to their crate.

I clean it with bleach water to remove the smell and the next time the gates are down, the dogs go a running to pee!

Is there any reason why they are doing this. I understand dogs are about packs, and I make sure my children are above the dogs in the pack. We walk our dogs everyday, they have a fenced in back yard to play in all day.

I am out of ideas. Thank you!!!

ANSWER: Hi, Amy,

Thanks for the question.

I'm not sure what you mean by the dogs going to your beds to pee. What kind of dogs are they? Are they sleeping in bed with you and your kids? Do you have a crate or a gated area for them to sleep in? Are they allowed to run free around the house all the time? Young puppies need to be carefully supervised or when you can't supervise them they should be confined to hallway or bathroom behind a child's gate, with their water dish and some newspapers or wee-wee pads.

How long have you had the dogs? An 11 wk. puppy has very little bladder control so if you're letting her/him have free access to your bedrooms, there's bound to be a problem or two with things like this.

As for dogs being being about packs, there's a big misunderstanding about what that means. In wolves (where the pack instinct originated), pack formation is only about hunting. It has nothing to do with a strict pecking order or who's above who. The pack only exists to enable wolves to hunt things like deer and elk by working together in group harmony. I'm sure your puppies don't want to make your life miserable, so it's not about them being "higher" in the pack, they just need some structure and guidance.

I look forward to hearing back from you so I can get a better idea of how to help you out. Meanwhile I recommend you buy a copy of HOW TO HOUSEBREAK YOUR DOG IN 7 DAYS by Shirlee Kalstone. It'll give you all the information you need about housebreaking or paper training your doggies.

LCK

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: My 11 week old I have had since birth. I rescued the 11 mo old Boston Terrier in feb and she ended up being pregnant. My dogs do not have free run of the house. But when they see that gate come down...they go for it. They do not sleep in bed with me. They sleep in the kitchen with a gate on the doorway and they have there crates in there as well.

They never do it in front of me, only my husband. When he tells me...I look at the dogs and they go into the crate with the head down and ears back and run for the crate or back door.

The 11 week old has pretty much been housebroken since 8 weeks old, when I started bringing him outiside. They have structure. We are on a strict time schedule with outside time, and if I am 10 mins late they are whinning at the door waiting to go out.

Answer
Hi again.

If the dogs are responding to your look with their heads down and their ears back, that means they're scared of what you might do to them. If you've been scolding them for making mistakes the easiest way to get them to stop is to stop scolding them. Instead of teaching them how to behave properly scolding and punishment tends to make whatever behavior you're scolding more interesting to the dogs because you're imbuing it with all this extra energy. I know it probably doesn't make sense, but quite often dogs, and sometimes even some children will act out in order to get yelled at. This also suggests to me that you might not be spending enough time playing with them. You should give them at least 2 twenty min. play sessions a day, where you play fetch, tug, or just run around and get them to chase you. I'd also recommend that you lie on your back and let them jump on top of you. Believe it or not, that could the thing that really stops this housebreaking problem.

So from now on whenever they make a mistake, just ignore them and clean it up. Don't say a word to them. That way you won't be giving them what they want, which is You should also clean their messes with an enzyme cleaner like Nature's Miracle. You can also spray the beds with "No-Go," available at most pet stores. It has a subtle scent that tells dogs not to eliminate where they smell it.

And get down on their level and play with them more. It'll really help.

LCK