dominant miniature poodle!

20 10:21:07

Question

Chiko in the park! Hello Kim,
I think I have quite of a challenge on my hands right now. What should I do with a 3 year old black miniature poodle that does his business in the house? We adopted him from a shelter 8 months ago and he was a stray so we don't have any history on him. We walk him 4 times a day but I always find urine and feces in the house. Of course, he never does this in front of us... we haven't caught him yet! We are working on rewarding him with a treat when he pees or poops outside but he still does it in the house at least 4 times a week. He also has a bit of a dominant side, I think he really doesn't want to be at the bottom of the pack - there's 5 of us in the house! He tends to growl at our 10 year old son... While we're gone during the day, we crate him. He has gotten better in time with the growling but the housetraining seems hopeless... The worse part is that he can be so cute and obedient on one side and a little devil on the other!...what do you suggest?
Thanks Kim!

Answer
Hello Chantal,
Your Chiko is adorable and that which you described can fit most cute little Poodles. Sweet, but with a onery side. The best way to deal with this is to let your dog know who is boss (which isn't him) and to let him know where he fits in the family (which should be at the low level of your pack).
I am babysitting a Rottweiler for a friend right now and when he first came into my house the first thing he did was to go and mark my couch as his. I told him "NO!" and to let me know that he didn't like that, he peed on my fish tank. He peed again on my entertainment center and at that point I had had enough. I laid him down on his side, got over him and made him submit to me. To do this, I made him lay down with his head on the floor and looked him in the eye until he looked away. Then I didn't let him up until I felt him relax some. When I finally let him up, he went and peed in the middle of my floor. I repeted the process, and this time it sunk in. He looked up at me and seemed to give in, and hasn't peed in my house again. He will hold it and go to the door. The reason he does this is because he now knows that this is MY house, not his and that he has to respect me and my house.
You need to do the same thing to Chiko when he pees or poos in YOUR house, if you see him in the act. If not, you need to get onto the mess that he made. It sounds strange, but while cleaning up the mess, you need to hit the floor, yell "Bad Potty" at the mess and tell that Potty that it is bad. Meanwhile your dog will be looking at you getting on to his mess and will understand that you are mad at the mess he made. You can't actually get on to the dog himself if you didn't see him do it because he won't realize what you are correcting him for.
I know you say that you have never seen him do it in front of you, but in this case you just need to keep an eye on him at all times. Close off bedroom doors so that he can't hide and potty, and make sure that you know where he is every moment. Pay close attention after he has eaten or has played hard, and when he gets up from sleeping because these will be times that he will need to potty most.
Also, be sure to clean any potty messes up with an Approved Pet Mess product. I like a product called "Kids N' Pets" that you can get from Wal-Mart. (our Wal-Mart has it in the cleaning supplys isle). It will eat the odor out of the carpets so that your dog doesn't want to return to those spots again.

You really need to get on to him (by making him submit to you) when he growls at your 10 yr old. Dogs see children as easy targets because a child doesn't know how to correct the dog like an adult does and so the dog can get by with things with a child that they know they can't with an adult member of his pack. When Chiko growls at your son, You need to get him down on his side and have him submit to you, then have your son come over and kneel over Chiko also. Let Chiko see that your son is also dominating him so that Chiko will submit and respect your son also. Once he has submitted (by laying still and relaxing) for your son, both of you can get up and walk away without saying anything to Chiko. Just let him up on his own. Be sure to get on to him as soon as he growls, dont' let him think that he can scare your son.
Also, let your son play ball or throw toys for him so that he sees your son in a positive light. You may even think about getting Chiko into an Obedience class or something fun like that. Your son could take Chiko through a class which would help Chiko realize that your son is dominate over him in a relaxed way. Plus, I think both Chiko and your son would enjoy it.

Give it some time, try what is listed here and if you have any other questions for me, please feel free to ask.

Thanks for using AllExperts.com,
Kim

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