Negative behaviour-Puggle

Question
i have a 2 year old puggle that we adopted about four months ago.  He is not completely house trained and we only go to the door in the morning to be let out.  We make it a point to take him out on a regular basis.  However, if he is not getting enough attention or if he is left alone for to long(even if we are in the house) he will pee.  Just wondering what we should do. We have sectioned him off from most of the house because of this.  If he gets past the gate he instantly pees in as many places as he can.  We are at a lost as to what to do.

Answer

Hi Sara,

Knowing your dog isn't fully house trained, means making it a point to get your dog outside fairly frequently, even if he doesn't ask to go outside.

Sectioning your dog off from certain rooms is great, when it comes to protecting furniture, but it leaves plenty of areas where your dog can still relieve himself. It teaches him nothing.

A good way of preventing preventing your dog from having accidents in your home is to keep the leash on him in the house. Tie the end of the leash to your belt-loop, or just hold it. If your dog so much as looks like he's thinking of going to the bathroom, rush him right outside. Offer plenty of praise and even a small food treat, the moment he's done relieving himself (outside!) Let your dog know his actions have pleased you greatly. By the same measure, you can't reprimand or punish your dog if he has an accident in your home. Accidents, more often than not, aren't the fault of the dog. Accidents are caused by the dog's owner not taking the dog out soon enough, or not supervising the dog closely enough. If an accident occurs, clean the mess up with an enzymatic cleaner, such as Nature's Miracle or Simple Solution. This will help ensure the dog don't return to the area to re-mark. After cleaning the mess, promise yourself to either keep a closer watch on your dog, or get him outside sooner.

When you can't supervise your dog like a hawk, crating your dog is a better solution than containing him in the broad expanse of space you're currently using. A crate should be only big enough for the dog to lay down, stand up, and turn around in. Anything larger affords the dog the space to relieve itself, and also have a clean area to lay in. Dogs like to sleep in a clean area as much as you do. Most people find a properly sized dog crate an essential tool in house training. You can read more about crate training here:

http://www.perfectpaws.com/crt.html

http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/our_pets_for_life_program/dog_behavior_tip_she...

If for some reason using a crate is totally out of the question, a good second choice would be an indoor dog pen. This still gives the dog enough space to eliminate in, which is why it's not as good a technique as crating. It's helpful to put newspaper down over the entire containment area. A dog pen will allow you to take down your many child gates. Again, you need to constantly supervise your dog whenever he's not contained. Preventing accidents from ever occurring is a huge point in the concept of house training.

You can see an example of an indoor dog pen here:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=16677

Best of luck,

Patti