How to Hose Train My Puppy?

Question
I have a mixed Lab German Shephard and I am having a hard time house training her.She is 13 weeks old and she keeps using the bathroom in the house. She wines whenever I leave the room. She bites any and everything in sight. She even uses the bathroom in her crate. She eates the cat food. I love the puppy but I need her to be more obdient. She will sit and stay but that is about all. Can u please give me some advice on how to train her.

Answer
I'll start with house training. Some dogs take a lot longer than others. In some cases it starts with their litter period training, and others it can be attached to psychological issues or behavior issues.  There are lots of books at pets stores and large book stores (think Barns and Noble) on house training. With our personal dogs we have had some do fine from day one and some take a couple months to get the idea.

We use a regular routine where the dogs go out first thing inthe morning. When they come in they get fed, and then go out immediately again. In the afternoon they go out together, and then come in for a drink, and back out after they tank up. At night, a third potty trip.

The important parts are, the schedule is very regular, basiclaly the same time of day every day. The second is they are rewarded (good dog!) when they go ouot and after they do their duty another doog dog and a cookie on the way in.  Now I don't usually give them the cookie, but my wife does every time. So the Beagles will stand and wait for the cookie or kibble before they will go out. Needless to say I have better control over the dogs than she does. The Beagles have trained her well.

If you walk the dog, encourage the dog to go in the same outside location and give an immediate verbal reward. "Good dog!" and as you feel, a TINY treat. Don't let the dog back inside until they do their job.

Our dogs cannot get to the cat food, although the cats have the run of the house and one thinks it is a dog and eats the dog food if I leave it out. Likewise keep the dogs away from the litter box. We use a child gate at a doorway to keep the dogs confined to one part of the house. Cat food can cause diarreah.

Soiling is often a sign of demanding attention, jealousy, or controlling the humans. You need to be a strong pack leader to the dog and obedience training usually cures most of this. It can also be from biological issues and you might want to check with your vet to make sure the dogs digestive system is OK and there is not a food allergy, food intolerance or other issue. Not all dogs do well on the same foods. You can try different brands and different formulas. We use Pedigree most of the time but have used Eukanaba, Purina and regular, large breed, puppy, lamb and rice, chicken base as needed. We have also formulated our own foods using turkey, beef (we grind it ourselves) chicken mixed with dry food or rice. We avoid the bargain brands as many cause excess stool, flatulance and other issues. In a large kennel as ours we need the minimal stool and no flatulance to maintain ease of care and good health for our own and boarding dogs that range from toys to giants and virtually all breeds. We also use Culligan filtered water. Water can cause issues just as when we get Montezuma's revenge when traveling.

For biting, I've posted before, we use lemon juice as a deterrant, or other nasty tasting stuff (bitter apple, hot suace) and teach the dog not to chew or bite by making sure it gets a bad taste when it does. That usually works very quickluy 2-3 applications. Our dogs only have to heard the word "JUICE" to know they are doing something naughty. It can be a sign of dominance, lack of obedience training, and any number of other root causes. It requires a little more on site research to determine the cause. I suggest finding a good local trainer to observe the dog's behavior and make correction suggestions.

Regards,
Henry Ruhwiedel
Westwind Kennels LLC