Kratos the Husky.

Meet Kratos!

Kratos is one adorable, feisty ball of Husky energy. But like any puppy, he doesn’t know the household rules yet, and doesn’t have any way to learn unless we teach him. Puppies are naturally curious, inquisitive and pre-programmed to explore their world. Kratos is like any animal -- people included! -- if a tactic is successful, he’s likely to do it again. If he's running around, biting and exploring, and he has to go to the bathroom, he'll just go wherever he feels is a good spot. After peeing, he feels instantly better! In his little puppy brain, going to the bathroom inside makes him feel great! So why shouldn’t he do it again?

This is the point where we have to step in. Any time a puppy goes to the bathroom, he feels great! If a puppy is able to go to the bathroom whenever and wherever he wants, what’s the point of going outside to pee when there's a perfectly good rug in the bedroom? One vital part of housetraining a pup is to teach them that going to the bathroom inside does not work. And the only way to do this is to watch them like a hawk!

The goal is to be able to have 100% supervision of your pup. This means that he will be with you, in his crate, or in a puppy-proof confinement area at all times. When you are home, keep your pup with you as much as you can. Set up baby gates to keep him in the room, use a dragline to keep him nearby, or simply tether his leash to whatever you are sitting on. This way you can keep an eye on him and if you see him start to sniff around, you can whisk him outside to use the bathroom.

If you just need to get something done without your pup or if he needs a nap, just pop him in his crate. Dogs are den animals and are naturally inclined not to go to the bathroom where they sleep, so the crate makes a fantastic training tool. Also, when he’s been napping in his crate for a bit, you can guarantee that once he's awake he’s gotta go, so you can take him straight outside to do his business.

Any time a puppy is able to go to the bathroom inside, it will set back how long it takes for him to become housetrained. By managing where your pup is and keeping an eye on him 100% of the time, you can prevent any accidents from happening inside and housetraining will happen that much faster.

To learn more about Housetraining and to read our complete Housetraining eBook, check out Zen Dog Training Online.

Olive the Pit-Mix.

Meet Olive!

Olive is one energetic and joyful pup. She just about wagged herself to pieces when she met us, and continued the entire time we were there. We had to ask her owners to send us a picture because she was just too excited to stay still! While she was thrilled to be with us people, when around other dogs happy, bouncing Olive unfortunately became very unsure of herself.

When Olive would see a dog from a distance, she would first get very tense. As the distance grew smaller she would continue to stare and start to bark, and if the dogs met, Olive would run straight up to the other dog. This may not seem like a big deal to us, but in doggy language, Olive was being very, very rude. If she were human, it would be similar to pushing her way through a crowd, stomping up to a stranger, and yelling in their face “HI! MY NAME IS OLIVE! WHO ARE YOU?”

That doesn’t sound like someone you’d really want to stick around and meet, does it?

While Olive learned to be more confident and proficient in dog communication, we decided to teach her and her owners how to Leash Tango. The dance is simple:

When you see another dog, walk briskly towards him while keeping your own dog relaxed with Jolly Talk. If your dog pulls ahead, stop, take a step back and turn your dog back around to face you. Once you’ve spun your partner, head briskly back towards the other dog. Repeat this as often as the leash goes tight until you reach the other dog. A brisk walk-to-jog does help, but you want to avoid your dog rudely meeting strangers, so make sure to Leash Tango once or twice.

Playing Leash Tango accomplishes many good things at once. First of all, it keeps your dog from going straight at a stranger, and teaches them more appropriate behavior. It also helps the dog you are meeting; for dogs, turning to the side and not approaching straight on is the polite way of saying, “I’m friendly and I would like to meet you!” On top of that, Leash Tango keeps your leash loose. Since the leash is a direct line of communication, a tight leash signals tension. If the leash is loose, your dog is more likely to be relaxed as well. The first step of proper play is a good greeting, so use Leash Tango to help your pup get off to a good start!

To learn more about Leash Tango, as well as how dogs communicate, check out Zen Dog Training Online!

Maggie the Bernese Mountain Dog.

Meet Maggie!

Maggie is one of the nicest, most loving dogs we have ever met. So what's the problem, you ask? Sweet, friendly Maggie always needed to be the center of attention.

She didn’t just ask for her owner to pay attention -- she demanded it loudly. At home, her owner had a hard time making dinner without Maggie interrupting. Just sitting down to eat peacefully was almost impossible!

Maggie’s humans were just like most other dog owners: when the dog came over to say “Hi!” they would instantly give Maggie some attention. On top of that, Maggie learned to do something naughty so all eyes would be on her.

To help teach Maggie to be more polite we played one of our simple (but very powerful!) relationship changing games: Rewarding with Love. Our goal was to help Maggie learn that she couldn’t always get attention when she wanted, and that before she got her way, she had to do something for her owner first. Most importantly, we needed Maggie to understand that when she tried to be demanding, she would get ignored, shunned and sent "out of the pack," so to speak!

At first Maggie was confused. She tried and tried to get our attention, and was surprised that her old tricks weren't working like they used to! She got louder, and more frustrated but she was learning. When she finally settled down, Maggie got the attention she craved so much and quickly learned the rules of the game.

Playing a game like Rewarding with Love is transformational. Rather than a dog being able to get what she wants whenever she wants, we use attention and love as an important reward, not just something a dog gets all the time for free.

To learn more about Rewarding with Love and other strategies to manage demanding behaviors, check out Zen Dog Training Online.

Chewing Rocks and Mulch

Video Blog Post - Cute Puppy Video

Ollie the Schnauzer.

Meet Ollie!

This guy is a wonderful bundle of Schnauzer energy but something his parents wanted to address was Ollie using pee-pee pads when left alone in the apartment. He had learned to use his pee pads very well, but the problem with these pads is that it's tricky to use them in the beginning of a relationship and then ask your dog to start to going to the bathroom outside. This is because dogs don’t get the idea of “sometimes." The word just isn't in their vocabulary!

By using the pee pads, Ollie had learned that it was okay to go to bathroom indoors. When left to his own devices, it's likely he’ll just go inside the house. It is possible to teach a dog to use pee-pads, but only if you want to use them for the rest of the dog's life!

If you want to train your dog to go outside, it's better to teach your puppy that going to the bathroom inside is never okay. Make sure he's supervised 100% of the time, or use a crate or gated-off confinement area to minimize mistakes. Diligently interrupt accidents and rewarding (with lots of praise and treats!!) your puppy whenever he goes outside, and he'll learn what you want to teach him.

We provide our clients with our Housetraining eBook along with our Simple Summary highlighting the important things to remember. In addition, we include a Housetraining Log so you can:

1. track your puppy's pee and poop "activities,"
2. identify your puppy's "problem times" when mistakes happen most frequently, and
   
3. share with your household whether your dog is full and needs to be taken out.

By understanding your dog's natural tendencies, communicating with everyone in the family about what needs to be done, rewarding good behavior, and, er, "eliminating" the chances that your dog can make a mistake, you can have a new puppy house-trained in less than one week!

To learn more about housetraining, crates and confinement areas, visit Zen Dog Training Online. Check out our Housetraining eBook, Simple Summary Housetraining and our Housetraining Log.

Berkeley the Spaniel Mix.

Meet Berkeley!

This is one fantastic and friendly all-American mutt. Unfortunately, he's not the most confident of dogs and recently his life got turned around on him — not only did his family move to a new and strange place, but his parents are expecting a new baby!

One stressful day, Berkeley was munching on his favorite bone. When his mom came over to him, Berkeley decided he didn't want anyone to take away his bone and so he did what many stressed out, grumpy dogs do: he growled at his mom to back off!

The snarling made his mom leave Berkeley to his chewing. Berkeley growled, so he got to keep his bone on his own terms. In other words, Berkeley won! He figured out that he was able to get his way… by using drastic methods.

The incident left the family feeling a bit shaky and a bit unsure around Berkeley. Our first goal was to make sure things were safe and manageable; we recommended leaving a drag line on Berkeley or at least having one easily accessible for the next few weeks while training. Though we wanted to work with Berkeley on sharing his toys and food, our most important goal was to make sure that the family learned how to set up safe training situations.

At Zen Dog Training, we focus on understanding and communication, but we also want dogs to know that their human parents are in charge. When people speak to dogs, those dogs must listen to the rules (and should be rewarded for good behavior). For rules to stick, your dog has to always do what you say — he won't learn if sometimes he can get away with not listening to you.

For resource guarding, our solution is limiting our dogs' freedom with drag lines and tethers if they gets grumpy about having their bone taken away. This way, we can safely teach them to share. The good news about resource guarding is that it responds well to treatment. The bad news is that if it goes undiagnosed people — especially young people and children — are at risk of getting bit or injured by a dog who doesn't understand our rules.

If you want to teach a puppy to share, please check out Preventing Resource Guarding at Zen Dog Training Online. If you have an older dog who makes you feel scared or worried, call a Zen Dog Trainer right away!