Chickentrain's Dog Q&A

[chickentrains]

You have taught her to pee indoors. Take the pee pad outside, preferably with pee on it. Put it where you want her to pee. When she pees on it, praise her. Crate her. Take her out every half hour and give her a chance to pee outside on the pee pad. Yes, she will spend a couple of days in the crate. Nothing in the crate. No paper. no towel, no pee pad. Clean it good with Nature's Miracle. Also the area where the pee pad was. At some point she should ASK to go out. Praise and let her out. That's a big step. Good luck!

you are so helpful!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

You may have to start taking her out at night, if she does it often.

If you hear her whine or getting restless, take her out. Every time she pees in the crate, she's learning that it's okay to pee in the crate, and her training is going backward. You may lose a little sleep for 2 or 3 nights, but she'll catch on. Remember, nothing in the crate at this point.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Dogs (or puppies) like to pee on the same surface they are used to peeing on. So you'll need to change her habits.

Now that the weather is getting longer, maybe you can arrange to spend a few days completely outside. At some point, that puppy will get so desperate she has to pee on the ground, and then you can praise her and tell her what a good puppy she is.

Then, when she has just peed, it's probably fine to take her inside for a bit (by that time you probably need to get a snack for yourself, or something.) But have yourself and the puppy outside well before the next time she needs to go. Again, lots of praise when she does.

I'm guessing that it would not take very many days for her to get the point.

I'm sure there are other methods, and I recognize that devoting several whole days to this may not be possible. So this is just one possibility, not the only way.

Or, if you want her to pee on the mat, and she does sometimes pee in the crate, you could put a mat in the crate with her. It would have a similar effect--when she has no choice about where to go, she pees on a surface you have chosen, and gets used to peeing on it. After some amount of time, she would probably use a mat by choice, and you could later take a mat outside to help transition her to going outdoors.

Edit to add: the kind of surface is not the only thing that matters to a dog, but it does seem to be part of it. And what I suggest about outside should work no matter WHAT cues the dog uses to decide where.

You'll be teaching the dog to pee in the crate using this method. Are you sure that is your intention?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I think that the best spot for regular potty breaks is the spot in view of the chicken coop (the other good spot requires a dog to walk up some stone steps that a small puppy couldn't manage) so the dog would be able to see them a lot of the time. What should I do when the dog barks, etc? "No", quickly walking away, pick it up and bring it elsewhere? this is the aspect of training that I'll be mainly in charge of, because the chickens are mine.

I would not pick the dog up, because touch is such a reward. Definitely take the dog elsewhere.

 

[NatJ]

You'll be teaching the dog to pee in the crate using this method. Are you sure that is your intention?

I was aware it was a possibility, yes. But the dog already pees in the crate, and on the floor, and not on pee pads. So getting the dog to pee on something (pee pad in crate) that you can then carry outside *might* be an improvement. Not certain to be an improvement, but maybe.

The usual advice to keep the dog in the crate because they won't pee where they sleep has already been tried, and hasn't worked well enough yet:

I take her out of her crate every two hours to pee, including at night.

she has used the bathroom in her crate.
And I take her out for a half hour, take her in, and she pees on the floor five minutes later.

I think spending several days completely outside with the dog, enthusiastically praising every time the dog pees or poops out there, has the highest chance of getting this solved fast. But I was trying to think of other options if that is not possible.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

A couple pages back, @black_cat asked about walking a puppy and not having it pull. Here's what I do. I assume puppy has had its entire series of shots, not just one or two, if you are taking it off your own property. You don't want your first outing to end in Parvo.

So start in your living room and put a little choke collar on, making sure it fits properly and you can get it back off without having to pinch his ears in the process. Attach the leash to the part of the collar that slides, to make the collar open and close. Now. Hold on to the end of the leash, which should be 4 to 6 feet long. Just sit there. Don't say anything. Don't move. Just observe.

Puppy will explore and move around. He will sit and scratch at the collar, and he will probably shake, trying to get it off. He may whine. It's something new. He will wander around. Eventually he will run out of slack. The collar will tighten. He will pull and it will get tighter. Be still. Say nothing. Observe. He may bounce, jump, shake his head, yell a little. Shhh. Watch. In less than a minute he will accidentally bounce toward you and the collar will fall open. He will relax. This may happen a couple of times.

After a bit he will realize he is most comfortable when he moves TOWARD you. He will come to you. Pet and praise. Remove the collar and leash. You are done for the day.

Repeat two more days. The third sorry, FOURTH day you can walk puppy around in your yard. He will follow the gentle pull of the leash. I say GENTLE pull. Keep the line SLACK. This means there should be a "belly" in the leash between you and the dog. Don't be in a hurry, walk slowly. Let your ankle push the leash forward as you walk. Do NOT try to pull puppy along with you. Imagine you are walking a butterfly. That's all the "pull" you should need. Your puppy should be leash-trained and will never pull on the leash using this method. He has essentially trained himself. I would appreciate feedback on this method. It has always worked for me.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

A couple pages back, @black_cat asked about walking a puppy and not having it pull. Here's what I do. I assume puppy has had its entire series of shots, not just one or two, if you are taking it off your own property. You don't want your first outing to end in Parvo.

So start in your living room and put a little choke collar on, making sure it fits properly and you can get it back off without having to pinch his ears in the process. Attach the leash to the part of the collar that slides, to make the collar open and close. Now. Hold on to the end of the leash, which should be 4 to 6 feet long. Just sit there. Don't say anything. Don't move. Just observe.

Puppy will explore and move around. He will sit and scratch at the collar, and he will probably shake, trying to get it off. He may whine. It's something new. He will wander around. Eventually he will run out of slack. The collar will tighten. He will pull and it will get tighter. Be still. Say nothing. Observe. He may bounce, jump, shake his head, yell a little. Shhh. Watch. In less than a minute he will accidentally bounce toward you and the collar will fall open. He will relax. This may happen a couple of times.

After a bit he will realize he is most comfortable when he moves TOWARD you. He will come to you. Pet and praise. Remove the collar and leash. You are done for the day.

Repeat two more days. The third sorry, FOURTH day you can walk puppy around in your yard. He will follow the gentle pull of the leash. I say GENTLE pull. Keep the line SLACK. This means there should be a "belly" in the leash between you and the dog. Don't be in a hurry, walk slowly. Let your ankle push the leash forward as you walk. Do NOT try to pull puppy along with you. Imagine you are walking a butterfly. That's all the "pull" you should need. Your puppy should be leash-trained and will never pull on the leash using this method. He has essentially trained himself. I would appreciate feedback on this method. It has always worked for me.

Keep in mind this is just an intro to the leash for a very young puppy. It is not formal training in any sense of the word. It is non-traumatic, non-controlling, non-abusive, very neutral. It is very important that the handler keep himself removed from the situation by remaining silent and letting the puppy do the problem solving. This keeps it very unemotional and thus non-traumatic for the puppy. When we jump in to "rescue," "help," or "comfort" the dog, bad things happen emotionally. By letting the puppy focus solely on the PHYSICS of the problem and sort things out for himself, he gets to feel successful when he figures out what "works." Pulling away from pressure does not work. That increases tension on the collar. Yielding to pressure works and solves the problem, making him comfortable. No treats are necessary. Finding comfort, release from pressure, is the reward.

 

[EverV]

How do I get a dog who's never been around chickens calm around them?

And on a side note, vice versa. My chickens had a bad experience with a dog once, and they have been high-strung around them ever since.

I agree with what everyone has said for this. They have good advice. However, I just wanted to ask what breed it is. If they have a prey drive, the promise of treats isn't enough to 'snap them out of' the prey drive. Believe me, I walked a food crazy GSP for a couple months, and putting a treat in her mouth didn't distract her from stalking squirrels. I think with some treats and time the chickens would be comfortable around the dog.

 

[Gallinarium]

How do I get a dog who's never been around chickens calm around them?

And on a side note, vice versa. My chickens had a bad experience with a dog once, and they have been high-strung around them ever since.

Same question, but for a new puppy.

Same question, but for a new German Shepherd puppy.

 

[EverV]

Same question, but for a new German Shepherd puppy.

First of all, where did you get them from? A working/police line breeder? A show breeder? A herding breeder (though I haven't heard of many of these)? Or a mass produce marketing site like Puppyspot and Greenfield puppies? That'll make a pretty big difference.