In a message dated 3/30/2003 8:51:32 AM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> We've had Eli for nearly 2 weeks and are still having trouble with > housebreaking. He has good days and bad days. On a bad day (like today), he' > ll go outside, doo his business, come in (on his own) and go to the bathroom > in the house only minutes later... help! This is pretty much what I'd expect after 2 weeks...especially if your puppy has had the opportunity to relieve himself in the house at all. Housetraining is really a pretty complicated process for puppies. It takes time, repitition, and consistency for them to learn the various parts of the lesson. The following is part of a post I sent to the list previously so I apologize for the incorrect gender. Housetraining is a matter of helping your puppy to understand: 1) That outside is the place to relieve herself. 2) How to use her muscles to "hold it" until she gets outside. 3) How to let you know that she has to go outside. No simple matter for a 3 month old brain and body...so patience is an important part of the process. The other important part of the process is repetition. Every time a puppy relieves themself in the house, they're not learning to go outside. Regardless of your reaction, they pretty much learn that it's OK to go when ever and where ever the need arises. So, a core element of housetraining is to do everything you can to prevent 'accidents' from happening. Anticipate when your puppy will have to relieve herself and take her outside BEFORE she does it. When she does go outside, praise and perhaps give her a tidbit as a reward...both will help her to undersstand that going outside is a 'good thing'. Another part of the whole is watching her very closely for the subtle signals she sends to let you know she has to go outside....respond to them immediately and when she relieves herself outside, reward the good behavior. I use a crate as a tool for helping the puppy and I communicate with each other about how the process goes. Most pups will instinctively not relieve themselves in the small area they sleep in. Consequently, when a pup wakes up in a crate and has to urinate, they'll typically get restless, bark, or yelp to let you know they want *out*. I immediately let the pup out, scooping her into my arms, and carry her outside to the potty area. When I put her down, she pees, I praise and reward...give her a minute or two, and then put her back into the crate. You can see that this is teaching all the key elements of housetraining by using the dog's own instincts to keep her area clean. She learns that if she barks, I'll respond and let her out. She learns to hold herself...even if only in my arms at first...until she gets outside. And, she learns that outside is THE place to relieve herself as she hasn't had the opportunity to do otherwise. The caveat to crate training is that you MUST be there (within earshot) to let her out when she has to go. You can't tell her to wait a few minutes because you're not ready to get up yet, you can't leave her home alone in a crate for long periods of time and expect her to keep her legs crossed. Putting a puppy in that position turns the crate into an instrument of cruelty rather than of learning. > -- he seems to think that the door molding > on our bathroom is one giant chew toy - a large chunk has been chomped off! There are two facets to this... The first is that puppies need to chew and must be provided with safe items to chew on. For babies that still have their their puppy teeth, I use Gumabones (the softer version of the Nylabone), the Booda Bone knotted rope, natural rubber toys, a Chewman fleece, and raw beef knuckle bones with the fat removed. NOTE: the Gumabones, rope toys, and for some dogs...the fleece toys, can ALL be hazardous once your Berner started to get his adult teeth in. Watch closely how these items are being impacted by the chewing and discard as soon as chuncks are being knawed off the Gumabone or the rope toy is looking a bit tattered or loose threads are starting to appear or the fleece toy is being gutted. This can happen in a few minutes so as your puppy gets a bit older I wouldn't leave him alone with them. Also remember to 'upsize' toys to prevent swallowing/choking as puppy gets bigger. The second component environmental. Destructive chewing can result from either stress or boredom. Keep in mind that dogs are inherently social animals and a young puppy would never be totally alone in the normal structure of a canine pack. When you leave a puppy alone (no people, no other dogs about) you can expect the pup to stress (unless he's tired and just wants to sleep). I handle this by slowly building their ability to be alone by starting small and working up. Small applies to both time and space. A dog will instinctively feel 'responsible' for a territory. If a dog has more space than he feels confident of handling, he'll be stressed. The same applies to time. So start with giving him a small space to manage while you're gone for a short time. If he's comfortable with that, increase the time a bit. Then decrease the time but increase the space. Work up that way, stepping back on one aspect when first increasing the other. Back up any time you find that you've moved to quaickly and the puppy has damaged his surroundigs. You'll find that Bernese require a fair amount of physical and mental exercise...they can get destructive and obnoxious without it. Single dogs will rarely exercise themselves so extended walks, off leash romps in the woods, and the like, are necessary on a daily basis. The mind must be exercised similarly...learning tricks, solving problems, and using her senses to find things, are all examples of mental exercise your Bernese will enjoy. A dog that doesn't get enough mental and physical exercise is VERY tough to live with and usually destructive to their environment or themselves or both. Stress, boredom, and normal puppy/dog energy are the root causes behind many canine behavior problems. Your dog can't address these needs on his own, it's wholly up to us, as their custodians, to see to it that their needs are met. ~ Sherri Venditti
