my dog = devil spawn

[leah]

hey all you people who have (or have had in the past) a dog . . . help me!!

our puppy sucks, imo. he's a pembroke welsh corgi, about 14 weeks old, and i swear to god he is made of evil. he barks, he bites, he's not getting the hang of potty training, and nothing i/we do seems to make a difference.

some problem behavior:

-seems to have no qualms with pooping on the floor
-growls like a cheetah and bites me whenever i pick him up (he doesn't do this to josh very often, hence my belief that he is misogynistic hehe)
-doesn't answer to his name or come when called
-barks incessantly for no apparent reason, usually directed toward me (i think possibly he just hates me)

among other things. i'll be the first to admit that i don't know jack squat about dogs, and i think josh isn't as experienced as he claimed to be, either, so i'm really at a loss as to what to do here. i love the little shit so very much but he's driving me crazy, to the point where i almost dread coming home because i know i'm going to have to deal with growling and snarling and biting

how can we make this better? what will work for him? we've tried a firm "no" and a swat on the nose when he misbehaves, we've tried encouraging him to "be nice" when he's being snarly, we've tried rubbing his nose in poo when he messes on the floor . . . nothing seems to change his behavior. i just don't know why he feels the need to constantly lash out like this. is he not getting enough food? we feed him three times a day. we reward him with half a dog biscuit every time he poops outside and when he kennels up like a good boy (that's another thing--he seems to have no problem pooing in his kennel, either! i thought dogs weren't supposed to do that??).

anyway . . . help?

[Martrae]

You need to record (and watch!) every episode of the Dog Whisperer. Cesar Milan is the man.

[Gypsiyee]

1. Encouraging niceness when he's being snarly is only reinforcing the bad behavior. It's reassuring him that it's okay to snarl.

2. Rubbing his nose in poos is probably one of the oldest myths of things that work. It's mean and ineffective. You need to get him on a schedule.. it's a lot of work and patience, but if you don't do it when he's young it's going to be that much harder when he's older. He needs to go out at set times and eat at set times, and you need to stay out with him until you know he's gone poo. You only have so much poo in you.. if you do it outside, there won't be any left for inside. You'll get him in a habit of going at those times.. there are going to be accidents when you're training, it's just part of training. He's a puppy and needs to learn.. punishing him won't be half as effective as rewarding for good behavior. You have to make doing the right things a pleasant experience and reassure him that those are things he wants to do. Maybe when you take him out to poo, after he's poo'd give him a treat or a toy and let him play a while. I know you give him treats, but maybe let him have a toy instead and give him play time outside.. different things work for different dogs, just like people. Make his crate rewarding, make it a space he can be comfortable in and it'll be like his own little dog house. The more comfortable he is in his crate, the less likely he'll be to poo in it because he won't want to ruin his house.. right now he sounds like he's doing it out of spite.

Also, it's possible you're feeding him too much and that's why he's pooping everywhere.. 3 times a day is a lot depending on the serving size when you feed him. Dogs will eat themselves stupid - my dog Zoey once snuck in the cabinet and ate at least a third of a 25 pound bag of food.. when she was just a little puppy. She looked pregnant, she was irritable, and she was pooping for ages, including all over the house.

3. The biting might be a combination of anxiety and teething.. make sure he has ample toys around the house being used as rewards for good behavior

4. I don't know a lot about corgis, but I think they're high-energy dogs? The best thing you can do for any dog is lots and lots of exercise.. you need to socialize him while he's young, too, so find a local park with lots of dogs running around and take him there on the weekends. Make sure he walks every day, even twice a day if you can fit it into your schedule. Little stuff like this can fix a whole mess of behavioral problems.

5. Its possible he doesn't like you.. put yourself in your puppy's shoes. He's learning and exploring and all he knows is he's getting in trouble, has his face rubbed in feces and he senses that his owner doesn't like him around - dogs are intuitive, much more than we give them credit for. Bond with him, walk him, play with him, make sure he has his own puppy place and structure and he should be better.

6. His barking - when he misbehaves in that manner, simply ignore him and look away from him. Telling him no or giving him any other attention when he's asking for attention is only going to reinforce the barking. Negative or positive, attention is attention.

As far as not coming when he's called.. he's still very young.. he probably doesn't even know his name yet. You can teach things like come with commands while holding a treat.. keep backing away and give him another piece each time he comes to you when you call him.

I'm no dog pro or anything so take my word at what it's worth, it's just stuff I've learned the hard way with my own dogs in the past and watching what becomes of the wrong kind of training - my dad's pomeranian is terribly behaved, and watching the way he interacts with him it's obvious why - dogs need structure and consistency or they get confused and anxious. It's really that simple.

[Maeya]

Gypsy has really excellent advice for you, but extra emphasis on this one:

4. I don't know a lot about corgis, but I think they're high-energy dogs? The best thing you can do for any dog is lots and lots of exercise.. you need to socialize him while he's young, too, so find a local park with lots of dogs running around and take him there on the weekends. Make sure he walks every day, even twice a day if you can fit it into your schedule. Little stuff like this can fix a whole mess of behavioral problems.

And patience! It takes weeks to months before a dog is fully potty trained. Just make sure you walk him immediately after meals and after he drinks. Also playing seems to get the works moving as well, so after playing with him, walk him again. Walk him every 45 minutes, and praise him like crazy whenever he goes outside. Make a BIG DEAL out of it. The biggest thing, though, is you have to catch him in the act if you want to punish him for going inside. Dogs tend to forget stuff quickly, so if you come home and find an accident, and drag him over to it for punishment, you're just being a bully in his eyes. If you can catch him in the act and react with a "NO!" and immediately bring him outside and correct him, it's much more effective.


PetSmart has an 8-week, 1 hour per week puppy training class that I liked for our dog. It's $99 (I don't know how that compares to other classes), but it has great tips about how to potty train and correct, and it shows you good training techniques for basic commands (sit, stay, leave it, drop it, wait, come, and let's go!). It is taken with other dogs, so it allows you to socialize the puppy with others as well. The one I participated in allowed the dogs a few minutes of play time in the middle of the class to socialize and for a break. We also practiced taking the dogs for walks past other dogs and getting the dog to ignore them. It would be something to consider. Obedience training also helps raise a dog's self-esteem, so you don't develop submissive peeing issues, which are extremely frustrating. This teaches the dog a positive outlet to please you so it doesn't do it by pissing all over the floor to prove you're the dominant one. Instead it can great you by sitting and hand-shaking.

Anyway, good luck with the puppy - they're extremely frustrating, and take a ton of patience, but they're soooooo cute and rewarding once it's all done.


Also Caesar Milan, like Martrae said, has awesome advice, and a lot of it is just common sense. But he really teaches and shows you a good way to interact with your dog. My instinct is to praise them like crazy and fawn over them, and hug them, and show them I love them through affection, but not all dogs accept that type of attention. You have to speak to your dog in his language so he can understand what you're asking of him. Anyway, if you get a chance to catch a show or two, I also recommend it. Netflix it or something. It's a good show, and eye-opening. Plus I think he's cute.

[Naethyn]

Beat the shit out of it until it complies.

[Martrae]

Also, if you can't take him for a walk everyday you can train him to use a treadmill (if you have one).

Most importantly you need to make him see you as pack leader or he'll never listen to you and he'll be unhappy. I was dead serious about the Dog Whisperer. He'll show you how to do all that.

[Tikker]

Also, if you can't take him for a walk everyday you can train him to use a treadmill

well, I kinda think that if you can't take your dog for a walk everyday, you probably shouldn't have a dog

[araby]

I know a lot about dogs! Gyps gave good advice and I want to add to hers.

Animals pick up on your energy, and they will try to own you if you won't own them, first. when you say no, you have to say it calmly, and without any frustration, so that they know you mean business and aren't just upset with them. they'll ignore you being upset and continue the behavior.

when you walk the puppy, you go in and out of the doors FIRST. the puppy follows you.

one thing, is that crates work well for potty training. Pick up a dog training book and read how they describe the use of a crate for that. the puppy should only be in the crate for a small amount of time, during potty training and that's it.

another thing, puppies will go insane if they aren't exercised, a LOT. they get anxiety and chew everything, so walk and run and play ball with the puppy as much as you can. the dog needs to learn that things have a purpose. like, fetching ball. when you walk the dog, make sure you are walking him, and he's not walking you.

it takes a lot of patience and calmness, so that he knows who is in charge. 14 weeks is pretty young so he's probably still experiencing separation anxiety from his mama. stay calm and confident and talk to him, a lot. in your normal voice. don't yell at him and when you say "no" be sure you say "no" like he's a little baby. Just, "No" and use his name afterward. "No, puppy's name."

and be sure when he does something great to rub him and say, "good boy! puppy's name"

[Martrae]

Also, if you can't take him for a walk everyday you can train him to use a treadmill

well, I kinda think that if you can't take your dog for a walk everyday, you probably shouldn't have a dog

Why? All they're good for is taking on walks in your mind?

[Tikker]

no

what I'm saying is that it's pretty much a requirement to walk your dog at least once a day, and if you're not doing that, you probably shouldn't have a dog

[10sun]

Cook it.

MALAYSIA

[Griever]

Ashley beat me to it, I hear crate training is the best way to potty train a dog. You get a crate that is just big enough for the dog to spin around, but not big enough for it to poop in a corner and lay in the other. Dogs don't poop where they sleep.

Ashley is also right about giving him tons of exercise and attention. Puppies especially, get bored. When they are bored they cause mischief. It is the same as having a baby. Until he grows out of his puppy phase you are going to have to attend to him like a mother and keep him entertained.

[Evermore]

tazer.

[Martrae]

no

what I'm saying is that it's pretty much a requirement to walk your dog at least once a day, and if you're not doing that, you probably shouldn't have a dog

And there are times and circumstances when that's just not feasible. Like here it's rained nearly everyday for the past 2 weeks. And I'm talking t-storms. Walking a dog everyday would be difficult. Treadmill training is good for things like that.

Plus walking your dog is the time for your dog to get exercise and burn off energy. If your dog has other outlets for this (such as 3 kids that run her ragged all day long) then walking ISN'T a requirement.

[Arlos]

Indeed. My parents have 3 dogs, 2 of which are still fairly young. (The 3rd is over 14 years old, which is incredibly ancient for a big (85lb) dog, so she just sleeps all day). They let them out in the yard a lot, so they can run around on their own, paralleling people going by on the trail through the small patch of woods behind their lot. Also, the dogs love to chase after thrown balls, even if they haven't gotten the whole "bring the ball BACK" part down yet, so spending half an hour tossing baseball sized rubber balls from one end of the yard to the other gets them plenty tuckered out.

As for your dog's issues, Leah, definitely go to a puppy training class. Every dog is going to have its own individual foibles, and if you work with a professional, you'll be more likely to get them figured out and handled.

-Arlos

[Harrison]

lol...paying money to train a puppy...

[leah]

thanks guys . . . i think probably i'm just not spending enough time with him. most days i don't get home until 7 so i miss out on a lot of time spent with him and so i don't think we've bonded. josh gets home at 3-ish so he's had a lot of time with him and they're good pals.

i'm also probably very guilty of getting upset when he does bad things--i'm quick to get angry with him and that's probably not a good thing.

we've been trying to crate train him but i swear to you, he has no problem sleeping in his own poop, he's done it several times (although granted it's gotten much, much better--that was mostly when he was younger). and i know that part of the problem is he's in his cage for too long of stretches of time, but there's really not much i can do about it . . . i take him out to poop in the morning before i leave for work, about 7:45, and then kennel him up and then my mom comes over at around 10 to let him out and then i come home for lunch at 1-ish and let him out again and then josh gets home at 3. we do the best we can :S my friend sarah suggested that i should get some baby gates and let him roam the kitchen while we're at work so at least he'd have some room to move around and maybe wouldn't be so grumpy or resentful about being in his kennel but yet if he had to pee or poo it'd be easy to clean up off the linoleum.

anyway, i guess i just need to keep soldiering on. i'll definitely try to incorporate as many of these tips as i can, but it's so overwhelming and i just don't know what i'm doing at all, you know? anyway. thanks, all.

[Gypsiyee]

puppies being resentful at their kennel is a myth, really - if dogs are trained from a young age to go in their crate, it becomes like a bed is to us - it's comforting to them, it's their own space that is only theirs, not anyone else's.

i think a lot of people mistakingly look at crates as a prison for a dog - it's just not the case. that's not to say they should be in there forever and ever, but we wouldn't want to lie in our bedrooms forever either, would we

[Tikker]

no

what I'm saying is that it's pretty much a requirement to walk your dog at least once a day, and if you're not doing that, you probably shouldn't have a dog

And there are times and circumstances when that's just not feasible. Like here it's rained nearly everyday for the past 2 weeks.

you love to twist things~


i'm talking about the people who want to own a dog, but not put in the time to raise the dog properly

obviously missing a walk here or there isn't a big deal, but if you think you're going to own a dog and walk it/exercise it once a week, you shouldn't have the dog to begin with


do I need to spell it out any clearer?

[Martrae]

You were the one that flipped out over my suggestion to treadmill train and made a blanket statement that walking a dog every day was a requirement for owning one. I was just pointing out that that wasn't always feasible and gave a couple reasons why.

[Maeya]

Some dogs don't have a problem lying in their poop. The Norwegian Elkhound Ugzug had when he met me was one of those dogs. He would tell me about trying to potty train her and he'd come home from work and have to give her daily baths because she would be covered in her own poop. They grow out of it once they develop a little bit and can hold their impulses longer.

Letting them roam the kitchen - be prepared to have him chew on cabinets, rugs, and corners of the walls, because he will. It's possible he'll even manage to chew up your floor. Our current dog managed to eat a hole into the wall in the middle of the drywall. Not starting on any corners, just gnawed straight through the drywall and made a huge hole. Crate training is really the best way to go if you can't be home all day.

As was mentioned, the dogs see it as their den. It's their safe area. I feel guilt putting my dog in a crate when I leave sometimes, but she'll go in there and hang out voluntarily at times, so I know she doesn't resent it.

[leah]

He would tell me about trying to potty train her and he'd come home from work and have to give her daily baths because she would be covered in her own poop.

hah, exactly!! chester was the exact same way--though he's been much, much better lately, probably due in part to the fact that he's getting older but also because we have a more scheduled routine worked out now. we haven't given him a bath out of necessity in a couple weeks, which is good.

and yeah, he really doesn't mind his crate so much, so i guess it's not a prison or anything, but i do still feel kind of guilty. *shrug*

[leah]

also, we had a nice time together today at lunch. i made sure not to get upset with him when he got snarly and i spent a little extra time outside with him throwing a ball around, although he really, really sucks at the whole "fetch" concept. :P

[brinstar]

also, we had a nice time together today at lunch. i made sure not to get upset with him when he got snarly and i spent a little extra time outside with him throwing a ball around, although he really, really sucks at the whole "fetch" concept. :P

boy that ain't no lie

me: *throws ball* get it chester! get it!
chester: ok! i got it!
me: good job! bring it back!
chester: oh look, a clump of dirt
me: :psyduck:

[Arlos]

Heh, my parents' dogs are lousy about bringing them back too, but they still love to chase them. One in particular has a favorite ball, once she picks it up, she is never letting go. But if you throw more balls, she'll happily chase after them, without ever letting go of her favorite. So, generally I'll toss her favorite, then 4-5 more from one end of the yard to the other, then I'll walk over, collect up the balls, and toss them back to the original end. Then just do reps of that for a while til the dog gets tired out.

-Arlos