Recently, a reader asked, in the comments to this article, about some potty training issues she struggles with.

We got a dog. He is about a year and a half. He has been with us for about 2 months now and he has adapted well. When we got him, he was potty trained. He was doing fine at first, going outside and not in the house. Then, after a while, it started fading away. Now, he will go outside to pee, but he waits until he gets in the house to go poop. What do we do? We have tried a lot of stuff like letting him stay outside all day but he just waits until he comes in to go to the bathroom. We have also tried a spanking but, he just does it again. I’m pulling my hair out because I don’t know how to make him go outside, instead of inside. Can you please help me?

Photo courtesy of Pat Thomas of Photo Phetish

This story is a very common one.  Many people tell you that their dog is a potty trained angel, as they try to give him away.  In fact, a lot of people classify their dog as “potty trained,” but if he pees on the floor, or he poops on the floor…  Guess what?  He IS NOT potty trained!  Potty training is a very black and white issue.  Either a dog IS or IS NOT potty trained.  There is no middle ground or room for qualifiers.

If your expectation is that your dog will consistently wait twelve hours inside before “getting busy,” you should reconsider your situation with your schedule, your dog, or your expectations.  If he cannot hold it that long every day, it is not his fault when he goes in the house before you let him out.  If your schedule does not allow you to be home for your pup more often than that, consider getting a professional dog walker or pet sitter to visit your house during your work day.

Specifically for this commenter, I suggest that you revisit the basics of potty training, for both your sake and your dog’s.  Also, examine your potty routine with your dog by asking yourself these questions:

• Do you have an established potty spot?  If not, establish one and take your dog out to that same spot every time.  Dogs like consistency and routine.
• Are you immediately praising each successful outside #1 and #2?  If not, carry some treats in your pocket on your walks and totally overreact positively when your dog does something you want.
• Are you walking your dog on a leash?  Naturally, you will need a leash to control that he stays in his potty spot until he does his business.  Give him up to 15 minutes to do his business.  Since this is not a walk (for fun and exercise), do not walk around.  You have taken your dog to his potty spot for him to get down to business.
• Are you confining him to his crate, if he does not “get busy” outside?  If he is not successful outside, take him back in the house and put him in his crate or confine him to a small room.  Dogs do not generally like to soil the area they sleep in, and most potty training dogs spend their nights in a confined area or crate.  After five or ten minutes, take him back outside for another opportunity, going out the same door, to the same spot, and give him a command to potty.  Mom uses “get busy” to pee and “big busy” for poop.

If he continues having accidents in the house, he has lost his privilege to roam the house freely.  Remember Potty Training Rule #1: If you cannot physically keep your eye on the dog while he is in the house, he must be put in his confined area.  He must also wear a leash so that when you catch him soiling, you can say NO very sternly and take him immediately outside to his potty spot.  You must catch him in the act of soiling or you cannot correct it.  It is also important to note that you should never allow your dog to see you clean up his mess.  Speaking of cleaning, use Simple Solution, or something like it, to completely eliminate the odor from his past indiscretions in the house.

As with all training, you must be consistent with this until you have successfully eliminated accidents inside.

Recently, I got an e-mail from a concerned pet parent about some interestingly-named pups.  Bae-Bae and Blue are a new addition and almost an angel, respectively, so we are going to focus on Cartman and Butters.  Cartman is still very much an immature puppy. Though he seems to be potty-trained when out of the crate, but he will poop and pee in it, sometimes plopping down right in it.  Though he is going outside for potty breaks more frequently, he is not “getting busy” during  the extra trips outside.  Butters is a little older, and he has started marking in the house, sometimes pooping, so he is certainly not what I would call “house trained.”  His mom never catches him pooping, finding his little “prizes” long after he has left them, but she can sometimes catch him marking territory.  Butters can also be quite aggressive with outside people, and he has bitten a few people.

Photo Courtesy of Comedy Central

First things first, get those dogs neutered as soon as possible.  You are sitting on a powder keg of testosterone among the three pups, and I would not want to be around when it explodes!  You should also have Bae-Bae spayed soon after she is old enough.  I know that it can be expensive to get your dog fixed, but it is certainly worth not bringing any puppies into a world with so many puppies in need of homes.  You will also see a tremendous change in behavior in your boys.

Butters is the one that concerns me the most.  We need to establish the hierarchy in this pack.  Humans should be the ultimate alphas, and that certainly is not the case.  Being the ultimate alpha, you must never show any form of submission.  You should never allow any of the dogs see you cleaning up their waste, because that is a job reserved for the lowest members in the pack.  Following this rule, you will start down the right road with both Butters and Cartman on the .

The next thing to do is to follow Mom’s #1 training rule: YOU CANNOT TRAIN WHAT YOUR CANNOT CONTROL!  To do this, you will need to put a six foot non-retractable leash on each dog anytime they are outside of the crate.  If you find that you have a problem with leash-chewing, spray them with Bitter Apple, or something equally heinous in taste.  It is also imperative that they be put in a confined place, like their crates, if you cannot physically keep your eyes on each of them.  Roaming free in the house is a privilege that must be earned, and that privilege is lost when they soil the house, be it marking or otherwise.

Remember, you cannot correct a dog for misbehavior, unless you catch him in the act.  you cannot correct it.  What I mean is, if you find waste on the floor, you need to ask, “Where was I when the dog did this?”  If you have to ask yourself that question, YOU are at fault for not keeping an eye on your dog.  If you do catch your dog soiling, you must say a very stern “NO” and take the dog to his outside potty spot.  If your dog runs in the opposite direction, all you have to do is step on his leash.  BINGO! You are back in charge.  If you stick to the advice above,  there should not be any reason that you cannot stop this behavior.

Why does he run to the crate?  Butters’ mom stated that he knows he has done wrong, but he actually does not know that what he did was wrong.  What he DOES know is that marking territory, soiling in the house, or hiding his poop and waiting for you to find it is a fun game to play. You follow him to his crate, and you pay attention to him.  Dogs do not care what kind of attention we get.  Even negative attention, like screaming at him, is okay.  To us, negative attention is almost as good as positive attention.  What is it that Butters gets for all his hard work?  ATTENTION.

Your pack order should go like this: YOU, Butters (alpha dog), and Blue will be the omega.  Bae-Bae and Cartman will work out the “second in command” position.  In fact, they may make it so that one holds it one day and the other the next.  The only position you need to worry about is the alpha position.  As the alpha, Butters should be greeted first, fed first, and “treated” first.  By treating Butters special, you are sending a sending a message to the others that HE is the alpha dog, but you need to reinforce the fact that he is NOT above you.  You still need to go through the door in front of Butters, eat in front of him (without sharing), and ignore him when he demands attention.  Remember, YOU are the ultimate alpha, and everything is up to YOU!

As for Cartman, he thinks that it is his job to “get busy” in the crate.  Since he has done it before, you have probably cleaned his crate in front of him, and you probably talked to him while you cleaned.  What did that teach Cartman?  If he soils the crate, he gets attention from you.  Cartman’s view of these actions are that you enjoyed them so much, it is his job to keep doing it.

The first thing that you should do with Cartman is to reduce the size of his crate.  He needs only enough room to stand up and turn around.  There should be no blankets or bedding of any sort in there with him.  When he stops soiling his crate, he has earned having a blanket.  Until then, you should clean his crate with Simple Solution, a cleaning solution that truly removes the odor of a dog’s mess.  It goes without saying that you should clean the crate outside of his presence.

I also suggest that you feed your dogs a “premium” dog food.  I know it costs more, but there are numerous benefits that outweigh that slight difference in cost.  For one, the dogs will need less of it to satisfy them, so they will not expel as much waste.

The neutering of your male dogs should be your top priority, as it will result in some serious behavioral changes nearly immediately.  Since it is obvious that neither Butters nor Cartman is fully potty trained, your first training focus should be correcting that.  Make sure that you bookmark my Potty Training page for any issues that pop up there.

As for Butters’ aggression issues, we can talk about that once you have addressed the neutering, marking, and indoor soiling issues.  Keep me up to date on the situation.

A few days ago, a friend on Twitter suggested that I weigh in on some issues of an all around “bad dog.”  The problems described to me include growling and bearing his teeth at the family’s 10 month old son and his 6 y old cousin.  He also has some potty training issues, as well as some chewing and scratching of household objects like furniture and door jambs.

I would like to address the issue of most concern to me, and that is the relationship between the dog and the children.  I like to remind humans that dogs and children are not always a good match, especially young children.  Young children have a knack for viewing everything as a playmate or a toy.  Some children simply play too rough, even hurting the dog.  Six years old is about the right age to begin teaching a child how to play with a dog properly.  If you need some direction about teaching your children about dog safety, check out this video.

My suggestion is to never, ever leave any child alone with a dog.  Just as young children do not know how to play with a dog, dogs do not know that they cannot nip and “chew” on children the same way they can with adults.  We play rough naturally, unless we are taught the right way to play.  Since children can also play rough, neither are too good at reading each others body language to know if their pending action will hurt the other.  Typically, children use quick, jerky motions that indicate to a dog that he needs to protect himself, which is a disaster waiting to happen.

Like dogs, children like to play chase, and when they catch their prey, they get very excited.  Often, this can result in the child falling on the dog or holding him against his will.  This is a situation that the dog does not understand this, and he may react negatively to it.  If the roles reverse, it is not just a game of chase for the dog.  Because of the smaller size, he can think that he is  hunting prey.  Dogs generally catch slower “prey” and if the “prey drive switch” is flipped on, he does not care if it is a rabbit or a small child!  As we all know, children are not prey, and due to their newfound mode of transportation, toddlers are especially vulnerable.  They are still learning to walk, and they have many accidents.  We are not aware of accidents, and we do not realize that a child does not mean to do us harm.  However, we will react and not always in a good way.

Your dog needs to learn proper socialization skills with humans, especially the smaller ones.  I suggest that you place a leash on your dog to control his actions.  Remember, YOU CANNOT TRAIN WHAT YOU CANNOT CONTROL. With the leash attached, you will be able to confine him to a timeout area if he growls and shoes teeth toward any human, regardless of size or age.  Dogs are among the most social creatures on the face of the earth, and we do not like to be banished away from everything.  You should use a stern “NO” as you pick up the leash, but nothing more.  You do not want to give him any more attention for a negative action.  After a few instances, he will associate growling and showing teeth with the banishment, learning that behavior is not a “good” one.  This is not something that will be learned immediately, so you will have to repeat this until he learns.  When you are training your pup, you cannot do something once and decide it did not work.  The bulk of training is repetition.

If your dog still poops on the floor, that means he is not fully potty trained.  That is no fault of the dog, because an untrained dog is caused by a bad owner.  My suggestion in correcting this problem is to consult my potty training guide, and if you run into trouble, there are several articles to support you here.

To tackle the chewing problem, you can do two things to correct the behavior.  First, as a preventative action, you should spray Bitter Apple or something equally poor tasting on the areas where he chews.  If you opt not to spray, you cannot correct him for it, unless you catch them in the act.  Now, keep your eye on him and if you catch him chewing, give him a firm “NO” and put him in the confined area we discussed above.

Keep me posted on your progress!

Have you met Morgan the dog?  You probably recognize him from his inclusion in Spike’s Pack in May 2009.  This August, he will be moving into an apartment/condo setting as his mom starts graduate school.  All of the graduate students I have met are pretty busy people, and Morgan’s mom is a little worried about the possibility of days where she may not be able to get home from classes and stuff to let him out before his needs trump her schedule, if you know what I mean.  She asked me my thoughts on litter boxes or potty box products like the Porch Potty.

I have seen many litter boxes in my day, since I have several feline friends, but until Morgan’s mom asked me, I had not even heard of the Porch Potty.

Getting back to Morgan, it is important to note that he is totally housebroken.  In fact, he handles potty time and potty spots so well, that when he he visits other people’s homes, he only needs to be shown once which door goes outside for potty time, and he will consistently ask to go out that door, holding it in until he is outside.

Since Morgan is a small dog, I think that a litter box could be a very cool thing, but it may provide some mixed signals for him, since he is so well-behaved about potty time.  There are some days, mainly the really hot, really rainy, or really cold days, that I would like to have a little box inside to protect me from the elements.  Unfortunately, we have not seen one large enough for me.  Ever wonder what a litter box for a 110 pound Golden Retriever would look like?  Let me know if you see one.

Dogs are pretty smart about this potty stuff.  In fact, most of the time when people complain about their dog’s potty habits, it is usually something that the people did, or did not do that is the problem.  Once you start unloading things in Morgan’s new home, place the litter box in its permanent location.  Show Morgan where his new potty place is, and if the new place is large, you may have to confine Morgan with the litter box until he figures out the new location and uses it on the “long days.”

Keep in mind that moving can be traumatic for dogs, since they do not really understand what is happening.  During the packing and moving activities, try to keep the new routine as close to the old one as possible.  Morgan will have to learn new doors to enter and exit, where his new potty spot is, and where his toys and bowls have moved.  Even with a dog as smart as Morgan, there may even be a few accidents at first, but do not get upset.  Morgan has not forgotten everything he learned, he is still figuring things out in the new place!

Mom and I have taught a few classes about dog litter boxes.  Here in Atlanta, there are many high-rise apartment and condominium buildings, and that number keep growing.  The people that live in those buildings do not want to run down stairs or catching an elevator when it is potty time for their pup!

One time, Mom taught a class and one of the students lived in one of those big condo buildings in Buckhead, a swanky part of Atlanta.  Although the class was specifically about potty training, it never fails that people have questions about all kinds of other dog stuff.  In this class, someone asked about flea control, so Mom explained the options available to declare war on them.  The guy from Buckhead decided this was an appropriate time to announce to the whole class that his dogs did not have any fleas, did not get any fleas, etc.  He further explained that the reason his dog was flealess is because he lived in the Buckhead neighborhood!  Mom, the never-ending comedienne, asked the man if the fleas in Atlanta jumped off of dogs when they passed the “Welcome to Buckhead” sign?  After class, I suggested that perhaps there was a very small sign located under the welcoming sign that read, “Fleas Not Allowed.”

Training for the Porch Potty will be much the same, and I suggest you start using it before the move, if possible.  In the interest of full disclosure, after learning about the Porch Potty and trying one out, I became an affiliate for their company.  As you may have noticed, Mom and I do not endorse just anything.  To get my pawed seal of approval, I have to make sure it meets my standards.  If you find that it fits your needs, you can get $15 off by entering “askspikeonline” in the coupon code field.

When it is potty time for your dog, do you:

• take your dog for a walk when it is potty time?
• have a yard that you can just let him or her out the door and the potty magic just happens?
• have your dog use a litter box or Porch Potty?
• let your dog come and go at will via a “doggie door”?

Deep down inside, if we had a choice, we would probably not wear a leash, if humans had a choice (and a well-behaved dog off-leash), they probably would not leash their dogs either.  In most cities and towns across the country, a dog being off-leash outside of private property is illegal, since they have leash laws in effect.

For many pups, potty time is a pretty particular and peculiar exercise.  We can be super picky when it comes to finding a potty spot, but when we find it, we definitely know what to do.  Sometimes, the problem comes when you try to make the potty spot mobile.  When you are introducing us to the “special spot” in the yard during potty training, you need to give us a command word to potty, so that we can associate that word with the action in the future.  Feel free to choose whatever command word you wish.  Some common ones I have heard are potty or pee pee.  You are also welcome to use my word, which is “GET BUSY.”

Whenever it is time for me to potty, I give Mom a little signal, and she will ask me “Spike, do you need to GET BUSY?”  I respond with a bark and/or turning in circles and leading her to the door.  Whether it is a walk, or I am let out into the backyard, Mom ALWAYS says, “Spike, GET BUSY.”  I know that means to find a spot to pee in the yard, near where we are walking, or wherever I may be.  If Mom says, “Spike, BIG BUSY,” I know that means the same thing, but for poop.

As a pup, I learned this as we went out to my potty spot.  Whenever I would find a spot and start to pee, Mom went crazy, giving me a treat, and praising me by saying, “Good get busy, good get busy!”  When I would find a spot and begin the infamous squat to poop, Mom would go nuts again, treat me and say, “Good big busy, good big busy!”  She did this over and over until I figured out what the difference between get busy and big busy was.  She would also tell me to GET BUSY in places other than my usual potty spot.

It has nothing to do with the leash, but everything to do with understanding and complying with the command, which makes the potty spot mobile.

This article is a part of our Potty Training Page.

Relatively near our office in metro Atlanta, there is a fence company that does not actually build a fences.  They install Invisible Fence.  Are you skeptical too?  At first, I thought that Mom was playing a joke on me, because even I know that you should not buy a fence you cannot see.  I told her that I thought it was fake.  After all, what good is a “fence” going to do if there is nothing to stop me from running in places I am not wanted.  She explained that they install stuff  and attach something to a dog’s collar that keeps them from going outside the yard.  I still had my doubts, so I asked Mom if she would ask them a few questions for me.  I doubt that they know how smart I am, and there is no way they have someone in their offices that speaks dog as well as Mom does.

Since this was my first encounter with an “Invisible Fence,” my initial questions were pretty basic informational ones.  I found out that an invisible fence is actually a system where a wire outlines the areas that are meant to contain a dog, and that wire sends a radio frequency to a receiver on the dog’s collar.  That collar can emit a beep, vibration, or static pulse (similar to touching a doorknob after walking across carpet) when it receives the radio signal that the collar, and the dog it is attached to, come too close to the pre-determined boundary.  They use a “patented, vet & behaviorist approved training program” during and after the installation to teach pets to stay within the prescribed boundaries.

Since there are different correction methods, I was curious to know how it is determined which to use.  The fence company has animal trainers that come to train the pets about the boundaries set for them in the yard.  Apparently, this even works for cats or indoors.  The trainers that follow the installation team set an appropriate correction level, depending on the pet, often starting with a beep, working up to the static correction, if necessary.

Since I am such a smart dog, I figured out that once a dog got past the wire, the collar would just stop its beep, vibration, or static correction.  They must have thought about that too, because the correction is sustained for several seconds upon breaking the plane of the boundary, but it does not continue indefinitely.  Maybe they do speak dog after all, because I am sure a human did not figure that out.  They probably have a resident dog on staff to help them figure things like this out.

There is an animal trainer involved shortly after installation to work with the dog, as well as the family, to define the boundary and how to use their tools for containment.  Teaching the family and the pet is the most important part of safe containment, so the office has at least one full-time trainer on staff to make sure that everyone understands how to use the system, pets included.  Mom said they would not provide me with a wiring diagram or full details on how to dismantle the system, so my four-legged readers will have to try getting their parents to get that for them.  I think she may have some plans for Tax, Molly, and I and this “fence” thing.

I wanted to see if I could fool the system by running really fast past the boundary, but the receiver continues correcting for a number of seconds outside of the boundary, making the “break-out dash” completely useless.  The training program for the pets teaches them to return to home upon triggering the correction method.

They were really friendly to Mom and even talked to me for a few minutes.  They said that Web-savvy pups can find out more information at their website, but they assured Mom that the shut-off switch information was not included.

After discussing it with Mom, we agreed that we could recommend it for dogs that are generally well-behaved, especially if signage is utilized to inform passersby of the containment system.  However, if your dog is fearful or shows any signs of aggression, a more traditional fence will probably be a better option.

If you have not noticed already, there is now a page of helpful information just below the header wedged between the pages for Spike’s Pack and the Reader Photo Gallery that contains some helpful information for those of you in need of potty training help.  If you do not want to scan for it, check out this link instead.

Last week, I received an e-mail from a reader that had just adopted a pit bull puppy, but she and her son were having the problems described here:

We have a pit bull puppy who refuses to go outside. We have to drag him on a walk. Then, if we stop, he turns and runs back to our apartment. He knows the way from wherever we go. He was potty trained when we got him, but that is fading fast, because he won’t go outside.

The first thing I have to say is “Congratulations” on the expansion of your family, and I wish to extend a special thank you for choosing to have a dog of that breed.  I have always said that pit bulls are not born bad, they are just raised that way.

Unfortunately, there was no age specification about this puppy, so I will have to do some guessing.  Keep in mind that young puppies do not know what a leash is.  Continue Reading

Recently, a year-old border collie named Suki contacted me about some problems she is having with her people and some things they are expecting from her in the potty department.  She is in step with my potty training guide, and she even likes to sing along with the song, but things just are not clicking yet.

I was shocked that there was a border collie with any problems.  I thought their only problems revolved around not being able to operate cars, get a job, or perform brain surgery.  It seems that they have mastered everything else.  To Suki’s human, I seriously doubt that there is anything mentally wrong with your dog, but one thing does come to mind. Continue Reading

With winter upon us, I fully expected this question to come from my readers.  In fact, I expected it earlier than I received it.  This is a story all too familiar to me.  When I was about 10 months old, Mom opened the curtains one day when it was time to go out, and there was this white stuff all over my yard.  When she opened the door and said, “Get busy.”  I had walked out onto the patio, and I turned back to look at my mom.  Where exactly did she intend for me to get busy? Continue Reading