02 NovEpisode 92 | Dog Training Q and A! 10/29/2020: Helping a puppy pee when its pouring and how to occupy your dog inside
Join Annie Grossman for a live Q and A most Thursdays.
In this episode, Annie answers questions about how to deal with a young puppy who is scared to relieve himself outside when it is pouring, suggests how to keep dogs occupied inside, and discusses why dogs lift their legs when they pee, and more.
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Transcript:
Annie:
Hey everyone. This is a bonus Q and A episode. I try and answer questions live every Thursday. You can sign up to come to my free live Q and A at schoolforthedogs.com/QandA. And you will see the next one I'm doing. I then am trying to take recordings of those Q and A's and post them here to the podcast feed. If you have a question, you can email me directly Annie@schoolforthedogs.com. You can also go to anchor.fm/dogs and record your question there. Thanks for being here.
[music]
So I am going to be answering some questions. I have at least one that's on my agenda. Hi Lily. Hi Yolanta. But I think I'm probably gonna keep this pretty short because I'm not feeling great, but I took an aspirin, and I had a drink. [Laughs] And then I have another drink here that I'm sipping. So this isn't a drinking problem, I have, it's a drinking solution.
Lily, where are you joining from? Yolanta as we know is in the borough of Staten Island. Yolanta, I'm curious, if you–last week we talked about you paying your neighbor to help you. I'm curious how that worked out. And I'm curious if you saw the movie The King of Staten Island. Cause I thought it was kind of like a sweet ode to Staten Island, but then I wondered how actual Staten Island people felt.
Oh, Lily is in Kips Bay. Well then we are neighbors. Okay, Lily, since you're here and you've already asked me a question, let's start with you. So Lily asked:
My puppy is six months and hasn't learned how to pee with his legs standing up. Will he ever learn? Great question? I don't know. Some dogs are always going to prefer peeing in a squat. My dog, sometimes squats, sometimes lifts his leg. Some female dogs prefer lifting their leg to squatting. I think there will probably be a day where all of a sudden out of nowhere he'll lift his leg and you'll feel very proud, but I wouldn't worry about it.
I think that I think that one of the reasons, I don't think I'm making this up. I think I've read about this, but I think one of the reasons we think dogs lift their leg is so that they appear bigger. Isn’t that interesting. Like, you know, one reason probably why little dogs have big ferocious barks is because they want dogs that are far away to think they're bigger than they are. And one way to make dogs who might never meet you think that you're more ferocious and should be treated with respect is if they smell you, and they smell your pee way up there.
I should also apologize. My husband is also on a call right now for work. He is helping wealthy kids get into expensive colleges in the other room. So if you hear that in the background, apologies.
So yeah, I wouldn't worry if he isn't lifting his leg, but I'm curious if maybe he will. I don't remember when my dog started lifting his leg, but six, seven, eight months. It sounds like it might be happening.
And then we have a question here that came in from Mary Jane who is in Concepcion, Chile. She has a dog named Kenny, a mixed breed about 30 pounds. And Mary Jane says:
I am having trouble teaching my dog to wear a harness and collar. I put a plate with bits of chicken to lure her as soon as she puts her head through it and the harness rests on her neck, but then she backs off. She is very touch sensitive. We've been four months together, and just a month ago she allowed me to pet and touch her across her body. She neither likes it when my hand rests on that soft spot of her neck.
So, I like dog training solutions that are as easy as possible. And my, my first suggestion here to solve this problem is to keep her harness and collar on so that you're not having to worry about taking it. You're not having to worry about taking it on and off. And also if it's on her, she's going to become more accustomed to it. Or at least keep one of those things on, if you're talking about both a harness and a collar. But, we like to teach dogs to do a touch, like whether they're touching a hand or a target stick. And often we use that to lure the dog through something like a harness.
Now, it sounds like you're saying she's quite touch sensitive. You could start with something harness-like, or sort of like some sort of loop that she has to put her head through. It could be the harness itself, but you just want her feeling really psyched about putting her head through that loop, even if there's not chicken on the other side. That's one nice thing I think about teaching targeting is that you're teaching a dog to do this action that is going to result in a reward, but it's not just like there's food, there's food and following the food, I’m following the food.
Luring I think can cause dogs to do less active thinking. It's less of a choice and it's more just like there's food in front of my face, I better just go towards it. Separating the food from the challenge is a way to give your dog a little bit more choice, a little bit more agency.
So I suggest taking a step back. Keep the stuff on or so you're not having to worry about getting it on and off and so that she can get used to it. Or at the very least put it on her before you're going to feed her a meal or before she's going to do something enjoyable. So she can associate wearing it with like good food, good experience, et cetera.
And then work at teaching her to put her head through something, whether that's the harness or just a loop of fabric or whatever, by having her target your hand or some kind of target stick. you know, you could just use like a backscratcher or a pencil even. And then you're going to click or say the word yes or whatever when she touches that thing and then give her the treat. So it becomes more of a behavior that you're actively teaching her rather than an action that you're just luring her to to do.
Mary Jane. I don't know if Mary Jane is in here. I like the name Mary Jane. My name is Anna Jane. So partial to double-barrel names with Jane. Rhonda, my dear, dear good friend is here. Rhonda, do you want to come on and chat about this? Press the speak button.
Rhonda has a new puppy named Bowie who I was lucky enough to meet last weekend. Bowie is a red Teddy poodle about nine months old and what like nine pounds or something like that. Tiny, tiny. And Rhonda says that Bowie has been peeing and pooping in the house all day because of the rain. Letting Rhonda in. Yeah. Bowie is so sweet. I have a soft spot for all poodle dogs.
Amos. You want to say hi to everybody? Yeah. Rhonda let's see. Hi, you hear me? Yeah, he wasn't feeling well, but he's in my, we're both not feeling well. Say hi, buddy. Hi. … I can hear you.
Rhonda:
You can hear me. Okay. So, anyway sorry…so Bowie is, as you said, he's nine weeks old and he's super cute. Nine weeks. Almost 10 weeks… So he's been really good about going to the potty for the most part, like we probably have one accident a day, but he's been really good at night. We wake him up, he wakes up once a night, we take him out and we take him outside, cause we live in a house in the suburbs.
And you know, we sometimes have a little miss, but he's been good, but we take him out a lot. Like, because I've got two kids and he's probably out all the time. So today, so it's been raining all week. He can, he's been good outside in the rain, like the first day, like it was kind rainy. He kinda got nervous about the water, but then he was kind of just drinking it. He thought it was really fun to just lick the water.
But then today's really cold and hard rain, and he just was freaked out. Wouldn't go out, would just go right back to the door. So then we kind of got him treats and we would try to praise him with treats. And then we got him under the table in the backyard and we would give him treats, and then he would sort of wander on the table. And then he got a little confident where he was kind of exploring a little bit, but he just won't go.
So he's had like 12 accidents today and then [inaudible] the house, and he was very upset. And then, I don't really want to use a Wee Wee pad. Cause one, I’d have to train him to go on the Wee Wee pad, cause he's never used it. And then we've been good. So my son suggested that we move the back deck table to the door, the side door. So it's just right outside the door, so then he can go under the table and then he can just be under the table.
And my husband suggested that we have him go in the garage, but that's kind of far away. He has to walk through the rain across the backyard and it's really cold and raw. But we had like basically went through, I, I can't even count how many times he peed, like full bladder, just like everything.
Annie:
So, okay, so hi, I am on the — aww Bowie you could pee all over me, whatever you want, man. I bet you have the cutest poops.
Rhonda:
There's very little. [laughs]
Annie:
[laughs] He’s so cute. Aw.
So I think Theo's idea is a totally good one. Okay. Bring that over in the doorway with him. Even if he's not peeing and pooping, cause you got to remember, like he's only been with you for like 10 days and every day is full of incredibly new and potentially scary things. So for a nine week old puppy to be peeing and pooping a little bit inside, cause he's scared to go out in the rain, to me, is totally normal. Because I mean just going outside at all without his mom and other puppies being around is relatively new. And being in your house is relatively new, and the sounds of being near a street are relatively new. There's so much that's new to this little guy that I would just like give him a break.
Now that does not mean let him pee and poop all over your house. But one reason why we tend to recommend using crates is because when a dog is in a crate, he's not also going to be peeing and pooping all over the place. If you’re not using a crate, you can have him, in a bag on you, like carry him in a bag around the house.
Rhonda:
We've been crating him a lot today. Like more than normal.
Annie:
Right. And then when you take 'em out of the crate or you take them out of the bag, then you have an opportunity right away to let him go where you want him to go. And I don't think it's a bad idea to teach him, sometimes you go on a Wee Wee Pad when there's a wee wee pad down. Especially because he's a small dog and you're very likely going to want to travel with him. And you might end up on a plane ride where you need to put a wee wee pad down in the airport or put it in the airplane bathroom.
You might find that you're staying you're staying in a high rise building at a friend's house and it's a pain to get outside, you know? You're just going to teach them to go on a Wee Wee Pad the same way that you're teaching them to go outside by putting him there when you're pretty sure he has to go.
And that's why it's so important to be putting him in a crate and carrying him and doing all these things where you're not really giving them an opportunity to go. So that, you know, you're kind of like, sure, I think this is a bathroom moment. And then, put it like in a corner somewhere where you can kind of corner him into that spot at those moments, when you think he needs to go.
And then the pee pee pad or wee wee pad or whatever you want to call it, you wait, you can just use newspaper. You don't have to use a pad. That's one of the uses still for newspaper. Modern media has not replaced the need.
Rhonda
Okay. Yeah. Because weirdly is he doesn't like the wee wee pad. We have one in the car that we had, you know, when we first got him and then he gets really stressed on it. And then we put the wee wee pad once in his crate, one of his first nights, cause we were just like, I dunno, not worried. And he refused to go in the crate until we took it out. Like he wouldn’t step on it. Like, he's kind of, I don't know what it is.
Annie:
Right. Again, I wouldn’t worry. I mean, I would just find some corner in your house where you can kind of use your bodies to roughly keep him in that general area or like arrange the furniture so that — not alone. Like you should basically be there with him, not on the wee wee pad, but I'm picturing, you have it in a corner and then there's maybe like two feet perimeter on two sides, and you're standing there kind of just hanging out with him. But the point is, he should have to go in the moments when you're putting him.
Rhonda:
Okay. So like on the times, like when we take him outside to go to the bathroom, we do the same thing. Like, so put him by the wee wee pad instead, and then
Annie:
By the wee wee pad instead, or you can try putting them under that table that's right outside. You said he's okay under the table. And Theo had that bright idea, and I think it's a good one. You could also drape the table with something so that like the outside world is a little bit less scary.
What you could also do, and I've known people who do this, is teach him to pee and poop in the bathtub. So put him in the bathtub instead, especially cause you guys have more than one bathroom.
Rhonda:
I know glories of the suburbs.
Annie:
You can even put the wee wee pad in the bathtub. And that might be a way to kind of like contain him a little bit. Or put it in the shower if you have like a standup shower.
Rhonda:
Oh okay. Put him in the bathtub and then he can go there instead of us having to..
Annie:
Yeah. Cause dogs tend to like to go on like soft absorbent stuff. You can also buy like fabric Wee Wee pads. Actually, I don't know why those aren't more popular. It seems like a really good idea to me, fabric pads, because you can reuse them
Rhonda:
Instead of the disposable ones which are plastic into the atmosphere. No, that's a good idea. Okay. So we could try that and then yeah, with the outside one..
Annie:
You could also try putting like a piece of fabric over. Well, also if you have the table over the area right outside your door, it's going to get less wet there. And David's idea that you could walk him to the garage is also not a bad idea, but I mean just logistically,
Rhonda:
Logistically it's a pain. It's not really realistic.
Annie:
You could carry him there, but you might as well use this as an opportunity to teach him to do some things that actually could be useful in the future. Whereas like he's not going to learn to go out to the garage by himself. I mean you don’t have a fenced in yard, right?
Rhonda:
Not yet.
Annie:
So like teaching him to go in the garage isn't really gonna..
Rhonda:
No, once it’s fenced in he’ll never be near it. But like, Oh, the other thing is that with the wee wee pad and I'm sorry, I'm taking up everybody's time. But with the wee wee pad is, are we training him then to pee in the house?
Annie:
Look, I mean, we usually don't suggest people use wee wee pads as much as you might because yeah. Like why confuse the dog? If they have the opportunity to go in and out, then why would they choose to go out? Just focus on going outside. I think you should focus on having him go outside. But that doesn't mean there can't also be an indoor option.
I wouldn't leave the wee wee pad out. I think that's where people make the mistake. You can go on the wee wee pad when it's out, but it's not gonna be out all the time. Then it becomes like a cue, like with people. Like I can go to the bathroom when there's a bathroom, but there's not always a bathroom. [laughs]
Rhonda:
Right. Cuse right now he thinks his whole house is his wee wee pad.
Annie:
Right. So you might as well teach him that when it's really bad outside and you're scared to go outside, or when whatever the situation is that you, dear puppy, don't understand, and you see this white and blue square on the ground, you can go.
But, like I was saying, part of the reason we don't want people to rely on that is because you don't want your dog to every time they see something, that's square and squishy on the ground, they're like, Oh, I'm going to go pee on that. That's why it's better to put more money in the bank account or like going outside is where it's at. However, dogs can learn to pee and poop in more than one place just like us.
Rhonda:
So we could do the weewee pad maybe by the door, like the same spot where he goes to go outside, we can put the wee wee pad there, or would that be good?
Annie:
Yeah, again, I just wouldn't leave it out. I would put it out, put it in some sort of cornered area, put him down there when you're pretty sure he has to go. When he does go, throw a party: bacon, turkey, you know, pets and snuggles, all of it, just like you should also do outside.
You can use your cue word if you want to use a potty word. Say, go potty as you he’s starting to go, one time.
Again, the object itself is the cue. Oh, that object is down. Good things happen when I pee on that object. So if I see that object, maybe I'll go pee on it.
I think if you're starting at this age also like nine weeks old, like you're going to have some accidents. He doesn't have like, you know, full grownup bladder control.
Rhonda:
Right. And we've been having like one a day, which, somebody would be like, Oh, it looks like he's about to pee. And then somebody would not take him out.
Annie:
Does he tend to go on like rugs or anything?
Rhonda:
No, well he went on downstairs and the basement and we pulled up all the rugs in the basement. So mostly we keep him in the basement and the kitchen, which are both all linoleum and vinyl, so there's no rugs. And so we don't let him into — he's gone once in Theo's room, which has a rug. And now he can't go into his room anymore unless he's like carried. So we keep him out of all the rooms that have, like, nice rugs.
Annie:
I think all of that's really smart. And I think what you should do is just not let him have, — if you think there is pee or poop, use that house training log. Like if you think he has pee and poop inside of him, he should not be roaming around free. He should bring him outside under that table. And if that's too much for him, then take him right away and put him on the wee wee pad.
Do not put them on the wee wee pad though, and then take him outside, because if he's gone on the wee wee pad, we want that behavior to be thoroughly reinforced. And if he has any fear at all about going outside, you don't want the going outside to follow him doing the good thing of peeing and pooping.
But in conjunction with putting down the wee wee pad, I would suggest just spending some time with him with the door open while it's raining, with the kids, like hanging out with him near the open door. Just so he can become accustomed to that. Feed him his dinner one piece at a time, sitting on the stoop or under the awning, on your stoop kind of thing.
Rhonda:
Okay. All right. We'll try. Although none of us really want to be out there either.
Annie:
Well it doesn’t have to be outside. I just mean like somewhere where at least he's like —
Rhonda:
He can hear it.
Annie:
Yeah. If you wanted to use a clicker, you could click every time he even looks outside and then give the treat. But we start with criteria zero, like you can just start with rewarding him for just being even near the outside. Okay. Anyway, he's so cute. I was so happy to meet him so glad he came to play time. Did you schedule another one yet?
Rhonda:
I think we should. Well, we're definitely, we have the next week the kids have like the last two, Thursday, Friday off. So we might come out for a couple times, but we were thinking maybe Sunday because the weather supposed to be okay. But let me check. We haven't yet, but he does need a party. He's lonely.
Annie:
Yeah. And touch base with Leo's people there in Jersey. And if you want to come into town on a day that we don't have a playtime, as a VIP in my life, I will see if we can arrange a custom puppy play.
Rhonda:
He’s like a little celebrity doggy.
Annie:
So cute, like bittersweet being with him. Cause he's a puppy and Amos is an old man.
Rhonda:
But Amos doesn't pee and poop all over your house. So.
Annie:
Yeah. He has old man issues. All right, love you.
Rhonda:
Thank you so much.
Annie:
Send me some Bowie pictures. Let me know how this goes. And I'm going to answer one last question here. Okay. All right. One last question. Oh, wait, two questions, Lily. Another one from Lily who says:
How do you mentally stimulate your dog when it's raining and they don't want to go outside? They just seem sad.
Oh, I mean, that's a short question with you know, a possibly very long answer. But my short answer, that I'm going to give while I'm drinking. Drinking, and dog training, take nothing I say seriously. Although I always say like so much of dog training, I think makes so much sense and is fun. And like, you should be able to do a lot of it while you're drinking, but a lot of it should not be done while you're drinking also. How do you stimulate your dog? Oh my God. There's so many ways that you could stimulate your dog Lilly.
One reason I love teaching tricks, it’s because it's stuff that you can do on a rainy day and do in your apartment. Since in New York City, most of our clients live in small spaces with their dogs, we like to figure out, exercises we can come up with for our clients so that they can do fun things with like the six pack of beer they have in the fridge. I mean, not drinking it, but making obstacle courses out of it, or with like rolls of a paper towel, broomsticks, folding chairs. Gotta figure out how you can basically make an obstacle course in your house. That's kind of like what our Barkour class is.
Of course also puzzle toys. I'm a big fan of all the different ways we can challenge our dogs during meal times. You can certainly make your own puzzle toys. The simplest is like getting a muffin tin and turning it upside down and sprinkling some treats on it. Of course you're welcome to come to our store, storeforthedogs.com where we have tons of different kinds of puzzle toys.
Oh and actually I just put up a blog post, schoolforthedogs.com/blog on how to make your own flirt pole, which you can make with things that you can get at the hardware store or that you might already have at home. Flirt poles are basically just really big cat toys for dogs that you can wield around, and they can chase after them.So that's a really great way to exercise your dog and to practice drop it and to practice sit. There's lots of fun ways that you can use it to exercise a dog inside.
Last question from Yolanda: The other day was extremely stressful for me. I tried controlling my emotions while we went out for an evening walk, but Cody reacted to a dog walking on the other side of the street, quite strongly. He's come a long way in his behavior training, but either I was distracted or didn't redirect him in time, or I really didn't think he would react to this dog from such a distance. I don't know if there's a way to hide —
And I am going to say I do have thoughts, but I think I got to go because the grandparents just returned the daughter. But I'm going to answer this question next week. And I'm actually going to have somebody on staff who has a reactive dog respond to this with some suggestions, because I think what you're experiencing is totally normal. And I think someone else other than me on staff will have a better answer. So I am copying and pasting your question to my staff to answer later. Thank you everyone for being here. Appreciate it. Bye.
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