In This Chapter
Sometimes — generally when you’re cleaning up the umpteenth accident
your puppy’s made on your favorite area rug — you may wonder whether she’s ever
going to master the art of proper potty deportment and whether you should
continue trying to teach her that art. That’s when you need this chapter. Flip
through these next few pages for the incentive you need to persevere.
The Houses Smell Nicer
Porta-Potties are a necessary invention, but don’t you just
hate using them? I do — because they stink. The initial assault on your sense
of smell when you open the door is, well, intense. Keeping that example in
mind, think of how stinky your entire home will be if your canine companion
doesn’t figure out that your home is not his personal potty. If that unpleasant
thought doesn’t renew your determination to housetrain your hound, think of how
much money you’ll save on air fresheners after that hound becomes a housetraining
ace.
The Owners Save Money
Being able to cut back on, if not eliminate, purchases of
canine cleanup products isn’t the only way owners of housetrained dogs save
money. They also use far fewer paper towels, and they can let a lot more time
elapse between either professional carpet cleanings or the cleanings they do
themselves. The result: extra bucks they can blow on something fun, put into
savings, or use to pay off their credit card bills. What’s not to like?
The Owners Are Less Cranky
I admit it: Writing about housetraining is fun. What other
way could a middle-aged author be paid to get back in touch with her inner
8-year-old and contemplate bathroom matters? That said, not even I find
actually dealing with the complications and messes of housetraining very much
fun. Even now that I’m a so-called expert on the subject, actually
housetraining a dog isn’t on my list of favorite things to do. If my Golden
Retriever, Allie, could talk, she’d tell you how cranky I was until she figured
out where and when she was supposed to do her business.
And wouldn’t you be happier if you didn’t have to deal with soaking
up puddles and picking up piles of doggie download? Of course you would. So
invest in your future happiness, and keep plugging away at your dog’s bathroom
lessons. If you do, he’ll eventually see the light. I promise.
The Dogs Aren’t Scared When Their Owners Come Home
Coming home to a stinky puddle of pee or pile of poop isn’t
fun. Such olfactory greetings are bound to displease the person walking through
the door. And because you’re all too human, you may all too often let your dog
know that you’re upset — even though you’ve resolved only to praise your dog
when he does something right, not berate him when he’s done something wrong.
Dogs are very observant. After just a few of your cranky
homecomings, they figure out that the sound of the key in the lock will be
followed shortly thereafter by their people speaking loudly, looming over them,
and being more than a little intimidating. So when that key turns, the
observant dog tries to forestall his person’s crankiness. He launches into
Doggie Appeasement Mode: tail between the legs, ears back, cowering on the
floor, rolling onto his back. He may even perform the ultimate canine appeasement
gesture: peeing on the floor — not exactly what you wanted, is it?
There’s just one catch: These observant dogs have no idea
why their owners are cranky. They don’t make the connection between their
bathroom transgressions and their owners’ reactions. They’re just thinking, “Oh
Mommy/Daddy, please don’t be angry. I’ll do anything, anything.”
So while your housetrainee is still figuring out when and
where to do the doo, try not to scare him with an outburst of annoyance or anger
when you come in the door and find an unwelcome little something. Better still,
get your dog housetrained so that you’ll no longer be cranky when you come home
and your dog will no longer be scared when your key turns in the lock.
The Owners Don’t Worry about Stepping in You-Know-What
Ever hear of Wet Sock Syndrome? That’s when you get up in
the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, only to find that the canine
occupant of the room has already gone to the bathroom. How do you know? Because
you’ve stepped into a little puddle (or worse) and your socks are a trifle
damp. Not pleasant.
But people who live with housetrained dogs don’t need to
worry about Wet Sock Syndrome. By taking their pooches to their potties before
bedtime, owners ensure that when they head to their own potties, their socks
will stay dry.
The Dogs Have One Less Way to Embarrass Their Owners
Dogs can display their bad bathroom habits at the most
inconve- nient times. When my Golden girl, Allie, was a puppy, my husband and I
invited several couples over to our home for a dinner party. Of course, we also
wanted to show off Allie, who had just joined our household and who, even at
the tender age of 11 weeks, showed clear signs of becoming the great beauty she
is today. Allie apparently wanted to show off, too — but not in ways that my
husband or I had planned.
First, I emerged from the kitchen into the dining room just
in time to see Allie sitting next to the table with the tablecloth in her mouth.
One yank would be all that was needed for the china, silver, napkins, and
crystal to go flying. I quickly grabbed a treat and offered it to Allie, who
promptly relinquished the tablecloth to grab the goodie.
I was a little embarrassed that I hadn’t anticipated Allie’s
table move, but our guests seemed to find it funny. However, the guests were
probably a little less amused a few minutes later when Allie toddled over to a
corner of the living room and, without further ado, proceeded to squat and
anoint the carpet. Certainly, I was not amused. I was mortified.
Those events occurred 6-and-a-half years ago. Today, Allie
is a grown-up girl, but she still has a puppy’s sense of mischief. When we have
company, I still have to watch that she doesn’t perform a mortifying maneuver
such as counter surfing, tablecloth grabbing, or hors d’oeuvre sampling.
However, Allie’s long been a housetraining ace. That means I can count on her
to do the doo only at the proper time and place — which gives me one less
reason to be embarrassed when company comes over.
The Owners Know Right Away When Their Dogs Are Sick
Housetraining a dog requires a certain amount of observation
on the part of the housetrainer. Decoding the dog’s pre-potty behavior,
settling into a consistent pattern of trips to the potty, and observing what
the dog’s poop and pee normally look like are all important components of housetraining
success.
But even after your dog becomes a housetraining ace, those powers
of observation are important. That’s because when a dog changes his bathroom
habits, he’s often exhibiting initial signs of illness. By noticing such
changes, you can detect the signs of a health problem early on — which usually
results in a faster diagnosis and easier, more effective treatment.
The Dogs Have a Great Foundation for Further Training
In all likelihood, housetraining will be among the first —
if not the first — set of lessons you attempt to teach your dog. The way you try
to show her proper canine potty etiquette lays the foundation for the ways you
try to teach her other lessons, such as coming when called, sitting when told
to, and walking nicely on the leash. What you do now, in this most basic set of
lessons, will probably set the tone for your relationship with your dog now and
for years to come. For that reason alone, it’s worth taking the time to do the job
well — and persevering until you can truly declare victory.
Dogs and Owners Communicate Better with Each Other
Housetraining is really a cooperative effort. The dog needs
to cooperate with the owner by refraining from pooping or peeing anywhere but
in the potty area that the owner has designated. The owner needs to cooperate
with the dog by making sure she takes the dog to the potty area whenever the
dog needs to do his business.
Such cooperation requires communication between person and pooch. The dog discovers that when the owner asks a leading question — such as “Do you want to go out?” or “Do you need to go potty?” — a bathroom break will follow shortly thereafter. In all likelihood, he’ll also find a way to tell the owner that he needs to go even before the owner asks that crucial question. For example, Allie goes to the back door of our home and gently taps the glass or scratches the door. My previous canine companion, Cory, bopped his leash with his nose. The owner learns to watch for these signals — and to grant the dog’s request whenever that request occurs. (For info on signals that your dog needs to go out, see Chapter Fine-Tuning Housetraining
.)
Such communication and cooperation help build the bond
between owner and dog. They lay the foundation for a long and happy life together
— a life built on mutual respect, trust, and love.
The Owners Are More Likely to Keep Their Dogs
A visit to any animal shelter provides heart-rending
evidence of what happens when the bond between dog and person is broken. Behind
almost every dog in a shelter is a sad story of loss or abandonment. All too
often, a relationship that started out with joy or hope ends up with the owner
being disappointed and the dog facing euthanasia at the shelter or dog pound.
One common cause of a rupture in the bond between a dog and his
person is the dog’s bathroom behavior. In a study sponsored by the National
Council on Pet Population Study & Policy (www.petpopulation.org), house soiling
was the most common reason that owners surrendered their dogs to shelters when
those owners cited a variety of reasons for relinquishing their dogs.
This doesn’t have to happen. A little time, a little
patience, and a little perseverance can get just about any dog to become a housetraining
ace. Make that investment in your dog’s future, and you up the odds that the
two of you will have a long and happy life together.
by Susan McCullough
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