Dog House Training

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Discussion

PositronicRay

Original Poster:

27,394 posts

189 months

Saturday 7th July 2018
quotequote all
I know the theory, dog pees/poos in the correct place reward given, after a while jobs a goodun with the occasional and understandable accident.

MILs rescue dog's trigger is putting her lead or harness on, virtually without fail. Goes into garden does nothing comes back in house, at some point lead goes on and there you go Niagara.

So she's taken to putting lead on outside, dog goes to the toilet. If we reward her at that point will she consider the reward is for being outside or putting on the harness?

makaveli144

378 posts

145 months

Saturday 7th July 2018
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Dogs work on an if I do this then that happens basis. Pretty much all behaviours and habits they form run on this basis which is why they are relatively trainable.

As difficult as it will be you need to segregate the harness and the toilet. Putting the harness on in the garden solves your problem but the dog still thinks it's the right thing. Especially if you reward.

What happens on long walks when they go to the toilet?

PositronicRay

Original Poster:

27,394 posts

189 months

Saturday 7th July 2018
quotequote all
makaveli144 said:
Dogs work on an if I do this then that happens basis. Pretty much all behaviours and habits they form run on this basis which is why they are relatively trainable.

As difficult as it will be you need to segregate the harness and the toilet. Putting the harness on in the garden solves your problem but the dog still thinks it's the right thing. Especially if you reward.

What happens on long walks when they go to the toilet?
She's ok walking, mostly it's frequent shortish walks. We're going to try using the lead as trigger, without actually putting it on then reward.

makaveli144

378 posts

145 months

Saturday 7th July 2018
quotequote all
Are you rewarding when she pees on a walk?

PositronicRay

Original Poster:

27,394 posts

189 months

Saturday 7th July 2018
quotequote all
makaveli144 said:
Are you rewarding when she pees on a walk?
No, but will start.

makaveli144

378 posts

145 months

Saturday 7th July 2018
quotequote all
PositronicRay said:
No, but will start.
Good, you need to reward the result you want.


Using the lead as the trigger, even if you give no reward just reinforces to the dog that they have done the right thing. Going to the toilet can be the reward in their head.

So start to reward the wee on a walk, make a big fuss. You will probably get no change for a little while. But what you would hope to see if you are consistent is she will try to pee in the garden as she will associate the pee with a treat. Not the lead with a pee if that makes sense

Jambo85

3,392 posts

94 months

Tuesday 10th July 2018
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Could you not also take her into the garden when she must need a pee (eg. first thing in the morning or after a meal), forget the lead/harness, wait until she pees then reward this. Will need a few repetitions. She surely won't hold on indefinitely outside?

PositronicRay

Original Poster:

27,394 posts

189 months

Tuesday 10th July 2018
quotequote all
Jambo85 said:
Could you not also take her into the garden when she must need a pee (eg. first thing in the morning or after a meal), forget the lead/harness, wait until she pees then reward this. Will need a few repetitions. She surely won't hold on indefinitely outside?
We're getting there she's going outside regularly, and rewarded.

We still getting a few inside 'excitement' moments though. biggrin

Jambo85

3,392 posts

94 months

Tuesday 10th July 2018
quotequote all
PositronicRay said:
We still getting a few inside 'excitement' moments though. biggrin
It takes a while for that to stop! We got our lab at 8 weeks, plenty of number ones inside the house but never a number two. And learned pretty fast to ask to go out for a pee as well. All was going great until 16 weeks when she decided without warning to go and curl one out behind the TV, all over the cables and everything. No idea why. Thankfully hasn't been repeated, yet.

geeks

9,535 posts

145 months

Tuesday 10th July 2018
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Jambo85 said:
PositronicRay said:
We still getting a few inside 'excitement' moments though. biggrin
It takes a while for that to stop! We got our lab at 8 weeks, plenty of number ones inside the house but never a number two. And learned pretty fast to ask to go out for a pee as well. All was going great until 16 weeks when she decided without warning to go and curl one out behind the TV, all over the cables and everything. No idea why. Thankfully hasn't been repeated, yet.
Maybe thats where she thought you lay cable.....