A Cute Hurricane

[Risa]

I live in Indonesia with my 2 month old beagle. He's super duper extra hilariously cute! The problem is he is cute but hurricane, I have a big garden and he stepped into one of my mom's water lily plants and there's mud in it. It was so frustrating and he keeps doing that until it's a serious bad habit and I JUST TOOK HIM A BATH A FEW MINUTES BEFORE HE DID THAT! But he's still cute. What should I do to keep that bad habit away?

[KOPcaroline]

Hi there, hurricane owner! Your concern is overall a pretty common one, young pups are apt to getting into things they shouldn't.

Start with some training basics. If you let the dog out and he immediately goes for the garden or mud, give a "no" command, and bring him back inside. Or just have him sit and divert his attention elsewhere. Try immediately grabbing his attention when you let him outside, using a toy or running in the opposite direction of the garden, to keep his attention away from it. If he does still get into it, don’t physically punish him, instead give a negative command, and bring him back inside. Don’t give him lots of attention after he gets muddy, this will encourage him to repeat the action in order to get attention from you.

Another good training technique is to provide lots of enrichment for him outside. This includes toys and objects in the yard that will attract the dogs’ attention and provide him good stimuli to keep his interest. Kong toys are amazing for keeping dogs amused, because you can put treats in them; let the dog outside and immediately drop the Kong. Toys that make noise are also great for keeping a dogs attention. You could try a rope toy he can play tug of war with, or a sandbox that can act as his digging pit, an appropriate place for him to muck around in dirt

If it’s still a problem, put a fence up around the garden, or block his access to it some other way. When you find him getting muddy, try to startle him, either by yelling his name or making some loud noise- he should start to associate being in the garden with unpleasant stimuli and avoid it.

Overall, stick with a routine, and always keep an eye on him. If you start to miss times he gets into the garden, it’ll be harder to train him not to play in there.

Fingers crossed you can tame your little hurricane!