If you are looking for the greatest gold-mine of easy to use "change your dog's behavior" advice ever crammed into a newsletter series then read on!
Also, make sure that you check out our 100% authentic testimonials from people who have bought Secrets to Dog Training and find out the massive difference it has made to their owner-dog relationship!
"Hi Daniel, I am a first time dog owner. After years in an office I now work from home and had been thinking of getting a dog for some time. I was still in the process of deciding whether to go to a breeder or a shelter when I found Leo, a mixed race puppy of now about 7 months, abandoned in the streets 4 months ago. Having no experience at all I immediately started looking for all the information I needed in order to have a healthy, well behaved and happy dog. I found the search rather frustrating until I came across your web site and bought your book. Finally I had found what I was after - information about the nature of dogs which helped a lot to understand Leo’s behaviour, easy to follow step by step instructions for teaching him all the things I want and don’t want him to do, invaluable tips and case studies for coping with any problems. It all made so much sense and gave me a lot of confidence.
Although Leo had been a friendly, loving and fairly unproblematic dog right from the beginning, he did at times have quite a mind of his own. So I found especially the section on being the alpha dog extremely useful. In fact, I cringed (and giggled) when I realised the mistakes I had been making – feeding him first in an attempt to prevent him from begging, letting him go through doors first or stepping around him when he’d made himself comfortable in an inconvenient spot. Changing my behaviour was easy and showed amazing results after just a few days. With your book as a constant companion it is a lot of fun training Leo and no doubt he is enjoying it too. Thanks so much for your help."
-- Anke Herrman (Granada, Spain)
Hi Dan,
I bought a 2 year old Shih Tzu and am housing training him to relieve himself at outdoor (he was previously trained to relieve himself indoor). The method is similar to your bonus book.
My problem is when the weather is very bad (raining heavily or extreme cold and snowing heavily), how do I cope with it? If I allow him to relieve himself indoors, albeit on a pan with training serviette or pad (and assuming he'll do it on the pad), won't it be difficult to get him to do it outdoor again when the weather returns to normal?
In other words won't the switchover from outdoor to indoor due to bad weather be totally confusing to him? When training is completed, and if the outdoor weather is extreme, what should I do to help him relieve himself?
Kevin
Hi there Kevin,
Thanks for the email regarding your 2 year old Shih Tzu that doesn’t like toileting in the rain. It is relatively common for dogs, especially young ones, to not want to go out in the rain to go to the toilet.
In short, there are products available to purchase for puppies or adult dogs to toilet on indoors or in certain areas. However, I still believe that it would be appropriate for you to still try and encourage your dog to pick up the courage to toilet outside in these conditions. Usually if you accompany your dog outside (with an umbrella) and lead them to a relatively sheltered area they will toilet in adverse weather conditions. This does take time and effort on your part, but eventually your dog will get used to this semi sheltered area and have the courage to make the trip alone. An area on a bark garden under the semi-shelter of a tree would be ideal. By giving plenty of praise and rewarding your dog when it does go to the toilet outside in wet conditions, it will soon pluck up the courage to do it more often if you continue with the rewarding for some time.
An alternative to this would be to put a litter pan and absorbable paper under your carport or in your garage with an open door your dog can get access to. I would not recommend allowing the dog access to a toileting area within your house, as it may result in it preferring that particular area and/or confusing it as to where to toilet. If you offer the litter pan indoors only on rainy days, you may find that over time your dog starts urinating in the spot the litter pan was when it is taKevin away during good weather conditions. This may also occur with the carport idea, so I still recommend directly training your dog to learn to toilet outside in the rain first and foremost.
There are several products out on the market, most are available to purchase online. Housebreaking pads would probably be the most appropriate, put into a relevant tray. These pads absorb up to 100 times their volume and are scented to encourage puppies/dogs to go to that area. A simple Google search for "Puppy/Dog housebreaking pads" will lead to various appropriate sites where you can purchase these from. There are also "Indoor Potty’s" available to purchase online, which is basically a tray with a mesh grill that sits on top that your dog can walk onto and toilet on. Underneath the mesh sitting in the tray is either a housebreaking pad or simple newspaper.
These products are relatively cheap to purchase and your local pet store, will probably also have something similar available to purchase. I still urge to attempt training your dog to toilet outside in these situations, as it will make the situation probably a lot easier for all of you. Simple reward training should help you here.
Thank you for your email and best of luck with your Shih Tzu. Let us know the method you have decided to take, the product you use if you use one and how you got on!
Kind Regards,
Daniel Stevens and the Secrets to Dog Training Team
"Secrets to Dog Training - STOP Dog Behavior Problems!"
I've been a professional dog trainer for well over 20 years, and in that time I've helped thousands of dog owners just like you to get the friendly, well behaved, slipper fetching, best pal they always wanted.
But it didn't start out that way. I've always loved dogs, some things never change. But when I first started my professional dog training career I relied on the so-called 'best practices' when it came to dog behavior training. It was only when I heard people tell me over and over again that they just weren't seeing results that I started to question the old accepted wisdom. So I started a journey, a quest to search out the best, most effective, techniques, tips, and tricks that really work.
And that's how I came up with Secrets to Dog Training. Year after year I found new techniques that achieved the results I wanted. Eventually I had a whole book worth of great resources: Secrets to Dog training...
So, if you want to:
Then Secrets to Dog Training is just what you've been looking for!
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