A Little About Dog Training
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Short answer: you can change your dogs sleeping arrangment at any time in his life. I have adopted rescues - one at 4 years and another at 1.5 years - goodness knows what their life was like.
Long answer: changing can bring on stress - and it will depend a great deal on what you do with your dog in the day. This affects his ability to be secure at night. If you never separate your dog from you during the day than expecting him to sleep alone will result in him crying
When I say separate - I mean, physically, a dog should not always be `touching`you . So questions for you to ponder:
- when you watch TV is your dog on the couch curled up beside you or lying on the floor 5 feet away from you
- when you eat, does your dog sit beside you and recieve hand outs or is he asked to lie down in the other room
- do you ever leave the dog alone in the house and go out for a few hours - and is this the time he pees on the floor
A dog that is insecure will urinate on the fllor - not for spite but because they have learned it will bring them attention and for dogs - even bad attention can be better (bad meaning you punish him)
I am not advocating you never let your dog ask for affection - of course they should get hugs and lots of petting. But I also insist on personal space boundaries with my dogs. By doing so, they become more secure and more confident.
So - first of all, get the dog off the bed. This is part of your dogs insecurity problems - and if your trainer has not told you this, you need to find another one.
Then - start by addressing some of your personal space boundaries during the day (when you are awake). Put him on lead in the house, give him a mat or blanket to lie on (assuming he doesnt chew) and condition him to accept that this mat is his spot. Put it in the same place in each room away from your feet, and have him lie on it.
Start with the mat 3 inches from your feet - and if necessary, tie the lead to the couch leg so that the dog cannot get up or move closer to you. (tie it very very short so that the dog must lie down). Teach your dog to lie quietly NEAR you - but not touching you.
Move the mat a bit farther away when he will lie quietly at your feet for 30 minutes without trying to touch you.
Naturally watch him if the lead it tied to make sure he is not choking himself. He may put up quite a fuss at first - dont give in. He will learn life is better when he lies quietly.
Extend the length of the lead when he behaves so that he has more freedom to get up and stretch - but always insist he stay on his mat.
Take the mat and put it upstairs at night - either in a crate, or on the floor beside your bed. You may have a few sleepless nights at first, so start him on the weekend when you don`t have to work.
If you dog becomes hysterical when you try to have him lie on his mat away from you - he is not ready for this level of freedom and should be crated in the day (for 2-3 hours at a time) and then out with supervision.
I will call my dogs to come to me so that I can pat them and hug them, then after a few mintues, I tell them to go away (I use the command àway`) They dont have to be in a down stay all day- they walk around freely in the kitchen while I work, but I will not permit them to constantly bug me. Its a balance that you will find. However, they are secure adults now - as puppies they had more ridgid and structured routines (like above). Freedom is earned and is given when they can handle it.
years ago, I let my first dobe sleep on my bed - it was a mistake in my view and it did her no good - I woke up one day and changed it using the methods above. My dogs sleep on the floor on a comfortable mat or bed of their own and are very happy there. Good luck
Edit to add: if you read all of this and think wow, thats for big dogs, my dog is little - then by all means disregard everything I said - crate your dog at night and buy ear plugs and your dog will happily continue to pee in the house. Even little dogs have intelligent minds - please engage his.
Guard Dog Training Tips & Tricks Revealed
- Crating is fine. Give him a treat and shut the door. After a while he will get in a routine to go to his crate, knowing he's getting a little something.
We have 3 dogs, crates all lined up and at night when they come in, they race in to their own crates waiting for that snack. Weird part:
They always go into their own crates. Just be sure to get 'em out first thing in the morning. - of course you can
- Sure you can. He'll probably whine A LOT though.. you'll just have to stick it out.
- its never too late i guess...
- Like most people in Y!A, you haven't a clue what crate training is - probably not training, either.
A CRATE cannot train your dog to do anything.
The reason it SEEMS to work when used by intelligent people is that THEY know that it depends on (a) the pooch having the instinct to get away from its nest before piddle-pooing and (b) the owner ensuring that the pooch CAN get away from its nest before piddle-pooing.
My last ***** came inside permanently at 8½ weeks old, was paper trained that afternoon (because I KNOW that pups cannot "hold on" all night, and because I like to SLEEP, not get up & down all night to take a pup outside then bring it back in), and she never had an "accident".
But she wasn't a pet-shop pup, she wasn't bred by an ignorant BYBer - both those sources tend to cramp their pups up so that they have no option but to mess in their nest.
"Reading between the lines" of your message, I detect that your dog (1) lacks the instinct to get away from his nest, and (2) is deliberately peeing in a different place each time to mark every part fo the house as HIS territory - he is claiming that the whole house is HIS, not yours.
No doubt your "dog training school" was actually a pet-shop play-group, where the girl in charge was herself learning as she went, trying to find something in the pet-shop's Manual of Positive Training that might actually work. Whereas the instructors in a training club have the personal experience (either individually or collectively) to KNOW what a particular pooch needs.
Among the things YOUR dog needs is constant supervision and being shocked out of his intention as soon as he starts the body-language that shows he is getting ready to mark a spot - and before he recovers you CARRY him to the place where he is allowed to piddle-poo, and stay there still & silent until he obliges, whereupon you praise & reward him (GSDs are easy to pat & rub - I hope your back is fit, so that you can bend to pat & rub your wee terror).
The praise is to enthusiastically include the future command word - eg "Good boy Bono TOILET!".
Eventually he makes 2 associations:
(1) Cocking a leg inside = Dad's wrath!
(2) Cocking a leg where Dad wants = nice sounds & feelings - sometimes even a tidbit!
◙ To ask aboutChihuahuas, join some of the YahooGroups dedicated to various aspects of living with them. Each group's Home page tells you which aspects they like to discuss, and how active they are. Unlike YA, they are set up so that you can have an ongoing discussion with follow-up questions for clarification. Most allow you to include photos in your messages.
Les P, owner of GSD_Friendly: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/GSD_F…
"In GSDs" as of 1967 - You will get the 'normal' response from your dog with crate training after allowing him to have not only complete freedom to pee where he choses, you have raised his pack level by allowing him to sleep on your bed ( pack leader gets best sleeping position).....was the trainer told or did they ask about where he slept when they were appointed to resolve the carpet peeing?So he will put up a 'fight' for possibly a few nights.however will be a happier dog in the end.....depends on how much a push over you are.....stay strong and gain pack leadership position, once he understands where he stands he will be fine.....I have to say you are worried about stressing him out.....he is stressed out now with the behaviour he is displaying, it is just you are not recognising it as stress.
This may help you look at NILIF and put it into action daily http://k9aro.webs.com/nilif.htm there is also toilet training and behaviour on the same site with some crate training I think......be consistant, make your decision, be pack leader and you will have happier dogs.
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