Care for Your Dog

My neighbor's dog has now barked for the 70th straight minute.

I'm really trying hard not to wish my dog would eat it.

I do wish they wouldn't just leave the poor thing alone so often -- that's when it starts barking. Every night for at least an hour, every morning when they leave for work, every afternoon when they leave after lunch.

To make matters worse, they never clean up the thing's poop (which is always on my lawn, not theirs).

Grrrrrrr.......

It's Great Having a Dog that's good with Kids

My daughter, Belle, with my dog, Freckles.

Freckles is the fuzzy, naked one.

I am the Greatest

I'm watching my sister's dog while she is away on vacation. I'm watching the dog so I can work with it (she's having a few problems).

It wasn't long before I realized that this dog, Daisy, believes she's in charge of everything. When my sister takes Daisy for walks, Daisy is on the wrong end of the leash, if you get what I'm saying.

We started her on a regiment of "I'm not in charge" exercises. You may want to know some of our techniques.

First, we go for walks with her. Whenever Daisy pulls one way, we walk the other. Two days and she's already starting to understand.

Second, we're working on the "come" command. She knows it, but only comes when it's convenient for her. She gets two tries, then we go and pull her to us (gently, of course). We also have a bit of hot dog for her at random times.

Third, on the advice of Daisy's vet, we hold her upside down sometimes. We make it as pleasant as we can (tummy rubs!), but she still has to be in a position she doesn't enjoy.

Finally, my dog, Freckles, has a head as large as Daisy's entire body. She's teaching Daisy that some things are not hers to play with.

Where to go.

All sensible dog owners know enough to be sensible about where they allow their pets to poop.

Most of us are inherently sensible about where we do our own business.

This man wasn't.

House Training

I was recently asked a very good question about house training a dog with an indoor defecation problem.

The first problem The Questioner has was that her dog eats constantly throughout the day. We suggested cutting back to three meals a day, but she hesitated due to some on-line advice she received. Since she didn't want to cut back, we suggested putting the food down six times a day; or watching the dog to discover when she actually eats. Even dogs with their food down constantly seldom eat more than a few times a day. Once she knows when the dog really needs to eat, she can schedule regular feeding schedules.

Once regular feeding schedules are established, the times her dog needs to defecate become easier to discover. Dogs generally have to defecate between 15-30 minutes after eating, and often first thing in the morning. Now that eating time is more regular, so is potty time. The Questioner can take the dog to the established potty place at an established time.

Whenever The Questioner takes her dog out, she should use the same words, the same door, and generally make things as similar as possible to every other time. Ever other person who takes the dog out should follow the same pattern.

What if the dog poops inside? Clean it up, and don't say anything. If The Questioner catches her, she should snatch her up and whisk her outside as quickly as possible. Avoid yelling or any acts of anger: These only serve to make pottying bad, and might make the dog hesitate to defecate in the master's presence.

The Monks of New Skeet suggest cleaning up out of the animal's sight. Otherwise, they warn, the dog may become convinced that the master is actually a maid.


Special thanks, once again, to the Monks of New Skete and to PetSmart's book on potty training (available near their training section). Incidentally, if you go with PetSmart's book, just skip the paper training part. It hasn't worked well for us. We believe this is because the mixture of inside/outside pottying confuses the dog.

How NOT to House Train Your Dog

1. Don't whack your puppy for doing its business. Doing so can teach it that pottying in your presence is bad (then what is the poor beastie going to do when you take it outside?). Along the same lines, don't yell at it when it's going to the bathroom. Same reason: You don't want to teach your dog that defecation/urination is bad.
2. Don't send mixed messages. Always take your little friend to the same place, using the same words. If you feed it at the same time (which we here at The Alpha Dog highly recommend) then you should take it out at the same time.
3. Don't rub your doggie's nose in its business. It could make the poor thing sick or teach it to eat its feces (yum!).

Pit Bull Terriers

Check out this well-researched and well-written article on the history of the pit bull breed on CNN. The article poses one theory of how the dog featured on "The Little Rascals" become thought of as one of the most vicious breeds.

I have students (I teach junior high) who want a pit bull specificially to aid them in gang activity. Needless to say, it's tragic, especially for a breed that once had a great reputation as being a family dog.