he's mad at us and purposly pees in the house!!!

[doxaholic]

My 2 year old Shadow is a little rebel! If hes has an accident in the house and we spank him and take him outside most of the time he wont pee out there and we bring him in and he goes and pees on somthing else right when we bring him back in! What can I do?

- Caitlin

[Mandy]

Spanking solves nothing! The only thing spanking does for your dog is to teach it you can cause pain and fear.

Please read up on proper ways to teach potty training. I would also suggest you check out animal behavioral techniques. Jean Donaldson has some wonderful books. If you search in the potty training archives, you should see some good tips.

Please never hit/spank your dog. You will get much farther by using positive reinforcement.

[Meemoo]

I think spanking could also lead to an aggressive dog.

[Mrs.F]

Hi Doxaholic,

I am sure that you want only what's best for Shadow and I'm not criticizing you for how you've worked with him in the past, but since your old methods aren't working very well anyway, maybe you should try a fresh start - set a timer to be sure that you take Shadow out every few hours and stay right with him when he's out so that you can praise him and give him a treat when he does his business.

When he doesn't urinate outside, put him in a crate or pen when you get back inside rather than giving him free run of the house. That way he won't be able to soil your rug or furniture. If he hasn't caught on to the fact that you do NOT want him to pee & poop in the house by now, he's probably not going to, so you'll have to concentrate on teaching him that you DO want him to go outside.

It's not too late for him to learn - we had a 2 and 1/2 year old male spend 3 weeks with us while his humans were away this summer. He is quite a pig at home - they spend quite a bit of money having their rugs professionally cleaned every few months because of his 'accidents'. Anyway, I set the old kitchen timer and took him out faithfully while he was here and after the first few days he had very few accidents in the house. I never did allow him in my living room unattended, but I believe he would have continued to improve if he'd stayed here longer.

Good luck!
Heidi