# Normal acting out or are we parenting wrong already?



## Bronson (Jun 25, 2013)

Bronson's mom here... He is now 11 weeks old and growing so fast! We need help in two areas - digging and purposefully peeing inside the house. As for problem one: I don't want him to start being a digger and ruining the yard but more importantly dig out and get lost or hurt. We say "No" every time we are out there and he starts digging and pull him away from the area but lately he has retreated under our very large shrubs up against the house to where I cant reach in and get him out or to stop. I have tried spraying the water hose at him to make him stop since that's the only thing that can reach him when he gets in there. Is that going to make him afraid of water bc I don't want that? Am I supposed to fence off every bush like that to prevent it? Help!

Secondly he is potty trained to only get up once in the night and even with newspaper down in his laundry room/"Den" he never will go on it - he holds it. That being said we know he can hold it upwards of 4.5-5 hours but as soon as we let him out he thinks the living and dining room are free range to pee anywhere. We show him the pee and tell him no then bring him directly outside to enforce this is where he should go. And lately if he gets mad at us for something - (ie. we tell him to stop biting or we turn away and ignore him like we were told to do on here if he starts biting) he will purposefully go and pee it seems to spite us. Should we bring his bed out so he starts to understand the whole house is off limits not just his laundry room? Is this just part of the potty training and normal or have we already gotten off to the wrong start as first time parents to our little guy?
Thank you all in advance for any help and insight into our two problems.
Bronson's mom (Sara)

---1st pic below he was laying in the shade with me to try to combat the Texas Summer heat---
---second pic below him loving the car ride and all the cars flying by---


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

Sara

Deep breaths. 

He's only 11 weeks old. He is acting more on impulse, and less on any type of forethought than you may believe, and being 11 weeks old you have my absolute guarantee that he is not yet fully house trained. He's learned to please you in some areas, but he still has some to work on.
In the morning, as soon as he is to be let out, don't let him find his way to the door. Pick him up and carry him out the door to do his stuff. Lots of praise and "sing song" excited voice. He needs to learn that that pleases you and he will then have a "new trick".

As for the digging;
Some V's are "diggers", and they just dig to dig. Some dig because the manure smells good, or another dog has been there, or a small animal. Who knows why they pick the areas they do to dig? But to correct the problem you have to be able to enforce the no command, and that means cutting off his avenue of escape. A roll of rodent wire, in front of those bushes, will look woefully unattractive in the yard for awhile, but it will cut off his avenue of escape so that you can correct him.

He's 11 weeks old, which is young, but not too young to introduce him to the "check cord". Next time in the yard tie about 30 feet of soft, cotton(no wire) clothesline, or rope to his collar. This also will enable you to enforce the command. You can also start to work on the "come command". He's old enough for the introduction.
Don't squirt any more, that could lead to some negative problems later on. if he's on the check cord, it's just a nice gentle "come here" followed by pressure on the line. Not yanking or dragging, just some nice gentle pressure and positive, encouraging
voice.

Remember though, that he is still very, very, young and he has a lifetime to go yet. He'll pick it up, but you've got about a year or two ahead of you before he's solid.


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## Rapunzel (May 10, 2013)

As far as the peeing inside, it seems he's not quite house trained yet. Did you crate train him? I'm a firm believer in crate training. It has worked for all of my dogs. I can tell my dog to "go potty" and he will do it on command. If you haven't tried crate training, it's not too late. It will just take some time.

If he goes inside, it's pointless to show him and tell him no. He doesn't understand. If he goes inside and you don't see him doing it, wipe it up with a paper towel and take him outside. Put the paper towel down so he can sniff it and tell him go potty. This is where crate training and going potty on command comes into play. Every time he goes potty outside, praise him, praise him, praise him. Eventually he will associate "go potty" (or whatever command you choose) to doing his business outside. It may help while house training to carry him outside (if possible) that way it won't give him an opportunity to go inside. 

Also, even though he can hold "it" doesn't mean he knows where to relieve himself. Additionally, dogs do not potty in their "den" as they don't want to dirty it. I think he's confused and doesn't know he can only relieve himself outside and not inside. 

Good luck!


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## lonestar (Jun 2, 2013)

Hi Bronson's mom!

I agree with the above posters excellent advice. Let me add a few thoughts.

Dogs do not feel spite that is (sadly? luckily?) a uniquely human emotion. And they surely do not act on it. Rather, it's mostly instinct and experience. His instincts are yours to quickly learn, and the learning/experience part is his duty. 

Digging is instinctual..and it feels good. Remember playing in the sand at the beach as a kid? Same thing. What you want is to give him a special spot that's OK to dig in, and when he starts to dig, tell him "No, digs!" And quickly whisk him to dig area, with "OK, Dig!". You can do this with a designated potty area, too. They learn this pretty fast, btw.

Do not show him the urine and lecture him about the inappropriateness of its placement, that's just an old wives tale that's utterly useless in facilitating new learning. For learning to occur, you need to be there as the act is occurring or within 10 seconds so they can get the connection btw'n their act and your response. So, if the little darling squats and you can whisk him to the potty area, that's a fine time to work on "NO!" in the house, and "OK, potty!" as you put him down and wipe the goo off your hand. otherwise, clean it up, pour yourself a cold one, and forget it. 

Lastly, he does NOT urinate to express anger! Rather, if you're ignoring him, he's probably wondering what you're doing and not realizing he has to go, and then urgency takes over and you've got yourself a little mess. Moral: Do the ignoring AFTER you potty him. And the best way to deal with biting isnt ignoring it...it's with a very loud, exaggerated "OWWW!", make it sound like that yelp they give out when in pain...so he gets the message in his language that what he's doing hurts!


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## Bronson (Jun 25, 2013)

By no means do we ignore him... It's constant play, wrestle, and snuggle time all day and night. We're very good at identifying the sniffing signs of when he needs to go to the bathroom, and he has his "go outside" command that he already knows. And every time he does go pee in the house, we are grabbing him middle of the act and giving him the "no" command while taking him straight outside. It's just frustrating when you're outside for awhile, then he comes inside and pees. It just seems like he has behavioral good days where he's waiting at the door when he needs to go outside, then a streak of revolting against authority! Kids these days... he is only 11 weeks old, but we just wanted to positive reinforcement that we're doing the right things too. Not like we have someone telling us "good owner" in that high pitch voice when we do things right!

On a lighter note, our lizard and dove hunting technique is significantly improving... He's learning that the slow stalking approach is more successfully than the more bashful sprint straight out of the gate. Smart doggie


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## lonestar (Jun 2, 2013)

"And lately if he gets mad at us for something - (ie. we tell him to stop biting or we turn away and ignore him like we were told to do on here if he starts biting) he will purposefully go and pee it seems to spite us."

I think you have to be aware of what you're doing that might be exacerbating his behavior. You might be cuddling and loving him, but it's what you do when he's not so good that matters, too...and those are your words I quoted. 

Most of the time, dogs behave badly not so much b/c they're having a uniquely human emotional reaction, but b/c we dont understand them. So, we often use our own experience of ourselves to understand their behavior and attribute human motivations to something that's entirely canine and not subject to that sort of generalization....that's called projection or anthropomorphism. He is NOT urinating out of spite or anger.

I dont know where you heard to ignore them when they bite.....you want to do the opposite and attend very directly to that by yelping as they do..very loudly!..with an exaggerated "OWW!". If it continues after that response, THEN you want to walk away.


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