Puppy housetraining: moving on from the pee pads

Some house trained dogs show obvious signs when they need to go out, like scratching or barking at the door. But others aren’t as adept at telling people when they need to relieve themselves. They know that outside is the place to go, but they can’t figure out how to get there. So they station themselves by a door and wait…and wait…and wait. If their people don’t notice them in time, these dogs are forced to urinate or defecate inside, often right in front of the door where they’ve been silently waiting.

If this sounds like your dog then you need to teach him to do something obvious to ask for outdoor access. One of the simplest solutions is to train him to ring a “doorbell.” When your dog rings his bell, you can clearly hear his request, even if you’re in another room.

Step 1: Teach your dog to touch the bell with his nose

You can make your own dog doorbell using a couple of small bells from a crafts supply store. Attach some kind of sturdy string to the bells. (You’ll use the string later to hang the bells on a doorknob or on a hook next to your door.) Before starting your first training session, cut a number of tasty treats into bite-sized pieces.

1. Say “Touch” and present the bells to your dog. Hold them just an inch or two away from his nose. He’ll probably move toward the bells to sniff them. (If he doesn’t, you can rub a treat on the bells to make them a little more interesting.)
2. The moment your dog’s nose touches the bells, say “Good dog!” and immediately give him a treat. Here your timing is important, your dog needs to know he’s doing the right thing the instant he touches the bells with his nose. (If you use a clicker to train your dog, you can click instead of praising.)
3. Repeat 10 to 15 times or until your dog readily touches the bells with his nose.
4. When your dog confidently pokes the bells with his nose as soon as you present them an inch or two in front of him, start to present the bells a little further away or off to the side each time you say “Touch.” Your dog will have to turn his head or take a few steps to touch the bells.

Spend three to five days practicing the exercise above, aiming for at least one practice session per day. Then you’re ready for Stage Two.

Stage Two: Teaching Your Dog to Ring the Bell on the Door

Use the string connected to the bells to hang them on your doorknob or on a hook next to your door. Get your treats ready and call your dog over to the door.

1. Take the bells in your hand (with them still hanging on the knob), say “Touch,” and hold them out toward your dog.
2. Right when your dog’s nose touches the bells, say “Good dog!” and give him a treat.
3. Repeat 5 to 10 times or until your dog readily touches the bells as soon as you say ”Touch.”

   After a short break from the three steps above, do the exercise again, but this time just point to the bells instead of holding them.

4. Say “Touch,” and point to the bells.
5. As soon as your dog touches the bells with his nose, say "Good dog” and give a treat. (If he doesn’t touch the bells, repeat steps 1, 2 and 3 above, holding the bells in your hand when you ask your dog to touch them. After practicing these steps for a couple of days, try just pointing to the bells again.)
6. Repeat the exercise 5 to 10 times.

Plan to practice Stage Two with your dog for three to five days, just like you practiced Stage One.

Stage Three: Teaching Your Dog to Ring the Bell at the Right Time

Now you can put your plan into action. When you take your dog outside for a toilet break ask him to touch the bells with his nose right before you open the door.

1. Approach the door with your dog. Say “Touch,” and point to the bells.
2. The moment he touches the bells with his nose, say “Good dog!” Then open the door and let your dog go outside.

Ask your dog to ring the bells every time you take him out. With repetition, your dog will learn that he has to touch the bells with his nose to make you open the door. Eventually, when he wants to go outside, he’ll go to the door on his own and ring the bells.

The first time this happens, praise him enthusiastically and immediately let him outside. Give him a few tasty treats after he does his business to make sure he understands that you love it when he rings the bell.

Troubleshooting

Playtime vs. Toilet time

Once they discover that bell ringing makes the door open, many clever dogs ring the bells whenever they’d like go outside—even when they don’t need to relieve themselves. If this sounds like your dog, you need to teach him that bell ringing is only for relieving himself. When he rings the bell to go out, praise him, clip on his leash and take him directly to the place where you’d like him to eliminate. Don’t play with him. Just give him three to five minutes to urinate or defecate. If he does, great! Praise him again and give him a treat before taking him back in. If he doesn’t do his business, just take him back inside.

Dogs Who Prefer Using Their Paws

Does your dog seem reluctant to touch things with his nose? If so, try teaching him to ring a doorbell with his paw instead. There are a number of dog doorbells currently on the market, such as the Tell Bell™ or the Lentek Pet Chime. After mounting one of these products on your wall or placing it on the floor, you can train your dog to paw or step on it. See the product’s packaging or user manual for training instructions.

An introduction to positive reinforcement training

Recent years have seen a move away from the use of punitive methods in dog training. Where once trainers were set on making dogs bend to their will now more and more are moving to a system where good behaviour is encouraged rather than 'bad' or incorrect behaviour disciplined.

The idea of positive reinforcement training lies at the heart of popular modern training methods such as clicker training. Typically the reward is food based but this need not always be the case. If you have a dog who is very keen on a particular toy, or who particularly loves to be made a fuss of then these can also be used as rewards. Many specialist 'working' dogs such as Police sniffer dogs are trained using this method and rewarded with the ultimate prize of a squeaky ball having correctly sniffed out drugs or explosives.

Key to using positive reinforcement is correct timing. It is essential that the reward must occur immediately—within seconds—of your pet performing the desired behaviour, or your pet may not associate it with the proper action.

When your pet is learning a new behavior it is important to reward them every time they correctly do what you want, which means continuous reinforcement. Initially it may be necessary to use a technique called "shaping" in order to achieve the desired result. Shaping means reinforcing when your dog gets close to the desired result and then gradually requiring that your dog do more in order to earn the treat.

For example, if you're teaching your dog to "shake hands," you may start by rewarding your dog for lifting their paw off the ground, then for lifting it higher, then for touching your hand, then for letting you hold their paw, and finally, for actually "shaking hands" with you.

Once your dog has successfully learnt a behaviour you can move to using intermittent reinforcement . At first, reward your dog with the treat three out of every four times they do the behavior. Then, over time, reward them about half the time, then about a third of the time, and so on, until you're only rewarding her occasionally with the treat. Continue to praise your dog every time—although once your dog has learned the behavior, your praise can be less effusive, such as a quiet, but positive, "Good dog." Use a variable schedule of reinforcement so that they don't catch on that they only have to respond every other time.

Reminder - your dog, identity tags and the law

All responsible dog owners know their dog should wear a tag to help with identification should he stray. But did you know that it is in fact a LEGAL requirement for your dog to wear one.

Current law requires requires that your dog wear a tag with your name, address (including postcode) and ideally phone number.

"The Control of Dogs Order 1992 mandates that any dog in a public place must wear a collar with the name and address (including postcode) of the owner engraved or written on it, or engraved on a tag. Your telephone number is optional (but advisable)." [ref Kennel Club website]

If you fail to comply with the law then you risk a fine of up to £5,000. With the wide variety of tags available there's no reason for even the most fashion conscious pup not to wear a tag.

Woman arrested over dog fighting

The following article was published in The Times on September 9th:

A leading member of one of England’s biggest dog-fighting gangs, which had links with Northern Irish paramilitaries, wanted to become the Don King of the pitbull training world, a court was told yesterday.

Gary Adamson, 38, trained his illegally owned dogs on treadmills to compete in fights around Britain and attended “conventions” in Finland where severely injured animals had clips fastened to their ears and were electrocuted.

The harrowing accounts and secretly filmed footage of cruel treatment emerged at the start of a two-week trial at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court.

During a series of raids by the RSPCA, after an undercover investigation by a former SAS operative, it emerged that gang members also made pitbulls train in swimming tanks or by attacking “lunge poles” with dummies hanging from them to maximise the animals’ aggression.

The RSPCA raids also seized “break sticks” for parting the animals once their jaws had locked on to others, and veterinary products to treat animals injured in makeshift fight pits.

Five people, including Adamson, a welder from Yarm, North Yorkshire, have admitted a series of dog-fighting offences under the Dangerous Dogs and Animal Welfare Acts. They face jail terms of up to six months and fines of £20,000.

Claire Parker, 44, a mother of three from Kexby, Lincolnshire, was also in court yesterday. She denied being present at a dog fight, keeping premises for fights and owning three pitbulls. The breed is banned in Britain.

Mohammed Nasir Farooq, 33, from Birmingham, denied involvement in a dogfight, causing unnecessary suffering to a pitbull and possessing equipment associated with dog fights.

The RSPCA brought the case after Steve Ibinson, an undercover investigator and former SAS member, infiltrated a dog-fighting gang called the Farmer Boys, with alleged paramilitary links in Northern Ireland, for a BBC Panorama programme.

Mr Ibinson went on to uncover a series of links between that gang and dog-fighting criminals in England. Only now can his identity be revealed. He died of natural causes earlier this year while serving as a security guard in Afghanistan.

The court heard that after a fight at Mrs Parker’s garage, Adamson’s dog, Pablo, was so badly scarred that it appeared to have had a shotgun fired in its face. In secretly recorded video footage, Adamson is shown standing next to three reinforced pens in his yard, boasting that Pablo suffered a “real good ragging” during a 26-minute fight for a £500 prize.

The dog appears nervous as Adamson lifts it at one point by the collar to show numerous white facial scars, a badly torn ear and some wounds stapled up. The animal lost the fight and is thought to have died from its injuries, the court heard.

Mr Ibinson said in a recorded statement that Adamson was the representative of northeast England of the Farmers Boys, from Co Armagh, and aspired to be to pitbull fighting what Don King was to boxing.

Adamson was shown explaining that he wanted to make Pablo train in a swimming tank. At one point he grinned as he said that his mother was a member of the RSPCA, while was a badger-baiter.

Mr Ibinson said that he travelled with Adamson to Finland where they watched “conventions”, or dog fights, one of which resulted in a severely injured animal being electrocuted.

Michael Shorrock, QC, for the prosecution, said that RSPCA officers seized treadmills, break sticks and veterinary products at the house where Mrs Parker lived with her children and her late husband John, known as “Odd Ball”, a convicted dog fighter who died in prison.

Mr Shorrock rejected her suggestion that she was unaware of what took place in the garage.

The case continues.

A street status symbol

Two thirds of all dog fighting reports received by the RSPCA are directly connected to young men and women using their dogs as “weapons” in streets and parks

Animal welfare officers have reported horrific stab wounds, broken bones and cigarette burns to the dogs’ heads

In 2007 37 per cent of calls to the RSPCA about dog fighting related to instances where youths were “fighting” their animals outside. Last year that figure rose to 66 per cent

London has emerged as a hotspot. The Metropolitan Police seized 38 dogs under the Dangerous Dogs Act between April 2004 and April 2005. Between April 2007 and April 2008 officers seized 719

Islington dog attack - Barnard Park

We have heard recently of another dog attack in the area. Word has reached us of an Alsatian puppy who was apparently mauled to death by a gang of staffies in Barnard Park. Please be vigilant when exercising your dogs and contact the police if you have any concerns.

Summer colds - kennel cough

Kennel cough is caused by a combination of viruses and bacteria including:As many dog owners will know kennel cough is currently doing the rounds amongst the canine population in London. Unfortunately many people still believe that kennel cough is a life threatening disease and as such there is a stigma attached to admitting your dog has it or has had it.

Kennel cough is in fact very common and rarely serious. It is essentially the same as the common cold in humans. The reason that people have traditionally been worried by kennel cough is because it is highly contagious, again like the human cold. As such dogs that are kept in close contact can rapidly spread the disease to one another, for example those staying in kennels. Living in a city means however, that our dogs come into daily contact with many more dogs than their country cousins. Consequently it is much more likely that a dog living in the city is going to pick up kennel cough at least once in their life.

So, what exactly is kennel cough?

• Canine parainfluenzavirus
• Canine adenovirus
• Bordetella bronchiseptica

These bugs get into the dog's body and irritate the dogs throat which leads to the tell tale coughing. Kennel cough is easily identified by a harsh, hacking cough which sounds like your dog has something stuck in his throat. Most dogs are not really unwell when they have the disease although occasionally they have a high temperature and are a bit 'out of sorts' for a day or two. The cough tends to get worse for a few days and then gradually goes away.

What should I do?
Kennel cough is what is known as a self limiting disease. This means that it tends to resolve itself within a few days, again much like the human cold. There is NO treatment that will cure your dog of kennel cough - basically they have to fight off the infection themselves.

Very rarely, if the infection spreads to the chest and threatens to become pneumonia, or if your dog is unwell in himself or has a weak immune system, your vet may prescribe some antibiotics. However, these will NOT stop the coughing more quickly, NOR will they stop your dog from being contagious. Instead your vet will probably recommend that you give your dog cough linctus, you can safely give your dog human baby cough linctus which can be bought from any chemists. However do make sure that the linctus is for tickly coughs, not productive coughs. It is very important that you do not give your dog a medicine with ibuprofen or guaifenesin in it as these are dangerous.

What else can you do to help?
Just as in people with a cold, coughing is brought on by exercise, excitement and exposure to cold air. If your dog has kennel cough you should keep them in a warm environment (where possible) and try not to exercise them too much.
Avoid situations where your dog is likely to bark, as this is highly likely to cause coughing. If your dog normally wears a collar, take this off, to stop it irritating his throat, and exercise him outside with a harness or halter and lead.
Remember that other dogs are at risk of catching the cough from your dog, however by the time your dog starts coughing he is past his most contagious. Do not let your dog cough over other dogs, keep him on a lead when exercising him, and try and prevent him from sharing balls and other toys until his cough has gone.

How can I prevent kennel cough?
There are several vaccines available which can help protect your dog against the different viruses and bacteria that can cause kennel cough. Many of these vaccines are given as drops into the nose, although some are available as injections too.

Although these vaccines MAY help protect your dog against certain viruses and bacteria it is important to understand that they do not guarantee your dog won't get kennel cough. Much like the flu jab for humans, kennel cough vaccines will most likely just lessen the severity of a bout of kennel cough which your dog might get. There is such a wide and ever changing variety of bugs that cause kennel cough that it is impossible to find one vaccine that protects against them all.

Many kennels require you to vaccinate your dog against kennel cough before their stay, however as mentioned above this is no guarantee against your dog contracting kennel cough. Vaccination to protect against Bordetella bronchiseptica (one of the causes of kennel cough) is usually only carried in 'at risk' individuals - often just prior to entry to boarding kennels. The immunity produced by this vaccine does not last long and revaccination is required as often as every 6 months to maintain protection.

More evidence that the 'dominance' theory of canine behaviour is flawed

The University of Bristol has also weighed in with further evidence that a dog's desire to be dominant is not the main factor behind canine aggression.

Researchers from the university spent six months studying dogs at a Dogs Trust Centre, and used their findings to reanalyse earlier studies carried out on feral dogs. It was concluded that relationships between dogs are built through the experiences that individuals are exposed to rather than being motivated by an overriding desire to assert dominance or be the 'pack leader'.

Furthermore it has been suggested that training aimed at reducing dominant/aggressive behaviour could actually exacerbate the situation. Owners who continue to assert their 'pack leader' status over their dog are effectively bullying and intimidating the animal. Any submission seen will be restricted to very limited circumstances and will be the result of the dog coming to expect/fear punishment/chastisement. Ultimately this can cause dogs to become more aggressive, particularly when combined with physical abuse such as hitting and kicking.

As Dr Rachel Casey,Senior Lecturer in Companion Animal Behaviour and Welfare, said "The blanket assumption that every dog is motivated by some inane desire to control people and other dogs is frankly ridiculous.It hugely underestimates the complex communicative and learning abilities of dogs.It also leads to the use of coercive training techniques,which compromise welfare,and actually cause problem behaviours".

So if you have an ASBO pup look to see what you've been doing to your dog, chances are your actions are the root cause of the problem.