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My dog's name is Rusty. He is 5 1/2 months old. I have had him since he was 5 weeks old. He has behavior problems that stretch across the board. I will try to briefly describe each of them, and would very much appreciate any help I can get with any or all of them.

1. Crate - I am a college student so I have class every day for about 2 hours at a time. He is NEVER in his crate for more than 2 1/2 hours. I always let him potty right beforehand, give him plenty to do inside the crate (kong, nylabone, and a toy or two), and I let him potty as soon as I get back while somewhat ignoring him for 5 or so minutes so I don't overexcite him. STILL, my roommates tell me that he is yelping and barkign and screaming the ENTIRE time I'm gone. In addition to this, he is apparently throwing himself against the side of the cage. I've tried covering it with a blanket, which he pulled into the crate and shredded it. I put his little bed in there and he shreds it. This has been going on for 2 months, daily. I've even put him in there while i'm home and he just whimpers. I leave for 5 minutes at a time and he just never stops crying.

2. Peeing - whenever he meets new people and they pet him, he loses all control of his bladder. When I come home from class, if I pet him and he's excited, uncontrolled pissing. Meeting a new dog, piss. He's not even aware of it, its just happening. He'll even submiss to someone petting him and piss all over himself. This is really annoying - is there any way to stop it? I'm tired of having to take him outside to greet anyone who comes over.

3. Potty training - He's 5 1/2 months old and is still VERY inconsistent with potty training. He has NEVER gone to the door to tell me he has to go potty. He keeps having accidents, granted they are less frequent than when he was 5 weeks old, but I just want to trust him and I can't because of the accidents. When I catch him doing it, I frimly say "Rusty, NO!" and immediately lead him to the door. I then say "go potty!" until he goes and then I shower him with praise for peeing in the right spot. I have been 100% consistent with this since I got him. I don't know what else to do!

There's more but I'll stop there for now. The main ones are the crate and the potty training. He never pees or poops in the crate so I have that going for me, but the crying is making my roommates hate me. And I feel bad for him being that miserable for 2 hours everyday. If I could just get him potty trained, I wouldn't even have to worry about the crate - which he has never liked. No matter how much I treat him and praise him and coax him, he has never liked that crate.
 

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oh my ... where to start


Please forgive me if i come off harsh. I mean well.

Never...never ever eva eva.... scold a puppy for a potty accident.

Your dog is NOT supposed to automatically know to go to the door to "tell you" he needs to go. He can't read your mind. Would you be upset at a 5 month old human baby if it pooped its pants? Of course not. Its silly to expect a puppy to do these things without ALOT of training.

If the dog pees on the floor it is your fault. Not the dog, not ever.

He needs to be taught these things through dozens if not hundreds of successful repetitions.

Take him outside every hour. ..get a kitchen timer if your going to forget.

Praise praise praise every potty outside and treat the dog too. If you catch him going inside rush him outside and dont say anything just praise/treat if he finishes.

The treat is the inportant part. For some/MOST dogs, praise at first will NOT be enough. As much as us humans would like it to be. Treat must be given immediatly, not after going back inside.

Praise/treat if he continues to go outside.


Scolding him teaches him to be afraid of pottying in front of you. Thats it, nothing else. . Thats all he will learn from that.

He will begin to hide when he does it, not hold it longer. Dogs do not understand that its "wrong" .

They do however understand that when they do it in front of you its now "scary". So he will get better at peeing in other places when your gone.


I can also walk you through the crate training to if you like. I strongly suggest you google "clicker training" and "NILIF" and start using them on your dog.


Your pup is cute btw.

Good luck.

Crios



 

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Hi and welcome to the Dog Forum Rachand Rusty!
Crios gave you some great advise and I's like to add my thoughts too.

1. The Crate. Your dog had separation anxiety. You need to start baby crate training steps. I'd pick a day where can dedicate the day to it. Start small. Get him in, let him settle, let him out. Get him in, let him settle let him out. Treats and praise when he is settled and quite. Keep this up and lenthing the time between settling/quite. The work on leaving the room. You want to be able to put him in his crate, leave the room and come back. Lengthening the time your are gone. Eventually, you will want to put him in his crate, leave the room, go do a load of laundry and a chore or two and then come back.
Along with this to help his separation anxiety, when you and your roommates come home, be calm and ignore him. No big happy joufull reunion. This makes his anxeity worse. He needs to learn that you comming home is just a psrt of life. No big.
Also, there are some really go sites to get crate traingin tips. Midwest Homes For pets has one.

2. Peeing-he is doing what is called submission peeing also it could be excitement pee. Some breeds are very prone to this. This is where you not geting excited when you come home helps. Anyone you meet ot anytime someone comes over, they ignore the dog. Once he is calm, then you and they can calmy and quitely say "hi". The best thing to do is to keep him in a small confined area that is easy to clean for the meet and greets intil you can get a handle on it.

3-Housebreaking-at his age he should be housebroken. Crios gave you some great advise and I have to agree. You may need to go back to Puppies 101. Start out every 30 mins to an hour every hour. This is your issue-you need to get him outside consistantly. With luck you can get him on a scheduel as well as hopefully he will learn to give you a "tell". Like going to the back door and bark. But IMO, you need to start from scratch.

There are also two thinks I would do. One-get him into obediance class asap.
Two-on his next vet check up, have them preform an Urinalysis. More then likey his issues are training. But I'd have him checked to make sure there truely is no underlying physical issues that you need to consider.

I wish you the best of luck with him! Please keep us updated and please post some pics of him! He sure is a cutie pie! What is he?
 

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Well I agree with everything that GeorgieGirl said so all I really have to add a couple of links for some of the issues you have described. They are provided by the local Humane Society here and have some pretty good information in them...the main list can be found at Humane Society of Missouri - http://www.hsmo.org

But to make everything easier I have picked out some specific articles for you:

Crate Training
Separation Anxiety
Submissive & Excitable Urination
Potty Training

I hope you find some useful information in them. Also check out local obedience classes...not only will it help you train you pup, it'll let you guys form a closer bond and also help give your pup some confidence in himself.
 
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