Expert: Alan J Turner, SATS LL1 - 3/2/2007

Question
Mr. Turner:

I have visted your website prior to posting this question.

My daughter inherited the family dog.  She is a 12 year old female
Lhasa Apso.  She had been totally housebroken for several years but
recently she has started to urinate & poop in the house, even though she has
a doggy door to lead her outside.

There have been some changes in my daughters household in the past few
months that you should also know about.  They moved to a new house and
shortly after that, my daughters other Lhasa passed away.  My daughter
recently replaced her dog with a new Boxer puppy.  So yes, lots of
changes.

The Lhasa will potty in the hallway or the dining room...not the other
rooms of the house.  Many times she will do it in the middle of the
night...even though she can use the doggy door to go out anytime.  But she
will also do it during the day.  And yes, she also goes in and out of
the doggy door to "potty".  There is just no consistency in her
behavior.

When my daughter catches her, she swats her on bottom with her hand,
and the dog growls and sometimes bites.  Of course, this makes discipline
difficult.

I suspect this is a power struggle issue but we have no idea how to
address it.  My daughter and her husband work full time.

Thank you for any assistance!

Susan"


Answer
Dear Susan,

Does the dog have access to food all day or do they feed her at specific times? If she eats at certain times and her exercise schedule is somewhat routine (the same each day), then it's likely that she will poop at the same times each day. Make sure she eats at the same times each day. Give her a bowl of food, allow 10 minutes for her to eat it. After 10 minutes remove the bowl and any left over food. Once she is on a schedule for eating, her pooping should be on schedule.

Scolding teaches dogs that it is unsafe to go near people- it does not teach them about choosing a correct location. This is not a power issue.

I would suggest that they treat this older dog just as if she were an untrained pup. This means they should use confinement training (crate or closed area). Visit my web site and download the house training instructions. There is a section in it for people who are gone during the day.

Good luck!



Good luck.

Visit my web site and download the free house training guide. http://www.howsbentley.com