Expert: Delores Beck - 12/27/2010

Question
hey....i hav a 6 and a half months old female cocker spaniel.she is very naughty and super active.that doesnt bother me though.we live in an apartment.the probelm is that whenevr the door is open she tries to run away n wen we follow her she runs evn faster.in d begginin we used to hold her so she doesnt run away.now my mum thinks she iz probably old enough and so she wont run.but previously she ran away around 4 to 5 times n i had to run after her real fast n catch hold of her.even today my mum thought that she wouldnt run n so she dint hold her.but her 1st reaction was tht she immediatly ran away on to d road n i had to struggle n catch hold of her.wat can i  do to stop dis? we treat her really well at home.she is very pampered.she sometimes listens to commands but not all d time.please tell me wat to do to avoid dis or to stop her from doin so.another problem is tht  she pees and does potty at home itself.evn though she is this old she does not do it outside  when we take her for a walk.previously when she was young we tried takin her for a walk several times a day so she learns to pee n do potty outside.but she doesnt .immediatly as soon as i get her home from a walk she pees at home.so i have given up on dat.so we jus trained her so she pees n does potty at least in d balcony n not all over d house.she does it der most of d time.but at times she does it inside too.is there anythin i can do evn now to get her used to peeing outside when i take her for a walk?pleaseeeeee help.now we take her for a walk twice a day for like 10 min just because she loves to go for a walk. she will kill me if i dont take her for a walk on time.but never pees or does potty.plz suggest
thnanks a ton :)

Answer
Please go to Home Depot or Target and get a baby gate for the front door.  Your Mother is dead wrong and she'll end up under a car.  Or keep a leash right at the front door and before it's open, put the leash on her.

She has to be TAKEN out every few hours to properly housebreak her.  Choose a command like "go potty" and continue to give the command.  When she goes..praise a lot and reward with a treat.
She needs at least a good hour's exercise every day.  Ten minutes is nothing and you really have to do a lot better than that.

It sounds like this poor dog isn't being trained or exercised and that's going nowhere good.

Your responsibility to is teach her and take the time to do it.  A dog not exercised enough is headed for behavioral problems.  Love is not enough and you need to get committed to treating her properly.