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Raising Stella – The Potty Problem

Michael Baugh, CPDT-KA, CDBC
I used to say “potty training is easy.” What I really should say now is “potty training is not complicated.” That’s the first lesson I’ve learned from Stella (I’m sure there will be many). Potty training is not easy. It takes a great deal of work and attention. However, the idea of it is pretty darn simple.

Stella only has two states of existence right now: 1) safely confined and 2) interacting with a person (supervised). The confinement part is pretty easy. Stella actually seems to enjoy her quiet time in the crate. Some dogs fight this tooth and nail (some literally breaking teeth and nails). But Stella is cool with it. Of course, we can’t keep her in there all the time. So, the rest of the time she’s interacting with people under close supervision. And that takes a lot of work. In the first three hours of this morning Stella and I have been out for two potty breaks (more on those below), some play time, a potty break for me (yup she came with me), coffee and breakfast in the kitchen together (she ate too), and then some writing up in the office. She’s lying on her bed next to me, her leash attached to my desk, while she chews on a bone. I have not had a single waking moment without her by my side. I’m not complaining. But it is work.

That’s half of potty training – setting Stella up to win, making sure she doesn’t have the chance to poop or pee in the house. And after one week I can happily report that it’s working. Yes, there was one incident mid week when we had a lot of rain and she didn’t want to get her “princess fur” wet. Instead she got my kitchen floor wet. But we won’t focus on the negative. Her success to failure ratio is still phenomenal.

The other half of potty training is showing her that outside is the place to do it. And I mean the place. It’s simple but not always easy. In theory all you have to do is reinforce the puppy for going in the right spot. I recommend cheering, praising and then giving three treats one after the other as soon as the deed is done (immediately, don’t wait until you bring the puppy inside). Simple right?

But easy? Well, I found out pretty early on that Stella is not too keen on food when she’s outside. Some days she just outright refuses it. So I quickly had to remember the science of behavior. The training is not about the “treat.” It’s about whether or not the behavior changes. Clearly if Stella refuses food, then giving her a treat for going potty is not reinforcement. I needed something that would increase her “peeing outside” behavior and it wasn’t going to be food. Play. That’s a good one. Stella likes romping around and playing. Petting. That works for Stella too. So right after she goes I praise her enthusiastically, run around in circles getting her to play and I scritch (that’s a technical term) her chest. I look like a fool. But while the neighbors laugh I have a clean house.

On one of those rainy nights I knew all Stella wanted was to get back inside to dry her “princess fur.” Begrudgingly, she popped a squat and did her thing. In that brief moment I thought of the biggest jackpot prize I could come up with to reinforce her good behavior. It sure as heck wasn’t going to be a piece of kibble. It had to be bigger, something she could really use. So, as soon as her deed was done I laid it on her. “Good girl Stella, let’s go inside!” I was her hero. Smart girl. Smarter daddy.

Puppy Biting Hurts

Michael Baugh, CPDT-KA, CDBC

Biting hurts. And puppy biting can hurt a lot. It’s sometimes relentless and in some cases it’s pretty scary. But puppy biting is also 100% normal. In fact, it’s a necessary part of puppy development.

Young puppies who are clamping down on everything and everyone are learning the strength of their own mouths. It’s all play but there’s serious work going on here. They’re discovering how hard they have to bite to get a reaction from – another puppy, or the cat, or the older dog in your household, or you. This biting game teaches them a lesson they take well into their adult life: how hard do I have to bite if I absolutely need to resolve a serious conflict?

Here’s the cool part. We can influence this process. We can actually teach a puppy to inhibit her bite (it’s called acquired bite inhibition). Here’s how it works.

Puppies have very weak jaws and needle sharp teeth. When puppies play with each other or other adult dogs they play bite. The playmates let the puppy know when her little teeth have bitten down too hard. How? If the puppy bites too hard the other dog yelps and immediately ends the play session. The little puppy loses her playmate.

Watch puppies play and you’ll see this in action. Nothing is more upsetting to a young puppy than losing her chance to play. Those sharp teeth of hers ended the fun. Next time she’ll bite more softly. Now the little puppy is learning how fragile other dogs are.

You might find that other dogs can tolerate a little more from your puppy than you can. Human skin really is fragile. So we need to teach the puppy to bite softly. That’s different than teaching her not to bite at all. We want the puppy to experiment with us so she knows we injure easily. That way, if your puppy ever bites as an adult dog she’ll set her mouth at human strength not bone-crushing strength.

Let your puppy mouth your hand and harm playfully. Tolerate the soft biting. Before long she will try a little harder bite. Immediately let her know how much it hurt. There’s no need to act like a dog by yelping. But you may decide to play act a bit. Ham it up. Yell OUCH as convincingly and indignantly as you can. Then end the puppy’s play session by leaving the room for a minute. Keep this up until you find your puppy is biting more softly more often. In time, you will begin discouraging all puppy biting.

A lot of trainers say the most important thing you can teach a young puppy is acquired bite inhibition. I agree. We never know what tight spot our dog might find herself in years down the road. But we can do a lot now to set her up to succeed in the future without ever hurting anyone.

Four Things You Need to Teach Your Puppy (Right Away)

Michael Baugh, CPDT-KA, CDBC

Puppies are great fun. But there’s work to be done too. Here are four essential things you need to teach your puppy right away.

Poop and Pee here not there. Here are the rules of potty training. Never ask yourself “where’s the puppy.” The little tike should be right there with you under your watchful eye. Or the puppy should be safely confined in his crate. Take him outside every hour or two and lead him to the place you want him to “go.” Once he’s done, give him three tiny treats right there where you stand. Give him a chance to go again before you come back inside.
Chew this not that. The same rules apply. I you have to ask yourself “where’s the puppy,” chances are he’s chewing your furniture in the next room or peeing on your carpet. Supervise or safely confine him. Provide your puppy with some interesting chew toys. I like stuffed Kong Toys. But don’t leave them all out at once. I recommend rotating toys in and out of service.
Humans are fragile. Certainly you can and should avoid puppy biting. However, some trainers believe there’s a developmental reason puppies have those sharp teeth and why they bite us so much. They are gauging bite strength. Specifically, they are figuring out the minimum force needed for the maximum effect. So, we can actually teach them to bite more softly. Accept a few gentle bites. When the hard bite comes, yell “OUCH” and leave your puppy alone without a playmate for a minute or two (in his crate if need-be). Sure enough, you’ll get a puppy who uses his mouth more gently. Better yet, you’ll have an adult dog who won’t do any harm even if he feels he has to bite someone.
The world is safe. Dogs who don’t feel safe often don’t behave well. That’s why it’s so important to show your puppy that the people, other pets, places and events they might encounter in life are safe. That means introducing them to the world in a joyful and pleasant manner while protecting them from disease. You have a limited amount of time. The imprinting period in puppies (often called the socialization period) ends around 18 weeks of age. After that a lack of experience can develop into fear.

If you’re thinking about getting a puppy I highly recommend the book Life Skills for Puppies by Daniel Mills and Helen Zulch.