please help, hubby is threatening to rehome Charlie

[ashleycat]

I play with him all the time. I run around the house have him chase me, I play fetch with his bone. I have the bruises to prove it. lol

I keep his food up, and make him sit before he gets it, make him sit before I open the door.

I'm going to google the nilf, I read a little upon it. But need more.

[BC_MoM]

How about mental stimulation? Having mini training sessions on your own. Does he know his basic commands? If so, you can teach him different tricks.. or perhaps enroll in some obedience, flyball, or agility classes?

[ashleycat]

How about mental stimulation? Having mini training sessions on your own. Does he know his basic commands? If so, you can teach him different tricks.. or perhaps enroll in some obedience, flyball, or agility classes?

He knows sit, down and roll (where I get him to lay on his side)

But he ignores me a lot of the time. Unless I have something he wants. Sometimes I reward him with getting pet. No treat. So I've been doing that not every time has a food reward.

Depends on what I have. Sometimes he acts like he's the best trained dog in the world and sits and downs sooo fast. Then theres times where he ignores me.

[ashleycat]

I also take him 20 min walks around neighborhood too. I forgot to mention that. I get my excercise too. lol.

I have to go and buy a crate too.

[ashleycat]

how do i know where to find good obedience classes?

[BOBS DAD]

CALM DOWN ASHLEY... Deep Breaths... Deep Breaths...

I have not personally done the leash method but if I had a real problem behavior dog on my hands I probably would

Bob was a pretty good boy at home - most of the time. BUT he was a terror at work. I bring my dogs to the office as often as I can. Ginger is used to the routine and is a very good girl at work. BUT BOB - it was like he forgot everything he had learned at home. Sneaking away and doing his business, not listening, fighting with Ginger... on and on. Worst off was the fact that he loved to sneak across the hall and poop in the neighbor's cublcle. HOW MANY TIMES I HAD TO CLEAN UP and not to mentin the many times I caught him just starting to sneak away. Something about that spot - he liked to do his business there.

I did resort to the leash inside. I tethered him to ME, when I was moving about and when I needed to sit down and really concentrate, I tehered him to counter where I was. WHAT a WORLD of difference!!!

NOW when he really had to go, he let me know and outside we went. Sometimes he goofed off and I started not listening to him as early. I made him wait and when he was really, really fidgety, we went and HE WENT. NO MORE CUBICLE NEXT DOOR. He stopped eating my many papers strewn about the office. He lsitened better, etc. and eventually off the leash and NOW HE IS AT WORK LIKE HE IS AT HOME. I would definitely recommend the leash indoors!!!

[Aspen and Misty]

I agree with Giselle, sounds to me like Charlie may not be potty trained. When Teddy started having accidents in the new house we just started all over. It took awhile, but he caught on.


As for him not going in the ten minutes, then start him on a schedule you think will work. Every dog is different. It takes mine about 5 minutes to go and come back in. For Charlie you may need to spend 20 minutes, three times a day till he goes in the allowed time. Then move it down to 15 minutes, then down to 10. If you find he is unable to take such a big jump in time, you can do it in smaller increments such as 20 mins, 18 mins, 15 mins, 13 mins etc.

Keep working with him and he will improve. I know with Nova it felt like for weeks were at a stand still and making no progress. Then all the sudden we took a huge step forward. It takes time, patience and love, but the rewards are well worth it.

Good luck,
Ashley

[Vela]

A crate isn't going to fix the problem of him not seeing you as pack leader. You should really listen to waht K9Soul is saying and apply it. It will help you, Charlie, and your husband.

[ashleycat]

Nilf said to use a crate.

I would only use it when we're gone and at night.

[Queen of Poop]

Sounds like you need to teach your dog who the boss of the house is. You need to go for obedience training. Find a class close to you and get signed up as soon as possible. Your local pet store should probably have a bulletin board with all sorts of training options.

What I did with my unrully dog was attach the leash to her collar and to my waist when I was at home. That way she had to be with me all the time and I could keep an eye on what she was doing. It worked well for us and she quit chewing the walls, furniture, etc.

Good luck, don't give up on him just yet, train him, he needs structure, boundries, etc, just like a child.

[Aspen and Misty]

Charlie is still a new dog to the house hold. I know more then a month may seem like a long time, but think about the lifestyle change he is getting used to. It took Nova a little over 6 months to settle in and become her true self. It also took her that long to learn all the rules.

While a crate is a good idea, I do think Charlie see's himself as the leader of your house hold. He thinks he makes the rules, not you. That’s why he takes what he wants and does what he wants. It is important for you to gain back your Alpha role. My dog Nova is a very dominate dog so I go through the same things with her. She thinks that she rules everything and it really takes a strong hand to stay on top of her. Like in the system mentioned, she gets nothing for free, ever.

Why not start him on a routine? For instance - 10 minute potty brake in the morning (time it and take him in after 10 minutes). Another 10 minute brake around lunch time (time it and take him in after 10 minutes) then a 20 minute walk at night. This will get him to go potty faster while outside cause he will learn that he has to go potty right away as he only has short breaks. Also, only let him out three times day which will hopefully get him to hold it more and not ask to go out so much.

Ashley

[ashleycat]

so how do you know if he's potty trained? He's only had 3 accidents since he's been here. 2 by which was my fault.

[Aspen and Misty]

so how do you know if he's potty trained? He's only had 3 accidents since he's been here. 2 by which was my fault.

These are the two parts that made me assume he is not potty trained.

marking his territory INSIDE even tho he has been neutered more than a month ago. Why inside tho?

What if he doesn't go in that 10 min, and ends up going on the floor?

You know him better then we do. If you think he is potty trained, then he may be. We just suggested starting over as an option we thought would help. When Nova began to pee in the house because we got another female dog we re-potty trained her. She was already potty trained, but because we re-potty trained her it ended her bad behavior. (Yup, Nova is our "problem child")

In response to

What if he doesn't go in that 10 min, and ends up going on the floor?

Something else I thought of is you said you are home all day with him. Well you don't necessarily have to follow the schedule I set up, you need to make it fit your schedule. You can walk him as many times are you want. So maybe start off with 5 or 6, 10 minutes walks a day. Or you could start off with a 10 minute walk every 2 to 3 hours if you don't think he can hold it. Then slowly increase the time between walks and shorten the length of the walks (although I think a dog should have at least 10 minutes to potty, IMPO preferably 15)


Ashley

[Giselle]

so how do you know if he's potty trained? He's only had 3 accidents since he's been here. 2 by which was my fault.

There is no one concrete signal where one day your dog wakes up and goes, "Oh! Don't worry mom, I'm potty trained". You have to know your dog and it's all a matter of speculation. If your dog marks inside and goes on the floor frequently as was suggested above, chances are he is not *fully* potty trained. He could be getting the idea, but either you just aren't rushing him to the yard soon enough or you're misinterpreting his warning signs or he just doesn't think of your house as his kennel (thus, avoiding accidents). I knew Lucky was potty trained when he sat at the backyard door and barked for me to release him. That was pretty obvious Giselle, however, has different signals. She can't sit patiently waiting for me to open the door. Instead, she walks to the front door and sniffs it (even though her potty area is in the *backyard*). It's subtle, but that's her way of letting me know.

The easiest option, IMO, is to go back to Square 1.

[Giselle]

He knows sit, down and roll (where I get him to lay on his side)

But he ignores me a lot of the time. Unless I have something he wants. Sometimes I reward him with getting pet. No treat. So I've been doing that not every time has a food reward.

Depends on what I have. Sometimes he acts like he's the best trained dog in the world and sits and downs sooo fast. Then theres times where he ignores me.

If he ignores you, you're either boring the the living daylights out of him or he simple isn't trained well enough. Honestly, enroll yourself in an obedience class (I don't recommend PetSmart). You need a professional trainer to work with you because it doesn't sound like you and Charlie are communicating efficiently. Here's a link of where to find trainers in your area from the APDT (Associate of Pet Dog Trainers): http://www.apdt.com/trainers-and-own...-a-trainer.htm

Also, I *wouldn't* get Charlie started in any advanced classes since he doesn't even seem to grasp the Basic 5: sit, stay, down, come, heel. Charlie is an aussie, I assume? If so, aussies are AMAZINGLY intelligent dogs. They learn and they learn quick. They don't like repitition. You need to vary your commands and perform them randomly. Don't just stand in one place and ask him to "Sit" 5 times in a row. He'll get bored and try to invent his own form of entertainment (i.e. counter surfing and knocking dishes onto the floor). If Charlie ignores your commands, DON'T repeat it over and over again or the effectiveness of the command wears off and he gains leadership over you. This is why NILIF is *so* crucial and *so* important.

When you ask Charlie to do something, he thinks, "What's in it for me?"

A pat on the head? I'm sure you love Charlie very much so I'm sure you give him loads of kisses and pats and hugs anyways. So why should Charlie sit for a pat on the head? If he's going to perform for you, he needs a strong motivation. The primary motivation should be because he wants to please you because you are ALPHA. You see, this whole training business all goes back to NILIF. You need to assert yourself as alpha and he as the omega. Once you strongly establish leadership over him, everything falls into place. Once you are leader, Charlie will want to please you. He doesn't know right from wrong, but you do. Once you are leader and once Charlie finds the motivation to perform willingly for you, he will act "obedient".