Brining home your new dog
Housebreaking
House breaking may be the first training challenge a new dog owner will encounter. Although it can be a frustrating experience, the
necessity of housebreaking offers the owner and dog the opportunity to begin the communication process, which is the foundation
for training and living with your new family member.
Remember, as with any type of training, your best ally is consistency. Here are some basic tips to help you expedite and ease the
housebreaking period:
Potty signals
The first step in beginning to tackle the task of housebreaking a dog is to understand the signals your dog demonstrates when it
needs to go outside. These include:
There are, however, some useful strategies to mitigate this, which we discuss below.
Feeding schedule
Eliminating schedule
Remember what goes in must come out. By following some simple guidelines, you establish their habits and, therefore, pattern and
predict when they require eliminating. The benefit to you is that you can then minimize the potential for accidents inside the home.
The following will help you develop a solid routine:
• Dogs over six months of age usually have to go the bathroom between thirty minutes to six hours after eating or drinking.
• Always ensure that your dog urinates and eliminates after each meal.
• Before your dog goes to bed or whenever it wakes, it must immediately be allowed to eliminate.
• After going on a long walk, let your dog eliminate before entering the house.
• After romping or playing, you should let your dog eliminate.
• Always let your dog eliminate before and after being confined in a crate. As dogs do not like to eliminate in areas where they
sleep or frequent. Therefore, they will “hold it in.”
• Allow your dog the opportunity to eliminate before and after riding in a car.
• After greeting guests that come in to the house, take your dog outside.
• If you notice your dog walking around in circles and sniffing the floor, immediately take it outside.
• If your dog drinks large amounts of water, be certain to afford it the opportunity to eliminate.
The list below is a guideline to approximately how many times per day you will need to walk your adult dog.
Please see Appendix A for an example of a feeding and walking schedule for an adult dog.
Supervising and confining your puppy
Constant supervision is very important to successfully housebreak your dog, as the animal wants to please you. But in the absence
of direction, it will act in accordance with its own initiative. This is a bad thing, as you set yourself up for cleaning up “messes” inside
the house, since the dog does not understand that eliminating inside the house is inappropriate. If, for any reason, you cannot
provide this level of supervision, crate your dog until such time as you can. The following rules can aid you when you supervise your
pet:
1. Keep your dog in the same room with you, and watch for signs when the dog needs to eliminate.
2. Close doors or use baby gates to section parts of the house you don’t want your dog to go into if necessary. *If you can’t use
baby gates or close doors, **attach your dog to a leash and tie the leash around your waist.
3. If you catch your dog going to the bathroom in the house, DO NOT OVER SCOLD OR CORRECT HIM. Simply say in a direct
and hurried voice, “Oh, no. Let’s go outside!” Then, take your dog directly outside to its potty area. This is important because it
allows your dog to differentiate and equate the difference between eliminating inside the home and outside, as well as prevent it from
trying to hide its “business” from you for fear of repercussions, which can be an extremely difficult cycle to break.
* *This method should only be used those that are physically capable of restraining the dog, if the dog pulls or lunges.
Confinement
When used properly, crates are a wonderful tool to assist in housebreaking. Crating is useful in those instances when you are away
from your home, unable to supervise your dog or you are sleeping. However, there are some key points to keep in mind:
1. The crate should fit the dog. Your dog should be able to stand up completely, turn around and sleep comfortably on its side
within it.
2. During daytime hours, your dog should be left no longer than six hours in a crate without a break.
3. Your dog should spend no more than nine hours during the day, even with breaks, inside a crate.
4. Fresh water should always be made available to the dog.
5. Dogs will chew things in their crate, so everything in the crate should be indestructible.
6. Remove your dog’s collar before you put him into the crate. Collars and tags can get hung up in the wires of the crate and
choke your dog.
Create a “potty area” for your dog
A “potty area” is a small area of land, usually five feet to ten feet in diameter that you designate as your dogs’ area to eliminate.
Why is a “potty area” important?
1. The “potty area” helps the dog establish a territory outside to do its business. The puppy will want to return to this area to
eliminate.
2. Your dog learns when it is taken to this area; it should do its business there.
Where should the “potty area” be located?
You must choose one door in your house which you will always use to enter and exit with your dog. Your dog will learn to go to this
door when it needs to go to its “potty area”.
Once you have decided on a door, find a spot no more than thirty feet away from it. The spot should have grass, and be quiet with little
distraction.
Introducing your dog to the “potty area”
Teaching your dog to tell you it has to go outside
Before you can begin to teach your dog to tell you it has to go outside to do its business;
Your dog needs to know that it only does its business outside in its “potty area”.
Once the above has been established, follow the next steps;
1. When you see the sign that your puppy has to go outside, in a happy tone, ask “do you want to go outside?” as you are walking
towards the door. *If your puppy responds and follows you to the door, praise it while you are putting on its leash.
2. Walk your puppy to its potty area, and say “get busy” in a happy voice.
3. After your puppy has done its business, praise it.
If you consistently follow the above steps for two to five days, your puppy will happily walk to the door when it needs to go out and do
its business. The key once again, is watching your puppy and looking for signs that it needs to go outside.
*Please note the idea is to teach your puppy to walk happily to the door. I do not recommend allowing your puppy to jump on or
scratch at the door to tell you it has to go outside. This bad habit in the long run could be costly in repairs to damaged doors. If your
puppy is already jumping or scratching at the door to go outside, try the following steps;
1. When you see your puppy walking happily to the door, take the puppy by its collar and say “sit”.
2. Once the puppy sits, praise it for sitting and attach its leash to the collar, and walk it outside.
Try the previous steps for a few days. Your puppy will learn to happily walk to the door and sit.
Cleaning up messes:
When an accident occurs, it is important to immediately clean it up and completely neutralize the residual odors. Normal household
cleaners such as those used in your kitchen, however, are ineffective as they only dilute the scent, not neutralize it. The problem with
dilution is that, although the scent is undetectable to humans, it is most certainly detectable by your puppy. Your puppy will then use
this scent like a beacon to precisely identify to him the location of where he should eliminate next.
A better solution is to use an enzymatic cleaner. These cleaners can be purchased from almost any pet store or supermarket. Some
good products on the market today include “Simple Solution” and “Natures Miracle.” You can also create your own solution of mixing
one part plain white vinegar to eight parts water. This is a good inexpensive solution that works as well as the store bought products.
Questions and answers
My puppy is urinating and defecating in its crate all of the time, what do I do?
1. Talk with your veterinarian and ensure that your puppy has no health issues.
2. Your crate may be too big. If your puppy can walk to one side of the crate, do its business then walk back to the other side
of the crate and remain clean, it will do so. Put your puppy in a smaller crate.
3. Your puppy may not have a large enough bladder or digestive tract to stay in its crate as long as you might prefer. Re-
evaluate your puppy’s feeding and walking schedule. Allow your puppy to go out to do its business more often.
4. If the above steps do not work, contact a dog behaviorist in your area.
My eight week old puppy is waking up at 3 a.m. every morning needing to go to the bathroom. I do not want to create a habit of having
to take him out at this time what should I do?
Your puppy may be too small to go all night without eliminating, but your puppy should grow out of this in a few weeks. You do
however need to take your puppy outside to do its business; in order not to make this 3 a.m. walk a habit do not make a big deal
out of it. Say nothing to him except “get busy” when you take him out to his “potty area”. Do not play with him after he does his
business, but take him directly back to his crate and close the door.
I take my puppy out to do its business, and it does nothing. When I bring it into the house, it then eliminates. What do I do?
1. Do not play with your puppy when you take it outside until it eliminates. Sometimes if you are playing with the puppy
when it should be eliminating, it forgets what it is supposed to do.
2. When you take your puppy outside to its “potty area”, say nothing to it but, “Get busy.”
3. After your puppy has eliminated, praise it.
4. If your puppy does not do its business, bring it inside, put it in its crate, and give it a treat (Sometimes this will move the
digestive tract). Wait about twenty minutes, and try again.
I take my puppy on long walks, and right after we get inside, it does its business in the house. What should I do?
Puppies almost always will need to eliminate after going for a long or brisk walk. The walk gets the pipes working so to speak.
Take your puppy to its “potty area” and make sure it eliminates before bringing it into the house.
My puppy drinks a lot of water at one time, and has accidents in the house. I have rationed its water so it doesn't’t have as much to
drink at one time, but my puppy is still having accidents. What do I do?
1. If your puppy has fresh water available to it at all times, and is still drinking a lot of water, you need to take your puppy to
your veterinarian for a check-up. Your puppy may have an illness.
2. When a puppy is deprived of water, it will over-compensate by drinking what water it missed. DO NOT ration your puppy’s
water supply. Keep fresh water available to your puppy at all times.
3. If you see your puppy drinking a lot of water at one time, remember what goes in must come out, take it outside to its
“potty area” and allow it to eliminate.
My puppy is doing its business in a specific spot inside my house. What do I do?
Your puppy has established its “potty area” in your house. Your goal is to re-establish the puppy’s “potty area”. Some tips
include:
1. Supervise your puppy at all times when it is not in the crate.
2. Make sure you completely clean its inside established “potty area” with of the cleaning products described in the
Cleaning Up Messes section.
3. Do not allow your puppy access to its established “potty area” inside of the house for at least one week. Close doors, use
baby gates, cover the area with chairs or card board boxes, if necessary. This will help break the habit of the puppy wanting to
do its business in that area.
4. Re-evaluate your puppy’s feeding and walking schedule so you know when to take your puppy outside to do its business.
5. Re-establish your puppy’s outside “potty area” by consistently taking it to the same area outside to do its business.
My puppy is urinating in the house when I am at work during the day. I yell at him and rub his nose in it when I get home, but he is not
getting the message. What can I do to fix this?
Do not correct your puppy in this manner.
1. Because you are correcting your puppy in this manner, your puppy is learning to be fearful and anxious about what you
will do to him when you come home. This is only creating an anxious puppy when you come home, and is doing nothing to
correct the house breaking issue.
2. The old wives tale of rubbing a puppy’s nose in its feces or urine to house-break it, does not work, and can create
irreversible trust issues between you and your puppy.
3. Correcting a puppy after the fact is doing nothing to teach the puppy not to eliminate in the house. The puppy does not
understand why it is being corrected.
Solution;
4. Crate the puppy when you are at work, and hire a dog walker to walk the puppy during the middle of the day.
My puppy is hiding from me, and doing its business inside of the house. What do I do?
More than likely your puppy has been over-corrected for doing its business inside of the house. Your puppy thinks it will get into
trouble for going to the bathroom in front of you. Your goal is to teach your puppy it is okay to do its business in front of you;
then housebreak your puppy. Try these next steps for one week. If it is not helping, contact a dog behaviorist in your area.
1. Establish a “potty area” outside around trees or low growing bushes; this will give your puppy some privacy to do its
business. Every time you take your puppy to its “potty area” follow the steps below.
Allow your puppy to go under or around the bushes or trees to “hide” to do its business.
In a friendly tone, tell your puppy to “get busy.”
If you hear or see your puppy doing its business, slowly and calmly walk towards it, allowing it to see you. Wait for it to finish,
and praise it.
2. If you do catch your puppy doing its business inside the house, do not correct it! Simply say, “Let’s go outside” in a calm,
but hurried voice. Then, take your puppy outside to its “potty area.”
3. More supervision is necessary. When not in its crate, keep your puppy in the same room with you under close
supervision. You may need to move furniture around so that your puppy has no place to hide and do its business.
4. Re-evaluate your puppy’s feeding and walking schedule. It is very important that you know when you need to take your
puppy outside to do its business. Walk your puppy accordingly.
I adopted a young adult dog who is not housebroken. Is it possible to housebreak an adult dog and, if so, how do I go about this?
It is possible to house break a dog of any age. Depending on the habits picked up along the way, you may find it easier to
housebreak an adult dog due to the larger bladder, and the need for fewer meals per day. When housebreaking an adult dog, I
recommend following the same steps you would use to housebreak a three to six month old puppy;
I rescued an adult dog from a puppy mill six months ago. I have tried everything possible to crate train this dog with no luck.
Although I take her outside ten to twenty times through out the day, she still urinates and defecates with no warming in her
crate. Why is she doing this and how can I fix the problem?
By nature dogs are clean animals and have a natural instinct to urinate and defecate away from their sleeping or living areas.
This “natural instinct” can be “lost” when dogs consistently have no choice but to relieve themselves confined to small cages
or areas and sit in urine and fecal matter for extended periods of time. These dogs become “comfortable” urinating, defecating,
and wallowing in their own waste in small spaces, making it very difficult to crate train.
The key to stopping this behavior is simple; re-establish your dog’s natural instinct to not want to be in close range of its urine
and fecal matter.
Start a log, writing the times in which your dog urinates and defecates in a twenty four hour period, over a span of four days.
Use this log to anticipate the times in which your dog will have to eliminate, taking your dog out of her crate and outside to her
*designated potty area before she has the urge to urinate or defecate
Do not be discouraged if your dog has a few accidents in the crate, when you begin, as the accidents will start to dissipate in
time, and will take up to three months to correct.
If you catch your dog urinating or defecating in the crate, do not scold or over correct it, this will only teach your dog to hide
from you when it is doing its business making it more difficult to house train Instead, smack your hands together and in a
hurried firm voice say “Oh no, out side”, then quickly go to the cage open the cage door, leash your dog, and take him outside to
his potty area.
I adopted an adult male dog from the shelter a month ago. He asks to go outside when he has to go to the bathroom, but will come
into the house after doing all of his business and hike his leg on the furniture and walls and urinate. What can I do to fix this problem?
This sounds like you dog is marking his territory in the house. Supervision, consistently catching him in the act, and correcting
him while in the act will be the key to fixing this problem. Keep your dog in the same room with you, and watch your dog. Every
time you catch him hiking his leg in the house, do the following;
Clap your hands together as hard and as loud as you can. This noise should startle your dog, and hopefully he will stop urinating
immediately.
Immediately after clapping your hands, in a stern voice say “Oh No, outside!”
Quickly walk over to your dog, take your dog by his collar and walk him to the door. Leash your dog and take him outside to his
“potty area”.
Once at the “potty area” in a commanding voice say “get busy”. If your dog does his business, praise him. If your dog does not
do his business, saying nothing to him, bring him back into the house.
We adopted our two year old shepherd mix one year ago. His previous foster parents stated that they were away from the house 9
hours a day, and that not only was he crate trained, but also house broken. After the second day at our house, he started hiking his
leg on the furniture when went to work; he is left alone five hours a day. We crated him for a month which fixed the issue, but he didn't
like being crated, and started escaping. When we finally made the crate escape proof, he started rubbing the hair off of his nose
trying to get out. We then decided to confine him to the bathroom, where he immediately started urinating when confined.
To make sure he had no heath issues, we took him to the Veterinarian where he got a clean bill of health. His Vet recommended that
we put potty pants on him when we were away to prevent him from urinating in the bathroom, his potty pants were always wet when
we came home, but at least he was not’t urinating everywhere. Unfortunately, he has learned how to remove the potty pants and is
once again urinating in the bathroom. We do not want to crate him, but will have to get rid of him if we can’t fix this problem. What can
we do?
Potty pants are a great tool, but were designed for dogs with health issues that lead to incontinence. Putting potty pants on a
dog that is not house broken only eliminates the symptom (urine); it does not fix the problem.
In order to fix this problem you need to reduce the square footage of the bathroom which you are confining your dog, when you
are gone.* Reducing square footage can be accomplished by placing extra large cardboard boxes or 20 gallon plastic storage
containers, stacked on another, on the floor in the bathroom, initially leaving just enough room for the dog to stand, turn around,
and lay down on its side.
• Over the course of three months, allow the dog more space in the bathroom by removing one stack of boxes or containers
at a time. If the dog has an accident after removing a stack, replace the stack, wait one week and try removing again.
• After all boxes or containers have been removed and your dog is not urinating in the bathroom, graduate him to a larger
confined area such as a kitchen. Place boxes or containers in this area allowing the same square footage as that of the
bathroom without the boxes or containers. Once again, over the course of three months, allow the dog more space in the
kitchen by removing one stack of boxes or containers at a time. If the dog has an accident after removing a stack, replace the
stack, wait one week and try again.
• Once all of the boxes or containers have been removed from the kitchen and your dog is not having accidents, you may to
allow your dog access to a few rooms in the house while you are gone, if your dog has any accidents, confine the dog to the
kitchen, wait a week and try again.
*Please note this method of confining should only be used if your dog is non-destructive in the house when left alone, as
confining in this manner allows your dog the opportunity to chew, dig, and scratch at the areas surrounding it.
My dog is house broken and asks to go outside when he has to do his business, but when it is raining, he refuses to go outside, and
is having accidents in the house. What can I do to fix this problem?
I would recommend the following;
Establish a potty area outside that is close to the door in which you take your dog outside. The established potty area should be in an
area that provides shelter from the rain such as, under the eves of your house, or under bushes.
Using your dogs normal potty schedule, take him to the new potty area; if your dog does not do his business, bring him back inside
and put him into his crate. Keep him in his crate for about 30 minutes and then take him back out to the new potty area. If he still is
not doing his business, repeat this step as many times as necessary until he does all of his business in the new potty area.
Once he has done his business outside, praise him and bring him inside allow him normal access in the house at this point.
My six month old puppy urinates every time she greets anyone coming into the house. Why is she doing this, and how can I fix the
problem?
This is what we call submissive urinating; in layman’s terms, your puppy is so in awe out of respect for humans, and so excited
to greet humans that she involuntarily looses bladder control.
Usually puppies will out grow this, but there are a few things you can do to speed the process. The following should help you
deal with this issue;
1. Do not get upset or correct your puppy when she submissively urinates while greeting. Completely ignore this action.
Correcting or acting angry will intensify your puppy’s submission level, which will make her urinate more.
Your puppy will associate greeting with a correction, making her that much more submissive, and more than likely to urinate.
2. Everyone, when coming into the house should completely ignore your puppy for five to ten minutes, or until she calms
down.
Completely ignoring means;
No eye contact.
No physical contact.
No verbal contact.
This should help the initial greeting be less exciting for your puppy.
We just adopted a new dog; she urinates every time my husband looks at her or tries to pet her. Why is she doing this, and how can
we fix the problem?
This is submissive urination. This could be caused by a fear induced incident caused by men, or a lack of interaction between
your dog and men in the past. Or your husband is unintentionally posturing dominantly when greeting your submissive dog.
Needless to say, there are a few things your husband can do to help alleviate this issue;
A less dominant approach will help with submissive urinating;
When your husband does approach your dog, he should not lean over the dog, or allow any part of his body over top of your dog’
s body. This is a less dominant position and should create a less threatening or intimidating approach to your dog.
When approaching to pet your dog, your husband should try to approach with the palms of his hands facing upwards, below
your dogs head. This approach is less dominant, and will assist in preventing submissive urinating. No eye contact should be
made while greeting or talking to the dog. When talking to your dog;
Your husband should not sound like he is growling at the dog. Men usually emit an almost growling like gruffness to their voice
when they are praising dogs, due to their deeper voice. This sounds like a growl to your dog, and can be intimidating to your
dog. Your husband should talk to the dog in a higher pitched quiet voice. This is less intimidating to the dog.
If this is not working, contact a dog behaviorist in your area.
My dog urinates every time I scold or try to correct him, why is he doing this, and how can I stop this behavior?
This is either submissive urinating, or fear induced urinating caused by the correction. Your corrections are too hard, you have
a fearful dog, or you have a very submissive dog. There is no fix for this behavior, your dog is sending you an involuntary
message; “I am scared, I am intimidated!” Harsh correction should not be used in any part to train or modify his behavior.
Continued correction will create trust and fear issues between you and your dog.
Stop the over-correction, both verbally and or physically immediately.
Contact a dog trainer in your area that uses positive reinforcement training methods, and take your dog to these classes.
Rules of thumb when working with the submissive urinating puppy;
Do not make a big deal if your puppy submissively urinates. Simply ignore the action. By responding to submissive urinating,
you are making an issue of the action, which will turn into a pattern.
Do not correct your puppy if it submissively urinates. The correction will only create more submissive behavior and lead to
more submissive urinating.
Do not comfort your puppy if it submissively urinates. Comforting in dog language is praise, praise in dog language means “I did
good”. This will reinforce and encourage your puppy to submissively urinate.
Ignore your puppy until it calms down before greeting it. This will allow your puppy time to calm down and not feel so excited
during the initial greeting.
Do not have eye contact when greeting your puppy. Eye contact will trigger your puppy’s submissive behavior which will lead
to urinating.
Do not talk to your puppy in a gruff voice when greeting it. Be aware of how you are talking to your puppy, if your praise sounds
like a growl, it can be intimidating to your puppy, and can cause submissive urinating.
Your physical greeting should not look dominant or intimidating to your puppy. This will help to avoid submissive urinating the
initial greeting.
1. Your body should not be over your puppy’s body.
2. When petting your puppy, approach it with your palms facing upwards, below its head. Try petting the puppy on the front
of its chest, or on its chin.
House breaking may be the first training challenge a new dog owner will encounter. Although it can be a frustrating experience, the
necessity of housebreaking offers the owner and dog the opportunity to begin the communication process, which is the foundation
for training and living with your new family member.
Remember, as with any type of training, your best ally is consistency. Here are some basic tips to help you expedite and ease the
housebreaking period:
Potty signals
The first step in beginning to tackle the task of housebreaking a dog is to understand the signals your dog demonstrates when it
needs to go outside. These include:
- Your dog may stop its actions abruptly and start to quickly walk around in circles.
- Your dog may start sniffing the floor.
- Your dog may hold its tail slightly higher or lower.
- Your dog may start pacing and or make abrupt turns.
There are, however, some useful strategies to mitigate this, which we discuss below.
Feeding schedule
- Put your dog on a routine feeding schedule. This gives you more control and a better idea as to when your dog will need
to relieve itself. - Feed your dog two to four times per day. Be certain to consult with your veterinarian in order to determine the proper diet
and quantities for your pet, as breed, age, and size are factors that require evaluation and consideration. - Place your dog’s food down for no more than twenty minutes. If your dog does not finish the meal or refuses to consume
it, take the food up and offer it again at a later time. - Always have fresh water available for your dog.
Eliminating schedule
Remember what goes in must come out. By following some simple guidelines, you establish their habits and, therefore, pattern and
predict when they require eliminating. The benefit to you is that you can then minimize the potential for accidents inside the home.
The following will help you develop a solid routine:
• Dogs over six months of age usually have to go the bathroom between thirty minutes to six hours after eating or drinking.
• Always ensure that your dog urinates and eliminates after each meal.
• Before your dog goes to bed or whenever it wakes, it must immediately be allowed to eliminate.
• After going on a long walk, let your dog eliminate before entering the house.
• After romping or playing, you should let your dog eliminate.
• Always let your dog eliminate before and after being confined in a crate. As dogs do not like to eliminate in areas where they
sleep or frequent. Therefore, they will “hold it in.”
• Allow your dog the opportunity to eliminate before and after riding in a car.
• After greeting guests that come in to the house, take your dog outside.
• If you notice your dog walking around in circles and sniffing the floor, immediately take it outside.
• If your dog drinks large amounts of water, be certain to afford it the opportunity to eliminate.
The list below is a guideline to approximately how many times per day you will need to walk your adult dog.
- Six to eight months of age, four to six walks per day.
- Eight months to adult, three to four times per day.
Please see Appendix A for an example of a feeding and walking schedule for an adult dog.
Supervising and confining your puppy
Constant supervision is very important to successfully housebreak your dog, as the animal wants to please you. But in the absence
of direction, it will act in accordance with its own initiative. This is a bad thing, as you set yourself up for cleaning up “messes” inside
the house, since the dog does not understand that eliminating inside the house is inappropriate. If, for any reason, you cannot
provide this level of supervision, crate your dog until such time as you can. The following rules can aid you when you supervise your
pet:
1. Keep your dog in the same room with you, and watch for signs when the dog needs to eliminate.
2. Close doors or use baby gates to section parts of the house you don’t want your dog to go into if necessary. *If you can’t use
baby gates or close doors, **attach your dog to a leash and tie the leash around your waist.
3. If you catch your dog going to the bathroom in the house, DO NOT OVER SCOLD OR CORRECT HIM. Simply say in a direct
and hurried voice, “Oh, no. Let’s go outside!” Then, take your dog directly outside to its potty area. This is important because it
allows your dog to differentiate and equate the difference between eliminating inside the home and outside, as well as prevent it from
trying to hide its “business” from you for fear of repercussions, which can be an extremely difficult cycle to break.
* *This method should only be used those that are physically capable of restraining the dog, if the dog pulls or lunges.
Confinement
When used properly, crates are a wonderful tool to assist in housebreaking. Crating is useful in those instances when you are away
from your home, unable to supervise your dog or you are sleeping. However, there are some key points to keep in mind:
1. The crate should fit the dog. Your dog should be able to stand up completely, turn around and sleep comfortably on its side
within it.
2. During daytime hours, your dog should be left no longer than six hours in a crate without a break.
3. Your dog should spend no more than nine hours during the day, even with breaks, inside a crate.
4. Fresh water should always be made available to the dog.
5. Dogs will chew things in their crate, so everything in the crate should be indestructible.
6. Remove your dog’s collar before you put him into the crate. Collars and tags can get hung up in the wires of the crate and
choke your dog.
Create a “potty area” for your dog
A “potty area” is a small area of land, usually five feet to ten feet in diameter that you designate as your dogs’ area to eliminate.
Why is a “potty area” important?
1. The “potty area” helps the dog establish a territory outside to do its business. The puppy will want to return to this area to
eliminate.
2. Your dog learns when it is taken to this area; it should do its business there.
Where should the “potty area” be located?
You must choose one door in your house which you will always use to enter and exit with your dog. Your dog will learn to go to this
door when it needs to go to its “potty area”.
Once you have decided on a door, find a spot no more than thirty feet away from it. The spot should have grass, and be quiet with little
distraction.
Introducing your dog to the “potty area”
- On a scheduled potty walk, take your dog to the “potty area” on a leash.
- Holding the leash, stand in the middle of the “potty area” and in a friendly voice tell your dog to “get busy”.
- Allow your puppy to get accustom to the new area by walking around and sniffing. This may take a few minutes.
- When your dog does eliminate, praise it by saying “good get busy”.
- Walk your dog away form the “potty area”.
Teaching your dog to tell you it has to go outside
Before you can begin to teach your dog to tell you it has to go outside to do its business;
Your dog needs to know that it only does its business outside in its “potty area”.
Once the above has been established, follow the next steps;
1. When you see the sign that your puppy has to go outside, in a happy tone, ask “do you want to go outside?” as you are walking
towards the door. *If your puppy responds and follows you to the door, praise it while you are putting on its leash.
2. Walk your puppy to its potty area, and say “get busy” in a happy voice.
3. After your puppy has done its business, praise it.
If you consistently follow the above steps for two to five days, your puppy will happily walk to the door when it needs to go out and do
its business. The key once again, is watching your puppy and looking for signs that it needs to go outside.
*Please note the idea is to teach your puppy to walk happily to the door. I do not recommend allowing your puppy to jump on or
scratch at the door to tell you it has to go outside. This bad habit in the long run could be costly in repairs to damaged doors. If your
puppy is already jumping or scratching at the door to go outside, try the following steps;
1. When you see your puppy walking happily to the door, take the puppy by its collar and say “sit”.
2. Once the puppy sits, praise it for sitting and attach its leash to the collar, and walk it outside.
Try the previous steps for a few days. Your puppy will learn to happily walk to the door and sit.
Cleaning up messes:
When an accident occurs, it is important to immediately clean it up and completely neutralize the residual odors. Normal household
cleaners such as those used in your kitchen, however, are ineffective as they only dilute the scent, not neutralize it. The problem with
dilution is that, although the scent is undetectable to humans, it is most certainly detectable by your puppy. Your puppy will then use
this scent like a beacon to precisely identify to him the location of where he should eliminate next.
A better solution is to use an enzymatic cleaner. These cleaners can be purchased from almost any pet store or supermarket. Some
good products on the market today include “Simple Solution” and “Natures Miracle.” You can also create your own solution of mixing
one part plain white vinegar to eight parts water. This is a good inexpensive solution that works as well as the store bought products.
Questions and answers
My puppy is urinating and defecating in its crate all of the time, what do I do?
1. Talk with your veterinarian and ensure that your puppy has no health issues.
2. Your crate may be too big. If your puppy can walk to one side of the crate, do its business then walk back to the other side
of the crate and remain clean, it will do so. Put your puppy in a smaller crate.
3. Your puppy may not have a large enough bladder or digestive tract to stay in its crate as long as you might prefer. Re-
evaluate your puppy’s feeding and walking schedule. Allow your puppy to go out to do its business more often.
4. If the above steps do not work, contact a dog behaviorist in your area.
My eight week old puppy is waking up at 3 a.m. every morning needing to go to the bathroom. I do not want to create a habit of having
to take him out at this time what should I do?
Your puppy may be too small to go all night without eliminating, but your puppy should grow out of this in a few weeks. You do
however need to take your puppy outside to do its business; in order not to make this 3 a.m. walk a habit do not make a big deal
out of it. Say nothing to him except “get busy” when you take him out to his “potty area”. Do not play with him after he does his
business, but take him directly back to his crate and close the door.
I take my puppy out to do its business, and it does nothing. When I bring it into the house, it then eliminates. What do I do?
1. Do not play with your puppy when you take it outside until it eliminates. Sometimes if you are playing with the puppy
when it should be eliminating, it forgets what it is supposed to do.
2. When you take your puppy outside to its “potty area”, say nothing to it but, “Get busy.”
3. After your puppy has eliminated, praise it.
4. If your puppy does not do its business, bring it inside, put it in its crate, and give it a treat (Sometimes this will move the
digestive tract). Wait about twenty minutes, and try again.
I take my puppy on long walks, and right after we get inside, it does its business in the house. What should I do?
Puppies almost always will need to eliminate after going for a long or brisk walk. The walk gets the pipes working so to speak.
Take your puppy to its “potty area” and make sure it eliminates before bringing it into the house.
My puppy drinks a lot of water at one time, and has accidents in the house. I have rationed its water so it doesn't’t have as much to
drink at one time, but my puppy is still having accidents. What do I do?
1. If your puppy has fresh water available to it at all times, and is still drinking a lot of water, you need to take your puppy to
your veterinarian for a check-up. Your puppy may have an illness.
2. When a puppy is deprived of water, it will over-compensate by drinking what water it missed. DO NOT ration your puppy’s
water supply. Keep fresh water available to your puppy at all times.
3. If you see your puppy drinking a lot of water at one time, remember what goes in must come out, take it outside to its
“potty area” and allow it to eliminate.
My puppy is doing its business in a specific spot inside my house. What do I do?
Your puppy has established its “potty area” in your house. Your goal is to re-establish the puppy’s “potty area”. Some tips
include:
1. Supervise your puppy at all times when it is not in the crate.
2. Make sure you completely clean its inside established “potty area” with of the cleaning products described in the
Cleaning Up Messes section.
3. Do not allow your puppy access to its established “potty area” inside of the house for at least one week. Close doors, use
baby gates, cover the area with chairs or card board boxes, if necessary. This will help break the habit of the puppy wanting to
do its business in that area.
4. Re-evaluate your puppy’s feeding and walking schedule so you know when to take your puppy outside to do its business.
5. Re-establish your puppy’s outside “potty area” by consistently taking it to the same area outside to do its business.
My puppy is urinating in the house when I am at work during the day. I yell at him and rub his nose in it when I get home, but he is not
getting the message. What can I do to fix this?
Do not correct your puppy in this manner.
1. Because you are correcting your puppy in this manner, your puppy is learning to be fearful and anxious about what you
will do to him when you come home. This is only creating an anxious puppy when you come home, and is doing nothing to
correct the house breaking issue.
2. The old wives tale of rubbing a puppy’s nose in its feces or urine to house-break it, does not work, and can create
irreversible trust issues between you and your puppy.
3. Correcting a puppy after the fact is doing nothing to teach the puppy not to eliminate in the house. The puppy does not
understand why it is being corrected.
Solution;
4. Crate the puppy when you are at work, and hire a dog walker to walk the puppy during the middle of the day.
My puppy is hiding from me, and doing its business inside of the house. What do I do?
More than likely your puppy has been over-corrected for doing its business inside of the house. Your puppy thinks it will get into
trouble for going to the bathroom in front of you. Your goal is to teach your puppy it is okay to do its business in front of you;
then housebreak your puppy. Try these next steps for one week. If it is not helping, contact a dog behaviorist in your area.
1. Establish a “potty area” outside around trees or low growing bushes; this will give your puppy some privacy to do its
business. Every time you take your puppy to its “potty area” follow the steps below.
Allow your puppy to go under or around the bushes or trees to “hide” to do its business.
In a friendly tone, tell your puppy to “get busy.”
If you hear or see your puppy doing its business, slowly and calmly walk towards it, allowing it to see you. Wait for it to finish,
and praise it.
2. If you do catch your puppy doing its business inside the house, do not correct it! Simply say, “Let’s go outside” in a calm,
but hurried voice. Then, take your puppy outside to its “potty area.”
3. More supervision is necessary. When not in its crate, keep your puppy in the same room with you under close
supervision. You may need to move furniture around so that your puppy has no place to hide and do its business.
4. Re-evaluate your puppy’s feeding and walking schedule. It is very important that you know when you need to take your
puppy outside to do its business. Walk your puppy accordingly.
I adopted a young adult dog who is not housebroken. Is it possible to housebreak an adult dog and, if so, how do I go about this?
It is possible to house break a dog of any age. Depending on the habits picked up along the way, you may find it easier to
housebreak an adult dog due to the larger bladder, and the need for fewer meals per day. When housebreaking an adult dog, I
recommend following the same steps you would use to housebreak a three to six month old puppy;
- Supervision
- Crating and confining
- Feeding schedule
- Eliminating schedule
- Creating a “potty area”
I rescued an adult dog from a puppy mill six months ago. I have tried everything possible to crate train this dog with no luck.
Although I take her outside ten to twenty times through out the day, she still urinates and defecates with no warming in her
crate. Why is she doing this and how can I fix the problem?
By nature dogs are clean animals and have a natural instinct to urinate and defecate away from their sleeping or living areas.
This “natural instinct” can be “lost” when dogs consistently have no choice but to relieve themselves confined to small cages
or areas and sit in urine and fecal matter for extended periods of time. These dogs become “comfortable” urinating, defecating,
and wallowing in their own waste in small spaces, making it very difficult to crate train.
The key to stopping this behavior is simple; re-establish your dog’s natural instinct to not want to be in close range of its urine
and fecal matter.
Start a log, writing the times in which your dog urinates and defecates in a twenty four hour period, over a span of four days.
Use this log to anticipate the times in which your dog will have to eliminate, taking your dog out of her crate and outside to her
*designated potty area before she has the urge to urinate or defecate
Do not be discouraged if your dog has a few accidents in the crate, when you begin, as the accidents will start to dissipate in
time, and will take up to three months to correct.
If you catch your dog urinating or defecating in the crate, do not scold or over correct it, this will only teach your dog to hide
from you when it is doing its business making it more difficult to house train Instead, smack your hands together and in a
hurried firm voice say “Oh no, out side”, then quickly go to the cage open the cage door, leash your dog, and take him outside to
his potty area.
I adopted an adult male dog from the shelter a month ago. He asks to go outside when he has to go to the bathroom, but will come
into the house after doing all of his business and hike his leg on the furniture and walls and urinate. What can I do to fix this problem?
This sounds like you dog is marking his territory in the house. Supervision, consistently catching him in the act, and correcting
him while in the act will be the key to fixing this problem. Keep your dog in the same room with you, and watch your dog. Every
time you catch him hiking his leg in the house, do the following;
Clap your hands together as hard and as loud as you can. This noise should startle your dog, and hopefully he will stop urinating
immediately.
Immediately after clapping your hands, in a stern voice say “Oh No, outside!”
Quickly walk over to your dog, take your dog by his collar and walk him to the door. Leash your dog and take him outside to his
“potty area”.
Once at the “potty area” in a commanding voice say “get busy”. If your dog does his business, praise him. If your dog does not
do his business, saying nothing to him, bring him back into the house.
We adopted our two year old shepherd mix one year ago. His previous foster parents stated that they were away from the house 9
hours a day, and that not only was he crate trained, but also house broken. After the second day at our house, he started hiking his
leg on the furniture when went to work; he is left alone five hours a day. We crated him for a month which fixed the issue, but he didn't
like being crated, and started escaping. When we finally made the crate escape proof, he started rubbing the hair off of his nose
trying to get out. We then decided to confine him to the bathroom, where he immediately started urinating when confined.
To make sure he had no heath issues, we took him to the Veterinarian where he got a clean bill of health. His Vet recommended that
we put potty pants on him when we were away to prevent him from urinating in the bathroom, his potty pants were always wet when
we came home, but at least he was not’t urinating everywhere. Unfortunately, he has learned how to remove the potty pants and is
once again urinating in the bathroom. We do not want to crate him, but will have to get rid of him if we can’t fix this problem. What can
we do?
Potty pants are a great tool, but were designed for dogs with health issues that lead to incontinence. Putting potty pants on a
dog that is not house broken only eliminates the symptom (urine); it does not fix the problem.
In order to fix this problem you need to reduce the square footage of the bathroom which you are confining your dog, when you
are gone.* Reducing square footage can be accomplished by placing extra large cardboard boxes or 20 gallon plastic storage
containers, stacked on another, on the floor in the bathroom, initially leaving just enough room for the dog to stand, turn around,
and lay down on its side.
• Over the course of three months, allow the dog more space in the bathroom by removing one stack of boxes or containers
at a time. If the dog has an accident after removing a stack, replace the stack, wait one week and try removing again.
• After all boxes or containers have been removed and your dog is not urinating in the bathroom, graduate him to a larger
confined area such as a kitchen. Place boxes or containers in this area allowing the same square footage as that of the
bathroom without the boxes or containers. Once again, over the course of three months, allow the dog more space in the
kitchen by removing one stack of boxes or containers at a time. If the dog has an accident after removing a stack, replace the
stack, wait one week and try again.
• Once all of the boxes or containers have been removed from the kitchen and your dog is not having accidents, you may to
allow your dog access to a few rooms in the house while you are gone, if your dog has any accidents, confine the dog to the
kitchen, wait a week and try again.
*Please note this method of confining should only be used if your dog is non-destructive in the house when left alone, as
confining in this manner allows your dog the opportunity to chew, dig, and scratch at the areas surrounding it.
My dog is house broken and asks to go outside when he has to do his business, but when it is raining, he refuses to go outside, and
is having accidents in the house. What can I do to fix this problem?
I would recommend the following;
Establish a potty area outside that is close to the door in which you take your dog outside. The established potty area should be in an
area that provides shelter from the rain such as, under the eves of your house, or under bushes.
Using your dogs normal potty schedule, take him to the new potty area; if your dog does not do his business, bring him back inside
and put him into his crate. Keep him in his crate for about 30 minutes and then take him back out to the new potty area. If he still is
not doing his business, repeat this step as many times as necessary until he does all of his business in the new potty area.
Once he has done his business outside, praise him and bring him inside allow him normal access in the house at this point.
My six month old puppy urinates every time she greets anyone coming into the house. Why is she doing this, and how can I fix the
problem?
This is what we call submissive urinating; in layman’s terms, your puppy is so in awe out of respect for humans, and so excited
to greet humans that she involuntarily looses bladder control.
Usually puppies will out grow this, but there are a few things you can do to speed the process. The following should help you
deal with this issue;
1. Do not get upset or correct your puppy when she submissively urinates while greeting. Completely ignore this action.
Correcting or acting angry will intensify your puppy’s submission level, which will make her urinate more.
Your puppy will associate greeting with a correction, making her that much more submissive, and more than likely to urinate.
2. Everyone, when coming into the house should completely ignore your puppy for five to ten minutes, or until she calms
down.
Completely ignoring means;
No eye contact.
No physical contact.
No verbal contact.
This should help the initial greeting be less exciting for your puppy.
We just adopted a new dog; she urinates every time my husband looks at her or tries to pet her. Why is she doing this, and how can
we fix the problem?
This is submissive urination. This could be caused by a fear induced incident caused by men, or a lack of interaction between
your dog and men in the past. Or your husband is unintentionally posturing dominantly when greeting your submissive dog.
Needless to say, there are a few things your husband can do to help alleviate this issue;
A less dominant approach will help with submissive urinating;
When your husband does approach your dog, he should not lean over the dog, or allow any part of his body over top of your dog’
s body. This is a less dominant position and should create a less threatening or intimidating approach to your dog.
When approaching to pet your dog, your husband should try to approach with the palms of his hands facing upwards, below
your dogs head. This approach is less dominant, and will assist in preventing submissive urinating. No eye contact should be
made while greeting or talking to the dog. When talking to your dog;
Your husband should not sound like he is growling at the dog. Men usually emit an almost growling like gruffness to their voice
when they are praising dogs, due to their deeper voice. This sounds like a growl to your dog, and can be intimidating to your
dog. Your husband should talk to the dog in a higher pitched quiet voice. This is less intimidating to the dog.
If this is not working, contact a dog behaviorist in your area.
My dog urinates every time I scold or try to correct him, why is he doing this, and how can I stop this behavior?
This is either submissive urinating, or fear induced urinating caused by the correction. Your corrections are too hard, you have
a fearful dog, or you have a very submissive dog. There is no fix for this behavior, your dog is sending you an involuntary
message; “I am scared, I am intimidated!” Harsh correction should not be used in any part to train or modify his behavior.
Continued correction will create trust and fear issues between you and your dog.
Stop the over-correction, both verbally and or physically immediately.
Contact a dog trainer in your area that uses positive reinforcement training methods, and take your dog to these classes.
Rules of thumb when working with the submissive urinating puppy;
Do not make a big deal if your puppy submissively urinates. Simply ignore the action. By responding to submissive urinating,
you are making an issue of the action, which will turn into a pattern.
Do not correct your puppy if it submissively urinates. The correction will only create more submissive behavior and lead to
more submissive urinating.
Do not comfort your puppy if it submissively urinates. Comforting in dog language is praise, praise in dog language means “I did
good”. This will reinforce and encourage your puppy to submissively urinate.
Ignore your puppy until it calms down before greeting it. This will allow your puppy time to calm down and not feel so excited
during the initial greeting.
Do not have eye contact when greeting your puppy. Eye contact will trigger your puppy’s submissive behavior which will lead
to urinating.
Do not talk to your puppy in a gruff voice when greeting it. Be aware of how you are talking to your puppy, if your praise sounds
like a growl, it can be intimidating to your puppy, and can cause submissive urinating.
Your physical greeting should not look dominant or intimidating to your puppy. This will help to avoid submissive urinating the
initial greeting.
1. Your body should not be over your puppy’s body.
2. When petting your puppy, approach it with your palms facing upwards, below its head. Try petting the puppy on the front
of its chest, or on its chin.
This page is still under construction! The information on this page is still
being edited, and some information about the topics are missing and/or
incomplete. If you have questions about training, please contact Sharon
using the contact us page.
being edited, and some information about the topics are missing and/or
incomplete. If you have questions about training, please contact Sharon
using the contact us page.
 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
Walking properly on the leash
The exercises below are intended for well-socialized dogs. If your dog has fear or socialization issues, please contact a dog
behaviorist before attempting these exercises. If you are unable to restrain your dog, or have been knocked down or dragged by your
dog, DO NOT attempt these exercises, as injury may occur. Contact a dog trainer in your area.
These exercises are not meant to substitute a basic obedience class (as you are not formally teaching the heel command), but
establishing boundaries and good walking habits for you and your dog. Please take your dog to basic obedience class, as it will be the
best investment you ever make in your dog!
You will need a six-foot nylon or leather leash, a flat collar, martingale collar or Spurn, No pull harness. Also, a baggey full of your dogs
favorite treats for these exercises.
Put the collar or harness on your dog, and attach the leash. Take your dog to an outdoor area, which has little distraction. You are now
ready to begin teaching you dog to walk properly on the leash.
Teach your dog to pay attention to you and follow your lead
A. This exercise is designed to teach your dog to look at you while walking on a leash, as well as teach it to pay attention to you.
1. Start your walk with your dog on the left hand side, holding the middle of the leash with your left hand and the loop of the leash
through your right hand.
2. Place several treats in your right hand, and proceed to place your right hand over your breast plate.
3. Keeping your right hand, full of treats, over your breast plate, start walking as if you are going on a leisure walk.
4. While walking, in a happy voice call your dog’s name. When your dog looks up at you, praise your dog, lean down, while still
walking, and give it a treat from your hand.
5. Repeat steps three and four for 10 to 20 minutes per practice.
If, after practicing the previous steps, you notice your dog is looking at you while walking, in a very happy voice, praise it and give it a
treat, as this is the behavior that is desired from this exercise.
B. This exercise is designed to teach your dog that you are in charge of the walk, and that you the leader, will lead the walk.
1. Start your walk with your dog on the left side, holding the middle of the leash with your left hand and the loop through your right
hand.
2. Place several treats in your right hand, and proceed to place it over your breast plate.
3. Whatever direction your dog starts to walk, you should turn around and walk the opposite direction. Continue this pattern until
your dog slows down and is watching and following you. Praise and give your dog a treat.
4. If at any point during this exercise your dog walks ahead of you, make an abrupt U-turn and continue walking. Once your dog
turns around, catches up to you, and is looking at you, praise it and while walking, give it a treat.
5. Once your dog slows down and is watching and following you, praise it and give it a treat while you are still walking.
6. Continue the previous steps for 20 to 30 minutes per practice.
Now that your dog has grasped the concept of walking on the leash without pulling, take your dog to areas with more distraction and
practice all of the above exercises.
Practice all of the above exercises three to seven times per week, thirty minutes per session.
Rules of thumb
1. Consistency is your best ally when teaching your dog to walk properly on the leash. Allowing your dog to sometimes pull on the
leash will not teach your dog what is expected of it. Thus, your dog will pull on the leash. If your dog starts to pull on the leash or walk
ahead of you, do one of the following;
Make an abrupt U-turn and walk in the opposite direction.
Come to a complete stop, call your dog’s name, when your dog responds and moves beside you, praise it and give it a treat, and
continue walking.
2. Practice makes almost perfect. The more you practice with your dog, the more distractions you will encounter, this helps as it
assist in desensitizing your dog to new encounters, making them less exciting for your puppy to encounter new distractions.
Questions and Answers
Why is it important for me to keep my hand with treats over my breast plate when practicing some of these exercises?
Keeping your hand over your chest encourages two things:
1. It aligns your dog in the perfect position at your side, while looking up, thus introducing “heel”.
2. The positioning of your hand over your chest aligns your hand to your face. Your dog will look up to the hand and then to your
face, which encourages your dog to focus on your face.
Do I have to teach my dog to walk on the left hand side?
No, you can teach your puppy to walk on whichever side you feel comfortable. The key is to choose a side and stick to it.
Constantly changing sides will confuse your dog, thus creating a problem with your dog weaving from the left to right hand side
on walks.
Can I use a retractable leash for training my dog?
I do not recommend using retractable leashes for training dogs to walk properly on the leash. Because of the design of the
retractable leash, the dog has to pull to get greater length on the leash, which in turn reinforces pulling. Your dog learns that when
it pulls, it satisfies its desire to go where it wants. Because you can stop your dog with the break on the retractable leash at any
length, there is no consistency as to what length your dog is allowed. This creates confusion. Also, it encourages pulling, as your
dog does not know what the limitations are.
Why do you recommend using a six-foot leash as opposed to a two or four-foot leash to train dogs?
You have more control over a dog using a six-foot leash than a two or four-foot leash. A woman’s center of gravity is at the
waist, whereas a man’s center of gravity is at the upper chest and shoulder area. A dog’s center of gravity is at its trunk. When
you attach a six-foot leash to the dog, and the dog begins to pull, the distance of the leash between human and dog is greater,
making the angle of the pull not as steep. However by using a two or four-foot leash, when the dog pulls, you are being pulled
downward at a steeper angle, which makes you off balance and less in control.
My dog responds to and eats treats when we are practicing basic obedience commands in the house, but is not interested in treats
when we go outside to practice our leash exercises. Do you have any suggestions?
Your dog needs more socialization and practice outside. Practice as much as you can outside. As your dog becomes
accustomed to being outside, it will begin to pay more attention to you. Be patient and practice, practice, practice!
When practicing these exercises, I try to give my puppy a treat, but he becomes very excited, jumps up, and snatches the treat out of my
hand. How can I fix this problem?
This very common problem can be fixed by the following: The second your puppy attempts to jump up to snatch the treat out of
your hand, say, “Oh no, off!”, and quickly pull your hand back without giving him the treat. After a few attempts he should get the
message.
My puppy will not look at me or respond to me when I call her name. What am I doing wrong?
Your puppy may not be respond because of how you are calling her.
The rules to calling your dog:
1. Your voice should be loud enough for your dog to hear you. I am not suggesting you yell at your dog, but appropriate
volume is important.
2. Your tone should be friendly, if you sound like you are upset with your dog, your dog will less than likely want to look at you.
3. Your voice should be happy and fun, remember your voice is competing with what ever your dog is interested in (squirrels,
other dogs, new situations) you dog will better respond if your voice might be as exciting as what interests him.
4. Use a higher tone when calling your dog, as this is more exciting and friendly as opposed to a gruff, growling call.
5. A smile on your face should always follow the calling of your dog’s name. It’s hard to be negative or gruff with a smile on your
face; your dog will pick up on that right away.
My dog walks very well on the leash until she sees another dog. Once she sees another dog, she starts lunging and barking
uncontrollably. I have to drag her away, she does calm down, but only after the other dog is completely out of her sight. What should I
do?