Welcome to my advice page. Below I will post your questions and my answers. Once a month or as often as I can I will post a discussion about my poll, and other matters I feel of importance. Feel free to send me suggestions about what you would like to see posted here.
You can view the guest book to ask a question on my homepage along with the poll.
Julie's
Advice Page
Terri
My daughter & son in law recently purchased puppy. The vet has confirmed, the dog is most likely deaf. Do you work with deaf dogs? What are approximate costs?
Hi, I am sorry to hear that the dog may be deaf. Yes I can work with the dog despite that, we would have to teach it hand signals. I will e-mail you with further details.
Call Now 718-730-3373
Carla
Hi Julie, I adopted my dog a month ago from a shelter that rescued him from a breeder in Virginia who couldn't properly attend to the animals. He's a sweet, good dog who has learned several commands and knows the rules of the house. He immediately bonded to me the minute I got him. Unfortunately, he's very fearful of other people besides me. He wouldn't bond with my mom (who lives in the same house) so I ignored him for about three days, leaving him to depend on her for everything. Now they get along well. I have friends and family visit one at a time so he can get used to them; they offer him treats on the floor. He refuses the treats, growls at them, and barks. They're afraid he'll bite them. I know it may be because he hasn't been exposed to many people yet. But when I take him outside (the house is on a busy street), he panics and freezes when he sees "monster" vehicles-- the weather doesn't help either. He's met a few dogs, but just avoids them and doesn't sniff them. I don't know whether I should force him to just get used to it or have a more gradual approach. What do you suggest about his interactions with other people, dogs and large vehicles?
Well to start it is a good thing that he is 9 months old. Now would be a good time to do something. If he were a couple of years old it wouldv'e been a little more difficult. Not that it is easy :o) but he would have been more set in his ways by then. I have come across dogs like this on occasion. It most likely stems from lack of socialization at a young age. Being sheltered from meeting people, dogs, sounds etc. created a dog that now has no interest in trying to be curious because he is so scared. Some tips would be when people first come into your house tell them to totally ignore the dog, no talking or eye contact. Let him come to them. He may not for a while but if they make frequent visits eventually when he sees they are not a threat he should become curious. One main thing about when he is scared is to NOT say anything. Don't tell him its okay dont worry etc. this will tell him it is okay to be scared. The best thing you can do it act like nothing is wrong, discourage people from trying to reach out to him to get him to sniff this is only invading his space and will make him more afraid. You can let him hide behind you. It works like this, he needs to see you as his protector, not his way to get away. By this I mean use your body to block what may be scaring him but don't pick him up or cuddle him or pet him. He needs to see on his own terms that nothing bad comes of these things he is afraid of and eventually he will get better. It may be a very slow process depending on how bad off he is. I don't know if you live in the new york area but if you did in home training with me I could show you exactly what to do in person. As for the walk that is a little tough to explain but pretty much the same concept, no touch just stand there and let him deal with it but don't force him. Remember you have to remain his protector so don't just leave him out for fend for himself so to say, but don't cuddle him either, you need to be in between and confident. Once hes relaxed you can begin walking again. I actually have a few different approaches to this but like I said it is hard to explain. If he gets scared as soon as you exit the house start by just sitting on your front step for 20 mins at a time, read a book have a conversation with someone just act like there is nothing wrong and you have no idea why he is freaking out. He will notice your reaction and eventually come out of it. Once he is comfortable in front of the house try moving a little further etc. He probably won't take food because under any type of stress dogs usually won't take food. When he does start walking normal or not acting scared you can give him a little verbal praise, good boy or good heel if he knows it. or just praise him with his name. A dog this fearful will most likely not bite as a first resort he will first try to get away and if he sees no out he will have no choice but to bite. That's why you want to let him come to other people not them going to him. I wish you the best of luck and feel free to contact me with anymore questions.
Patricia
She is a great puppy, except she bits alot. and she jumps all over everybody that comes in the house and some people don't like it. How can I stop her from doing this.
To be totally honest this would require training in person. It's not a hard fix but it just can't really be explained to well over the computer. One of the main things about jumping is to make sure the dog never recieves attention for it. If she gets pet when she jumps up then she was rewarded. Yelling at her to get off doesn't usually work either though. The best advice I can give without doing it in person is to just ignore the jumping and never give attention for it. When she stops jumping then she gets petted. If you live in the new york area, an in home 2 sessions would solve those problems, or a group class would be fine also. Just a few simple manners need to be taught and she will be fine.
as for the biting same concept but at this point she is most likely no longer teething. Therefore she is being disrespectful by biting. It is her way of demanding more attention or trying to control the situation. That could be solved right along with the jumping. For now same thing no attention when she bites, you can try making a sharp ouch noise when she bites you and then take your hands away but it doesn't always work. The main reason I have to show these things in person is just that I wouldn't want anyone doing it wrong therefore causing it to not work or in worst case scenario hurt the dog which is a slim chance but you never know.
Tim
You assited ,e with a question from I love dogs .com and i need a little more help. Please refer to my question in your private messages in the forum. Also, right now i have the cage seperated where she goes to the bathroom int he cage she is going to lay in it..... what would you do? keep he rin tthe cgae like that or use puppy pads....Like I said I am gone 8 hours a day. I i understand the puppy pad thing but how they get broken from the puppy pads?
Well your puppy is only 8 weeks old so you need to make the cage bigger. Enough to put a wee wee pad in one side and have her sleep in the other, a towel is fine preferably not the same color as the pad. Dogs don't exactly see colors but they do see certain ones so you don't want her to get confused. Put the pad toward the back of the cage so that way she doesn't run through it to greet you. The whole idea is to only use the pad when you aren't home or at night if you don't want to get up every 2 hours. If you only use it those times and don't allow her access to the pad any other time when you are home and continuously take her outside then she should start to see that the pad is only used when she is alone in the crate. Honestly I do not like to even use wee wee pads but your dog is so young you really don't have a choice. This is what I did with mine. I didn't have a crate yet but I have a small bathroom so I put her in there with a pad when I had to go out and at night at first because I am a deep sleeper and in the crate by the time I heard her cry she had already messed in it. She ended up using the pad on her own when I was out without me teaching her, not saying that every dog will do this but there is a chance. The way I saw it is the dog will definitely try to go away from where they sleep so the idea is to put the pad as far away from where they are sleeping so they will go to the other side to go the bathroom. I basically just took a chance and said as long as she's not laying in it when I get home I am happy and I can just clean it off the floor if anything. I got lucky though and for the most part she got it on the pad. Then she decided she was getting bigger and didn't want to be anywhere near it and she went in my tub! So I started lining my tub with pads instead of the floor and she did that. Don't necessarily do what I did I just want to give you an idea. Basically what happened here is the dog grows and realizes they are getting closer to their mess so they make every attempt to get it further away. If you have her in a crate, as she grows and starts to get closer to it she is going to try to hold it as long as she can because you HAVE been taking her outside to go all the other times. She knows now she goes outside and she would rather not go in the crate but she can only hold it so long. My dog is almost 4 months now and she has held it for 4 hours during the day. So now I know I can pretty much leave her for 4 hours with her holding it as long as she didn't just eat or something. Luckily I make my own hours so I can do my best to come home before she has to go. So you can either keep using the pad only in the crate or technically bathroom :o) or you can hire a dog walker to come in and take her out inbetween while you are at work. The main idea here is once she can hold it she will for the entire time you are out but she is just a puppy so it will be a while. There are exceptions where a young puppy will hold it for 8 hours earlier but you can't count on that. Another note is in the beginning my dog liked the bathroom, now she prefers the crate but she is still young so when I put her in the bathroom I just give her some nice safe toys to play with and a kong with a little food in it to keep her busy. She did do a little redecorating for me in there though so make sure you don't have things you care about in the puppies reach if you do that. Now I crate her at night and she wakes me up maybe once in the night to go out, I let her outside and she comes back in and goes right in the crate to go back to sleep. During the night the puppy may hold it longer because she is sleeping and as long as you gave her enough stimulation during the day before she went to bed otherwise she won't be ready for bed. I hope I answered all your questions, good luck! - Julie.
Tim
Thank you for all that information. What should she stop susing the puppy pads?........Also I take he rout al the time and she still pees everday in the house. Its so hard to catch her. Any advice on that?
When you know she is old enough to hold it without having an accident you can stop using the pads. Calculate how long she starts to hold it without using the pad. Like I said typically one hour per month. Whether you caught her or not correct for the behavior. Bring a paper towel with you bring her back over to the mess, when she looks at it say NO NO NO firmly, then dab the paper towel in the urine or pick up the feces and bring her outside with it, drop it on the grass in front of her and praise good potty, etc. You only have 3 minutes from the time that you start to the time that you finish so make sure you have the leash on her already and you have the paper towel with you. Unless you know she had the accident because she absolutely couldn't hold it don't correct but if you have been conistantly taking her outside and your pretty sure she is getting the idea she just doesn't care then start to correct when you find the mess. Don't put her nose in it or anything just bring her over, sit her in front of it and once she looks at it correct her with the 3 NO's. Good luck, Julie.
Linda
My questions is that I am moving from a house to a condo. My dogs are friendly and enjoy meeting other people. However they are often too exuberant in their greeting. In the house I could always let them inot the back yard until the calmed down. In the condo I won't be able to do that. I need help in training them to behave in a better way when people come to the door and to visit. Any advice? 1 6yo male boxer/1 3yo female mix breed
I would suggest trying to put them on their leashes when you have people come in and make them sit until they calm down. Once they are calm then you can allow them to go sniff and say hello and correct them for jumping up if they do by pulling down on the leash. They are big dogs so ignoring them isn't exactly going to work. I have a very effective way of doing this in person. Also you want to make sure no one pets them for this behavior. I hope this helps, feel free to ask anymore questions. If you live in the area you can contact me for a consultation if you feel you need more help. Thank you, Julie.
Susan
My 5 1/2 old puppy is somewhat housebroken. He has not defecated in the house since he was 3 months old. However, he still pees when he gets excited, more like a dribble as he runs through the house. He always lets me know when he wants to go out by ringing his Potty Bell which hangs on the front door, but when he gets excited, ie: company comes, he plays too hard, he will dribble. Two questions: Will the excitement peeing ever stop? What can I do about it? Also, how can I get him on more of a schedule? He sits by the door and rings the bell whenever he wants. Sometimes, it's because he must go out. Other times, it's because he wants some fresh air. I never know the difference but don't want to ignore him when he approaches the door.
lab/shepherd/beagle mix
Sorry for the delay on replying. Your dog may outgrow the urination. Sometimes this is caused by an undeveloped bladder muscle in the dog therefore too much excitment will cause this. The best thing you can do is just tell everyone when they first come over or want to meet him they need to ignore him for at least 5 minutes when they come in. Once he seems calm then they can slowly pet him but no one should make him excessively excited. Calm, low voices, slow movements. Usually it is worse with new people of course. This should stop but remember you cannot correct the dog for this it is involuntary he can't control it. As for the bell, that works but as you are experiencing it has some draw backs which would be the ringing the bell even when he doesn't have to go to the bathroom. You can try taking it away for a little while to see what he does to try to tell you. Maybe without it he will try a different signal to tell you, then that will become his signal. Otherwise you will have to just know when it is valid or not. If you know he just recently went out to the bathroom just ignore his attempt to go out and he should leave it alone. If he is always ringing it for attention he is probably bored so just take him for more excercise daily and he should only tell you when he really has to go. My dogs signal is to jump at the door, occasionally he will do this out of boredom so I just make sure to take him for a long walk or run in the park and it stops. Good Luck and feel free to ask anymore questions.
How often do you truthfully walk your dog for exercise?
Once a day, everyday(16)
30%
30% More than once a day(21)40%
40% Once a week(7)13%
13% Never(6)11%
11% I do but I don't remember the last time I did.(3)6%
6% I am pretty pleased with what I see here on this poll. Hopefully all of you were truthful :o). Even so, the 16 people on here that did not say at least once a day is 16 too many. I cannot stress enough how important it is to walk your dog. I don’t want to hear that you have a big yard and the dogs run around there. Yes it is great to have a yard for your dog but that isn’t enough. What I am about to say is not humanizing I just want you to see it in a similar point of view. Every day you wake up, do things around the house, eat, sleep, go outside for a few minutes and that’s it. This is your routine every single day. You never see anything new except the occasional visitor or two. Eventually this would get to you. Every dog reacts differently to this type of situation. Some will just become very hyper from lack of exercise and mental stimulation. Others will start destructing your house out of boredom and built up energy. Then you have the dogs that will develop some type of obsessive behavior such as chasing their tail or following shadows or light. In worse cases your dog starts to become aggressive, especially to strangers and other animals. Not saying that lack of walks is going to be the only reason for these behavior problems but it is a big factor. Lack of leadership is of course the reason for almost all behavior problems but guess what gives you most of your leadership? Walking your dog in heel. If your dog pulls on the leash and/or doesn’t walk next to you on the walk you are not seen as the leader in that situation. One term I hate is loose leash walking. That is not a proper training technique. You will hear this at some obedience schools or trainers. It teaches your dog to walk without pulling but doesn’t focus on getting the dog to walk next to you. Even if your dog is not pulling on the leash but is still in front of you, you are still not the leader. Walking your dog on a daily basis also introduces him to different situations. Socialization is a huge factor in having a well mannered dog. If your dog doesn’t experience things he will either become scared of them or aggressive toward them. Your dog needs to meet plenty of people, dogs, sights and sounds. If your dog does react afraid you must not comfort him. When a dog is in a fearful state of mind and you start petting him and tell him it’s okay don’t worry or pick him up, you are actually telling him it is okay to be scared. Therefore you just made it so the next time he is in that situation he will be even more afraid. You are your dogs’ protector so it is okay to let him hide behind you and you must step in to protect if the situation calls for it but don’t coddle him or say anything. Just let him feel secure by knowing you are there. Don’t go too much the other way either, you shouldn’t push him out to let him handle it himself. This mainly applies to something like playing with another dog. If he is scared and feels threatened it is your job to step in a push the other dog away. I will discuss more about dogs in dog parks and interacting with each other at another time. As for those dogs that react with aggression to situations you need to correct them. If you are unsure of how to properly correct this please seek professional help. It is unacceptable to hit your dog for bad behavior and start screaming at it. You are not teaching them anything except to be afraid of you if this even fazes them to begin with. There is a fine line between fear and respect but there is a difference. We must correct dogs the way their instincts understand not ours. This does not involving hitting, nor does it involve time outs. Dogs do not understand timeouts either. You are only teaching your dog to hate isolation which dogs are not fond of to begin with. You may think it works for the moment if your dog gets distracted by the timeout and stops the behavior but that behavior is still going to reappear in the future. We must eliminate problems not mask them. If you have any questions about this article or have suggestions for a future article feel free to post it on my guestbook page.
Sincerely. Julie Cattabiani.
Certified Master Dog Trainer
