Raising the Perfect Dog; The Secrets of Law Enforcement K9 Trainers (10 page)

Excited urination
is when your puppy gets so excited by a person, place, or thing that he cannot control his bladder and may piddle a little bit. Again, you cannot punish him for this. Often puppies are so excited they do not even realize what they’ve done. So, if you punish them, excited urination can turn into submissive urination.

A common scenario that causes excited urination is when your dog is home, someone walks in the door, and immediately greets the dog. The dog starts to learn that when the door opens and someone walks in, he is immediately played with and has fun. Often when the door opens, the dog gets really excited and as soon as the person entering touches the dog, he will urinate excitedly.

One of the best ways to prevent or help cure this is by socializing and noise/object-desensitization drills as discussed earlier. Even if you do all of these things flawlessly, there is still a good chance your young puppy at some point will display excited urination. Another thing that works quite well is to have the people who walk in pay absolutely no attention to your dog for a few minutes or until he is completely calm. This teaches your dog that the door opening or someone walking in means absolutely nothing and he gets nothing out of it, so he has no reason to be excited. Another good trick is to make your dog go into a sit or down position before you praise him. Generally, dogs will not piddle if they are in the sit or down position, which make them contain their excitement in an obedience position. So, walk in, make your dog sit, and when he does, pet him. If he gets up from the sit position, immediately stop praising him and make him sit again before the praise continues. This alone will almost completely eliminate the excited urination.

Digging
can be annoying, expensive, and quite frustrating when you have a nicely groomed backyard. There are numerous reasons that dogs dig up the backyard, however, the main reason is boredom. Notice that seems to be a common theme in this book? Remember: “A bored dog is a destructive dog.” When your dog is bored or unexercised, digging is a great outlet of energy. When I tell my clients this, many of them say something such as, “I don’t see why how he is bored or doen’t get exercise, we have a whole acre in our backyard.” I always respond to them with this question: “You have a big neighborhood, correct? Well how do you get bored when you can go anywhere in your neighborhood?” Even though you may have a big backyard, it is the same backyard your dog has been in his whole life. It’s the same smells and the same sights, so now he is bored with it and will look for other things to do for entertainment.

Your dog needs to be in new environments and needs mental and physical stimulation regardless of how big your yard is. Another reason dogs dig is they are literally trying to break out and go into a new territory. Have you noticed your dog has tried to dig under the fence? Again, he is bored with the big backyard so he tries to get out and find new things to look at, smell, and taste. If you constantly take him out to new environments, then being out will lose its appeal because it’s nothing new to him. Another reason he could be digging to escape is if there is a female in heat nearby; he could be digging to get to the other dog to mate. The only way to eliminate this is by neutering or spaying your dog.

Dogs are great savers; they will bury their bones or treats for another day if they do not immediately want them. An easy way to prevent this is to not let your dog take his bones outside of the house. If you are letting your dog in the backyard, ensure that he is not taking anything out there with him. That way, he won’t have any bones or food to bury.

If your dog is not burying anything, not trying to escape by the fence, and is getting plenty of physical and mental stimulation throughout the day, the problem may be the heat. Dogs quickly learn that it is cooler just beneath the surface of the ground, so they may dig up a nice cool spot to lie on. A very simple way to eliminate this is provide them with a cool and shaded area. Preferably have something to lie on that is elevated from the hot ground. There are many dog beds on the market that are elevated a few inches above the ground and made with mesh-type fabric so the cool air circulates underneath. These work, are cheap, last a long time, dogs love them, and they will prevent your dog from digging for a cool spot.

Some of the other reasons your dog could be digging are for small game in your backyard or if you are using any form of bone or blood meal to fertilize your garden. These can create an irresistible scent for your dog that makes him dig to uncover a bone he thinks is there.

If none of the above methods work, there are commercial products that can be applied directly to plants and grass. These products give off a repugnant scent that interferes with the dog’s scent (only temporarily). These products also work great on nuisance animals, as well. This is the easiest solution if you have a specific area that is being dug up constantly.

Jumping
on people is another common problem that can be easily corrected with advanced training (with an electronic or prong collar). However, if you do not want to use one of these methods or your puppy is too young to be trained using these methods, there are still a few things you can do to curb this behavior. Also know that your puppy isn’t trying to sabotage your life and get his muddy paw prints all over your new shirt. In fact, it’s usually quite the opposite. Generally dogs jump on people because they really like them and are seeking affection or play. I know, that still doesn’t make you feel better about the situation.

A good solution is to simply not pay any attention to the dog whatsoever. I know that’s easier said than done, however, if you have the patience to try this method and see it through, it usually works quite well. Generally dogs jump to try to engage you and elicit a response. Therefore, if you stand there, arms folded, and do not acknowledge him in any way, he will soon find that you are rather boring. If that method doesn’t seem to work, try putting your knee into his chest every time he goes to jump on you. This will quickly teach the dog that, “Every time I jump, I get an unpleasant feeling in my chest.” A final method is simply getting him trained in obedience. He learns that jumping gets him nowhere and sitting gets them praised and/or treats.

Never praise your dog when he jumps on you. Doing so teaches him that if he jumps up on someone enough, that person will ultimately pet him. So again, you are rewarding a bad behavior. Also, you will probably find that simply pushing him off may make the problem worse. Pushing them off turns into a game for many dogs. They think, “I jump, you push, I jump again, repeat. Wow, this is fun.”

I
f you follow all the guidance in this book, I can assure you that you will have a highly confident, friendly, and well-trained dog. Remember, dogs are animals; they are not kids and should not be treated like kids. Although they are members of the family, they have to learn their place in the family. Their place in the family should always be at the bottom of the pack. If you treat your dog as an equal to the family members, you create problems. Dogs are pack animals; they have to know their place in your pack. Even though you may see him as an equal, your dog will not see himself this way. He will try to figure out where he is in your pack. So you must make it known through doing all of these steps that he is at the bottom of the pack.

I hope you use all the tools and information in this book in order to raise the perfect dog.

N
icholas grew up in the small country town of Urbana, Ohio. Upon graduating from high school, he immediately joined the U.S. Marine Corps. During his time in the Marine Corps, he was stationed at Camp Pendleton, California. He also lived in Okinawa, Japan, and spent seven months in Fallujah, Iraq, where his unit was the first to go into the city for seven long months of combat operations. Nicholas received the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal for his heroic actions in Fallujah. After getting out of the Marine Corps, he was hired to do executive protection for one of the most well-known celebrities in the country. After a few years of this, he was hired by a federal law enforcement agency doing executive protection. Now, Nicholas resides in Woodbridge, Virginia, where he works as a consultant for the government and operates his highly successful dog-training business.