Is your dog running your life?

Monday, 03 May 2010 08:40

Let’s talk about schedules. Is your dog on YOUR schedule or are you on your DOGS schedule?

It is an important question and something you really want to consider when your dog is a puppy. Of course, when you first bring a puppy home, everything MUST revolve around the dog in order to teach the pup the essential rules of the road. Don’t pee in here, don’t bark at me, sleep in your crate. House training especially demands that you pay very very close attention to your pups schedule. I routinely tell new puppy owners to take their puppy outside every one to two hours. That is definitely not the preferred schedule, but essential to fast and effective house training.

But what about after the initial training phase, like when the dog is 4 to 6 months old? That is when you need to start training your dog to function on YOUR schedule. I once had a client who was getting up in the middle of the night, every night, because she believed her dog needed water. At 2 AM. I know people who rush home from parties or dinner out because it’s the dogs dinner time. Now I do admire their dedication to their dog, but in my opinion, that’s a bit extreme.

When I get a puppy I take extra care to make sure I raise an independent and ADAPTABLE dog. What do I mean by adaptable? I mean a dog that can eat dinner at 4 pm or 11pm. A dog that goes out and does his business when I let him out, not when he asks to go out. A dog that does NOT insist that I get up at 6AM on a SATURDAY! Essentially I raise a dog that adapts to my schedule..... and my schedule is constantly changing.

Let’s start with house training. One of the most common questions I get as a puppy trainer is “How do I get him to tell me he has to go out?” My answer is, “You don’t”. Don’t get me wrong. If you want to teach your dog to tell you when he wants to go out, you most certainly can, and it’s not that hard. However, I don’t recommend it. It starts out nice enough with the dog asking to go out to go to the bathroom but often degenerates into the dog asking to go out every ten minutes. To sniff the grass, to chase a squirrel, to bark at the neighbors. And how do you know what the dog wants? You don’t. You have to assume the dog needs to go, and you let him out. Before you know it, you are catering to your dogs schedule.

What to do instead? When you get a puppy, or a new dog, you take her out every hour. As time goes by you take her out every two hours, then every three hours etc. etc. etc. until the dog is going out on a reasonable schedule of every 6 to 8 hours. What I am trying to get her to understand is that I will provide sufficient opportunity to go out, and it is in her best interest to take advantage of it to relieve herself. Being crated between opportunities certainly helps to emphasize the point. The result is a dog who takes advantage of the opportunity to relieve themselves whenever you provide it, as opposed to a dog who is dictating the schedule.

The other big issue is sleeping in. Again, a new puppy or dog is different. When they cry in their crate you have an obligation to provide an opportunity to go out. And many of us get up so early that we let the dog out and then start our day. The dog begins to understand I cry, we go out, and we get up. A very useful schedule most of the time. But what if you don’t have to get up? What if you have the opportunity to sleep in? Here is what to do. 6 AM on Saturday. Puppy cries. Leash up, go out, come back in and GO BACK TO BED!! Yes, the puppy goes back in her crate. Provide a pig ear, a marrow bone, a stuffed Kong, whatever. Now, in the beginning, you are not going to get any actual additional sleep, since the pup may be crying in her crate. But do not give up. Wait at least an additional hour before getting up and starting your day. If you do this enough, the pup will learn to settle down in her crate and eventually you will be able to sleep until 8AM! (Crating your dog while you are home also helps to achieve this goal but that is the topic of another discussion about crate training).

Bottom line.... teach your dog to do things on YOUR schedule as opposed to doing things on theirs. Your dog will not starve if their meal comes two hours later than normal. They will learn to get up when YOU get up and you won’t have to let your dog out 20 times a day. I really believe that this makes for a better quality of life for both you and your dog, reducing anxiety for both of you!

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Comments (5)

• 2010-06-11 09:49:08 | Cyndy  - Awesome
  Awesome! Thanks so much for this great information!
  Reply

• 2010-06-15 08:16:00 | Truman  - Waking up at night
  my dog wakes at 3 AM like clockwork. . how can i end the middle of the night bathroom breaks (she has a walk after the water bowl is taken up for the night).
  
  thanks!
  Reply

• 2010-06-15 15:17:00 | Lynn  - Crating
  Are you keeping your dog crated all day and night while you are training him to pee? I try to give my dog the freedom of our family room but he does need constant supervision. I am home all day but his teen years are kicking in and I can't and don't want to watch him every minute. Somehow keeping him enclosed all day is hard. Help me to understand how to accept this possibility.
  Reply

• 2010-06-19 08:55:00 | Laura
  @truman:
  To start with make sure the dog is relieving himself immediately before going to sleep for the night.
  
  Depending on how old your dog is, you have a few options.
  If you dog is younger than 16 weeks, they still might legitimately need to go out once in the middle of the night. If this is the case, you take the dog out, on leash, to the pee spot and stand there for no more than 10 minutes. There is no talking, no playing, no walking around sniffing. Once the dog relieves himself, back to the crate. Again no playing, no cuddling etc. Back to sleep.
  
  Now, if your dog os OVER 16 weeks, that might be a different story. Unless the dog has a physical problem, they should not really need to be going out in the middle of the night. One option, is to acknowledge the dogs crying, ask them to be quiet, and then ignore them. This is risky, if the dog actually really needs to go and you need to use your judgement. You can try the option above for d...
  Reply

• 2010-06-19 09:08:00 | Laura
  @ Lynn
  
  If your dog is an adolescent (over 6 months old) hopefully they are already house trained! If the dog is not house trained then the best thing to do is to use the crate when you can't watch the dog. You cannot allow the dog freedom if they are relieving themselves in the house. If the dog still needs constant supervision and you can't or don't want to watch the dog, you need to use the crate to make sure he doesn't get in trouble. However crate time is not free. Young dogs, especially adolescents require an amazing amount of exercise, and a well exercised dog is a good dog. My general rule of thumb for young dogs is 45 minutes hard play before they go in the crate and then 45 minutes hard play after they come out. As long as you are meeting the dogs needs you don't need to feel guilty about crating. Just keep in mind that young dogs do need a lot of supervision and if you want to raise a well mannered dog, you need to provide both the supervision and the exer...
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