Hi, I’m fostering a miniature poodle, Tootsie, who was rescued from a puppy mill in Ohio.  She\’s 5 years old and starting to come to me to sniff my hand.  With my other 2 small dogs, she gets along famously! I have two issues.

1. Totsie barks as any noise and when she does, the other two start. How can I calm her down when she is still apprehensive of me?

2. How can I help her with her toilet training, when I can\’t change my voice, or physically put her outside if I catch her in the middle of doing it, as she runs away from me?

Jay

Hello Jay!

You are a wonderful person to rescue and adopt a dog from a puppy mill, thank you for your kindness and dedication.  I hope that someday puppy mills will be a thing of the past because they are really a torturous place for dogs.  Perhaps if enough of us complain to our lawmakers we can get them closed down. 

I think it is wonderful you are looking for answers to help solve your problem, so I am happy to try to help resolve your issues.  Luckily the things in a dogs past can often be left behind when new, positive experiences replace them.  There are several things I would suggest to correct it.

Barking is often a result of isolation, fear, frustration or boredom.  Dogs need to be exercised a lot at least twice a day as well as go out and explore the world.  They do not do well be left alone for long periods of time and also need to go out for walks, explore new sights and smells and not just stay at home every day.   A tired dog is a good dog and will most likely spend a lot of time sleeping if they have had their needs met. 

1. The very first thing is that she needs to feel really tired out every day, more than once a day, through a lot of exercise; enough to the point that she lays down afterwards because she is tired.  This will be the first step in correcting the problem, because if she hasn’t drained her pent up energy through daily exercise, it will be much harder to fix this issue. 
2. She should leave the house and view different scenery and people every day to build up his tolerance to different stimuli.  Dogs who have been in puppy mills haven’t been socialized well or exposed to different stimuli, which is one reason why she barks at all the new stimuli.  So take her to a different park, down a different street on your walk so she sees a variety of different experiences.  Dogs that get to go out of the house to different experiences, smells, and sights do better overall because they have been exposed to many different things which “opens their minds” so to speak, so that they aren’t so panicked or excited by stimuli they see from home.

Also, make sure you praise your dog and give it attention when they are NOT barking.  We often mistakenly give our dogs attention when they bark which rewards the behavior and forget to give the attention when they are quiet.

I would highly suggest you begin an obedience-training program using positive methods.  You can train your dog to behave the way you want them to if you practice daily obedience with them in a positive way and with good timing.  You also need to be very consistent with your dog and establish clear rules.  

Because she is apprehensive of you:

I would also recommend having the dog on-leash, attached to you while she is in the home for a couple weeks or so, so that the timing of stopping the barking behavior is improved as well as giving the dog something to do (she will have to pay attention to whomever has her leash and follow wherever they are going).   Just attach the leash to your belt and the dog has to go where they go.  If you do this consistently for two weeks you will be amazed at the success of this.  When your dog begins to show signs of barking you can immediately stop the behavior and replace it with another behavior.  Timing is most important here, if you wait even a few seconds to stop the behavior you’ve waited too long to correct it, so when she is on leash with you, you’ll be able to stop the behavior immediately.  If for example she is starting to bark and you call her over to you, then you have now lost your chance because she will believe she is being corrected for coming to you because that was the last thing that happened in her mind. 

Here are some steps to follow for immediate results:

1. When your dog is barking say a command firmly, like “Stop Barking”, or “Quiet!” Pick one of the commands and stick to it as a family.  Do not be angry though and let your dog sniff a treat while you say that command.  Generally, when offered a treat a dog stops barking to smell it even if only for a second. 
2. Then, when your dog is quiet, give a treat and say “good quiet” or “good no bark” in a praising way.  Continue this but expand the amount of time you expect your dog to be quiet from say 3 seconds, to 6 to 9 and so on.  So the wait for the treat is delayed. 
3. They start associating the fact that you say that command, they stay quiet and then they get a treat. 
4. This method may take some time but it is one way for you to work on the barking problem right away.  It also establishes the meaning of the command to the dog so that over time you can just say that word and they will stop. 

There are many ways to resolve this problem and this is just one example.  It is important that you work on obedience training right away if you want to be able to handle your dog well and she will gain trust in you through a positive obedience-training program using treats and rewards.  Do not wait or more behavioral problems can develop. 

NEVER USE CORRECTIVE METHODS WITH A DOG WHO IS APPREHENSIVE. 

Regarding the housetraining accidents in the house.

Most of this issue is about education and prevention.  Dogs that eliminate in the house may be doing it out of habit or they simply need more training.  First of all, clean all areas that they may have messed in and remove the odor with an odor neutralizer you can find at the pet store. 

Then, you need to observe them when they are outside peeing or pooping.  If we do not know for sure they have eliminated outside it will be hard to know if they will inside.  So if you know your dog has not pooped or urinated outside you will know they may have an accident indoors.   If they pee a lot outside, praise and you’ll know they will be ok for another hour or two.  If there was just a little urine then you’ll need to bring them back out again in a half hour. Give this a name too, like “Do your business”, or “Go Potty” and make it sound positive.    In the home if you are having accidents I advise in these cases to have your dog on leash attached to you for a couple weeks so that you can quickly react if there is an accident. 

Never be angry.

If there is an accident say No but do NOT get angry and then bring them immediately outside to pee and praise outside while they are peeing.  It is important that you catch them in the act in order to say No.  If you do not see them actually peeing you cannot discipline them.  If for example you find a puddle of pee and you feel angry and you call your dog to you and get mad at them what your dog thinks is that you got mad at them for coming to you because that is the very last thing that they did.  You MUST catch them when they are actually in the process of peeing in order to say No to them.   NEVER be angry with them either.  You need to be very matter of fact and not angry or you will make the situation worse because they will lose trust in you.  The same goes for pooping.

You have to be vigilant about observing and preventing at this point.  If you put the effort in now it will pay off.  The dog should not have free access to the house until the accidents have stopped completely.  Then, only allow access to the room you are in and observed closely.  If there have been no more accidents inside the home you can begin to offer more of the house slowly.  At this point it will be a lot about prevention on YOUR part to fix the problem. 

A note about being on lead in the house:

The idea with holding your dog on leash in your house is so you can correct a problem immediately, such as peeing on the floor.  Reaction time is important in these cases.   There should not be a problem having them on lead as long as you are watching them and they are not having a reaction to the lead.  Better yet, I’d like to see the leash attached to you like looped to your belt too so they learn to move when you do and do what you do.  If you get up to go in other room they have to go with you, if you sit and rest they have to rest, etc.  This is another way for you to establish yourself as leader with your dog and for them to gain trust in you. 

One thing to know is dogs actually like to be on lead with you because it gives them a job to do and they like to feel busy too, just like we do.  Their job is to pay attention to your movements.  This is a wonderful way to maximize bonding as well. 

When they have had no pee accidents in the house for several weeks you should be able to practice having the dog off leash again but supervised closely initially. Remember if there is an accident you will need to go back again to the beginning and have them with you at all times.  

It may take a little work initially to have a close watch on your dog but if you are serious about stopping the problem that is how you will have success.  It will be worth the effort when you have a clean house again!

I am confident you can improve the behavior with consistency and a mindset that you CAN do it! 

I would really love to hear about your success afterwards so please write back and let me know how it goes!   

Take care and the best of luck with this. 

I look forward to hearing back from you!

Julie

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Julie,

Wow, thanks for all the advice.  I will start with the lead right away and i’ll send you a progress report. 
Again, thanks, it feels like I’ve got somewhere to go now.
 
Jay