July 23rd, 2012
By Eric Letendre
Got this email over the weekend:
“Hi Eric, Love your emails. Very informative and fun to read but I have one problem. I have a little four month old yorkie that my husband and I adore but she has one problem. She still poos inside the house. We need her 2 poo outside, any suggestions?”
No fun having a yorkie that poos in the house.
This would be described as a behavior problem by many of the dog training “experts.”
Let me make this very clear – This is NOT a behavior problem. Your dog peeing and pooing is a normal, natural function that all living creatures need to perform.
When your dog pees or poos in the house it is a LOCATION PROBLEM.
Sorry for the all the captial letters but I really want you to understand this because when it is called a behavior problem it is often lumped in with bad behavior and bad behavior is always viewed through the lens of punishment.
When a dog poos inside it is not bad behavior and a dog should not be punished.
In fact, punishment can quickly backfire and cross associations can develop.
A cross association is when your dog makes a negative association with your presence, not the event you were punishing for.
For example: A dog pees in the house. The owner gets mad drags the dog over to the urine and stuffs his nose in it and yells “BAD DOG.”
The dog now learns to hold it when the owner is around. They hold it in the house and they hold it when they are outside with the owner.
The dog has to eventually go so guess what the dog does?
He hides.
He finds a place where no one can see him and he pees behind the couch, under the table anywhere he can’t be seen.
Instead, we need to think of this as a location problem and apply the M.U.T.T. Method as discussed in Friday’s email.
So if your dog still pees or poos inside the house, remember that housetraining is like real estate:
Location, location, location.
Teach your dog the right location and your dog will be housetrained faster than you can say “Amazing Dog Training Man.”
BTW – The Housetraining Handbook is included on The Dog Training Inner Circle which shows you the step-by-step method to teach your dog or puppy the right location.
Get all the details here:
All the best,
Eric
Eric Letendre is a professional dog trainer from the United States and has been training dogs for over 20 years, teaching regular, average, every-day owners all over the world how to get the training results they want as fast as possible. Eric is also the author of numerous reports, the E-Book “101 Ways to Improve Your Dog’s Behavior,” “The Amazing Dog Training Man Book,” and produced and stars in his DVD “Secrets of a Professional Dog Trainer.”
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Eric Letendre is a professional dog trainer from the United States. For more than 20 years, he has been developing dog training techniques that have worked for dog owners all over the world. Eric operates from a home office or a laptop while traveling and draws on his experience and passion for dog training to show others how to develop a dog that is truly “Man’s Best Friend”.
Eric is the author of numerous reports, the E-Book “101 Ways to Hack Your Dog’s Behavior,” “The Amazing Dog Training Man Book,” and produced and stars in his DVD “Secrets of a Professional Dog Trainer.”
