Welcome to K9ARO

Behaviour

1. Why did my dog defecate in her bed? The two things that worry me is that... 1) She is an 8 year old Doberman so it's not like it was a puppy accident. 2) She defecated in her bed and slept in it. I am really worried.

   You need to get her health checked out, go and visit your vet. As you say this is not 'normal' behaviour with her and any change in normal behaviour is a cause for concern......don't worry just go and have her checked out.

2. My dog empties the rubbish bin every time we leave the house, how can I stop this?

   Simple! Dogs are opportunists, they take an opportunity when they can. Your 'rubbish' consists of empty food tins, food left overs, crisp packets, yogurt pots, all of which are lovely tasty treats for dogs, it also contains lots of 'toys' as a plastic yogurt pot is great fun to chase around the floor,  tin can to chew, a toilet roll or kitchen roll tube. You dog is just taking the opportunity to enjoy that food and those toys and as the dog has SELF PRAISED in getting those, you are wating your time,/voice in reprimanding your dog when you find out which can be hours after it happened, if you do all you are doing is making your dog anxious and fearful of its owner as it has NO IDEA why you are angry.

   The ONLY one you should be angry with is yourself for leaving the dog with this temptation knowing it is going to take the opportunity. Dogs do what works, so they change their behaviour if and when you change yours

   1. empty the rubbish bin

   2. remove the rubbish bin

   3. leave your dog with something like a kong which is a chew toy, with treats in it and is a toy too, exercise your dog before you leave it so it is tired and sleeps.

3. My dog all of a sudden is very jumpy and frightened why?

   ANY change is normal behaviour the first place to go is to your vets and have your dogs health checked. Once you know your dogs health is OK and there is nothing to get concerned about, then you would look at other things.

   1. what changes have happened in your dogs life

   2 Have you changed the dogs food

   3. has a new peron, animal or routine happened in your dogs life

   4. Are you ill, or are there arguements in the household

   All these can cause serious behaviour changes in your dog.

4. Which is the best lead/collar/harness/head collar to buy to stop my dog pulling on the lead?

   You do not need to buy gadgets, you need a soft well fitting collar and training lead and book an obedience  class with me. I will give you the skills and as long as you practise what I teach you daily generally within a week you will have a dog who walks nicely instead of  taking you 'waterskiing'

   The skills are simple, easy to do, the dog understands them 100%, it is gentle, proactive, positive, it takes NO extra time out of your day to do, all it needs is your understanding of the technique and to remember to do the daily practise.

5. My dog is eating its way through my furniture each time we leave it alone.

   Read the page about chewing. Chewing is normal and healthy for dogs for a number of reasons, it is about encouraging posiive chewing and distracting for negative chewing and NOT reprimanding your dog for ALL chewing or you will create more chewing.