Dear Luck: When housebreaking puppies, one of the first things I tell my new puppy owners is to establish a “potty area” in the backyard. Each time you bring the puppy outside to relieve herself take her to the same spot. Eventually, the pup learns this is where go. Additionally, I suggest they use a word to make the behavior. I use the obvious “go pee pee” but you can pick anything from “do your business” to “go potty.”

It appears that you have taught your bitch that the best place to urinate is on her walk. And if you do some investigating, I bet you will see a pattern of her peeing in the same places along her walk, what you called “marking” was really your training of taking her to the spots she thinks are appropriate.

Backyard Behavior

Another behavior I see in your bitch is the “we don’t like to pee or poop where we play, rest or sleep” behavior. Dogs typically don’t dirty their den where they sleep, the do it elsewhere. I don’t know how big your backyard is, but I’m going to guess it’s small enough that both dogs - since they are big - utilize most of it for their running around and playing. Therefore, they would prefer not to mess in it. As an added precaution, take her to the vet just to make sure there is nothing medically wrong with her bladder such as an infection, which might cause her to pee more often.

To solve your problem, I would start over with your pet pretending she’s a puppy. Pick a new place for her to do her business in the yard, off to the side where they don’t play or nap and teach her the new “command word.” Then I would make sure she goes to the bathroom before taking her on long walks, that way she will get into the routine of dealing with the business at hand before the pleasure of taking a walk.

Dear Lisa: I have a question regarding an 18-month-old Irish Setter female. She is constantly getting into family members personal belongings. We have tried just about everything to stop her. It seems the more you tell her “NO” at her the more she gets into stuff. We are at our wits’ end. Can you give us some suggestions as to what to do? – Investigative Irish Setter

Dear Investigative: It seems to be that the more you tell her “No” the more you are giving her the attention she is craving. You may not realize it but you are inadvertently training her to escalate her investigative techniques into everyone’s stuff.

Perhaps you work long hours or are away from the house often and your dog feels she needs more quality attention from you. What she has decided to do is get into trouble because she knows you will yell at or scold her. This is negative attention, but attention nonetheless. And you know it works because the more you yell at her (i.e. give her negative attention) the more she does it.

Routine as Reward

She is trying to tell you something. And that is – please pay more attention to me. I would suggest you start a new routine with your dog, whether a game or a long walk in a new park, or obedience classes. Make this a special, positive time together and make it happen every day. After a while, the extra attention, along with expending more energy will help to turn the tide of you pet’s investigative attention seeking behavior.

You can also try putting her in a crate when she in not being supervised to keep her out of the stuff. If you do still catch her with inappropriate items, just take them away, don’t make a big deal and give her a “proper” toy and praise her. Her new routine will seem like a reward for changing a negative into a positive.

                              

Lisa Peterson, a long-time breeder of Norwegian Elkhounds, is the Director of Club Communications at the American Kennel Club. Contact her at ask@lisa-peterson.com or Dogma Publishing, P.O. Box 307, Newtown, CT 06470.