Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Recently acquired a 2 year old and am wondering: How do you get this breed to bark when he needs to go out? My experience has been with toy terriers and this was never a problem. I consider such behavior the definition of "house trained" and my Papillon is not, by any stretch of the imagination, house trained. It could be said that my wife and I are trained...trained to keep in mind how long it's been since he was out and act appropriately...but the dog is not.

When I was a kid, the accepted procedure was to rub the dog's nose in it and then cuff him one the side of the head. That was very effective. Never had any trouble. But, in this age which derides such a physical approach, is there an equally effective solution? Presently, we keep him on a leash at all times when he's in the house.

Housetraining is much nore complicated than it seems, with lots of ways to get off track. The articles under "Housetraining"--titles are alphabetized, so just look down to "H"--at the link below my signature to the Canine Behavior Series will explain the ins and outs. Perhaps you can teach him to ring a bell at the doorway instead of barking. The barking can lead to other problems.
-----
Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47

Hi,
They say that the smaller dogs are more difficult to house train because they consider any place outside of their immediate area is an OK place to go. I don't know how true it is but I have a Shih Tzu and she was not the easiest dog to house train. When she was a pup, I took her out at times I thought she would have to go. Sometimes she went and sometimes she didn't. I kept some tiny treats in my pocket and would give her one each time she went outside. If they do go in the house, they tend to use the same spot so clean it very thoroughly. My Katie still won't go to the door when she has to go out. I just take her out when I think she has to go and that's worked very well.

Some folks with small dogs also train them to go in a certain area in the house on special pads. It's also possible that your dog was trained to do this. Try and stick with a routine and hopefully "the light will go on" and he'll find some way to let you know when he has to go out.
-----
Mary Lou & Katie