Advice training the mighty Pomeranian, Bear

[TheMightyBear]

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Hi folks, I’m just looking for a bit of dog training advice or tips if anyone has any on hand. Me and my girlfriend are about to move in together and she has a 4-year-old Pomeranian named Bear. Bear has been able to rule the roost so to speak at my girlfriend’s house and she has done very little in terms of training and obedience. It has been safe to say me and Bear have not always seen eye to eye, although his behaviour is a by product of my girlfriends approach to training. I am a dog person myself but am concerned that the lack of discipline and training that Bear has will cause problems in the new place. We are planning on setting up more ground rules for Bear in the new place and I want to start training and implementing new tactics and routines from day one. Bear is by no means a terrible dog and his boisterous nature doesn’t bother me but some of his behaviours need to be changed I think. The main areas of concern are:-

Toilet training – bear has had pretty much free reign of choosing where he goes in the house, my girlfriend relies heavily on puppy pads and puts these down at night and during the day while she is at work. Bear sometimes decides to do his business in other areas of the house as well. I have been trying to let him out more so he can do his business outside and he has been getting slightly better at indicating he wants to go out however my girlfriend still puts puppy pads down. I want to get in the routine of letting him out in the garden in the morning before we go work and taking him for a walk when I get in from work so he gets used to going outside and gets some more exercise as well.

-are puppy pads needed? Are there any better alternatives? (I can see why they are put down while we are at work as maybe its too long for him to hold it, but is this the best cause of action?)

-should we get a crate? Is it cruel to confine him to a crate while we are out/asleep? Are they good to use in the short term?

Best time to feed him – my girlfriend currently feeds him first thing in the morning, when she gets in from work and then again before bed.

-is feeding before bed recommended or are we just asking to wake up to a mess?

-how many times a day is ideal for feeding?

General obedience and yapping – Bear can be a bundle of energy and after being cooped up all day I appreciate he needs to release this, my girlfriend very rarely walks him so this is something I intend to do with him at least once a day to hopefully tire him out and calm him down. He does enjoy a good yap and bark at anyone who walks past the window or comes to the door, he also barks and jumps like a mad man when he sees his lead or wants food so I id like to get him to settle and sit when asked.

-is a clicker and reward approach good for getting him to sit/settle?

-is he too old to teach new behaviours?

I’m sure there are things I’ve forgot to mention and I’m not trying to turn the place into a bootcamp for Bear I’m just trying to create a house that we all enjoy living in. Any advice or tips would be appreciated and thanks in advance to anyone who took the time to read this long post

 

[JoanneF]

There is quite a lot here so bear with me if I miss anything.

Toilet training - as an adult, provided there are no underlying medical conditions, he should be able to hold overnight and for at least a few hours in daytime (the body works differently while asleep). So from first impressions it sounds like he simply has not been taught to toilet outside and by now may not have properly developed the muscles to hold his toilet. The puppy pads have taught him it's ok to toilet indoors so you are going to have to work harder to undo this as well as train him that outside is the right place to go.

So go back to basics like you would with a puppy.

Toilet training happens when two things come together - the ABILITY to hold the toilet, along with the DESIRE to hold it in order to earn the reward for doing so.

Ideally you want him to not be in a position where he needs to toilet before you have him outdoors, so that every toilet is outside - as far as possible, there will be accidents! So set him up to succeed by taking him out even more than he needs; for example every hour and always after sleeping, eating, playing. Your aim is to have him outside before he can't help himself. When he toilets outdoors make a huge fuss (never mind the neighbours, act like outdoor toileting is the best thing you have ever seen) and reward him with a high value treat. Do that immediately, don't make him come to you for the treat so he is clear that it's for toileting and not for coming to you. The idea is that he eventually wants to earn the treat enough to hold the toilet until he is outside - once he is physically able to control his toileting obviously. If he has an accident inside don't react at all. If you get annoyed he may learn to fear your reaction and avoid you if he needs to toilet - the opposite of what you want. Dogs cant make the distinction between you being annoyed at him toileting, as opposed to toileting indoors. Take a rolled up newspaper and hit yourself over the head for not having taken him outside in time. Not when he is there though in case you scare him. Then clean the area with an enzymatic cleaner to remove any trace of smell that might attract him back to the spot. As he is actually performing the toilet you can introduce words he can associate with it (like 'do weewee' and 'busy busy') that later when he is reliably trained you can use these to tell him when you want him to toilet.

Indoors if you see him circling or scratching the floor, that can sometimes precede toileting so get him out fast.

Overnight he is unlikely to be able to control his toilet as he has never been asked to so set your alarm to take him out at least once if not twice during the night.

If you are both working though, it will be really hard to stop him toileting where and when he wants. I'd suggest taking time off for a few weeks (I know that may be impractical but breaking these habits will take time and commitment).

Crate training can *help* with toilet training in that dogs prefer not to soil their bed but if he hasn't ever been asked to hold his toilet he may be unable to help himself. And you cannot leave a dog in a crate all day while you are at work. Crate training has to be done very slowly, and may take longer than toilet training. If you want to use the crate anyway (not just to help with toilet training, reply saying so and I can add more.

Feeding - twice a day is fine, and a good tip is to add a few kernels of sweetcorn to one meal. Then you will be able to assess his digestive system timing and that will help you work out meal times to toilet times.

Barking at people is also a learned habit - you can get opaque film for the windows to reduce the stimulus and clicker training could well help. Kikopup on YouTube has some excellent videos to help with this - both use of a clicker and reducing barking.

Throughout though, please remember this is not his fault. Through the whole process, it will be helpful to NOT think he is doing something wrong but instead to think how you can teach him what you WANT from him.

 

[JudyN]

Never too old to learn new behaviours!

There's quite a lot to unpick in your post, as you are pretty much starting from scratch. So in no particular order...

His energy needs - he sounds very understimulated and underexercised, so correcting this will make a huge difference to his general behaviour. Ideally he should be walked twice a day, once before and once after work. This needs to be fun, not just a lead walk around the block. Sniffing interesting smells is so important for dogs, so parks or other open areas are great. If he can't go off lead (e.g. if he has poor recall or doesn't like other dogs) then you can get a longer lead and let him explore all the verges, maybe play a few sniffing games.

If he's left on his own all day, it would be worth considering getting a dog walker/sitter in to break up the day. This will help enormously with the toilet training. Various dog organisations recommend that a dog shouldn't be left for more than 4 hours at a time - this might not be possible but it does highlight the need to do whatever you can to make it easier on him if he has to be left longer.

For barking at passers-by - this can be difficult to break as it is self-rewarding. The best approach is to close the curtains or put up window frosting. Or move furniture so he can't reach to see out the window.

For general training/obedience - focus not on what you don't want him to do, but what you would like him to do - and then reward him for doing it. Settling down on his bed can be a good one, though you have to avoid him seeing this as a punishment. This video may help:

In general Kikopup's videos are a great resource. I also like this video on impulse control - it really helps a dog learn to control his behaviour and not expect to get what he wants, when he wants, and throw a tantrum when it doesn't happen

Teaching 'watch' can be good too:

These all help your dog learn to listen to you, focus on you, and interact with you, which is so vital - so many dogs develop cloth ears as all they hear is 'Stop that!' 'Come here!' and so on - so often, there's absolutely no reason for them to comply (unless the reason is they are scared of punishment, but you don't want that to be a motivator for 'good' behaviour).

You don't need a crate - if you introduce one you'd have to teach Bear to enjoy it as his 'special' place, but if him being free in the house isn't a problem, you don't stand to gain much. However, it is good for him to have his own special place where he can be shut away, e.g. when you're cooking or when someone comes to the door. By getting someone to ring the doorbell and then throwing a treat into a room, you can actually train him to go straight there when someone comes to the house. I prefer to use a stairgate rather than shut a door, so he can see and hear what's happening. My dog can be worried when strangers come to the house, but he knows now that he won't be able to 'greet' them so just settles down quietly - if it's someone who is staying, I can let him come and say hello once the visitor has 'settled down'.

Clicker training can be good, but isn't necessary, and in my opinion it's easy to get it wrong. I would get some of the basics in place first, particularly helping Bear be a calmer dog in general, then if you want, give it a go.

I was going to move on to toilet training, but I can see @JoanneF has got in before me!

 

[TheMightyBear]

Thanks a lot for the quick responses and I really appreciate all the advice, I will do my best to implement all the tips and advice and hopefully create a environment where Bear can succeed He will be sleeping in the kitchen and we are getting him a new bed and toys for the new place. I will put some pads down during the day so he can go toilet on them, ive seen some fancy washable ones on amazon that seem a bit more robust than the ones you buy in a supermarket so I might give them a whirl. I wont use the pads at night though and I will try not feeding him before bed as well and hopefully take steps to getting through the night without waking up to mess, fingers crossed.

 

[JoanneF]

I'm sorry but I don't think you will be able to house train him like this. The puppy pads will continue to reinforce that toileting is an indoor activity. And leaving him alone all day will simply not allow him to learn you don't want indoor toilets. I'm sorry if that's not what you hoped for but if you aren't there to teach him; and then after he is clean, have someone to call round to walk him or at least let him out, he simply won't learn and be physically able to avoid toileting inside. And that's fair enough as long as you are happy to lower your expectations that he will ever be toilet trained.

I will try not feeding him before bed as well and hopefully take steps to getting through the night without waking up to mess

This isn't really what I meant. If, for example, you feed him at 8.00 am with a few kernels of sweetcorn and for easy counting you know he poos that at 8.00 pm, he has a 12 hour digestive transit. So if you don't feed him at night and instead choose to feed him at 5.00pm, he will need to poo at 5.00 am. If you DID feed him later, say at 9.00 pm, he could maybe last all night. So the idea is you test the time with a morning meal and set your alarm if necessary to take him out, before he needs, overnight.

 

[JudyN]

So the idea is you test the time with a morning meal and set your alarm if necessary to take him out, before he needs, overnight.

Bear in mind that the digestive process will operate at different speeds depending on time of day - it tends to speed up with exercise, and things move through more quickly, and slow down overnight. So there will be a degree of trial and error.

Toilet training him WILL be time-consuming, just as it would be with a puppy (maybe more so as he has already learnt that toileting indoors is fine), and can mean disrupted nights. But it will certainly be worth it.