April 19, 2011

We feed our pup by hand after it poops outside. The problem is the pup poops in the dog crate at night. Is it a mistake to only feed the dog what it eats as a reward for pooping?

Full Question:
Ed,

I have been enjoying your articles on puppy training! Your sense of humor has helped me find mine about our new puppy. We have a 12 week old Goldendoodle, cross between a Golden Retriever and a Poodle. We have had her about 10 days. After the first few days of whining she is doing great in her crate at night, and during the day when we are gone or for some quiet time when we are here. The problem is that she is pooping in her crate every night. I tried making it smaller by putting boxes at the back and so she pooped and then laid in it! Any suggestions? She is on science diet puppy food. She eats most of her food out of my hand as her potty treat after going outside. I know this probably isn't the best plan, but she would not eat when she first came and would not take a treat for going outside. She would, however, take some food from me as her reward. Would a more solid eating schedule help with the overnight pooping? What do you suggest for an outside reward? Is praise enough? Feel free to be "blunt" I could use some good solid advice right now!

God Bless,
Vicki
Ed
Ed Ed's Answer:
Yes it is a mistake to feed from your hand when the dog poops. To be successful in house training you have to establish a pattern (or schedule) with your dog.

I would feed an all-natural diet. It goes through the dog in 5 hours vs. 15 hours for commercial kibble. Read my site about what this is. I am sorry but I cannot train you through emails.

Read the Q&A section on housetraining too.

I would recommend the video I produced titled Your Puppy 8 Weeks to 8 Months. I give this video to all of my puppy customers and never get questions on how to raise a pup. Read the description of the tape on my web site. It has 2 hours of solid information and does not cost a lot of money (only $30.00)

If you would like to learn more about the principles of obedience training a dog, read the description for my Basic Dog Obedience video. You will probably find that you have not had the full picture on the steps of training a dog must go through before it can be considered fully trained. You can also read why I am not a fan of taking an untrained dog to obedience classes. I think if you read the testimonials on that tape you will see that my customers feel the same way.

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