By Adam Katz
A Doberman Pinscher owner sent me this question:
"Dear Adam: I loved your book, "Secrets of a Professional DogTrainer!" and your web site, Dogproblems.com.
They have been very helpful.
My biggest training problem right now has to do with pottytraining. My dog is a 5 month-old Doberman female. About 2months ago she had a bladder infection, so she started notmaking it through the night. She would pee in her crate and thenwhine that she had to go out. We have since taken her to the vetand given her the entire dose of antibiotics and the infectionis all cleared up. She makes it through the night fine now, butif we have to lock her in her crate during the day she pees inher crate.
She doesn't seem to have too much separation anxiety, although Iremember reading somewhere that Dobermans are prone to this. Welet her outside to do her business and then lock her up a fewminutes before we leave and she is quiet during that time. Whenwe get home she is asleep or quiet. We wait a few minutes aftergetting home during which she is quiet, maybe whines a little,before we let her out. The only problem is that there is apuddle of pee at the bottom of her crate. We leave a few toysfor her to chew on while she is in there, but nothing else, nobedding just the plastic of the bottom of the crate. She doesn'tseem to mind laying in it and we usually have to give her a bathwhen we get home. I'm not sure if I should punish her for thiscause I know the timing is WAY off, but it's getting sofrustrating I don't know what else to do.
I should also mention that we don't have to be gone for this tohappen. If she is locked up because while we are home, she doesthe same thing. She is generally quiet while she is in there,but after an hour or so she will whine loudly and when we get toher, there is already a puddle.
Thank you for your help. I look forward to implementing youradvice.
Sincerely, Tim
Dear Tim:
When you remove her from the crate after she urinates, be sureto clean the area thoroughly with an enzyme cleaner. This willbreak down the urine at the molecular level so its scent will becompletely gone, not just covered up.
You should also limit her time in the crate to lower the chancesof this happening. Only leave her confined when absolutelynecessary or when she cannot be supervised. Along with this, itwould be helpful to limit her water intake to a strict scheduleand when she does drink, take her outside and let her relieveherself after a period of time.
Depending on the dog's condition (hot and panting versus calmand tired), water will go through their system in anywhere from20-45 minutes. If you put her in the crate immediately after sheurinates outside, she might be less inclined (and able) to usethe crate as a bathroom
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