Ask A Philadelphia Expert: Tips For House Training Your Dog
Oakes K9 Training Inc.
319D Norristown Rd.
Horsham, PA 19044
(215) 901-4343
www.oakesk9traininginc.com
"I've always loved dogs since the time I was a kid," Oaks said. "I am a retired certified Animal Control Officer and that is actually what got me into training. There were too many times that dogs were being put down for something that training would have cured."
Oakes has been at her Horsham location for the past 15 years. Her K9 Training Inc. offers every type of program a dog owner could ever need, from puppy classes to correcting behavioral issues to training for competitions.
Although Oakes has a website, she doesn't really count on it to bring in new customers. She doesn't need to. Her clients are so pleased with the results they see in their dog that 90 percent of her business is obtained via word-of-mouth referrals. Sue told CBS an amusing story that happened a couple of years ago when two people met at a dog park. The dog owners didn't know each other, but each was boasting about how their trainer was the best. When the pair finally decided to exchange trainer information, both parties pulled out one of Sue's cards.
When it comes to training, Sue has a saying: "Dogs don't read books." What that means is people go out and buy a book, they try the training method, and it doesn't work. "Each dog is different, just as humans are all different, so there are several different methods that can be used for house training your dog," she said.
As an example, Sue pointed out that some dogs are bred to be working dogs and they need a job, otherwise behavioral issues might arise. "People don't understand that these dogs need to have something to do besides just being a pet. That is actually what causes the problem. They were bred to work, so those dogs need to do more than just take two walks a day," explained Oakes.
Sue also pointed out that "Hounds are a little harder to housebreak because they tend to think it is a human thing... and they have no reason to act as humans do," she said.
Before offering three of her methods, Sue wanted to point out that even though correction training (whacking the dog on the nose) will work, it can have undesirable side effects. "Here comes a kid who raises his hand to pet the dog and the dog is thinking, 'You're not gonna hit me on the nose!' Whatever method is being used, we don't want to have anything go wrong, so it's better to use praise," Oakes said.
"One of my favorite methods is teaching dogs to eliminate on command. It is a lot easier than people think. What you do is you take your dog on leash to one of two spots in your yard. Choose a word -- it could be anything, word association to the action is how they learn -- and as they are going, you say something like 'hurry up.' Say it slowly. Once the dog has finished, you give him a treat, take them off leash, and interact. This way, his reward is for going potty. Some dogs will learn this method in as little as two weeks, others will take two months. The added advantage of using this method is now you're going to have a dog that is only going to pee and poop in those two spots."
"Remember, the reward for the dog can just be interacting with the owner, it does not always have to be food. We use food more for puppies because you have to have their attention before you can teach them anything."
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"Another method we use is for what we call the hard-core housebreaking cases. These are dogs that have been in rescues too long or dogs that have been in the pet stores too long or dogs that have been in a crate. These dogs have learned to pee and poop where they stand, so they are harder to housebreak. But it can be done. What you do is you tether him to you for three days, which means you have the dog on leash and all you worry about for three days is housebreaking. The dog is going to have to give an indication that it has to go, that's when you say, 'not here,' and you take him out and reward him."
"You could use the newspaper method for housebreaking, but the dog must be confined to a small area. Nowadays, they use what is called Wee-Wee Pads. It is the same concept as using newspaper, but what happens is, you put them in a smaller area like the bathroom, and then each day, you take a pad up so the area gets smaller and smaller and smaller. The problem with this method is it can be hard to transfer the dog from going inside to going outside, but a lot of people still use this method, especially if they have little dogs."
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