Operation Sow's Ear to Purse 7: The Inevitable setback...

[bunn]

The cat thing is still going pretty well.  I'd been assuming that was the hard bit because that's the thing that everyone makes a fuss about.  I wouldnt' trust him unsupervised, but generally given how new everything is to him, he's doing pretty well.

However, what is taking longer for Duke is the house training.  OK, it wasn't his fault that the pet shop was out of the food I'd started him on, so had to switch to a different food which contains salmon and oats - no idea if it's the salmon or the oats that disagreed, but a very runny bum and consequent overnight piles on the landing was the result (thank goodness for Vax, who make a really good carpet washer...) 

The danger time for piddle seems to be straight after breakfast: he has a definite routine: Get up, pee (outside), eat breakfast, then pee again straight away, much more generously - as close as he can get to his breakfast dish!  It would be easier for me to prevent this if I were more of a morning person, but I have to get more thorough with the supervision for a while I think. I was assuming that now he's being generally so good with the cats I could let him offlead around the house, but clearly he can't handle that level of freedom yet, and will need to stay onlead a bit longer.

Comments

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

Looks to me as if he really needs to mark the area around his breakfast dish as 'his' territory; or has done at one stage and continues to do so out of routine.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I wondered if he spent time tied up on a chain or something and couldn't move away from the dish if he wanted to so it became a habit, but I guess I'll never know for sure.

I'm pretty sure that living in a house is new to him so it's not surprising it's taking a little while to get his head round the new rules.

[purple-witch.livejournal.com]

hmmmm what an odd habit - short term management might be feeding him outside while you make a training plan???

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I was planning to just whisk him outside as soon as he'd finished till the habit broke - do you think it needs more?

One thing, since I've popped his lead back on (just trailing) I've noticed that he actually seems more relaxed with it on: wearing the lead he just flomps, whereas without it he's more inclined to trot about puffing. Which is +1 for the dog-on-a-chain theory I think.

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

It does sound as if he's not used to being indoors at all. Hopefully, although this is an old habit, you can still break him of it.

[purple-witch.livejournal.com]

well..... I was thinking that if you feed him outside AND whisk him away immediately to wee (plus click and enormous treat) then it also doesn't matter if he does wee a little and there's no residual smell around the area in the house?

Also if the on lead thing makes him happier you could gradually reduce the length of lead like a long line when training a recall?

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I see your point. Got away with no wee this morning, but will try feeding outside tomorrow. Currently low on enormous treats as he as eaten *everything!* but more arriving shortly.

I am wondering if the lead thing was a false correlation - did a longer walk this morning and his bowels have settled down, and he's fast asleep without it. Hum.

I am resolved to start proper clicker training with him on his own today as can't keep increasing length of walks, my oldies are starting to creak under the strain!