Sharon Delarose - Training Your Dog to be Home Alone

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Weaning Your Dog From the Crate

There's hope for even the worst dog

by Sharon Delarose
GITYASOME BOOKS - A DIVISION OF GYPSY KING SOFTWARE

No part of this article may be used or reproduced in any form in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author.
The methods used in this article are for informational purposes only and are not to be taken as professional dog training or veterinary advice. For expert assistance in training your dog, dealing with a problem dog, or medical issues relating to your dog, please consult a professional dog trainer or veterinarian. The author and publisher disclaim any responsibility for adverse effects that may arise from the use of the information or techniques described herein.
This article is based on the true story of Dakota as excerpted from Bad Dog to Best Friend.
Copyright 2009 by Sharon Delarose
All rights reserved.
Published by Gityasome Books
a division of Gypsy King Software, Inc.
www.gityasome.com/blog/books
Printed in the United States of America
First Edition
Excerpted from Bad Dog to Best Friend ISBN: 1453683178

One of the most popular chapters in the book "Bad Dog to Best Friend", this is a step-by-step guide to weaning your dog from a crate and teaching him to stay home alone with full run of the house. It was inspired by the true story of a semi-adult shelter dog who used the house as her own personal potty and chew toy. If she can be taught to stay home alone without chewing or potty in the house, there's hope for your dog, too.

We've included the chapters on potty training and dog chewing as you can't deal with one without tackling all three. The full version of the book has 26 chapters. This guide is a 3-chapter excerpt from the full version, which is available in both paperback and Kindle on Amazon.

One problem solved, many more to go
(Adrift in a sea of dog pee, I saw a glimmer of hope)

Now that we'd solved the workday problem we were back to Dakota's bad habit of peeing in the house when she wasn't in the crate - which was anytime we were home with her. Dakota didn't give a lot of warning before she peed. She didn't sniff or circle looking for the perfect place. She simply stopped in mid-stride without warning, squatted and peed all in about one second. Dakota was that quick.

We trained her to pee outdoors by using food as a bribe. Dakota had an insatiable craving for food and we used this in her training. We bought a bag of large kibble dog food different from her normal food. Every time she peed outdoors we gave her a piece of food as a reward. You'd think it was a hunk of steak the way she coveted that potty treat and she quickly learned to pee outdoors. The trouble was - she still peed indoors. No matter how often we took her out we couldn't seem to stop her from peeing indoors. It seemed hopeless.

I'LL TRY TO BE A GOOD DOG, I PROMISE!

The dog experts pretty much all agree that it's better to train your dog with a reward system than a fear system so we tried to focus on the potty treats. We made it clear to her that we were not pleased when she peed indoors but we had to be very careful not to yell because if we raised our voice even one iota, it stressed her out and made her pee again.

Those days were difficult. Even when she knew we were taking her out for potty she'd get excited and it just came out before we could actually get her through the door. We gave a stern no when she slipped up, immediately took her out and if she peed again outdoors, she got a reward. I hated giving her that potty treat if she'd peed in the house first. It felt like I was rewarding her for bad behavior but I was following the advice from the dog experts.

The hardest times were in the evenings when we came home from work. Dakota had held it all day and she was fully loaded. We kept the dog crate next to the door in the hopes of getting her out of the house before she let loose. In the beginning it didn't work. The minute her feet cleared the door to the crate the pee was coming out. We continued as fast as we could out to the backyard with Dakota peeing all the way down the stairs. We took her directly to the pee pee spot where she peed even more. Dakota's bladder seemed to be an eternal spring which never stopped flowing.

Mornings were dicey as well. She'd held it all night long and woke up fully loaded. I never delayed in taking her out in the morning. I'd throw on a bathrobe and get her out the door as quickly as possible, not even taking time for my own morning potty.

There were times when it felt hopeless. We thought we'd never get her to stop peeing indoors. Ten weeks after adopting Dakota - putting her at almost ten months old - we finally had a breakthrough. For the first time ever I did not take Dakota out immediately after getting up in the morning. I took a few minutes for my own potty and to get fully dressed before taking her out and still she held it. That showed incredible progress for her.

After ten weeks of diligent potty training she was not only holding it all night, Dakota had progressed from peeing many times a day in the house to only once or twice a month. We no longer had to keep the carpet shampooer out in the middle of the room ready to fire up. We were able to stash it back in the closet where it belonged - hidden and out of our way. Dakota had truly made incredible progress and we were hopeful that she'd eventually be accident-free.

We'd learned several tricks of the trade in dealing with Dakota's potty problem. It wasn't enough to simply reward her for pottying outdoors. We needed to anticipate what caused her to pee in the house and nip it in the bud - staying one step ahead of her at all times. We needed to teach her new habits to replace the old, bad habits. Most of all we had to have patience. That was the hardest part.

Tricks of the trade
(Techniques for potty training)

During the night

It's normal for me to get up several times during the night so when I got up for my own needs, I'd throw on a bathrobe and take Dakota out. Even during those horrible first weeks Dakota never once peed in the bedroom at night. That in itself was amazing. Still, I took her out not wanting to push my luck. Hauling out the carpet shampooer in the dead of night did not appeal to me.

Once I saw that she seemed willing to hold it at night, I cut back from three times a night to two times, then down to one time, then finally not at all. However, the moment I'd wake up in the morning I'd rush her down the stairs and out the door. I didn't dare make her wait, even for me to go pee. I figured if she'd been good enough to hold it all night I wasn't about to tempt the fates.

You're with me

In the early days I kept Dakota with me at all times in the house. I literally made her follow me around the house as I went about my day. If I was going upstairs I'd hook my finger under her collar and guide her up the stairs with me saying you're with me . This became our daily routine. The goal was to keep her under my supervision at all times so that if she showed any signs of potty in the house (or any other bad behavior) I could immediately nip it in the bud.