So its been a few years since we had to house train a puppy. In my mind Milford was a puppy prodigy ...a wunderhund of house training. Of course that is not true, I am sure it was a long and nasty ordeal for all involved, but apparently I have repressed memories about the whole affair. Wanting to do the right thing by Spazlo... I mean Winslow, I bought a book on the current methods of house training. Basically we are crate training Winslow, supposedly tapping into his denning instinct to keep him from pooing and peeing in the house. I get the concept and it has actually worked, he has kept his crate immaculate accept for an unfortunate day shortly after the de-worming medication kicked in. The part that we are having trouble with is the idea of positive reinforcement only. We have paid good money to be instructed to not scold, spank or otherwise traumatize Winslow if he should have an"accident" in the house. Well, no, not an accident, but I maintain that Winslow has had very few "accidents" but rather has made some MISTAKES and needs to be corrected. So with three solid weeks of what we have taken to calling the California method of house breaking we have finally thrown our hands up in surrender and have gone hunting for a rolled up news paper. Now when Winslow makes a mistake we let him know. Because we monitor his every move we are there when the mistake happens so there is no doubt in his mind why he is being corrected. So with the magic words "BAD DOG" ringing in his ears our little Winslow has hopefully turned the corner. With three and half solid days of old school housebreaking and no accidents in two and a half days...who says newer is better?
Sunday, September 11, 2011
I'm OK, You're OK method of house training
So its been a few years since we had to house train a puppy. In my mind Milford was a puppy prodigy ...a wunderhund of house training. Of course that is not true, I am sure it was a long and nasty ordeal for all involved, but apparently I have repressed memories about the whole affair. Wanting to do the right thing by Spazlo... I mean Winslow, I bought a book on the current methods of house training. Basically we are crate training Winslow, supposedly tapping into his denning instinct to keep him from pooing and peeing in the house. I get the concept and it has actually worked, he has kept his crate immaculate accept for an unfortunate day shortly after the de-worming medication kicked in. The part that we are having trouble with is the idea of positive reinforcement only. We have paid good money to be instructed to not scold, spank or otherwise traumatize Winslow if he should have an"accident" in the house. Well, no, not an accident, but I maintain that Winslow has had very few "accidents" but rather has made some MISTAKES and needs to be corrected. So with three solid weeks of what we have taken to calling the California method of house breaking we have finally thrown our hands up in surrender and have gone hunting for a rolled up news paper. Now when Winslow makes a mistake we let him know. Because we monitor his every move we are there when the mistake happens so there is no doubt in his mind why he is being corrected. So with the magic words "BAD DOG" ringing in his ears our little Winslow has hopefully turned the corner. With three and half solid days of old school housebreaking and no accidents in two and a half days...who says newer is better?
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